CLOCKCLEANER Skinheaded Lady / Hate City (Stained Circles) 7" 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Once there was the Dwarves. Now there's Clockcleaner. Similarly abrasive and snotty and puerile and oft banned, but where the Dwarves spat out short bursts of pop punk doused in liquid acid and then dusted with coke, Clockcleaner are a much weirder and much more unpredictable entity. Less punk sonically maybe, but no less punk spiritually.
Here, CC offer up twangy guitars, crooned dramatic vocals, frantic drumming, and all sorts of cool space-y FX, not to mention some demented lyrics. Within the song proper, there's a long stretch of super tripped out weirdness, with effects swirling everywhere and even some horns. There's a definite Lubricated Goat / King Snake Roost vibe going on, which is never a bad thing.
The flipside is a cover, by Australian punks X (not to be confused with the more well known L.A. X (get it?), a track called "Hate City" which according to the sleeve, the band couldn't understand the lyrics so they just made their own. But the song suits them, with crunchy guitars, growled howled vocals that slip into a strangled whine and then back again, and another killer bunch of unexpected horns.
And it is Clockcleaner, so even though the record is called Skinheaded Lady, the cover features a grainy old photograph of a nun. These were also apparently tour only 7"s, we got the last copies direct from the band, so odds are these will be the last ones we ever see.

CLOTTED SYMMETRIC SEXUAL ORGAN (CSSO) Are You Excrements? (Morbid) cd 14.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
This underground Japanese band surprised and delighted us with this crazy fuzzed-out stoner-rock meets grind metal release. Clotted Symmetric Sexual Organ (let's just call 'em CSSO) really kick 'em out, wallowing in total wahwah-happy heavy psych guitar overdrive. It's wild and distorted and super-energetic, a blend of '60s garage, '70s hard rock, and '90s noise-thrash. Forget Acid Mothers Temple, this is the real Japanese freak-beat! Indeed, CSSO could learn Kawabata Makoto a thing or two about over-the-top motorpsycho guitar. Imagine AMT or High Rise with a garagey Guitar Wolf edge, going nuts with that style of psychedelic freakout, then breaking into a speedy grind part with blast beats and cookie monster vocals! It's like a weird, wonderful mix of The Groundhogs and Napalm Death or something. When CSSO's stoner/grind rock attack isn't going full-tilt they throw in spacey sections of shoegazing drone tones, trippy electronics, and other cosmic krautrock inspired soundz -- sometimes sheer, blissful noise. Then it's back to the catchy rockin' stuff, like Hendrix gone grind. Like AMT or the Boredoms, they can be quite playful and confounding -- for instance, one song features what might be the world's longest fade-in, it's two minutes before you can really hear anything at all!
Partially 'cause this was so unexpected (we thought they might be a good but generic grindcore band) but also because it's so great, this just totally blew us away. A new favorite in the long line of genre-bending, rule-defying bands from Japan (Boredoms, Melt Banana, Boris, et. al.), and thus highly recommended!
RealAudio clip: "Cosmic Super Strong Odure"
RealAudio clip: "Living Dead A Go Go"
RealAudio clip: "Are You Excrements?"

COALESCE Ox (Relapse) lp 24.00
Also on now vinyl! Super limited! We only have a few...
Who would have thought we'd ever see a new Coalesce album, ever again? After a spate of unbelievable records, and a fairly acrimonious breakup, we figured we'd have to make do with Give Them Rope and Revolution In Just Listening and Functioning on Impatience, which hell, is the sort of 'making do' most bands would kill to be able to offer their faithful. But this new Coalesce pretty much picks up right where the last one left off, after a 10 year break, the sound is immediately recognizable, churning chugging super complex mathy post hardcore metal fury, stop start arrangements, lurching mosh worthy blowouts, the guitars massive, the drumming relentless, and the vocals, how can Sean Ingram still sound like this ten years later? Actually how can he even speak after a decade of vitriolic bellowing. But for all that stayed the same, a lot has changed in the decade since Revolution. On "The Comedian In Question", the band break down into a sort of droned out lope, and the vocals slip into some clear crooning, the sound is definitely sort of Alice In Chains, but on Coalesce it sounds so good. Great in fact.
Then there's the beginning of "Wild Ox Moan", a total lo-fi distorted blues jam, again with clean vox, the guitar clangy and clean, some slippery slide slipped in as well, before the band erupts into another furious pounding anvil to the skull. Long stretches of reverbed nylon string guitar butt up against some of the heaviest punishment these guys have ever doled out, which is saying something considering they're old enough to be the parents of most of the kids in the crowd (not counting us old guys), cool angular Drive Like Jehu high end guitar melodies wind around bizarre vocals and spill over into a weirdly groovy churn that sounds as much like Pantera as it does Coalesce, some stripped down jazzy moodiness, and at least one track that is so awesomely off kilter and slippery and dizzy, the whirling woozy guitars constantly causing the listener's head to spin, and while all the weird shit sticks out the most, it's really not the most prevalent stuff going on here, although the weirdness does seep into most of the more classic Coalesce sounding riffage, even so, the majority of this record IS in fact classic sounding Coalesce, just a bit more twisted, still heavy as fuck, and still weirdly catchy, maybe more so then ever, the weird stuff only makes it cooler and more fun.
MPEG Stream: "The Plot Against My Love"
MPEG Stream: "The Comedian In Question"
MPEG Stream: "Wild Ox Moan"
MPEG Stream: "Designed To Break A Man"

COCK ROBOT / KATZENMALLETS (Roger) split 7" 2.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
A local no-wave gimp assault: two tracks from Cock Robot and seven (that's right, seven!!!) from Katzenmallets. Note: the sheet of plastic opti-bubbli-llusion stuff for the sleeve art is pretty neat all by itself.

COLD CAVE / PRURIENT Stars Explode (Hospital Productions) 12" 19.98
We listed this a month ago, it went out of print right away, and still is, but we just got a handful from a supplier who still had some, unfortunately that means the price has gone up a bit, and when these are gone, they're gone.
Originally released as an insanely limited cassette tape to coincide with a tour, this collaborative recording is now available as a spiffy, and still limited, lp, and includes a bonus track NOT on the original tape.
What might one expect from this match up, some cool cold wave grooves with howling noise drenched vocals, or better yet some heavy harsh noise shot through with dark moody melodies, and cold synths? Well, the weird thing is, this doesn't sound like either band, together or separate. Instead, this is swirling psychedelic synth space drone ambience, a little blissed out, a little brooding and ominous, all starry shimmer and blackly abstract, but plenty dark and definitely a little malevolent. Huge expanses of muted feedback, processed rumbles and whirs, buried melodies, all softly heaving in deep black swells, shot through with ever shifting textures. The B-side though gets downright poppy, still space-y and abstract, but infused with some seriously shoegazey shimmer, melodies much closer to the surface, glimmery and gauzey, with a distant rhythms, skittery and hushed, that over the course of the side, builds to a fairly aggressive industrial pound, while the sounds around it grow more and more bleak and caustic.
And then there's the extra track, which is easily the poppiest of the bunch, a soft focus M83 / Nadja / Jesu bit of blissy pop ambient drift, swirly and abstract, with wordless vocals adding to soft space-y psychedelia until some super strange vocals come in, a little harsh, heavily processed, distorted and menacing, wrapped around distant grinding guitars, and for a few moments it suddenly does sound very much like we imagined it would.
And of course, EXTREMELY LIMITED.

