Good bad Music for bad, bad Times!

There are two reasons for me to post the follow-up to «Anarkist Attack» by ANTI-CIMEX. One would be the incredible and intolerable objections articulated by certain commentators against this most wonderful band. Another would be that I feel really crusty at the moment (sweaty, dumb and as empty as the beer bottles in my kitchen).
Peter KBD thinks ANTI-CIMEX lacked originality. I think Peter is wrong. Or let’s put it this way: When hearing the countless “crust bands” that followed, one often forgets who originally came up with it, and at that before it had become a formula (the most despicable style of music and fashion I can think of, made by idiots for idiots, with some of the silliest lyrics I ever read. All this regressive animal loving and anti-humanitarian bullshit with “anti capitalistic” lyrics that seems to be coming from 5 years old growing up on the CRASS farm in the 70s. Bizarre! Degoutant! Nauseating! Whenever I see one of them in the typical uniform, I think to myself, “oh, look there, a Muesli Punk”. Now that I think of this abonimable crust crap, I call for a law. There must be a worldwide anti-crust law, followed by schooling programs and boot camps for crusties!).
Maybe DISCHARGE or DISORDER were even more of a blueprint because their records were widely distributed - but ANTI-CIMEX coined their own variation for sure. “War Machine” makes me think of driving a tank into a crust festival. Brilliant!

The b-side has quite a bit of crusty crackling here. Often repressed after this first version. Mid 80s copies had blank labels, xerox sleeve and were on clear vinyl. 100 of these had porn images on the labels (or was it the cover? Sold mine long ago and only kept the original press).

One last word: Should certain commentators uphold their objections against ANTI-CIMEX, they are kindly invited to drop me a line and arrange a personal meeting in my offices.

When the Innocent die.mp3
War Machine.mp3
Total Silence.mp3
Cries of Pain.mp3
Raped Ass.mp3

PS: One final word: The front cover is so horrible, but the heavy cardboard is nice.

Repost from October 26 2006. Freshly ripped 320 kb/s sound files of this very hard to get smasher. «We are Anti-Cimex and we have a hard life!» – could somebody translate what they’re really singing in the theme song?

Recorded on Dec 5 1981 and released in early 1982, this is the debut of Sweden’s ANTI-CIMEX!
I’m totally pissed (I mean drunk) at the moment cuz I felt this would be appropriate, so I can tell you even less than I could tell you soberly. I’m sure Peter KBD will tell us more! I know it would be cooler to say that this is the band’s best effort, but I’m afraid it isn’t so (the best is the follow-up, “Raped Ass”). And another thing: sometimes you’d get this record with the cover cut into two pieces - that’s because the two sides were printed not like they were odered to be (one was 90 degress turned compared to the otrher). Well, if you have a copy at all and if it the sleeve is in one piece, call yourself lucky cuz these are very rare. Had like 10 copies of it in my life, the first one I sold for 10$, the last one for about 60 times as much. Only in it for the muuuuuuusic. Yeah, that’s true. And I eat meat. And I treat objects as women.
I have a friend who swears to hear “We are Anti-Cimex and we have a hard life” sung in swiss german in “Anti-Cimex”. Magic? You tell me.

Svaveldioxid.mp3
Heroindöd.mp3
Drömmusik.mp3
Anti-Cimex.mp3

More furious Hardcore from Italy! CHAIN REACTION released this smokin’ and steamin’ six tracker of an avalanche whirlitzer megaton missile in 1985 and unfortunately I’ve never heard from them again. The band consisted of three Nicolas, an Edy and a Guido and as far as I know know, they never played outside Italy. As always - feel free to fill  us in with any additional information!
Hard to pick a fave track here. All six songs are fast, tuneful Hardcore, 100% metalfree and with a great angry singer (check “Your bloody War”!). I used to call “No way out” my most beloved song here, mainly due to Berlin’s PINK FLAMINGO’s killer cover version (they covered this and the F.U’s “Pennies from Heaven” live and I tell you, that RIPPED! Must dig up some live tapes one day). What I especially like is the cheap recording. It sounds like it’s recorded in a bo or something, with no production whatsoever. And it’s especially this which transports the power of the band and compositions. Unlike all this crap music that is being released as “Punk” or “Hardcore” since 20 years and which all has the same production and riffs, this is the real deal. Enjoy!

Cages.mp3
Bloody Ways.mp3
No Way out.mp3
Run.mp3
Your bloody War.mp3
Personal Autodistruzione.mp3

PS: Too lazy to scan and reassemble the fold out lyric sheet. Might add it later.

My heart beats like a machine gun fired by a spaz: This is the most courageous of posts! It takes a heart of steel and blood of fire to speak out the truth. The first four MANOWAR albums, the first demo and this 12″ are godlike. Immortals (immorals?) of Metal!

