Absurd Attitude - 2000 - North 7"

This was released by Fight Records, so I was expecting manic Finnish thrash.  I was surprised to find some crust similar to AMEBIX or ANTISECT.  ABSURD ATTITUDE were from Tampere, Finland, but the sound is very late-80's Britain.  The guitar has a nice watery sound, but is able to switch over to a more metallic riff when necessary.  The rhythm section lays down a very solid foundation with a tribal edge.  There are two singers that have a similar tone, instead of going for the EXTREME NOISE TERROR-style low grunts and high-pitched screams.  The recording sounds nice with the guitars and vocals dominating the mix.  The drums are still prominent, but the cymbals are a little muted, which makes for a better sound.  There is an unlisted track at the end of the B-side.  It's a mid-paced instrumental with the occasional reverbed scream.  This is definitely worth picking up if you can find it.  This was ABSURD ATTITUDE's final release.  I will definitely look for their earlier material.

NOTA / Brother Inferior - 1997 - Split 7"

This split was released by Havoc Records and features two bands from two different eras of Tulsa, Oklahoma's hardcore history.  NONE OF THE ABOVE, also known as N.O.T.A., formed circa 1979 and were one of the first, if not the first, hardcore bands from the state.  They were active in the early 80s and broke up in 1987, but have reformed and recorded sporadically since then.  Their two songs here remind me of MDC.  The music is early hardcore: mid-paced with sing-along choruses and the occasional lead.  The lyrics use humor to combat life's problems, like boredom and Nazi skinheads.

BROTHER INFERIOR formed in 1994 and toured and released the bulk of their material in 1997 when this EP was released.  They broke up a few years later.  This music is faster with a slight thrash edge, but that never detracts from the melodies in the songs.  It's refreshing to hear some clean hardcore without any metal influences.  The instruments are nicely separated, and all sound very clear in the mix.  I'll bet the choruses went over great live, as they are easy for a crowd of punks to sing along to.  BROTHER INFERIOR's lyrics are less humorous, but more political.  The only downside to their songs is the use of the Braveheart sample in Freedom's Sons.  Mel Gibson's Scottish accent sounds horrible.

Pontius Pilate - 2004 - Thy Kingdom.com 7"

PONTIUS PILATE hailed from the Pacific Northwest.  They existed for a few short years before breaking up.  One member moved east to Minneapolis and played in PROVOKED.  This was their final recording. 

Their sound is more Seattle than Portland.  There is none of the Motorhead worship so prevalent in the Portland bands.  Instead, PONTIUS PILATE has a lot of mid-range guitar and fast riffs.  The vocals are screamed and almost hysterical, but light years away from being considered emo.  When the vocals are at their fastest, I am reminded of ANTISCHISM.  Both short songs have some incredibly tight, vicious riffing driven by anger and frustration.  The last song includes a violin.  It weaves a melancholy counterpoint into the almost epic angry thrash.  In fact, one of PONTIUS PILATE's strong points is their ability to blend crusty speed with sparser, slower melodies.

The recording has all the instruments balanced, though there could be a bit more bass guitar.  The distorted crunch of the guitars never interferes with the drums or vocals.  Even the fastest track, File Error, never turns into a messy blur.

The lyrics deal with personal and cultural dehumanization.  Track 2, File Error, is particularly relevant today; it deals with people living their lives on the Internet to the exclusion of their human needs.

This is definitely worth tracking down.

Final Massakre - 1999 - The Bells Of Hell Toll The Final Chime 7″

The back of the sleeve proclaims this record to be ‘Full Metal Jacket D-Beat Raw Punk’.  That means this record must be from Portland, OR,  the land of D-Beat Raw Punk.  This short-lived group featured Frank (from ATROCIOUS MADNESS and LEBENDEN TOTEN) on vocals, Brian Hopper (from DETESTATION, HELLSHOCK, etc) on guitar, and Kelly (RESIST, DETESTATION, etc) on drums.  This EP, courtesy of Tribal War Records, features 6 tracks, all played at a furious pace – the longest track is 1:21.  What you get is a solid D-Beat, manic guitar riffs, and some gasoline-throated vocals.
My only criticism of the sound is that the drums and vocals dominate too much.  I like my crust to have a thicker bass guitar sound, but on here the bass only stands out during a break on Death From Below.  There are times when Brian Hopper plays some furious lead breaks, but they are barely heard in the mix.  Only the lead break on We Stand In Silence gets a solid volume boost.  Nonetheless, this is worthy of being in your collection.  FINAL MASSAKRE only issued a few releases and they’re all worth tracking down.