COMBAT WOUNDED VETERAN This Is Not An Erect, All-Red Neon Body (No Idea) cd 13.98
This isn't metal exactly, but it is HEAVY. And it's not punk, although it is raucous, unruly and unkempt. It's not screamo though there is a LOT of screaming. And it's not noise, but boy is it noisy! And it's for sure not powerviolence, even though it is indeed quite powerful and most definitely violent. This is more like a drum kit, a bunch of guitars, a bass, HUGE amps, and a guy screaming his lungs out, all loaded into a cannon and fired at your ear, mere inches away, blowing you head into a million pieces. Grinding, thrashing, chaotic, relentless, brutal metallic punk rock noise. Wow. 42 songs, 32 minutes, average song length about :40 (the shortest clocking in at :10, the longest still a brief 1:30) and some of the best song titles EVER: "Dead Parents, Yea!", "We Sticks Butter", "My Foot, The Catheter", "Plastic Bullets Are So '84", "Also Comes In Red, Orange And Fuck You", "Shit 3:16", "Q: What Kind Of (A Band) Name Is Scrotum Grinder? A: A Terrible One.", "Cumbersome Ant People" and thirty six more!
MPEG Stream: "Shit X 1000"
MPEG Stream: "Plastic Bullets Are So '84"
MPEG Stream: "The Rise Of A Thousand Prosthetic Limbs"
MPEG Stream: "Also Comes In Red, Orange And Fuck You"
MPEG Stream: "Q: What Kind Of (A Band) Name Is Scrotum Grinder? A: A Terrible One."

COMETBUS Despite Everything: A Cometbus Omnibus (Last Gasp) book 14.95
After reading this tome if you still haven't gotten your fill of Aaron's writings, he also wrote the extensive liner notes for the new Jawbreaker rarities cd. And who could ever get enough of one of the greatest zines ever. Cometbus has been around (sometimes pub'd under different names) for over TWENTY YEARS! Got all the issues? Me neither. For this book Aaron personally selected the best, and filtered what he thinks of as the worst, writing from Cometbus. The most recent issues aren't here, as they are still in print, but the best of the rest of it is. So great!

COMMIT SUICIDE Synthetics (Willowtip) cd 14.98
Pittsburgh grinders return with their second full-length of fierce death metal, and it's a doozy indeed. With Synthetics, Commit Suicide have achieved that rarest of accomplishments -- delivering a follow-up album that stays completely true to all of their original elements while bolstering every component that made them such an immediately powerful force on their debut. Everything seems just punched up a notch here. Be forewarned, this is relentless death metal without the slightest breach of accessibility for those not interested in the fastest most aggressive style of music possible. But if you're willing to submit, the execution is flawless. Non-stop blazing riffage with a million stops and changes between speeds varying from fast to pretty fast to full-on blasting, with a vicious growler roaring overtop. There really isn't a single stand-out member though -- the band functions seamlessly as a whole, with all changes felt on guitar bass and drums as one. For fans of Death, Dying Fetus, Morbid Angel and the like, look no further for uncompromising brutality.
MPEG Stream: "Earthly Cleansing"
MPEG Stream: "Resonance"

CONTROLLERS, THE s/t (Dionysus) cd 12.98
A collection of straight-up punk rock culled from recordings spanning fifteen years ('77-92). Most are by The Controllers who were in existence from '77 to '79 (and reunited briefly in '96), a couple are by Skull Control ('92). Yes, these are the sounds of the early days of punk. Brought to you by garage and punk rock historians Bacchus Archives of Dionysus Records.

CONVERGE No Heroes (Epitath) cd 13.98
Metalcore is sort of a dirty word these days it seems; conjuring up images of Warped Tours and Hot Topic's. All the short haired emo guys are now playing brutal-tech-death metal while the dirty long haired metalhead guys are slowing it down, making all kinds of epic post rock and convoluted math rock. What gives? Converge continue to blaze their own path and break down the boundaries between hardcore and metal, while incorporating bits of noise and other weird sounds, the REAL crossover.
Converge were sort of always the hardcore black sheep, too noisy, too metal, not punk enough. Going on 15 years now, Converge have been the kings of the underground, subtly or not so subtly influencing all the metalcore outfits that have gone on to be HUGE. It's time for the world to recognize that Converge have been making some of the most progressive, and beautifully fucked up metallic punk rock music of the last two decades.
No Heroes falls sonically somewhere between the all time metalcore milestone Jane Doe and their more recent, but equally as punishing and original You Fail me. The pace is furious, hovering around warp speed most of the time, but these guys are masters, and amidst the cacophonous, chaotic din lurk all sorts of sonic surprises, tone of space and atmosphere, discordant, jagged, chunky, choppy riffs, incredibly complex rhythms, as well as hooks galore, all masterfully whipped into a glorious metalcore frenzy.
Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Heartache"
MPEG Stream: "Hellbound"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Heart / Black Rose"
MPEG Stream: "Trophy Scars"

CONVERGE No Heroes (Epitaph) lp 13.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Also on lp... Metalcore is sort of a dirty word these days it seems; conjuring up images of Warped Tours and Hot Topic's. All the short haired emo guys are now playing brutal-tech-death metal while the dirty long haired metalhead guys are slowing it down, making all kinds of epic post rock and convoluted math rock. What gives? Converge continue to blaze their own path and break down the boundaries between hardcore and metal, while incorporating bits of noise and other weird sounds, the REAL crossover.
Converge were sort of always the hardcore black sheep, too noisy, too metal, not punk enough. Going on 15 years now, Converge have been the kings of the underground, subtly or not so subtly influencing all the metalcore outfits that have gone on to be HUGE. It's time for the world to recognize that Converge have been making some of the most progressive, and beautifully fucked up metallic punk rock music of the last two decades.
No Heroes falls sonically somewhere between the all time metalcore milestone Jane Doe and their more recent, but equally as punishing and original You Fail me. The pace is furious, hovering around warp speed most of the time, but these guys are masters, and amidst the cacophonous, chaotic din lurk all sorts of sonic surprises, tone of space and atmosphere, discordant, jagged, chunky, choppy riffs, incredibly complex rhythms, as well as hooks galore, all masterfully whipped into a glorious metalcore frenzy.
Highly recommended.
MPEG Stream: "Heartache"
MPEG Stream: "Hellbound"
MPEG Stream: "Grim Heart / Black Rose"
MPEG Stream: "Trophy Scars"

