Good bad Music for bad, bad Times!

At the very end of one year full of good, bad and goodbad music, here’s one of Metal’s best kept secrets for those of you who didn’t know. I had been struggling with myself whether I should share this or not, but since one of these superficial consumerist blogs recently had an awful 57th generation copy of this my most beloved tapes posted, I think I have no other choice …

Well, NIGRO MANTIA (”Black Arts” or “Black Magic”) were reviewed in either Thomas Schumacher’s crucial METAL PROPHECY or Roland Dähne’s masterful BLITZKRIEG fanzine in early 1984. I immediately ordered the cassette and received a friendly letter, a lyric sheet and the tape, of course. Unfortunately, the letter and maybe the lyric sheet too, was lost when I had a massive water damage in my old basement (it destroyed my complete collection of band correspondance from 1980 to ca. 1984, including letters from METALLICA, SLAYER, MANILLA ROAD, BLITZKRIEG, VENOM etc. etc., when these bands were still part of the undergrund circus). From what I remember, NIGRO MANTIA were preparing a self-financed album and weren’t really the type of guys to make a big fuzz about things. Unfortunately, the band totally vanished off the face of the earth, leaving nothing but this highly collectible cassette. Even in the old days, people either used to love or hate this and it won’t surprise you that I’ve always been one of the later kind, trying my best to make cassette copies of “Poetry of Subcultre”, but it seemed in vain, judging by the google results one gets for NIGRO MANTIA these days. Hope this will help a little in changing this sad situation.

As you can hear, NIGRO MANTIA had a totally unique musical concept. MERCYFUL FATE-like riffing, but of a very laid out, almost soundscape-ish dimension. The singer is somewhere out in space, “feeling the exploding orgasm”, as he sings. Stunning (dis-) harmonies, layers of musical texture, but all very held back, subtle. What also strikes me is that the whole thing doesn’t come over as “epic”, wagnerian Metal at all. There’s no “glory”, no pathetic expressionism, but a very, may I say, gentle introspection. Bands like RUSH come to mind quickly, but then again, this is not art rock whatsoever.
“Poetry of Subculture” stands there as one of the finest moments in the history of 80s Metal. Enjoy, ‘eadbangers. Good 2008 to y’all.

Bells ringing for the fatal Hour.mp3
Death Romance.mp3
Monolith of Infinity.mp3

As always, no Dolby was used here.

Bizarre, carnevalesque, gothic, kinky, satanic, operatic, kitschig, over the top, lustful and heavy - STILLBORN’s debut album from 1989 remains one of Metal’s best kept secrets. Although this album is literally bursting out with talent, heavyness and a good sense of irony, it seems virtually unknown these days. Whot a shame! Time to give these swedish geezers some indecent exposure.
Although widely acclaimed as “Doom Metal”, this is of course not really the case here. Re-assembling bits and parts from genres such as Doomish Metal, Kinky Metal, Opera Metal, Mongo Rock, Motorcycle Punk and even with a slight touch of what those awful Turbojugend geeks would be enjyoing, STILLBORN create a highly original blend of Rock’n'Roll. The singer’s voice won’t be nw to fans of the mighty PERSONALITY CRISIS from Canada though - but honestly, the swedish version kicks more balls. The total standout track here is “Flesh for Iesus” (which I’d like to dedicate to Jesus Christ at this very occassion), of which a radio show version (possibly from a demo?) exists that, I must be honest to you, is so fucking heavy it blows the LP version out of the holy water (that was my first encounter with the band, by the way, found on a compilation tape I got from Per of FILTHY CHRISTIANS / PROTES BENGT - howdy Per!). “Calvaria 1939″, “Raising fits Cain”, “Angelynx” and “I, the Stillborn” make yu wanna fall onto your knees too - just freaking amazing!
So if you just wanna check out one track, try “Flesh for Iesus”. Enjoy this hard to find piece!

This is for Melanie.