Kylesa - 2002 - 7"

This 7″, released on German label Scorched Earth Policy, features one original and one cover.  The original track, Delusion On Fire, is a great introduction to those unfamiliar with KYLESA.  The dual vocals work well with KYLESA’s modern interpretation of the crust sound.  I’ve always loved the sound of male and female singers playing off each other.  It’s the right amount of soft and hard in the sound.  The rhythm section creates a solid, driving base for the thick guitar riffs to crash over.  The B-Side, a cover of NAUSEA’S Clutches, is the real gem here.  The song is just as apocalyptic as the original.  The recording quality is better than the original, with a solid, thick guitar tone.  This single is worth buying just for this track.

Misery / Extinction Of Mankind - 2001 - Apocalyptic Crust CD

This CD, released by Crimes Against Humanity, is a solid pairing by two bands whose influence has been felt throughout the crust genre.  First up is MISERY, from Minneapolis, MN.  They had been together for almost ten years by the time this was recorded.  Their sound is confident and mature, but still retains that crusty AMEBIX edge to it.  Most of their songs here follow a verse/chorus/verse structure.  My favorite song of theirs on here, One More Day, is quite different.  The lyrics consist of one long verse.  The words are paired up with shifting musical phrases which add a lot of variety to the song.
The other band here, EXTINCTION OF MANKIND, hail from the UK.  They have been around almost as long as MISERY, and also possess a similar musical confidence.  Their sound is similar to MISERY, but their bass guitar is more prominent in the mix.  Their sound is also similar to DOOM, with heavy guitars and gruff vocals.  Most of their songs are mid-paced, but EOM add some thrash bits for flavor.
Overall, this is a mandatory purchase for anyone interested in the crust genre.  My only complaint has to do with the CD’s sequencing.  Instead of having all of MISERY’s tracks, then all of EXTINCTION OF MANKIND’s tracks like a typical split CD, this disc has each band’s tracks interspersed.  Near the end there’s a noticeable difference in recording quality between the two bands.

Implicate - 1999 - Implicate 7"

Implicate, from Middletown NY, only released this one EP.   Middletown is not too far from New York City; Implicate's sound is pure 90'sNYHC.  The guitar displays a nice distorted tone, especially on the chugga-chugga riffs.  The guitarist has no problem going from a cleaner hardcore tone to a faster thrash rhythm, and there's some nice bits of feedback in the songs to help create tension.  The singer has an almost negative, shredded-throat singing style, but the lyrics betray a tendency to be generic.  Lyrical topics include integrity, vegetarianism, trust, and a striving for something better.  I will give the lyricist credit, though, for using words that I don't ever see in hardcore songs, like recruiter or archaic.  There's a bass guitar in there somewhere, but it is rarely heard.  The drummer is a solid player,but tends to rely too much on his cymbals.  Overall, this is a decent release, especially if you like the 90s hardcore sound.  The vocals help push this above mediocrity.

Vivisuk - U.S. Disastwhore 7"

This is the only release by these punks from Lansing, MI.  The music on this record is simple hardcore, sometimes played at near-thrashing speeds.  It reminds me of AUS ROTTEN or some of the UK82 bands with a bit of BLATZ thrown in.  The recording sounds almost live here:  a single-tracked distorted guitar, Steph's caustic vocals, and an adequate rhythm section.  The shouted male vocals provide a good counterpoint to the angry female vocals.  Lyrically, they dislike the rich, cops, and Eugene anarchists in that order.  That last one really had me laughing.  I love punks with a sense of humor!


I might have some copies left in my distro.