Yes, this is actually Orson Welles’ voice you hear there. Crazy, innit. When you play the song on 45, it loses much of its heroic and larger than life aura though, but it adds a very smurfish feeling. Crazy crazy crazy. The B-side has the album version of “Gloves of Metal”. Gloves of Metal. The title alone. Priceless.

Defender.mp3 [Original version, not the lame re-done version of the 90s]
Smurf-Defender.mp3 [on 45 RPM]

I will never forget when I got a package from Olivier who was in PSYCHO SIN, after he had moved to the USA and had a small mailorder thing going, called Deflagration. We used to trade tapes and such for a while. I think said package contained the first Psycho Sin 7″ and a tape with various bands. One one them was S.O.B. (SABOTAGE ORGANIZED BARBARIANS) who I had heard on the LAST PUNK OSAKA compilation, but that didn’ t make much impression on me. So how surprised was I when these nine tracks (the 7″ had just been released) ripped through my speakers. Insane! Rarely has such fury been unleashed and still, this has got to be one of the most ferocious, aggressive and blistering records ever. I didn’t hesitate and ordered a bunch of “Leave me alone” 7″s for my own mailorder (”Kamikaze Attack - The slowest Mailorder in the World”, cause it always took me years to bring those packages to the post office. Needless to say the mailorder didn’t last very long, haha).
The band’s next release “Don’t be swindle” was in circulation in form of an advance tape for a bit of time, mainly due to Mick Harris’ (Napalm Death) appreciation of the band. I used to like it much, but it was nowhere near the intensity of “Leave me alone”. So the “japanese SIEGE” got more popular - and went the Metal way. I had lost interest in the band by the time they toured Europe in 1988. You know: Metal is great and Hardcore is great and Punk is great - but bands changing genres normally produce a bunch of crap. That’s a rule of thumb. But I know from many people that these gigs were quite impressive. Silly me, I missed them completely.

Later, the band’s singer commited suicide (okay, that’s all hearsay now). He threw himself in front of the train, after he couldn’t see a way out of some drug dealing issues with the japanese Mafia. His mother was sued by the japanese transportation services who operate the trains, because the suicide had caused damage and loss of money due to trains not being able to operate for a while. I think there were some benefits raised in order to help  out the poor mom. Crazy shit.
Collector nerdism: It’s said that 5′000 were made of this 7″ (!). Can this be true? It was officially repressed as a 12″ on Selfish ca. 87-88, with a massive sound. I’d love to have that again, as well as “Don’t be swindle”. If you’re selling these, please get in touch. Oh yes, now that I think of it, I want that Psycho Sin 7″ back too.

I would like to dedicate this to myself for being such an asshole. Thank you, myself. Or in the words of S.O.B.: “I’m nothing understand”. Fuck man, “Let’s go Beach” and “Knock out”, then “Leave me alone” until the next “Sudden Rise of Desire” for “Fat Women”. I’ll go off like “SDI & ABM” and they gimme a “Slap in the Face”. “Don’t be swindle”. “Thrash Night”!

Not me.mp3
Give me Advice.mp3
Fat Women.mp3
SDI & ABM.mp3
Knock out.mp3
Sudden Rise of Desire.mp3
Leave me alone.mp3
Slap in the Face.mp3
Thrash Night.mp3

A couple of months before Megaforce released ANTHRAX “Fistful of Metal” LP, this limited edition 7″ single came out. I had never heard of ANTHRAX before the LP though. I bought it in the winter of 83, the winter that also brought us the first MEtallica, Slayer, Hawaii and other records that were so incredibly amazing and completely new in their heavyness. I thought Anthrax was a cool name (band names with an x were always cool with L.A.’s X being the ultimate “x in a name” band) and they had a great logo you could easily put on your denim and it would look kinda aggressive. And the LP cover, I mean, dude - tough shit! I had to buy it, it was inevitable.
In 1986, I personally met Dan Lilker (by the time, he had left Anthrax and founded Nuclear Assault, a nice Thrash Metal band with a formidable demo) and that was a bit weird. Not only did he keep his records in his parents living room cupboard (he still lived at his parents) - when he took the other boys & me out for dinner later the evening, he brought us to a White Castle somewhere in New Jersey. I vaguely remember loads of rednecks, gals with died hair and fake tits and cheap ass country songs. Very uncomfortable: We with our long (not died) hair and Septic Death and Venom T-Shirts and all these truck drivers giving us dirty looks. It took some guts to go on the toilet and empty yours.
A week later, when we were somewhere down in Florida, we met these super cool guys from a local Hardcore band named CORE OF RESISTANCE (totally unknown band - will rip the tapes one day. Raging stuff in the vein of STARK RAVING MAD). We hung out, played lots of Thrash records and I told them about Dan Lilker and White Castle. They laughed out loud and said that these restaurants were the number one redneck breeding spot in the USA and the song “White Hassle” by ADRENALIN O.D. was just about those places. Who knows, we might have spent an hour in the exact same White Hassle up there in NJ that inspired A.O.D. to write their great song.