Calvaria 1939.mp3
Streetsatan.mp3
Raising fits Cain.mp3
Angelynx.mp3
Nuke ‘em all.mp3
Flesh for Iesus.mp3
Albino flogged in Black.mp3
I, the Stillborn.mp3

Add: Lyrics to “Flesh for Iesus”. Gotta love that shit:

FLESH FOR IESUS

Underneath the sharpened scythe
Rich man call the cross
Run the gauntlet, noble son
Here’s flesh for Iesus

In the year of the hungry wolf
Bring us the head of the bourgeois whore
Headsman, headsman, feed the wolf
Breed the wolf
Iesus put his tongue to the gore

Overshadowed by his lord
Preacherman shall learn
Tongue the flames and kiss your Angel
Preacherman shall burn

In the year of the hungry wolf
Bring us the head of the bourgeois whore
Headsman, headsman, feed the wolf
Breed the wolf
Iesus put his tongue to the gore

I shall bring you down below
There where evil dwells and grows
Take my hand now, do not fear
Follow me, my sinful dear

So
Welcome down below
Where evil dwells and grows
Bow, your sinner
In the year of the fire

German Post-Punk at its very height, from a band known to attack its audience physically if necessary - KFC’s first LP is one cynical, masterful pièce de résistance, bound not to please everybody. A bit less punky than the debut 7″ (check it out here), but nonetheless a total smasher, with instant hits like “Wie lange noch” (”How much longer”), “U-Haft” (”Detention pending trial”), “Senorita”, or “Letzte Hoffnung” (”Last hope”). Some of the songs will require a second and third spin to be fully enjoyed, but fuck, who wants easy listening crap?! “Liebling” (”Darling”) sucks, but I think it was meant to suck. Still, it sucks.
From what I understand, this has been long out of print, including a UK CD reisusse. It goes without saying that this download does not keep you from buying the original or a possible re-reissue. The complete LP (incl. all of its wonderful crackling noises) can be downloaded here, it’s a .zip file.
Please note that for reasons yet unknown to me, the mp3 files have different bit-rates (this goes also for the past couple postings). Will take care of this problem until the next blog entry, promised.

Ooouukay, I’m sorry, but I have to bother you with one more great canadian record. The STRETCHMARKS were one highly respected band of the 80s HC movement and although they had an LP on the famous Positive Force label, the boys never got the attention they deserved.
To me, it was the band’s participation on one of these Flipside Video Comps that got my attention first. Although I haven’t seen these (2?) songs in a long time now, I do remember especially the singer being a very likable guy – and that’s pretty much the impression the LP still leaves overall. Kinda angry, kinda nice, very much drive and passion and “Another Tragedy” on said LP as one of my most beloved HC songs ever.
Here’s the band’s first EP. 6 great, heart warming HC tunes that I personally can’t get enough of. “Professional Punks” is the high light on this. It’s always been kinda hard to find, this slab, though not spectacularly high priced as it is often the case with solid music that like a fine wine only grows in taste and strength over the years. Maybe the older generations have to browse through the dustier parts of their collections every now and then, and one of the treasures they will dig up will be the STRETCHMARKS. Maybe it wasn’t the most earth shattering recording back then, but now, it surprises me how fresh it is!
Records as wine bottles, I think I like that, as cheap as it sounds.

Who’s in Charge?.mp3
Force Fucker.mp3
Dog’s Life.mp3
Barren Cities.mp3
Sik Pleasure.mp3
Professional Punks.mp3