Youth Enrage - 1999 - Youth Enrage

First CD by this fastcore band from Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan.
Youth Enrage plays fast and quirky, furious hard core. Most of the songs here are below the one minute mark, but filled with stop/starts, crazy tempo changes, odd time signatures and screamed-at-the-top-of-their-lungs vocals.
They took their name from a Life's Blood song.
Seems the band exists no more.  Too bad they were quite under-rated, because they did pull much more intensity and creativity than most of their "early 2000s fastcore" counterparts...

KAH-ROE-SHI - 2007 - Shi

KAH-ROE-SHI - Shi CD
2007 Bullwhip Records / Third Arm Records / Quiet Still Death Records / Pissed Off Records / Cactus Distro / Protocrust Records / Papakerma / Ricecooker Recordings / Pure Minds Records / Cellulite Records / Theatrical Records / Anock Mayrun Records / Kandar Mosh Distro

1. Submit to Grief
2. On Their Knees
3. Race Don't Exist
4. Deja Vu Beirut
5. Substance
6. Shi
7. Fraud

Includes short live video shot in Singapore, July 2007 at Theater Thrash.

CD -> EAC -> FLAC (With Log and Cue files)

KAH-ROE-SHI are a pummeling hardcore / crust band from Malaysia and have just released their first full length CD with the help of 13 local DIY labels. The name directly translated (from Japanese) means "Death from Overwork" and their lyrics (all in English) speak of breaking out of the shallow existence of modern life. Musically this is pure brutality and nestles somewhere between DYSTOPIA and HIS HERO IS GONE. This is a professionally pressed CD, comes with a nice-looking booklet of lyrics and other writing, and is packaged in a screen-printed CD-sized cloth sack. Very nice. The recently did a split EP with Singapore crust punks PAZAHORA who are another top notch and highly recommended band from SE Asia.


Kah-Roe-Shi 'Shi' CD review on Punk Ping Pong #2

Formally known as UNION OF SLAVES, KAH-ROE-SHI is another Malaysian band that is active nowadays. 7 tracks of heavy hardcore crust a la HIS HERO IS GONE, FROM ASHES RISE, KYLESA and the ilk. The sound production is very good. Not much band really care about their sound production. This kind of music must come with a very heavy and clean sound. I mean very detailed from their guttural vocals to the acoustic intro. I like this cd a lot. Oops..This cd also contains 13 minutes of live video from the band. It's good to use an extra space on cd rather than let it be blank.


KAH-ROE-SHI - "Shi" CD
I have heard these guys on a few of their previous releases and have been very impressed by their variety of darkened crust. This full length did not disappoint. It certainly threw me off with the packaging being a mini burlap sack with their name written in Kanji characters. Admittedly, it took me a couple minutes to figure out this was the killer band from Malaysia KAH-ROE-SHI! Dark, heavy and thick crust-core with clear nods to FROM ASHES RISE and HIS HERO IS GONE. The lyrics of this band are especially good with lots of information and details in the booklet. A 13-label Malaysian collaboration. Great! (NM) - Reviewed by Nick Mangel on Maximum Rock n Roll #306 / Nov '08. 


Kah-Roe-Shi played their first show in 2006 with the name Union Of Slaves. Kah = excess, Roe = labor, Shi = death, translated literally from the Japanese as death from overwork or occupational sudden death. The guilty comrades are Kid (vocals), Tiong (guitar, vocals), Fahmi (bass) and Zul (drums). Related bands: Mass Separation, Tools Of The Trade and Akta Angkasa. Previous release: Indonesian tour demo cd-r & split 7" with Pazahora. Previous tour: Singapore & Indonesia (July-August 2007). Amazing packaging - Hand made silk screened bag.

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FLAC Files

FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality. This is similar to how Zip works, except with FLAC you will get much better compression because it is designed specifically for audio, and you can play back compressed FLAC files in your favorite player (or your car or home stereo, see supported devices) just like you would an MP3 file.

FLAC stands out as the fastest and most widely supported lossless audio codec, and the only one that at once is non-proprietary, is unencumbered by patents, has an open-source reference implementation, has a well documented format and API, and has several other independent implementations.

