Some fellow bloggers (from the honorable Something I learned today and Last Days of Man blogs) recently had their first Podcasts and I enjoyed them quite a bit. So here’s mine.
BEHOLD THE SECRET OF STEEL features what I felt like ripping from my Metal collection. I didn’t follow a concept really, I tried to focus on bands that I either knew personally or saw live back in the days of long hair. So things are quite mixed up stylisticly. The rougher stuff will scratch along the genre of Power Metal / Thrash Metal (Overkill and Nasty Savage namely). The time frame is roughly the one from the late 70s to the mid 80s. Metalheads will of course know all of these songs, they’re all considered classic in one way or another.
This time, we have real Metal. No Punk shit, no HC crap - just good ol’HM, sometimes cheesy (Medieval Steel), heartwarmingly naive (Acid), not of this earth (Trouble), lucid and sinister (Nasty Savage) or politically charged (Trust).
So get your airgeetars ready and bang your head!!
Download Podcast (1′01”, 85.6 MB)
1. Intro / BITCHES SIN: Strangers on the Shore (UK, 1980)
2. OSTROGOTH: Full Moon Eyes (Belgium, 1984)
3. FLYTE: Oh for the Brains of a Ludwig (UK, 1983)
4. NASTY SAVAGE: Unchained Angel (USA, 1984)
5. ACID: America (Belgium, 1983)
6. TRUST: Antisocial (France, 1980)
7. OVERKILL: Overkill (USA, 1984)
8. MANILLA ROAD: Necropolis (USA, 1983)
9. WARLORD: Deliver us (USA, 1983)
10. SAVAGE GRACE: Too young to die (USA, 1983)
11. MEDIEVAL STEEL: Medieval Steel (USA, 1984)
12. JAG PANZER: Harder than Steel (USA, 1984)
13. ANGEL WITCH: Baphomet (UK, 1979)
This is simply the most aggressive, blistering, chaotic and violent italian 7″ ever. WRETCHED’s 3rd vinyl release, issued shortly before the band’s epic and unbeaten LP. You will know “Finira mai?” from the mighty “War - Peace” Compilation Doubledecker LP.
What can one say about WRETCHED? Back in the 80s not too many people cared about them. Never quite understood why, but that’s how it was. I wish I could say that they were an amazing live band, but I’m afraid I can’t. Sometimes memory works very nicely in putting things into a certain shape. With time, you’ll learn to recognize that.
There was a legit CD re-release of pretty much everything WRECHTED ever released (except for the first 7″, I think). Don’t know if it’s still available.
Ready for some adrenaline rush?
Mai arrendersi.mp3.mp3
Questa e’ la mia Vita.mp3
Finira’ mai?.mp3
Senza Fine.mp3
Nelle loro Mani.mp3
I’ve been neglecting you guys and gals lately, so here I’m making it up with Italy’s SHOTGUN SOLUTION. A band of which I know pretty much nothing. This is the only material I have by them and it’s fucking GREAT! You will notice that that first song, “Apocalypse”, recalls D.O.A’s “Prisoner” a bit. “Shotgun” is just fantastic, showing a lot of potential in terms of songwriting. The guitarist is obviously a metal guy, lots of wanking, especially on “IKYetc” - the guitar stuff actually sounds kinda AK-47ish and the song has a total AGENT ORANGE (dutch) feeling. Crazy shit like you’d only hear it from Japan otherwise. Anyway, a great, pretty obscure 7″ and thanks to me (applause) you get it for free again.
I’m really hating to leaving you with this short writeup, so please fill us in, hordes of hades (and google). I only could tell you that I just finished watching “American Hardcore” (the DVD), but I guess this is not the right moment. A sad movie.