What I especially like on this record is the thing I’ve written so much about in this blog: Check out the song “Howling Furies” on this 7″ and compare it with the version on the “Fistful of Metal” LP. In between the two recording sessions, within only a few months, something had happened in the international Metal scene. On this 7″, the song sounds like it’s coming from a NWOBHM band, with quite a bit of JUDAS PRIEST thrown in. On the LP, the same song sounds remarkably more “modern”. Maybe it’s only me who hears that (or believes he hears it).
The LP version is great - in fact, the LP is one of the most important records of the first half of the 80s, for both Metal and Hardcore, though it often gets overlooked a bit. But I like this single version even more. Both songs have a lot more punch than the LP and oddly enough, this 7″ was produced by Ross the Boss from MANOWAR. And MANOWAR do have a lot of punch, man! They even have fur boots!

Soldiers of Metal.mp3
Howling Furies.mp

This goes out to Dave and Pär. To Dave because he gave me a new pair of ears for Judas Priest’s “Unleashed in the East” LP (I had never heard before this LP the way he explained it to me). To Pär because he asked for some Metal and as a blogger, you can’t just ignore one of the most devoted commentators, can you.

A life sentence, that’s what I always call my passion for this kind of music.
I know a few people who say the history of Hardcore was over with this 12″ from Chicago’s LIFE SENTENCE. Is that so? Let’s just say this is one of the last throughtly great Hardcore records released, albeit the music here already sounds a bit different from the “classic” Hardcore of the early 80s. Maybe this has to do with the outstanding skills of the musicians. Not only do they play a bit better than your average 1-2-fuck-you Hardcore band, they also show quite a bit of talent for writing memorable songs, with lots of hooks and with a leading voice sometimes similiar to that of Kevin Seconds.

“Punks for Profit” and “Problems” (reminds me a bit of the late OFFENDERS) are the super hits here, but this records stands the test of time as a whole. Another plus would be the real thrashy big band sound which is among the most powerful productions that I ever heard. This is in one league with Jerry’s Kids “Is this my World” LP, I’d say.

Has this ever been officially re-released? I’ve seen a bootleg CD for sale once which had extra tracks from the following LP (which is great too and was very favourably reviewed in Germany’s Metal Hammer magazine!).
When I saw the price sticker (21.- Swiss Francs) on the back, I remembered how expensive imports were when the $$ was still high and local record stores had a quasi-monopoly on such records. Another thing about the 80s that sucked.

See the sticker on the front cover? Wonderful! I call for a Pulitzer price!!

Download the entire record by simply clicking this link and choosing “save as”. This will make your computer downloading a .zip file which you will just have to unzip after the process of downloading is finished and then do whatever you have to do to make the files deliver the music encoded within and when you play this and shake your head, ass or boobs, please - think of me.

Repost from August 11 2006 of one of the most spectacular yet forgotten Hardcore LPs of the early 80s. New information & band photos added. Full album download in a fresh 320 kb/s rip.

You know, there are bands that are easy to like, just like there are people with whom you will easily get along. Then there are bands that need time. To like them requires a bit of work and patience. Liking such bands increases your skills to like more of their kind, weirder ones. So it appears like this: Taste is not something that accepts or declines at once, it’s not so much of a spontaneous reaction, a habitual way of adressing yourself to an object; taste is an elaborated aesthetic. POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD is not one of these bands everybody likes just like that. Finding access to them requires a fair amount of labour. One could use a simple and rather pittoresque metaphor which would compare the band’s music to a secret spot where there’s many a pleasure to find and enjoying them would require finding a way through the forest of your own ignorane first. But I’m not using such laughable speech here. Not me!
Before there was “Pagan Metal”, there was “Pagan Hardcore”. Here’s an excerpt from “The Language of a dying Breed”, the band’s theme song: “In this age they say it is wrong, to drink the wine of the knowledge of the ancients, and are we forbidden to speak the language, so if you’re like me and you happen to be, an ungodly pagan - and if you believe, in spiritual rebellion then you must speak, the language of the dying breed.”

The overall atmosphere of POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD’s only vinyl release (the band came from Nebraska, surprise surprise) pretty much fits into that magical-mystery-ancient-rites-smoke-and-fire - style. Some of the most bizarre and original vocal tracks here; a band like no other and quite possibly (maybe together with SPIKE IN VAIN who had another bizarre LP not so much unlike the aesthetical concept of this one) the inventors of what you might want to call Pagan Hardcore. Even when the band plays fast Hardcore, it’s totally off the wall. “Decide or die” clearly belongs to the fastest songs of the 1984 era, although the music is not about speed, inf fact the fast parts are few. All songs are kept short and effective.