CONVERGE You Fail Me (Epitaph) cd 14.98
Converge have always been one of the best metalcore bands around. But with the release of Jane Doe a few years back they quickly moved right to the head of the line, having crafted what is most definitely the most amazing, heaviest, most complex, catchiest and most chaotic metalcore record ever. EVER. So once again we're faced with what would almost have to be a massive disappointment after the total Godhead that was Jane Doe. But we should know better than to doubt Converge. While this record may not be quite as good as Jane Doe, it almost doesn't matter. In fact it's a whole different kind of record. Not nearly as dense and chaotic as Jane Doe, You Fail Me is strangely melodic and dare we say almost new wave at times. Now don't get all scared off. You Fail Me is still heavier and more brutal than almost any record you'll hear this year, but there's a lot more weirdness going on. A lot more space, and more experimentation. Not so much being 'experimental' per se, but more dabbling in some distinctly un-Converge like sounds, pop melodies, acoustic guitars, clean singing, angular new wave-ish guitar, bouncy almost emo-ish rhythms, folky ambience, but all safely ensconced in a jagged, prickly nest of swirling metallic guitars, chugging downtuned riffs, ridiculous drumming and throbbing punch-in-the-gut bass. Definitely weirder, but quite possibly just as good as Jane Doe. Just in a wonderfully different way.
MPEG Stream: "Last Light"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud"
MPEG Stream: "Drop Out"

CONVERGE You Fail Me (Epitaph) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Now on LP!!
Converge have always been one of the best metalcore bands around. But with the release of Jane Doe a few years back they quickly moved right to the head of the line, having crafted what is most definitely the most amazing, heaviest, most complex, catchiest and most chaotic metalcore record ever. EVER. So once again we're faced with what would almost have to be a massive disappointment after the total Godhead that was Jane Doe. But we should know better than to doubt Converge. While this record may not be quite as good as Jane Doe, it almost doesn't matter. In fact it's a whole different kind of record. Not nearly as dense and chaotic as Jane Doe, You Fail Me is strangely melodic and dare we say almost new wave at times. Now don't get all scared off. You Fail Me is still heavier and more brutal than almost any record you'll hear this year, but there's a lot more weirdness going on. A lot more space, and more experimentation. Not so much being 'experimental' per se, but more dabbling in some distinctly un-Converge like sounds, pop melodies, acoustic guitars, clean singing, angular new wave-ish guitar, bouncy almost emo-ish rhythms, folky ambience, but all safely ensconced in a jagged, prickly nest of swirling metallic guitars, chugging downtuned riffs, ridiculous drumming and throbbing punch-in-the-gut bass. Definitely weirder, but quite possibly just as good as Jane Doe. Just in a wonderfully different way.
MPEG Stream: "Last Light"
MPEG Stream: "Black Cloud"
MPEG Stream: "Drop Out"

COOLIES, THE Bless The Babies + The Mothers (self-released) cd-r 8.98
If this cd-r is any indication (which we assume it is, duh!) these Coolies are not those Simon & Garfunkel-covering punk rock-opera (!) guys from back in the '80s -- much to Andee's chagrin, mention of this band really got his hopes up. No although these Coolies are also punk rock, they're more of the lo-lo-fi and lo-lo-skilled sort. But they don't let that take away from their good times... nor will it take away from yours if you like your rawk super messy and super trashy. Actually if that's the case, your party might even rev up a notch if you pop this baby on your stereo. Just imagine if the Coachwhips were three teenage girls... lotsa yellin' and bangin' on drums and sloppy guitar chords and probably lotsa PBR (or the New Zealand equivalent to that brew). This release comes with a Coolies button for your backpack.
MPEG Stream: "Throwaway"
MPEG Stream: "I Salute U"

CORRUPTED El Mundo Frio (HG Fact) cd 28.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Boris may be the drone dirge darlings right now, but we've always had a soft spot for their more obscure countrymen Corrupted. Where Boris revel in cartoonish imagery, seventies kitsch, eighties heavy metal, bell bottoms, double neck guitars, and balls out rock and roll, Corrupted lurk in the shadows, sullen and distanced, weary and wary, crusty and curmudgeonly, wrapped in mystery, each record printed in stark black and white, a Japanese band singing exclusively in Spanish strangely enough, who are obliquely political, and much more grim and gloomy than Boris at their droniest. Every record a massive plodding slab of depressive doom, epic and monstrously heavy, but with stretches of delicate beauty. Rumors have been floating around of a triple cd, single three hour song, Corrupted release, but until that truly materializes, El Mundo Frio will probably remain the heaviest, creepiest, most beautiful, epic, expansive slab of slowcore doom drone you will ever hear. Ever. One hour and twelve minutes. A cloud of shimmering drone underpins hazy, haunting piano and warm chordal swells, plucked harps and simple finger picked guitars. For almost ten minutes, Corrupted creep along dreamily, stepping lightly, drifting lazily through a stark ambient soundfield, before the heavens collapse and the sky begins to fall in huge crushing chunks, and massive stabs of super distorted guitars swell and crumble into an abstract pounding rhythm. Completely heavy, but strangely lovely at the same time. A lilting melody is hidden somewhere beneath all that buzz and rumble. Eventually the stabs slowly mutate into a creeping, loping post rock rhythm, with minor key strums, simple shuffling drumming and growled semi-spoken vocals, before the whole thing fades to almost nothingness, revisiting the delicate shimmer of the beginning of the record. The last twenty five minutes are mostly ambient with snatches of that hypnotic post rock, and a brief but furious explosion of soul crushing heaviness with the same vocals delivered now in a glass gargling gurgle, and then the track drifts off into ten plus minutes of barely there dreaminess, mostly single notes on the harp drifting like snow flakes against a black night sky. So lovely. Easily the most fully realized 'doom' or 'dirge' track ever wethinks. So emotionally charged, so effortlessly complex and yet so utterly and beautifully simple. Somehow it's the perfect blend of Boris's Flood (our favorite Boris!), the doleful slowcore of Low, the abstract dirge of Harvey Milk, the epic expansiveness of Godspeed You Black Emperor, the metallic post rock of Pelican, the downtuned ultradoom of Skepticism, and the majestic dreaminess of Growing.
Mighty expensive but well worth it. Comes packaged in an extravagant hardcover book style digipak, with a gorgeous booklet, lots of abstract black and white landscapes, printed on vellum and overlaid other images. So nice!
MPEG Stream: "El Mundo Frio"

