FEAR OF GOD- Live at Fri-Son, Fribourg (Switzerland) September 1 1988
The second last gig of my band FEAR OF GOD took place in the french speaking part of Switzerland. We shared the bill with Caspar Brötzmann, a jazz avantgardist. I barely remember anything from that show. It was a pretty big place, a lot of people, it had a lightshow and a professional mixer. The rest is blurry. Tensions in the band had become quite intense. Tschösi, the guitarist and founder of the seminal Thrash band MESSIAH had lost all interest in FEAR OF GOD, Dave seemed to follow him and Osi and I were trying to keep things together. In vain, as it soon showed. The band broke up.
What I like about this recording is the immense brutality. The band really worked as a whole here. No triggered drums, no vocals effects, no silly games, just pure and unfiltered aggression.
The following photos were taken from the final FEAR OF GOD gig in October 1988, when we played with Henry Rollins and were so disgusted by the rock star bullshit and the crap we started to attract, that I broke up the band during that gig on stage. These pix have never been released - they were new to me until yesterday. Funny to see what a bunch of kids we were twenty years ago:
These tracks originally apeared on “As Statues fell”, a Mini-LP first released in 1988 or 1989. Howerever, I’ve chosen to take them from a chinese Double-CD bootleg (”Zeitgeist”) that was released like two years ago. The guy who put it out actually tried to tell us it was a band-approved, official release, before deleting it. A handful copies were given to Dave and me. I really like the brutal sound on this boot.
The original mastertapes of both “As Statues fell” and the first selftitled 7″EP were recently offered on eBay. I first couldn’t believe my eyes. Dave & I had tried to locate these tapes for years and thought of them as lost. One of the persons we inquired about a possible posession of them was Thomas Mölch, with whom I had run OFF THE DISK records etc. back in the day. When we asked him about these tapes, he said he doesn’t have them. Well, the eBay auction was of course run by this treacherous spineless wanker. Notorious for ripping off bands (like INFEST) and others and then giving me the blame for many years now, this was the lowest point for this piece of shit. Not only did he lie to us and sell stolen property on eBay (we don’t know how he managed to get ahold of these tapes; I probably had lent them to him originally): He also tried to make money off our band’s work, possibly selling it to bootlegers. As soon as we realized what was going on, we kept an eye on the auctions, informing everybody who bid about what’s going on and in the end had to buy our own mastertapes back from this arsehole for 40$ each. What a cunt.
Pneumatic Slaughter.mp3
The Look behind the Veils.mp3
A Life in Rigorism.mp3
Limited time offer: Download all the 16 tracks in a .zip archive folder here. Link expired
Definite FEAR OF GOD CD collection coming. More news soon!
Pär wrote:
Great great great!!! FOG is THE grindband of them all!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 1:41 pm | Permalink
F. wrote:
all hail vegan art!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 1:42 pm | Permalink
Markus wrote:
after 20 years this is still the most vicious sound ever made! blows away EVERY other band of the genre. how on fucking earth did you manage to play such musick?!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 1:49 pm | Permalink
F. wrote:
i love your vegan art and your big glasses, eric - but why did you post metal again? this is not punk, this is metal! i don’t like metal! more punk!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 1:50 pm | Permalink
gentleman bob wrote:
Just played the three songs. My wife’s comment: These guys must have had a pretty fucked up childhoood. LOL. I LOVE IT!!!!!!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 1:52 pm | Permalink
Justin wrote:
Thanx for this one man, the quality of the recording really captures what I remember when I first heard you guys about 20 years ago. Great memories and now I get to do it all over again. Thanx for everything.
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 2:24 pm | Permalink
Attila wrote:
This is uaaaaaaaahhhhhhh…power!!!
This is really incredible man!!
Thanks!
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 3:43 pm | Permalink
mat wrote:
“categorized in Opera Metal, Kinky Metal, Motorcycle Punk, Mongo Rock, PeterPop, Punk, Powerpop, Post-Punk.”
ha!
Thanks a LOT for this!!