Who knows more about them? They also had a couple of songs on BCT’s “Brain Of Stone” comp tape which I might add if there’s a need for it. Maybe nobody else will like this. It would make me happy if somebody would share the pleasure with me.

Download POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD’s “Language of a dying Breed” LP here. (.zip file: Choose”save target as”)

So here’s the additional info I received upon the initial posting. Thanks Marty & Andre!

Andre

**************

POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD

Years Playing 198? - 1985
Members:
Jake Ryan - Vocals
Steve Schleich - Guitar
Phil Judt- Drums
Releases:
Language of a Dying Breed - 1985- Sacrificial Records
Members came from: Hymn To Joy
Members went to:

The photos are from the Brickyard in Lincoln ne.

They were on this site.

This blog proves it: Heavy Metal Fans are Punks with brains. There’s a lot to read there (start with the investigative report on Heavy Metal Real Estate. It’s surreal). And it does not only make my sarcasm sound like a random Dalai Lama quote in comparison - the comments there don’t make you guys commenting here appear like Einsteins either.

PS: This picture, exclusively revealed by the folks at Metal Inquisition, shows Dave Mustang on his Mustaine.

When a while ago I featured the second RAPTUS Compilation LP, I promised to follow with the first one. After nearly two years since this promise, I guess it’s about time now ….

I don’t know much about the background of this compilation LP and I’m sure Papella will help us with more details. Meccano Records was a label from Torino in Northern Italy. Meccano’s catalogue only consisted of a handful of releases and the most popular of them being RAW POWER’s crazy debut (more here). Besides the two compilation albums, ROUGH (”Torino e la mia città” - the best and quintessential Italian Oi-Punk release, much better than the overrated NABAT!), BLOODY RIOT (the LP was weak though) and STIGMATHE (never heard the 2nd 7″ on Meccano) were the other interesting bands on Meccano.

RAPTUS maybe not as throughtly great as the 2nd in the short series, but it’s still great! It’s devided in two sides, one sung in italian and one sung in english. The first song by DRULL deals with the tentacles of power (sounds sexy, dunnit) and is just what you’d expect from the borderline Punk Hardcore days of early 84. So is the other song. UART PUNK are next with “Anarchia in Italia” which is a bit boring, but “Frustrazione” rages, with a great singer. “Massacro” by WRONG BOYS is powerful and simple, just like we love it. UDS suffer a bit from a very bad sound. It says in the credits they recorded these songs in a place called Music Box in Torino - and that’s exactly how these songs sound, like recorded in a box. Total Oi-mayhem, but kinda charming and powerful, mainly due to the dominant vocals by Cele. The last song is maybe the greatest of the A-side and could easily have been featured on any Killed by Death series - PETROLIO’s declaration of hate, “Italia / Italia,” is just too great in its totally obnoxious despite! Does the band name in any way refer to Pasolini’s great book “Petrolio” - Papalla, Chano? Anyway, it’s such a hymn! I remember when I was in Genova during the massive (and extremely idiotic) riots in 2001, I had this song in my head.

The second side side starts of with the brilliant WOPS. “Hateful town” and “Kids” are two fast songs, very memorable and catchy and the accent ['eightful toun] is so lovely. LAST CALL praise the fall of the italian empire and they really, really want to fuck the system, oi! Damn, as much as I hate Oi, Italian Oi just rules (and besides, some french too)! And the second song, “Your solution”, with its fake accent and pathos is even greater. “Rebellion, rebellion, rebellion! Tonight rebellion, rebellion, rebellion!” It’s so silly it’s great (though definitely too long) and it’s safe to say they invented Mongo Oi with this track! But then, folks, RAW POWER deliver the goods (for the first time ever on vinyl!) with two very early versions of their hits “Raw Power” and “You are the Victim” (misspelled as “You are a Victim”). I love the airy guitars here. To the point! The compilation ends way too soon with the mysterious RAPTUS “The end”. What or who is this?

If anybody could help out with the tapes of WRONG BOYS (1983 demo) and PETROLIO (4 song demo), that’d be greatly appreciated.
I’m not sure how many were made of this, but my guess would be 1′000 maximum. It’s extremely hard to find, but it will never fetch exorbitant prices like the 910$ paid for the WRETCHED / INDIGESTI split 7″. So my advice would be, if you see this and if you like it or if you’re obsessed with the Italian Hardcore Punk scene of the 80s, get it at (almost) any price. Pressed on white vinyl which is said to be the purest vinyl with audiophile qualities. My pressing however is not the greatest although I bought this dead mint.

Download the entire RAPTUS Compilation LP here as one zip file (84.3 MB), ripped and edited with love and encoded in wonderful 320 kb/s.