CORRUPTED Paso Inferior (Frigidity Discos) lp 21.00
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
BACK IN STOCK ONCE AGAIN!!! LAST EVER COPIES DIRECT FROM THE LABEL!!!
A lot has changed since we first listed Paso Inferior nearly a decade ago. First, here's our very short review from way back then:
"Japanese crust-sludge band, super slow, super heavy. Their new disc. Some facts: 1) they just toured the States. 2) their lyrics are all sung in Spanish. 3) the drummer used to be in Omoide Hatoba, Boredoms guitarist Yamamoto's weird jazz/pop project, but he quit when Omoide signed to a major. 4) this album features only one song, it's 40+ minutes long... Great vegging-out music for fans of Earth, Sleep, Eyehategod, Swans, etc."
Well, all of that stuff still applies for sure, but this is not, as we initially thought, a vinyl reissue of the original cd. Instead this is a RE-recorded version of Paso Inferior, recorded in 2002, utilizing the same themes and melodies, but a whole new song, the A side sonically similar to the original, the B side, a droney blissed out drift, which is in fact an 'ambient version' of the original Paso Inferior!!
Since the original release, the group has released several more records, each slower and more epic than the last, even incorporating piano and acoustic guitar. And you can hear that in the reimagined Paso. Their appeal spread way beyond the punk rockers and hardcore kids who held them so beloved. Metalheads are Corrupted obsessed nowadays, as are the new breed of dronedirgedoom fanatics. But back in the Paso Inferior days, they were the underground kings of sludge, sharing splits with pretty much every power violence band that was up for it. A band that was spoken of in hushed reverent tones, but whose actual recorded output, included only a single full length, Paso Inferior. The spirit and power of the original are definitely present, but the sound is better, heavier, and weirdly pretty in that way only Corrupted seem to be able to pull off.
One sidelong doomsludge crawl, the guitars black and viscous, the track laced with squealing washed out feedback, the vocals a growled gurgle, the drums a loping lumbering pound, recent talk of a single 3 hour song don't seem at all far fetched when listening to the re-imagined Paso Inferior, there's something magical and mysterious about the music of Corrupted, no matter how slow or sludgey or stripped down, it never gets boring, it sucks you in and soothes your spirit, while it crashes and pummels, mesmerizing, hypnotic, so heavy, but weirdly transcendental.
The other half of the re-imagined Paso Inferior is another sidelong epic, this one dark and ambient, all shimmery drones, haunting melodies, mysterious voices, a dreamy drift rife with long tones, layered chords, but all muted and blurred and stretched into something more dark and lovely than grim and ominous, perfectly balancing the sludgey sprawl on the flipside.
All new artwork to go with the music, black on black, shiny on matte, the band logo and flames or drips or streaks of some kind, inside a printed insert, pressed on nice thick vinyl, and of course CRAZY limited. In fact this IS out of print now and we are very likely one of the only places with copies. Except maybe eBay. Which means, as always, these will go FAST. And once these LAST copies are gone, that's it.
MPEG Stream: "Paso Inferior Excerpt I"
MPEG Stream: "Paso Inferior Excerpt II"

CORRUPTED Se Hace Por Los Suenos Asesinos (HG Fact) cd 15.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
It's been a little frustrating how hard it's been to keep these in the store. It sells like crazy and then the inevitable lag time involved in having them shipped here from Japan means we spend a lot of time with no copies in stock. Well, we've finally managed to get a big ol' batch. So plenty for all (although that said, not entirely sure how long even these will last at the rate they've been selling). So those of you who missed out the last few times or those of you who maybe want to buy an extra copy for that special loved one (assuming you have a loved one into crushing Japanese doom sludge), now's your chance!
It's time.
Be afraid.
Very afraid.
Or if you're a typical AQ customer and love your rock music glacier slow, tarpit thick and skull crushingly heavy, well then, in that case there's nothing to be afraid of!
Everyone may quake and tremble when the mighty Boris unleash a new slab of black hole mega dense heaviosity. And rightfully so. Few can keep up when it comes to slow motion riffage, tectonic pummel and massive planet destroying rock. But there is another....one who came before....one who resurfaces occasionally....to remind the world that this sleeping behemoth can rise at anytime and raze all that dare proclaim themselves HEAVY. That beast...is known as... the Corrupted. One of the few bands in Japan, nay the WORLD, that can go toe to toe with Boris and hope to survive, perhaps even triumph. Some of you may remember Corrupted's massive two disc set Llenandose de Gusanos, from 3 or 4 years back, one disc of minimal drones, one disc of crushing sonic sludge (and piano). Maybe the finest document of death/doom/drone/sludge ever recorded -- except perhaps for the rumoured-to-exist triple disc (!) SINGLE SONG (!!) Corrupted epic that has yet to surface. But for now, we'll have to be happy with this new 35 minute monster. The disc opens with a 17 minute ambient folk dirge, just acoustic guitar and harshly whispered/grunted vocals. In Spanish (as always) and rumblingly hypnotic. Like a ultra grim, creepily acoustic Neurosis, all stripped down and stretched out. Never imagined just a voice and an acoustic guitar could be so fucking scary, but for almost twenty minutes, the low end folk sludge stretches on seemingly forever, narcoticizing and mesmerizing, before the second track drops like a ton of lead Marshall stacks. Massively loud and perplexingly heavy, HUGE slabs of downtuned guitars pour molten riffs down your willing throat, filling you with black tar melodies, jagged limb smashing drumming, and bass so low it seems to loosen the earth's crust around you. The final track picks up the pace, to barely midtempo, but certainly a breakneck speed for a lumbering behemoth like the Corrupted. Drummer Chew (formerly of Omoide Hatoba) gets to go all Animal on this track, smashing everything within reach, the only thing keeping him behind the kit is the impenetratable wall of mile-thick ocean-deep sonic sludge, like pouring a bucket of hot molasses on a porcupine. Or dropping a sea anenome in a vat of hot glue, or like listening to Black Sabbath with your ears full of mud. Where Boris is channelling all sort of seventies rock, and stoner riffage, albeit through their own slow motion filter, Corrupted are just really fucking scary. A huge uncontainable, slithering, squirming, unstoppable, slow-motion, crusty metallic black hole.
MPEG Stream: "Track One (Se Hace...)"
MPEG Stream: "Rato Triste"

COUGHS Secret Passage (Load) lp 8.98
This is hardly a new record, but one we had for some reason or another never listed, and now we got it for a nice low price. Coughs (not to be confused with the doom band Cough) were part of Chicago's fertile underground noise rock scene from a few years back, and even though they have long since broken up, it's clear that today's crop of atonal noise mongers could still learn a thing or two. The band whips up a mighty hell of a racket, and people in Chicago still speak of them in somewhat mythical tones. Somehow they were able to merge numerous stylistic influences into something else altogether. Among other things, you will probably react immediately to the crazed female vocals stuck within a downtuned sea of no wave sludge... or something. Craziest of all is how musical it all is, in a scary as fuck, I'm losing my mind kind of way. The opening number, appropriately named "Quagmire", sets the stage for Secret Passage with intense, tom heavy drumming, a buzzing guitar riff, some skronky saxophone and awesome female screaming. "Happy Harvest" lurches forward with some strange riffing that seamlessly shifts from both extremes of the fretboard while super distorted bass rumbles nonstop. There's so much tension in the sound, like the band is just ready to take off into some crazy void, but the rhythm section keeps everything, maybe "grounded" isn't the right word, but at least right in your face where you can't ignore it. The insectoid guitars and the cloud of doominess on songs like "Bunny Slope" conjure up all kinds of disturbing imagery, while the forceful rhythms just can't be denied. It's cool how the songs go to all kinds of unexpected places, clearly the result of a band who had spent plenty of time bashing out improv noise into something that no one else could touch, like on "Intentional Community", which makes use of negative space for a truly disconcerting vibe. This is definitely not metal, but when listening, one can't ignore that Coughs were responsible for a truly unique and brutal attack that many metal bands would kill for. Tough luck for them, though. You either got it or you don't, and anyone who missed this the first time around should do themselves a favor and check it out. Highly recommended.

