Good bad Music for bad, bad Times!

Remember when in the 80s, MISFITS records were the key currency in trading? “Oh, you’ve got that Negative Approach 7″ for trade, what do you want for it?” – “It’s becoming really rare, let’s say it’s almost “3 Hits from Hell” or half “Beware”"

Personally, I didn’t like the pre-”Earth A.D.” MISFITS too much at first. The horror image, the rock’n'rollish music and the very melodic singing of Danzig were not Hardcore enough. “Earth A.D.” was. So when I found the “Beware” 12″ in my local record shop’s 2nd hand box, it went straight onto my trade-list. The same happened again when I found another copy.
Years later, when I had my first computer with internet connection, I stumbled upon this guy who advertised one original “Beware” copy and wanted to trade it for swiss punk singles. I’m not sure which one exactly it was, but I sent him what he wanted and a couple of weeks later I received the package with the original “Beware” 12″. This time, I knew, I would stick to it. In the meantime, I had aquired most of the MISFITS 7″s, but this 12″ is something special with its topnotch graphics and – with nothing but hits. As you know, the a-side features all the tracks from the “Bullet” 7″EP (albeit in different order) and the b-side has two of the three tracks from the “Horror Business” 7″EP, plus the incredible and previously unreleased “Last Caress” (later mutilated by Metallica).

Danzig’s vocals are simply amazing on these seven songs. He was the undisputed Elvis of Punk, with so much charisma and power in his voice. The rest of the band shrinks to mere sideplayers backing him up, methinks.

Roughly 3’000 were pressed of this 12″, originally meant to promote a UK-tour that never happened. Endless bootleg variations available. Officially re-released on some MIFISTS CD anthology, but you can’t, you simply cannot listen to these songs on CD. It sounds so false.

We are 138.mp3
Bullet.mp3
Hollywood Babylon.mp3
Attitude.mp3
Horror Business.mp3
Teenagers from Mars.mp3
Last Caress.mp3

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Forgive me for posting the 2nd CRUCIFIXION so soon, but I just couldn’t hold myself back.

A considerable step in the right direction, as I’ve already mentioned in the presentation of the first 7″: Harder, faster and catchier. The towel-around-the-neck-sim is gone here and on the faster a-side, there’s plenty of good old SAXON (“Strong Arm of the Law”-era) to be heard, including a competent and tight rhythm guitar section. The vocals are a bit Biff-y too, but technically pretty weak – which of course, this is goodbadusic here, is what we especially like. It’s that nowadays totally vanished humane factor that makes this kind of music as great as the 50s rock’n'roll singles.
Especially the b-side, “On the Run”, is the smash hit and I couldn’t get it off the old Rex turntable after buying this single from my pocket money. It was on display in the village’s only record shop’s window for a short time because the owner normally only ordered 2 or 3 of these Neat singles, so I couldn’t wait until school was over on that one day, rushing to the store (“Disco Shop”!) and getting this slab with the great skeleton cover.
When I met the HELLHAMMER guys the year after, I quickly realized that Tom (being the enormous NWOBHM lover he was) recycled all these band names and song titles for his own group. This made a lot of impression on me and gave HELHAMMER a great aura of seriousness.

Take it or leave it.mp3
On the Run.mp3

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CRUCIFIXION from Essex formed in 1979 in Essex and until the band’s goodbye in 1984, only managed to release two 7″ers, a 12″EP and a compilation appearance (on “60 Minutes Plus” Neat Cassette; not counting the postmortal ones). In a way, the jinx-fated recording career of CRUCIFIXION is prototypical for many of their fellows.
After the red hot debut 7″ (which was impossible to find outside of Great Britain, if not outside of Essex; I bought mine on Ebay after the hefty prices of the NWOBHM-trend of the 90s and early 2000s had come down), the band somehow didn’t seem to be able to keep or gain the momentum. Believe it or not, youngsters, this music was considered “aggressive” 30 years ago and thus would have had the potential to generate attention for CRUCIFIXION. Unfortunately, it took them two years to come up with a second 7″ and although that follow-up saw a major improvement in terms of production values, speed and power, had proper international distribution and was among my personal faves of the glorious Neat label acts – the band somehow just fell off the earth.

Enough for the moment. More CRUCIFIXION will follow soon. Pictured above, you see the two stickers that came with the sleeveless 7″.

The Fox.mp3
Death Sentence.mp3

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Thomas Mölch has announced the release of a limited edition Boxset containing 6 of the classic OFF THE DISK 7″ records and a special limited edition including a reprint of the INFEST “Slave” 12″EP poster and an INFEST T-Shirt.
Distributors / mailorders in the U.S. interested in the regular boxset please get in touch with Thomas (see email adress below)!