Apocalypse.mp3
Shotgun.mp3
I.K.Y.C.I.M.F.mp3
Devil’s evl Tongue.mp3
INDIGESTI need no introduction, I guess. Everybody knows or should know their split 7″ wth WRETCHED from late 1982 and the BCT cassette with all demos etc. In 1986, they released a very bizarre LP, “Osservati d’all inganno”. It’s really a strange listen (and the vinyl has the most deliciously looking color, kinda baby-blue, I’ve ever seen). It has a truly tense atmosphere, totally desperate and very “italian” sounding. Too bad this never got the fame it deserves. The LP has been re-issued, I think - keep your eyes open for it and buy it. It’s a must have and as nice as these downloads here may be - a real disk, in its materiality, is something completely different. People who only download music will never be able to actually get connected to the music. But what do I care. INDIGESTI were a crazy live band. My band played with them in 1987 in front of maybe 20 people.
What you didn’t know is that BCT, who licensed the LP for the USA, pressed a promo 7″ with 5 LP songs. This 7″ was very limited and hard to find. It’s also on blue wax, but it’s the standard color you normally see.
Doppio Confronto (Double Confrontation).mp3
Diretto nel mio Sguardo (Straight in my Look).mp3
Dune (Dune).mp3
Dubbio legato (Tied up Doubt).mp3
Permissi nel Disagio (License in the Discomfort).mp3
Greil Marcus’ darlings - LILIPUT (formerly known as KLEEENEX) were simply one of the most amazing and astounding bands ever. Incredibly creative, original and fresh, the four young women gave Punk a new shape (of which so little, if anything, has endured). Apart from the music which oscillates between anarchic irony and a very melancholic realism, LILIPUT (KLEENEX) knew what they did. Adopting elements from one of the most radical artistic avantgarde movements, they pushed limits - but were way before their time with it. The world simply wasn’t ready for this and nowadays it takes a lot of sensibility and maybe a bit of education and an aesthetic of the unusual to comprehend and enjoy LILIPUT.
The cover is one of the best I ever saw. What a great idea to ironically comment one of the icons of Dadaism, done by these gals who lived in the same city where the “Cabaret Voltaire” was born and sent waves of irritation throughout the world, by vocalizing the horror of World War 1 (and some other, less noble things too, but that’s another story).
There’s a Double CD which features all material by this band in both its incarnations on “Kill Rock Stars”. Get it!
Eisiger Wind.mp3
When the Cat’s away then the Mice will play.mp3
SLAUGHTER came from Canada and released a couple of albums of which I only know the first one, “Strappado” (it has a photo of meself on the printed innersleeve). This 7″ was released simultaneously to promote the LP but things never really took off for Terry and his boys. This wouldn’t surprise me too much, now looking back, cause SLAUGHTER were just too raw and maybe copying Celtic Frost a bit too shamelessly (without adopting the latters ludicrous imagery, thank Gawd!). Historically, you have exactly the moment when Death Metal and (proto-)Grindcore tore everything apart: DEATH and GENOCIDE (REPULSION) had already escalated things and from there on, it could only disintegrate furthermore.
So enjoy this second best SLAUGHTER release after the bands inflamatory 2nd DDemo, “Surrender or die”. The LP “Strappado” is very good too, but for music this primitive (and with such a sloppy drummer), the format just didn’t seem right.
However - enjoy this limited to 1000 copies promotional 7″EP for what it is: Great raw fucked up primitive aural butchery (of some sort).
Nocturnal Hell.mp3
One Foot in the Grave.mp3
Tortured Souls.mp3
I told you before and I will tell you again: 1985 was a good year for extreme music. Not only did many bands polish up their sound by importing Metal or HC or other elements, or rather say, experiment with it - for a short moment, the whole HC thing seemed to be evolving in a wild, unpredicatable direction.
When NYC MAYHEM announced to release a 14 songs 7″ by early 1986, everybody got excited, cause the bands “Flesh of the Wench” Demo Tape from July 1985 was a bloody steamroller! Unfortunately, that 7″ never saw the light of day (though every once in a while you’ll hear somebody claiming to have have heard of somebody who has a brother of a girl who’s been married to the nephew of another guy who has heard of some guy who had a testpressing of it). With a bit of luck and the right connections, you’d be able to track down a cassette copy of the rough mix of this 7″, but the sound wasn’t too exciting.