COUNTY MEDICAL EXAMINERS, THE Olidous Operettas (Relapse) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Casper's Dictum"
MPEG Stream: "Expeditious Evisceratory Mishap"
MPEG Stream: "Maturating Decompositional Gas"

CRACK WE ARE ROCK Live In Africa (Kimosciotic) 7" 3.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
SF's Crack:WAR strike back with two new tracks of electro street hustle with slovenly vocalisations. No, they didn't tour Africa, but their fans sure act like animals at their live shows. Wild.

CREAM ABDUL BABAR The Catalyst To Ruins (At A Loss) cd 12.98
This monstrous 7 piece experi-metal ensemble has been around for years now. Alternately referred to as either 'that metal band with the trombone player' or 'that band with the worst name ever.' Let's address both of those issues right off the bat. They do indeed have a trombone player. Although his presence isn't nearly as obvious on their older records. And yes, Cream Abdul Babar is one of the stupidest names ever. EVER. But it's like the Flaming Lips, after a while, no matter how dumb the name is, it just comes to be synonymous with the music. I'm at the point where I can actually recommend this band by name without cringing. And recommend them I do. Like crazy. This band fucking rules. Their last EP was one of my favorite records ever! Take a little Neurosis, mix in a little Jesus Lizard, a little metal core, and then, just the way AQ likes it, mix in all sorts of ambient weirdness (think a more DIY, less overtly metal Old Man Gloom). Heavy and hypnotically rhythmic, crushing riffs and screamed/almost sung vocals (almost emo, although on the very violent end of the emo spectrum) and a devastating rhythm section. All this and dark droning, backwards, looped ambience and dreamy shapeless rumbles too. It's so good it almost makes me glad they're called Cream Abdul Babar. Almost.
RealAudio clip: "Kill People"
RealAudio clip: "It's Hard To Sue When You're Laughing"
RealAudio clip: "E Is For Intelligent"

CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION Destructivist (Hactivist) cd 8.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Brutal noise collage from SF (relocated from Pittsburgh, PA) grind activists Creation Is Crucifixion. Three super long tracks of dynamic harsh electronics and rumbling drones. Comparisons to Bastard Noise inevitable, CIC's aural palette is similarly aligned with that of Monde Bruits or Russell Haswell's.

CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION In_Silico (Scorched Earth Policy) cd 11.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Reissue (with improved artwork, and a jewel case so Allan can finally buy a copy) of this amazing slab of pummelling grind. Super political, and anti-technology, 1000 mile-an-hour, hyper complex and totally intense grindcore.

CREATION IS CRUCIFIXION / CRITICAL ART ENSEMBLE / CARBON DEFENSE LEAGUE Child As Audience ((R)TMark) cd/book 16.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Awesome co-operative release between southwestern political grindsters Creation is Crucifixion, Critical Art Foundation and the Carbon Defense League. Beautiful box with a cd/cd-rom and a huge perfect bound book. The book examines the 'reverse engineering of the Nintendo Gameboy' and the concept of child as consumer. Translated into French, Dutch and German, as well as English. The cd contains 3 new tracks from Creation Is Crucifixion, blazing super technical metal grind a la Discordance Axis, as well as 4 ambient tracks with voiceovers relating to the 'child as audience' concept by the Critical Art Ensemble. The cd-rom portion contains development software by the Carbon Defense League. Cool.

CRIME San Francisco's Still Doomed (Swami) cd 13.98
Kudos to John Reis' Swami label for finally making this long-awaited reissue a reality! San Francisco's Doomed featured Crime demos from '78 and '79, first saw the light of day a decade or so ago, and now is remastered and reissued with two bonus tracks and liner notes and photos and all that. So thanks to Swami, SF's *still* doomed. (It's been a good year for "holy grail" punk cd reissues: first Metal Urbain, now Crime!)
I guess there's three sorts of people reading this review: there's the folks who already know this band and have been waiting and waiting for something on cd and will be down here in, like, two seconds to buy a copy. Then there's those of you who have heard *of* Crime but never really heard them, who are curious if they really were as important, essential, kick ass of a punk band as you've been told... well, they are! So get down here now too. Finally, there's those of you for whom Crime is just another name, maybe you've heard of maybe not, but it's got no special significance. For you, the history lesson (in brief): Crime released their first single in '76, proclaiming themselves to be San Francisco's "First and Only Rock and Roll Band". That hyperbole of course ain't quite true but indicates the level of punk attitude you're in for here. Hard rocking, fast, and snotty, Crime were violent and stylish -- they kicked out the jams in SFPD uniforms and shades! This definitely belongs on the same shelf with your Iggy & the Stooges and Dead Boys discs...
This reissue includes 2 alternate-take bonus tracks from the same '76 session as their debut single (btw, a Crime singles comp is forthcoming someday on Revenant, we're told). Very recommended, punk fans! And, like Jim Jocoy's photo book We're Desperate, a reminder of when living in SF was actually probably pretty cool... not that it's not cool to be here now...but there ain't no freakin' bands like Crime prowling the city anymore these days, no sir!!
MPEG Stream: "San Francisco's Doomed"
MPEG Stream: "Feel The Beat"

CRIME San Francisco's Still Doomed (Swami) lp 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
Kudos to John Reis' Swami label for finally making this long-awaited reissue a reality! San Francisco's Doomed featured Crime demos from '78 and '79, first saw the light of day a decade or so ago, and now is remastered and reissued with two bonus tracks and liner notes and photos and all that. So thanks to Swami, SF's *still* doomed. (It's been a good year for "holy grail" punk cd reissues: first Metal Urbain, now Crime!)
I guess there's three sorts of people reading this review: there's the folks who already know this band and have been waiting and waiting for something on cd and will be down here in, like, two seconds to buy a copy. Then there's those of you who have heard *of* Crime but never really heard them, who are curious if they really were as important, essential, kick ass of a punk band as you've been told... well, they are! So get down here now too. Finally, there's those of you for whom Crime is just another name, maybe you've heard of maybe not, but it's got no special significance. For you, the history lesson (in brief): Crime released their first single in '76, proclaiming themselves to be San Francisco's "First and Only Rock and Roll Band". That hyperbole of course ain't quite true but indicates the level of punk attitude you're in for here. Hard rocking, fast, and snotty, Crime were violent and stylish -- they kicked out the jams in SFPD uniforms and shades! This definitely belongs on the same shelf with your Iggy & the Stooges and Dead Boys discs...
This reissue includes 2 alternate-take bonus tracks from the same '76 session as their debut single (btw, a Crime singles comp is forthcoming someday on Revenant, we're told). Very recommended, punk fans! And, like Jim Jocoy's photo book We're Desperate, a reminder of when living in SF was actually probably pretty cool... not that it's not cool to be here now...but there ain't no freakin' bands like Crime prowling the city anymore these days, no sir!!
MPEG Stream: "San Francisco's Doomed"
MPEG Stream: "Feel The Beat"