Here’s the official announcement:

Coming soon (mid/ end of September 2010):

OFF THE DISK Records 7″ + Shirt Box

late 80′s, early 90′s cult-record label from Switzerland

- MORBID ANGEL “Thy Kingdom Come” 7″ (remastered version)
- ABC Diabolo “Hatredge” 7″
- SLEEP “Vol 2″ 7″
- RUPTURE “Righteousfuck” 7″
- DEMISE “Furnace of Tension” 7″
- V.A. “Lost in Time, Armageddon is here” 7″ (never released compilation ep, with unreleased vinyl tracks by MONUMENT, MINDROT, DISRUPT, DEFORMED CONSCIENCE, BATTLE OF DISARM)

plus:
- original INFEST A2 Poster
- some stickers

Price: Swiss Francs SFR. 65.00 + Postage

The special edition (100 copies only!) will also include:

INFEST / OFF THE DISK T-Shirt! SOLD OUT!

Regular boxset: limited to 300 copies
Special edition: limited to 100 copies

7″s + shirt will not be sold separately!

Send you order to: deadendrecords@gmx.net

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Prior to the «Beermacht» demo, Portland’s WEHRMACHT released this cassette through the swiss SM-cassette label of Röbi Zollinger (founder of the legendary «Speed Airplay» radio show). To my knowledge, this was the first ever official WEHRMACHT release. Quite funny actually, when you look back, how dedicated the handful of swiss scene activists were in pushing international bands in that time. Not only because there wasn’t too much good music being made in Switzerland, but also because to us (no, this is not the royal “we”) it seemed only self-evident that we wouldn’t be limited by national borders.

The german Wehrmacht and sharks, horror movie soundtracks and Thrash Metal mixed together – only in America! This tape blew everybody out of their shoes and I can still understand why. The power is overwhelming and (especially on the a-side) comes from the incredible drumming skills of Brian Lehfeldt and Tito Matos’ voice. And: Because a part of the audience was obviously not amused by the “Heavy Metal” band at all. But the band didn’t take the shit coming from the Punk crowd and just fired back (Wehrmacht opened up for POISON IDEA that night).
Typical for a soundboard recording, the guitars are low in the mix and the singing is very dominant, but not for a second I find that a bad thing. You still can hear the riffing (did you notice the main riff in “B.O.S.” is pretty much the same Napalm Death had on the a-side of “Scum” used more than once?), but really, the vocals (think of a lightning fast Paul Baloff!) and the drumming are sensational.
GENOCIDE (pre-REPULSION) recorded their WFBE-demo just a couple days (Jan 26 1986) before the WEHRMACHT live show here was taped. Both bands played at about the same speed at that time (before REPULSION accelerated for good), but Brian  Lehfeldt is more of a solid metal drummer and technically on a very different level. Again, we’re on the verge of what would become “Grindcore”, but without the Death Metal background and that’s what makes WEHRMACHT pretty much unique (CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER could be lumped together with them; maybe that’s why the two bands remained close friends up to this day). I also find the band’s Hardcore influences really strong, yet it’s a Thrash Metal band. That’s the interesting effect of these influential “hinge-bands”: They’re on a crossing point.
The b-side with the two rehearsal sessions is very good too. A bit slower still, it’s like you can hear how they sucked up the speed and thrash input that came from especially S.O.D. (and I think that the “Death Metal side” of Death, Genocide or Slaughter increased speed after D.R.I.”s “Dealin’ with it”, SIEGE & “Speak english or die” too).

SM-tapes had at least one other release I can think of right now and that was the live tape of the east german band L’ATTENTAT. The story of the howabouts that tape got smuggled through the iron curtain into the west and released and how it later turned out that one of the band members was actually a snitch has to be told at some other point.

I decided not to fiddle around and left the one channel as it is on the a-side. I could have amplified it to better balance the entire sound, but as you know, I normally try not to change a thing, not cut off a second off the recordings or edit it in any way, so I just left it the way it is.
Download the tape in never heard before quality (ripped from the mastertape):
A-side (Live at Pine Street Theatre, Portland Oregon, Jan. 31 1986) (.zip folder)
B-side (Rehearsals from Sept. 5 1985 & October 19 1985) (.zip folder)

PS: WEHRMACHT will tour Europe in November 2010 with the original lineup.

PS II: I added a band bio I got from Dave / Rocket Science. Thanks much for this, mate!