I did make fun of the british Revoltation bootleg label and its notorious shortcomings in sound reproduction. I forgot that there are two exceptions: The enormous “Eat my Brain go insane” Compilation LP (with swedish demo-only material by ANTI-CIMEX, ASOCIAL etc. - and especially ASOCIAL’s “HC Holocaust” demo KILLS!!!). The other one is, you guessed it, NYC MAYHEM’s long lost “We stand” 7″EP! Although for whatever reason, the guys decided to leave off the instrumental intro track, this slab here RAGES!! Totally great fucking sound (I tried my best to cut out the usual Revoltation-background-hummings) and a serious kick in the stomach with hyper-hectic, lightning fast HC with some mosh parts that I can seriously relate to. NYC MAYHEM were around when the first generation had almost faded away and right before the Revelation boyscouts ruined the remainings of what was left of HC. By the way, this bootlegs label name, Revoltation, is of course a piss-take of Revelation.
Later that year 1986, NYC MAYHEM became STRAIGHT AHEAD and recorded the great demo tape you’ll find on the “End the Warzone” 7″comp. They had a 12″ about a year later but that one sucked. After it, lights went out for STRAIGHT AHEAD.
This bootleg is very hard to find. If I remind this correctly, there were only very few copies made.
1 - 2 - 3 - gooooooooo!
Corrupted.mp3
We stand.mp3
Fill out the Form.mp3
Epileptic Death.mp3
Nothing.mp3
Life of Riley.mp3
Your Mind.mp3
Insecure.mp3
Violent City.mp3
Want Authority.mp3
Not.mp3
Bodybags.mp3
P.B.M.mp3
I remember, when I drove through New Mexico in the winter of 1987, how strange it seemed to me to fence off the desert to the left and to the right of the highway. I was there with some friends of mine - we drove from Texas to Los Angeles and the pictures of Albuquerque and indian reservations (in the form of gambling halls and fast food stops) left a lasting impression. When Rudy D. B., who had native american parents and was a total HC and noise maniac, visited me in the early 90s, these pictures would sometimes fade in the view of his face. Rudy grew up in one of them hopeless places they call reservations and due to the lack of alternatives, he joined the U.S. military forces to become mechanic. He changed places, ended up being stationed in Germany, where he got into HC of the rawer sort. I used to call him “wild man”, but in fact, he was a very polite and clever guy who was trying to find his way. Last thing I heard of him was, that he went to university to study theoretical physics and I hope, one day he will read this.
JERRY’S KIDZ were from New Mexico (hence the “z” instead of the “s”, if you know what I mean) and unfortunately only released this great 7″. What always amazed me is how this sometimes sounds very similiar in style to a band we often think of as totally unique - I’m speaking of REBEL TRUTH, of course. Same dry sound (though more powerful here!), same weird riffing and kinda apathetic vocal style (at least in parts). Phenomenal!!!
There’s only little I can tell you about them other than the band’s singer David later joined CLOWN ALLEY who had a great demo tape and a phenomenal and totally underrated LP, called “Circus of Chaos” (same band also featured two later MELVINS members, if memory serves). The second pressing of this 7″ had a browwn sleeve, kinda oversized and a slightly different mastering. Only 500 were made of the 1st press, so here you go - enjoy some great almost obscured HC à l’américaine, made in Albuquerque, NM.
Marionetts.mp3
B.R.S..mp3
That’s Life.mp3
D.W.I..mp3 & Insanity.mp3
PS: During that trip, I took photos of feces in the desert. I still have some of those shit pix. Drop me a line if you want some.
Some fellow bloggers (from the honorable Something I learned today and Last Days of Man blogs) recently had their first Podcasts and I enjoyed them quite a bit. So here’s mine.