CRIPPLE BASTARDS Misantropo A Senso Unico (Deaf American) cd 11.98
The misanthropic Italian grindcore legends, the one and only Cripple Bastards, return with a brand-new full-length (no, not another singles collection!) on former Brutal Truth drummer Rich Hoak's Deaf American imprint. Giulio the Bastard, Alberto the Crippler, and the rest of the band continue their career of negative, brutal, political grind, as always spitting out short blasts of fast, noisy punk metal with secret prog-rock leanings, recorded raw and lo-fi on shitty equipment (but sounding fantastic). There's either 16 or 109 songs on here, depending on how you count the final track "94 x Flashback di Massacro" which is a re-recording of an old 94-track demo tape!
RealAudio clip: "Misantropo A Senso Unico"

CRISIS Holocaust Hymns (Apop Records) cd 21.00
One of many bands to call themselves Crisis, the British punk Crisis formed in 1977, forging alliances with Rock Against Racism and the Socialist Workers Party. Thus, Crisis established themselves as one of the earliest punk bands to use a musical platform as a vehicle to promote a leftist agenda. Musically, Crisis focused on the tight aggressive punk blueprint already established by The Buzzcocks and Warsaw; and the band broadcast their political messages through rudimentary / easily-decipherable lyrics in the form of anthemic proclamations delivered with an urgent cockney sneer. Over their brief four year career, Crisis' principal songwriters Douglas Pearce and Tony Wakeford (both of whom went on to form Death In June in 1981 with Wakeford later founding Sol Invictus) became disillusioned with the Trotskyist agenda they first espoused and acquired positions that would be more aligned with the aesthetics of anarchism. Holocaust Hymns compiles all of the tracks from their Hymns Of Faith mini LP as well as the tracks from their Peel Sessions and their three singles. Holocaust Hymns is a very important punk document that acts as a curious counterpoint to the bands that came after Crisis, most notably Death In June who has nurtured much controversy around their neo-Nazi imagery.
MPEG Stream: "Holocaust"
MPEG Stream: "White Youth"
MPEG Stream: "Frustration"

CROWPATH Red On Chrome (Willowtip) cd 14.98

CRUSHED BUTLER Uncrushed (Radio Heartbeat) lp 17.98
NOW AVAILABLE ON VINYL, with a bonus track NOT on the cd version...
We heard a lot about this before we got it in which fired up our curiosity just a little bit. Like it says in the title, this obscure post-mod trio with the cool name has been trumpeted as the "first punks" to come outta Blighty, kicking out the jams with an antisocial sneer and snarl long before the Sex Pistols and the Damned and all the rest blew up in '77. And on the strength of the seven tracks here recorded circa 1969-1971, they were indeed pretty darn punk and ahead of their time (at least, in terms of bands who made it into the recording studio). Loud fast rules with these guys, most of the tracks being uptempo rockers, though the lumbering "Love Fighter" will be welcomed by all '70s proto-metal lovers, and supports the argument that these guys are just as much a proto-metal outfit as proto-punk, being something that fans of Buffalo, Toad, Budgie, Nazareth or Black Sabbath would enjoy. Indeed, some of the riffing on here might quite well remind you of Sabbath, and we weren't surprised to learn that they'd opened for the likes of UFO and Atomic Rooster. Metal? Punk? Same dif back then really. The distortion, fuzz, and 'raw power' attitude on display should qualify 'em as pioneers in either camp. Crushed Butler were heavier than the Pink Fairies, anyway, and that (awesome) band is already rightly heralded as punks before their time. So we'd say that the legend of Crushed Butler is hereby confirmed... alongside the Fairies and Third World War and a few others in England (and the Stooges in the States, of course, and some European freaks too) they trashed the happy hippy scene of the day for something uglier, grottier and more dangerous.
Anyone into metal/punk/hard rock history should find this quite a blast.
Before the cd edition came out, there was a 10" vinyl version of this, but that's long gone and this new 12" vinyl edition, as we said, includes bonus material not on the 10" OR the cd.
MPEG Stream: "It's My Life"
MPEG Stream: "Factory Grime"

CRUSHED BUTLER Uncrushed: First Punks From The British Underground 1969-1971 (RPM) cd 17.98
We heard a lot about this before we got it in which fired up our curiosity just a little bit. Like it says in the title, this obscure post-mod trio with the cool name has been trumpeted as the "first punks" to come outta Blighty, kicking out the jams with an antisocial sneer and snarl long before the Sex Pistols and the Damned and all the rest blew up in '77. And on the strength of the seven tracks here recorded circa 1969-1971, they were indeed pretty darn punk and ahead of their time (at least, in terms of bands who made it into the recording studio). Loud fast rules with these guys, most of the tracks being uptempo rockers, though the lumbering "Love Fighter" will be welcomed by all '70s proto-metal lovers, and supports the argument that these guys are just as much a proto-metal outfit as proto-punk, being something that fans of Buffalo, Toad, Budgie, Nazareth or Black Sabbath would enjoy. Indeed, some of the riffing on here might quite well remind you of Sabbath, and we weren't surprised to learn that they'd opened for the likes of UFO and Atomic Rooster. Metal? Punk? Same dif back then really. The distortion, fuzz, and 'raw power' attitude on display should qualify 'em as pioneers in either camp. Crushed Butler were heavier than the Pink Fairies, anyway, and that (awesome) band is already rightly heralded as punks before their time. So we'd say that the legend of Crushed Butler is hereby confirmed... alongside the Fairies and Third World War and a few others in England (and the Stooges in the States, of course, and some European freaks too) they trashed the happy hippy scene of the day for something uglier, grottier and more dangerous.
This digipack cd (a slightly expanded version of a 10" released a few years back) boasts in-depth liner notes and archival graphics. There's just two drawbacks: it's only 21 minutes long, and that's only because of the inclusion of an alternate version of what's probably our least favorite song as a bonus track. BUT it's 21 minutes that anyone into metal/punk/hard rock history should find quite a blast.
MPEG Stream: "It's My Life"
MPEG Stream: "Factory Grime"

CURL UP AND DIE The One Above All, The End Of All That Is (Revelation) cd 13.98

CURLUPANDDIE But The Past Ain't Through With Us (Revelation) cd ep 9.98
This Las Vegas metalcore outfit returns with part 2 to their previous We May Be Through With The Past... cdep. So you can expect more of their heaviness and clever, oft lengthy song titles -- better'n The Locust, some of 'em. This disc's "Nuclear Waste? Bring That Shit. (We Want A State Full Of Radiated Super Heroes)" really can't be beat. And like the first ep, this is decorated with nifty but fake Chris Ware / Acme Novelty Library artwork ("We hope you never see this travesty of a mockery of a sham" is what they say to him in the liner notes).
After seeing Curlupanddie lurching across the stage, opening for Darkest Hour a while back, I'm a firm fan. And this disc is more evidence of their abilities. They merge Coalesce, Today Is The Day, and black metal while remaining open to a lot of other sorts of experimentation. The fourth of the four songs on here, "God Is In His Heaven, All Is Right With The World" is the kind of thing that will get your housemates coming in and asking, is that the same record you had on a second ago? as it does the metal / post rock hybrid thing that's all the rage with the kids these days while bringing in even weirder elements like sly breakbeat backing and melodic mellow indie-rockisms. Cool. Hopefully they'll never have to join the army (as per song #2: "If This Band Thing Doesn't Pan Out We're Joining The Army").
MPEG Stream: "Nuclear Waste? Bring That Shit..."
MPEG Stream: "If This Band Thing Doesn't Pan Out, We're Joing The Army"