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The MELVINS came upon me like a roller. When Alchemy Records sent me their debut album «Gluey Porch Treatments» to review in 1987, I thought, what the hell – the Melvins, what kind of a band name is that? And the cover – what is this?! Only minutes later, I couldn’t believe my ears. Finally somebody had found their own way between two of the most predominant forms of “heavy” music which were represented by Black Sabbath and late Black Flag.
But the MELVINS were not to be compared with any other band. Their incredible musical genius was (and maybe is) of its very own. In fact, the band had so much talent that they could afford to write short songs. Every other band would have tried to squeeze out whatever possible of only one of the MELVINS crunching riffs. Not so the masters: They just kept tossing these riffs out like they had bags full of them somewhere.

Thanks to the promo material that came with the album, I realized that they had released a 7″EP prior to this and were featured on a compilation («Deep Six»), both released by C/Z-records. I ordered the two immediately. The debut EP is a bit rawer than the LP and unfortunately, the sound is not as it should be. Normally, I don’t complain about production shortcomings, I think you should just accept the recordings as they are. But as far as this EP goes, I certainly hope that they have been remixed or remastered on the later reissues (have they?). Still, the six tracks are astounding and instant hits at the same time. Almost flawless.

Easy as it was.mp3
Now a Limo.mp3
Grinding Process.mp3
At a Crawl.mp3
Disinvite.mp3
Snake Appeal.mp3

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When in 1991, the british acid house act KLF decided it was time to retreat from the nasty music business (with the millions they had made), they decided to leave it with a bang. The group was announced to play the Brit Awards ceremony (a tasteless annual meeting of the music industry) and had in mind, at least that’s what Wikipedia has, to slaughter a sheep live on stage as some form of protest against well, anything, you name it.
The good men from EXTREME NOISE TERROR got wind of it and by suggesting the KLF to join forces with them live on stage, the crusties saved the poor animals life. The performance of the two ended in widespread consternation when they fired blanks from a machine gun into the audience. Not a terribly original idea. I’d say slaughtering the beast on stage would have made the better artistic impact, but that’s just me. I’m not saying this because I don’t like the song (it’s okay), I’m speaking as an artist.
The KLF announced its immediate retreat from the music industry on stage still, whereas EXTREME NOISE TERROR unfortunately didn’t.

This 7″ was released independently by the KLF in a limited edition. It was available through mailorder only. The group deleted its entire back catalogue and that was it, ladies and gentlemen.
Several versions of “3a.m.” exist and of course, this is the best one of them. This single has the same on both sides. I have two versions of it, one with this cover and one without (in a die-cut sleeve).
By actually ripping both identical sides of this 7″, I’m making a declaration about the state of the art.

3 a.m. eternal.mp3
3 a.m. eternal.mp3 (b-side version)

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A perfect summer record and one classic NWOBHM scorcher! BITCHES SIN rode in on the first wave and apart from this 7″ reached their peak with the song “Strangers on the Shore” (on the mandatory “Heavy Metal Heroes” sampler). The fresh air was lost a bit on the subsequent releases, I think, but nevertheless these two songs should be your perfect soundtrack to sitting on the window cill with a cig and a beer and a smile on the face.

Buy all BITCHES SIN stuff from the band directly here. You might consider checking out the site in detail as it has more photos of the cover model Sharalee, who obviously likes big, long geetars. Is that her sin? We’ll never know.

Always ready (for Love).mp3
Sign of the Times.mp3

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I know that KBD-Peter will hate this and he probably won’t have anything nice to say about the band. He may be right with whatever he has to say about the Swedish Hardcore Punk scene of the 80s (definitely the scene with funniest hairdos!), but still this tape is lovely. Such great power and still a bit of melodies and hooks thrown in. Think of Anti-Cimex meets Asocial.
The band also had a 7″ (“Morals”) which everybody was after. Including me. I finally found me a copy some 20 years ago – and was shocked to death. It was horrible. Atrocious. And that’s the only negative thing I have to say about NYX NEGATIV.
About this tape: If I remember correctly, this was released in Germany, probably by Matthias Weigand (TNT Tapes & Records). I think it compiles the bands two 1982 & 1983 demos. But maybe this is all wrong and you know better.

Download the entire tape here (.zip file).

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ENERJETICS from New Jersey – Finally a new Mystery Band!
It’s always a great pleasure when a demo of a to me unknown Hardcore band from the golden era surfaces. And even greater the pleasure is, when the demo is of such quality. Please go over to Dave’s excellent Rocket Science blog and listen to the energetic ENERJETICS demo! Who can shed more light onto this obscure affair? Please share any information you may have. In the name of the arts!

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