Honestly - what would have been a better follow-up to the last post than this one?!
One of these almost forgotten local HC Punk comps is PRIMITIVE AIR RAID - MONTREAL ‘84, featuring some better and some less well known bands. It’s not that I play this constantly, but whenever I put it up, it makes me feel good. Lots of drive and anger, more on the tough side. Though I have some faves (like for instance PORCELAIN FOREHEAD, VOMIT AND THE ZITS (great Jello-alike singing!), the out of control raging DIRECT ACTION, the very very exciting and thrashing ABSURDS and the ever ripping, but never ripping so fucking hard GENETIC CONTROL - of whom we’ve had the 7″ last year), this really works as a whole, especially with the conceptual division of Thrash on the A-Side and calmer and more experimental bands on the B-Side. It’ a great document of how varied the music scene still was in the first half of the 80s, yet it was wild and chaotic and radical in its approach.
The other bands on this comp are: FAIR WARNING (very british HC), AMERICAN DEVICES (phantastic!), THE NILS (Peter’s beloved Powerpoppers who don’t power their pop too much here), RED SHIFT (spooky and tense!), IAGO NEON (rather bizarre and interesting Toys-Lullabye Punk), MORBID FIESTA (destroy-the-world-at-once music), NO POLICY (catchy HC again with great lyrics you can sing along) and NOT EQUAL (or UNEQUAL; this is, uhm, very much concentrated HC or such)

The only let-down is the ASEXUALS idiotic political statement (”The New World Order the Rockefellers are planning blablabla” - antisemitic garbage).
But let’s not let this spoil the fun - here’s the complete comp. LP ripped for yours as one large .zip file in the usual great quality. Have fun.

Postscrotum: As you can see, I tried to make the cover shots really arty this time. I call these two compositions “Sitting Bear and the Past” and “Still Life of a Loser”. Thank you.

PS 2: Can you believe this comp. wasn’t reissued until now???

It’s been a while since we’ve had a band from Canada, so here’s the ASEXUALS first 7″. Released shortly before the band’s much acclaimed (well, I acclaimed it muchy muchy) “Be what you want” LP, which was followed by the kinda corny and over-ambitious “Contemporary World” LP. The band then morphed into the DOUGHBOYS and had one fantastic longplayer (the title escapes me right now, but I could get off my chair and take a look, but don’t even think about that).
All the four songs are catchy little fuckers, a slight Mongo touch maybe, but “Stand up” is really the stand out here and shows the later direction of the band.
One thing though. Song number 2, “B.F.D.”, has a pressing mistake onto the vinyl. So here’s what I did: I took out the 10 seconds unplayable and inserted something new, just like that, because I’m an anarchist of love, and if you can find out what the song is called and by whom it is, you will get a free record from me (my choice). Okay? I know, this is totally lame, but that’s just how I feel at the moment. Know the song - drop me a line!

New World.mp3
B.F.D.mp3 [Special DJ E. Mix]
Where’s the Bus.mp3
Stand up.mp3 (thank Jah, this is not a reggae song)

Who said Punk was dead? I’m currently selling my leather punk crust vest on Ebay. Thought you’d like to know. All profits made from this will go into ALF and Pro-Palestinian activities. Although it says “genuine leather”, it’s of course vegan leather, made from capitalist skin.

Check it out here on Ebay. Here are some pix:

Some of you have been waiting for this a long time, I know. Now is the time to finally share this monster. The WARDS fourth and final release (after two wonderful 7″s, of which we’ve had the debut posted a while ago, and another demo). As you can see, this was recorded at Radio Beat Studios (Deep Wound etc.) and it seems likely from the title of the cassette, that the trip to Boston caused the band some trouble. KFTH has it the band-van was stolen in Boston (and the cover drawing seems to, well, illustrate this rather unpleasant event).
The band never got much recognition when still around, but as soon as the Punk nostalgia took off in the beginning 90s, the WARDS became more popular. No wonder, since the band coined a sound of its own. Snotty, pissed, simple but overall pretty melancholic sounding with trademarks double vocals and a pretty tight guitar sound.
When you loved the 7″s, you’ll love this too. You’ll see, as soon as the music blasts off, you’ll immediately recognize the typical WARDS sound, even though the demo is a bit more varied (”I’m God” being the standout). One or two more recordings and the WARDS would have taken an interesting development, I guess.
I scanned the backside of the demo cover too, which has a letter from the band to me, giving some details.
Anybody has the “Armed to the Teeth” Demo and likes to provide it for the blog?

Check out Daddy’s a Cop.mp3 from this demo and keep the keg-a-rollin’.

Download the whole demo here as one .zip file and dance around naked!