CURLUPANDDIE We May Be Through With The Past... (Status) cd ep 9.98
This six-song ep is the latest cd offering from Las Vegas metalcore act Curlupanddie. Screaming, crushing metalcore a la Converge, Coalesce and old Cave In. A buncha crazy kids who we can always count on for great, A Minor Forest-esque song titles (e.g. "I Don't Give A Shit If I'm In Outer Darkness, I'll Make Friends") and swank graphic design along with their superior metalcore. This disc sports fake Chris Ware artwork (though Chris Ware does gets thanked, so maybe he approved of the, uh, emulation?), which is a bit puzzling. Much like the drum machine weirdness on the disc's final track... Like we said, crazy kids.
MPEG Stream: "I Hate Almost Every Person I Come In Contact With"
MPEG Stream: "Utah: The Whoopie Cushion Of America"

CURSED II (Goodfellow Records) cd 14.98

DA WILLYS Get Ugly (Leather Lung) cd 10.98
Every now and again, it's always healthy to rock out to some good, old fashion, trashy, hard hitting, fuzz drenched garage rock. All the better if the band is trashy as heck, we're talkin' Stooges meets the Misfits, or something like that. Either way, Da Willys is a garage punk machine, too cool for school with a KILLER female vocalist who sounds remarkably like to Danzig. YES! Pretty straight-forward stuff, guitar driven songs full of drunken swagger and bad boy (or girl) aggression and raw energy. Exactly how we like it.
MPEG Stream: "NY Stomp"
MPEG Stream: "What Dey Say"

DADFAG Scenic Abuse (Broken Rekids) cd 11.98
With so much of San Francisco's music scene lately dominated by blown out garage rock and charming garage pop it's kind of refreshing to encounter a local band operating in a completely different orbit. Dadfag carry the spirit of dirty, sloppy and dangerous damaged punk. Like Lydia Lunch jamming with The Fall and Flipper or Pretty On The Inside era Hole. Scenic Abuse is filled with urgent and irreverent sounds that tap into the more warped and reckless side of artpunk glory. Like early Bikini Kill stripped of its righteousness and doused instead in danger and unpredictability. We love how within their uptempo, fully charged, fucked up sound there is still room for variety, as they show different sides to their sound throughout the record. We're also reminded a bit in spirit of the now defunct San Francisco relentless noise punk band So So Many White White Tigers. We're always stoked to see folks find a way to use the influence of punk in a way that doesn't feel tired or played out, and Dadfag have succeeded quite nicely in bringing their own energy and vision to a legacy that will always ring so loud and true.
MPEG Stream: "Interrogation"
MPEG Stream: "Down Baby"
MPEG Stream: "Repetition"

DAMNED, THE Damned Damned Damned: 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Castle Music) 3cd 26.00
All the Damned you will ever want or need on 3 cds. Damn!

DAMNED, THE Neat Neat Neat - The Alternative Anthology (Sanctuary) 2cd 25.00

DAMNED, THE The Black Album (Chiswick) 2cd 26.00

DARKEST HOUR Undoing Ruin (Victory) cd 14.98
There sure seems to be a lot of mediocre metalcore bands around these days, metalcore is the pop punk of this decade. Every kid is mixing in some heartfelt emotion with their pounding metallic pummel. Thankfully Darkest Hour is not one of them. These guys have been chuggin' along since 1995, believe it or not. In 2003 they released Hidden Hands Of A Sadist Nation which was a dark and brutal masterpiece that channelled the Swedish style of the late 90's through a modern metal aesthetic. The follow-up is this here disc and is called Undoing Ruin and their label has done them no favors touting it as "the next Ride the Lightning" or "the next Slaughter of the Soul". Not really fair to US or THEM. Time, as always, is the only way to tellŠ
What Undoing Ruin brings is this: lots of back and forth chunka-chunkage, some dry-throated screaming, lots of mid-tempo Mastodon-like drumming with loads of little fills and splashes, some killer melodic twin dive-bomber leads whipping wildly back and forth but always in control. For all you metal "purists" out there who would never dare listen to a "Victory Band" or some crappy metalcore band, do yourself a favor, swallow your pride and check these guys out!
If Darkest Hour were on Relapse odds are they would be way better positioned to hit their target audience: metalheads. that said, they don't seem to be doing such a bad job turning little punks onto some very heavy metal! There are even some brief acoustic breaks and cool little melodic bits sprinkled here and there, but it's not long before the pummeling onslaught renews. Reminds us of former metallic greats like Beyond Possession, the Accused, there's even some serious Slayer Reign In Blood / Meshuggah style fretboard dynamics goin' on. You gotta love that.
There is NOTHING emo or screamo or even hardcore about this release despite the label affiliation. Darkest Hour just keep getting better and better, tighter and heavier, and the proof is in the epic /melodic / power / thrash / core of Undoing Ruin.
MPEG Stream: "This Will Outlive Us"
MPEG Stream: "Tranquil"