And fuck nowadays grindcore (with a very few exceptions)
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 4:27 pm | Permalink
Manuel wrote:
Irgendwie hattest Du was von Bobby Soxx…
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 4:49 pm | Permalink
someuglyguy wrote:
FUCK YES! im sooo happy you post this up x) too bad i never had a chance to record you guys on a tape recorder:(, but sux what happne to you guys about the tapes, hope one day everyone ends up stupid after listening to THIS:)(sorryimjustdrunk)
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 8:09 pm | Permalink
Sean Hogan wrote:
“PFFFOAAAHHHHHH! PFFFOAAAHHHHHH!”
Best damn vocals ever, though this particular recording made them feel a bit dry (no “depth” to them like the live 7″).
ERICH…up that damn demo that Scorched Earth didn’t like! (if “some people” wouldn’t have a hissy fit).
Posted on 28-Feb-08 at 11:30 pm | Permalink
Slobodan wrote:
All’s grind and all’s good. Thanks fo rthis. But what the hell? Were you trying to be grunge with that lumberjack shirt? Ha ha ha. Cheers!
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 7:56 am | Permalink
Pär wrote:
Been listening to this three song alot since you put them up and I just can´t belive how great they are. The vocals, as mention above, are the greatest ever. All other come in shame, you´re the best. Yes, asskisssing at the highest form. And I´m proud of it!!
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 8:22 am | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Cheers Pär, very friendly
Slobo - this was pre-Grunge. I’m the godfather of Grunge. And check (my daddy’s) pants: I’m also the godfather of Gangster Hip Hop.
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 8:56 am | Permalink
S.R. wrote:
Thomas Moelch is a fuckwad! He’s a notorious liar and you wouldn’t wanna know the stories he spreads about you & others. Never liked him. Total loser.
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 9:27 am | Permalink
John Scharpen wrote:
I still have the original “As Statues Fell” vinyl, which I’m sure I must have gotten from you. I played it for the kids the other day, and they just looked at me with these confused expressions on their faces. I’ve always loved the record cover too. I’m looking forward to the cd collection. I think my favorite Fear of God song is still World Under My Fingernail…
Too bad about Thomas. Sorry he turned out the way he did.
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 11:12 am | Permalink
Peter wrote:
A little too power-pop for my liking.
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 4:49 pm | Permalink
Picard wrote:
I found “As Statues Fell” in mp3 on another blog, “Audio Heaven”. Yet, I guess I will keep the zip file YOU give to us: can we call this honesty?
Rather take it on the blog of the guy himself than buying on eBay!
Posted on 29-Feb-08 at 5:10 pm | Permalink
Sean Hogan wrote:
My faves were always Proud On Your Pride, Which Way, and Prisoner Of Your Ideals (no shit, for barely being a “song”). You have no idea Erich the amount of L.A. deathgrind bands here have covered Fool’s Prayer, let alone around the world. I always preferred the track BEFORE “Born Blind” on that “death metal weekend” rehearsal (total mosh power on that one, name escapes me now). I remember as a teenager too that One Day Fly reminded me of Terrorizer. I wrote one of the Geuggis awhile ago (no response, and I professed my love for hXc-techno to him too!).
Posted on 01-Mar-08 at 1:25 am | Permalink
Peter - KBD Records wrote:
One of the few “grind” bands I enjoy due to the extreme rawness that sounds authentic. Your voice dosen’t sound like forced rawness it sounds like that is your actual voice. Wonder how it sounds when you’re cuming honey.
Posted on 01-Mar-08 at 6:03 am | Permalink
Boneyard wrote:
This is just classic! I’ve tried to get a copy of the Zeitgeist double album, but always get out bid. My band has covered Troublemaker & Running Through…, but my favorites are Pneumatic Slaughter, Rubbish Planet, any and everything from the first 7″. It would be great to have a complete discography on cd! Hope this happens soon.
This is the greatest blog, with the best posts, really loved the posts of FOG, Jag Panzer, Terrorizer, Poison Idea, Wehrmacht, Medieval (completely diferent from how they sound on cd, almost thougt it was a differnt Medieval if it wasn’t for the MM song)…….. Any Cirith Ungol or Larm demos or boots….