DARKTHRONE F.O.A.D. (Peaceville) cd 16.98
If metal fans/dilettantes Circle were to actually make a metal album, as opposed to a "metal" album (one that in the end really sounds like Circle), maybe it would come out something like F.O.A.D., the latest (number thirteen, uh oh!) full-length from Norwegian black metal icons Darkthrone. This album, entitled F.O.A.D. (which stands for something Off And Die, you figure it out), is a collection of nine songs, each one of them with a specific inspiration or inspirations that will resonate with all true metal fans, which Darkthrone obviously are. We know this not just 'cause the old school vibe of these songs, retro-riffed and raw and fueled with punkish attitude, but also 'cause Darkthrone drummer Fenriz has kindly provided notes on each track in the photo-illustrated cd booklet. So you can scope snapshots of Darkthrone's summer camping trips whilst reading about how the track "Canadian Metal" is lyrically a tribute to their favorite Canadian metal bands (natch) but musically is inspired more by (non-Canadian bands) DeathStrike, Onslaught, Darkthrone and Motorhead -- and, for the heck of it, is dedicated to their Central American fans! Or learn that the song "The Church of True Metal" is dedicated to Manilla Road and the late singer of another '80s American true metal cult, Omen. Or see that Fenriz claims that "Pervertor Of The 7 Gates" is inspired by "Axegrinder/Darkthrone, Humble Pie (!), Celtic Frost (duh), Impostor... and Poison Idea!". You may have noted how ridiculously, circularly self-referential (reverential?) it is, when several times they cite Darkthrone (themselves!) among a particular track's influences. At least they're being honest!
The cd booklet also includes a shopping list of 20 true metal (mostly, though The Residents are on here too) recommendations from Fenriz and guitarist Nocturno Culto, their suggestions to get your music listening back on the proper, perverse track. Can't argue with any of their picks, and in fact we're gonna be on the lookout for the few we didn't already have, but again it's a funny thing to find in a cd booklet. We guess they're concerned about "the kids" these days not knowing what's what.
But the reason we mentioned Circle above is 'cause this seems to be a very "conceptual" metal album, metal for metal's sake made by fans in a very explicit and nostalgic fashion. There's a metallic version of Comic Book Guy, record-collector nerdism in equal doses with a punk WTF? approach. Circle calls it NWOFHM. Darkthrone's making NWOBHM. No it doesn't compare to any of their past classics like A Blaze In The Northern Sky or Transylvanian Hunger. Less grim, more grins.
This sort of thing tends to demystify what is (was?) one of the seminal, scary bands from the notorious Nordic church-burning, corpse-painted black metal scene. But we've already gotten the idea that Darkthrone don't take themselves too seriously anymore, and maybe never did, nor do they care what other folks think. We realized that long ago when we read an interview with 'em that mainly talked about how much they loved the Simpsons TV show. Also there was the silly message that Andee once got on his answering from Fenriz (thanks to a mutual friend who was over in Norway working on an as-yet-unreleased black metal documentary). And of course not long ago we reviewed the DVD of Nocturno Culto's bewilderingly mundane home movies. The curtain has been pulled back, and what we find are two none-too-serious yet none-more-black dudes from Norway who loooooove metal (and camping). And happen to be fuckin' Darkthrone. So they can say F.O.A.D. then you gotta take it. If it's too crude and dumb and retrogressive and punk for you, fuck off and die. Otherwise, let the headbanging commence.
MPEG Stream: "These Shores Are Damned"
MPEG Stream: "Canadian Metal"

DAUGHTERS Canada Songs (Robotic Empire) cd 10.98
Gonna try to make this review a short one, not because this record isn't great, because it is, but just because it's only eleven minutes long. That's right, eleven minutes. Ten songs in eleven minutes. That should give you a clue as to what you're in for. Somehow though it doesn't seem like a rip off since the Daughters jam more parts and notes and insanity into a minute long song than most bands fit in a whole record. Ultra spastic, maniacal grinding prog metal punk is what we're talking here. A la the Locust, An Albatross, Horse The Band and all those bands that take twice as long setting up as they do playing their entire set! Just set your cd player on repeat and listen to Canada Songs over and over and over and over. You'll want to anyway this record is so good. From the same label that brought us the great Circle Takes The Square record from a few lists back!
MPEG Stream: "Fur Beach"
MPEG Stream: "Jones From Indiana"
MPEG Stream: "Pants, Meet Shit"

DAUGHTERS Hell Songs (Hydra Head) cd 12.98

MPEG Stream: "Fiery"
MPEG Stream: "Recorded Inside A Pyramid"
MPEG Stream: "Fiesty Snake-Woman"

DAVID COPPERFUCK Chalet Chalet (Party Turtle) 7" 5.98

DE FACTO How Do You Dub (ReSTART) cd 10.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second cd from De Facto (featuring Omar and Cedric formerly of At The Drive-In... not to be confused with Mars Volta which is their other current project) comes by way of ReStart Records in El Paso, TX. We should note that of the eight tracks included, two ("Coaxial" and "Thick Vinyl Plate") can also be found on their first album "Megaton Shotblast" released on Gold Standard Laboratories. Leaning a bit heavier on the electronics this time around. Continuing on in their twisted, dark and dubby sonic explorations.
RealAudio clip: "Nux Vomica / Coaxialreturn"

DE FACTO How Do You Dub (ReSTART) lp 9.98
THIS IS CURRENTLY OUT OF PRINT OR OTHERWISE UNAVAILABLE TO US AT THE MOMENT, SO PLEASE DO NOT ORDER IT. SORRY.
The second cd from De Facto (featuring Omar and Cedric formerly of At The Drive-In... not to be confused with Mars Volta which is their other current project) comes by way of ReStart Records in El Paso, TX. We should note that of the eight tracks included, two ("Coaxial" and "Thick Vinyl Plate") can also be found on their first album "Megaton Shotblast" released on Gold Standard Laboratories. Leaning a bit heavier on the electronics this time around. Continuing on in their twisted, dark and dubby sonic explorations.

DE KIFT s/t (Mississippi) 7" 5.98
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
A companion release to accompany the MISSISSIPPI RECORDS reissue of De Kift's debut full length Yverzucht, this 7" was recorded the year before, and could very well be the first actual De Kift release, as we mentioned in the review of the lp, De kift's sound was classic Dutch crusty punk with a dash of cabaret, jagged and angular and tightly wound, fuzzed out bass, clattery percussion, dark and driving, but also frenzied and wild and over the top. Maybe imagine the Pogues, if they were crusty punks from Holland, jamming out in some crazy squat in the late eighties, and that's basically De Kift. Very cool, and pretty much unlike anything you've heard (except maybe The Ex, a little bit).
The packaging on this is fantastic, a printed 6 panel matte finish sleeve, with drawings and lyrics, the record pressed on nice thick vinyl as well.

DE KIFT Yverzucht (Mississippi) lp 12.98
**MISSISSIPPI RECORDS ALERT**
Another strange cool release from the mighty MISSISSIPPI RECORDS!! Who besides being obsessed with old time country, blues and gospel, also seem to have a thing for European punk rock, a la The Ex, who have had a couple records reissued on Mississippi, and now the label has released on vinyl (of course) the very first record from De Kift, a Dutch ensemble with links to The Ex, and with whom they share some sonic similarities, although De Kift are definitely their own strange and mysterious beast.
The sound of Yverzucht (originally released in 1989) is a blast of classic Dutch crusty punk with a dash of cabaret, jagged and angular and tightly wound, fuzzed out bass, clattery percussion, dark and driving, but also frenzied and wild and over the top. Maybe imagine the Pogues, if they were crusty punks from Holland, jamming out in some crazy squat in the late eighties, and that's basically De Kift. Very cool, and pretty much unlike anything you've heard (except maybe the Ex, a little bit).
Killer packaging too, it is Mississippi after all. Thick vinyl, old looking black and white sleeves, and a printed lyric insert.

DEAD AND GONE The Beautician (GSL) cd 10.98
From right out of the starting blocks, Dead And Gone's comin' at ya full force - whether it be at a sinisterly creeping pace or a raging hardcore pummel-fest. Angry, festering vocals hoarsely growl over a thick, grumbling rhythm section and jaggedly angular guitars. Whereas their past releases have been marred by slipshod loose ends and murky rough edges, "The Beautician" contains some of Dead And Gone's most focused tracks to date. Fans of the GSL roster will certainly not be disappointed. Barrelling and beefy.
RealAudio clip: "Leave The Dead To Bury The Dead"
RealAudio clip: "Black Hole Heart"