Posted on 01-Mar-08 at 10:02 am | Permalink
catholic churchill wrote:
“look behind the veils” is probably the scariest piece of music I heard i my 40 years! what always strikes me about fear of god: it’s the only band that dont seem to pose. it all comes authentic. the power is overwhelming. it’s not that I listen to fog all day long cuz it would destroy me. but when I play the first 7″ it’s MAGIC. no band ever came close to this brutality. I once saw nausum live they covered “running through the blood” and the place went ape! I will never forget this. it was the closest I ever got to fear of god sadly. wish you’d reform with the original line up and play just one gig for me
Posted on 01-Mar-08 at 12:36 pm | Permalink
russianWinter wrote:
what a wonderful thing!
Posted on 02-Mar-08 at 3:59 am | Permalink
Marcelo wrote:
Fantastic Erich! Absolutelly one my fave band ever and you know that! Lets put out zeitgeist cd version, it will be great! lets talk about.
Posted on 02-Mar-08 at 11:32 am | Permalink
Fernando wrote:
Yesterday there was the Barones’ LP on not-so-heavy rotation, it was a sweet surprise! I thought you had sold it… “Flowers of evil” was about the nuclear missiles if I remember well. Thanks also for the FOG tape, I enjoyed the gospel, I dont find it scary though, makes me think of, more like Elche bei einem See! XD
Posted on 02-Mar-08 at 12:19 pm | Permalink
russianWinter wrote:
we are waitin’ for more
Posted on 04-Mar-08 at 1:40 am | Permalink
Enrique DxDxOx wrote:
very good, i will donwload this!
Posted on 07-Mar-08 at 7:57 am | Permalink
meathook wrote:
is it true relapse records are releasing a fear of god disco???
Posted on 10-Mar-08 at 8:24 am | Permalink
anka wrote:
awesome, fear of god rules forever i’ve listened all your stuff for years i only have pirate records the statues fell made by a tape the last rehearsal and the one day of fly with the tape traders this was in 1988 miguel thrasher from mexico spreads your band to the mexican punxthrashers sorry for my bad english i’m from monterrey mexico i’m wear a t shirt of you
Posted on 17-Mar-08 at 9:46 pm | Permalink
anka wrote:
hey erick fear of god got another name before :a friend got a reharsal and i learn a song without vocals later comes to glimmer of hope (the name of the song) the band was degenerated youth shane of napalm death wears a t shirt with the name im 38 years old im not drunk i don t speak english
Posted on 17-Mar-08 at 10:01 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Yes Anka: In 1986, the band was called B.O.L. (Bunch of Lies). The other band you’re talking about was Degenerated Youth: The two guitarists later joined Fear Of God for a few weeks only, along with the bassist from Nuclear Winter (or something). There’s also a very poorly done cassette with me overdubbing with vocals the instrumental Degenerated Youth demo - that was how the songs “Born Blind” and “Glimmer of Hope” came to be.
Posted on 18-Mar-08 at 12:15 am | Permalink
subtecore wrote:
can you upload again?
thanks
cheers from perú
Posted on 19-Mar-08 at 9:53 pm | Permalink
Robert wrote:
Me and a friend bought the “As statues fell” 12″ as soon as it was released. We played it at 33rpm for 1 or 2 years until a friend of the band told us to play it at 45rpm. We liked it at both speeds. Great artwork, for sure.
Posted on 24-Apr-08 at 12:59 pm | Permalink
andres wrote:
can you upload again the bootleg?
great blog!
Posted on 17-Jul-08 at 7:20 am | Permalink
Admin wrote:
How much do you pay?
Posted on 17-Jul-08 at 9:03 am | Permalink
ANKA wrote:
ERICK,thrasher biafra was hanging around at my house the last saturday july 19, he is playing with atoxxxico again with paulino the last singer this was good now heplays with anarchus too cheers for the noise
maybe i’m jaded old man but i don’t care im playing in a band called CHTM (CHECK YOUR MIND) we play hardcore punkin the same vein as: bgk dri septic death see you
Posted on 22-Jul-08 at 12:13 am | Permalink