FLAC is easily playable on your computer using Foobar, DB Poweramp (with FLAC plug-in), MediaMonkey, or Winamp (with the FLAC plug-in).  Or you can always use VLC Player - it plays everything!

You can play FLAC files on portable equipment, but most of them are not manufactured anymore.  You should be able to find them used on the internet or your local electronics shop.  I use a Rio Karma with a flash drive replacing the original hard drive.  It holds about 20 GB, which is about 40 CDs.

The FLAC community uses EAC to rip CDs.  It's important to have your CD/DVD player have the proper offset configured.  It is also important to include the LOG file.  That helps other people know the FLAC files are authentic.  There are still some FLAC files floating around the internet that are really re-encodes from lossy sources.  It would also be helpful to include the CUE file.  EAC can easily burn a CDr with the source FLAC files and the CUE file.

A useful utility to have is Trader's Little Helper.  This utility can encode and decode lots of different lossless audio files (e.g. ape, flac, mkw, or shn files).  It will also test files for MP3 source.  It is freeware.  If you need to decode the FLAC files down to MP3, this is the easiest program to use.

The Comes - 1983 - No Side

THE COMES - NO SIDE

Label: No Side Records
Catalog#: SNSCD-001
Format: CD
Country: JP
Released: 2008
Original Released: 1983

01 No Side (1:41)
02 Case (0:46)
03 Public Cicle (1:11)
04 Wa-Ka-Me (1:47)
05 Sarakedase (1:36)
06 Kyuukyoku (2:19)
07 Baka Koke (2:05)
08 Ningen Kari (2:19)
09 Panic (1:46)
10 Koujou (1:13)
11 Medium (1:58)
12 Kimu (1:05)
13 I Love You (1:45)
14 Dead Boady (1:43)

Lineage: CD(silver) > EAC(secure test & copy) > FLAC (with Log and Cue files)


Lineup: Chitose (vo), Naoki (g), Minoru (b), Matsumura (dr). Produced by The Comes. Digitally remastered by Hashimoto Yoei at Aubrite Mastering Studio.


NOTES

Originally released on Dogma Records (DOGMA 2). Includes 3 live bonus tracks from the "Outsider" compilation (City Rocker Records, 1982).

"The Comes from Tokyo were one of the first Japanese hardcore bands and their eleven song 12" entitled No Side is one of the best early punk records. The band first appeared on the Outsider compilation LP in 1982 along with such seminal Japanese outfits as GISM, Gauze, and Laughin Nose. No Side came out in 1984. The music was fast, rocking hardcore with melodic guitar and a totally insane woman on lead vocals. The songs on this LP combine these hell-shriek vocals, massive hooks, and the stop-start hardcore of Minor Threat, but Comes had a screeching, spastic energy unlike anything in the US. Their follow up LP, 1986's Power Never Die, is apparently a bad metal record. Too bad, but at least some members went on to be in the mighty Lip Cream and are probably still in some band or another..." - Fight Against The Plutocrats blog

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Egofix - 1996 - Eternal Karma tape

EGOFIX - Eternal Karma demo tape
1996 Self-released

A1		????
A2		????
A3		Nocturnal Rites
A4		????
A5		Karmic Eternity
B1		Ride For A Fall
B2		Deep Side Hallucination
B3		Algolagnia
B4		Bestial Mind

• Bass, Vocals – Yamamoto (6)
• Drums – Aono (2)
• Guitar, Vocals – Maekawa

Recorded at:1996.Feb.18 Studio.246

Possibly their only release is this amazing demo tape.  Japanese grindcore at it's finest.



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V/A : Asian Hardcore Compilation (1998)

V/A : Asian HC Compilation
1998 All Systems Fail ASF01

 1     Yani –     The Glory Of War (1)       
2     Charm  –     Couseless       
3     Savor Of Filth –     My Own Hate       
4     Samchung –     Pax Amerikkana       
5     Turtles Jr. –     Die My Girl       
6     Parkinson  –     About A War       
7     Protest  –     (Stop The) War       
8     Kitsch  –     Candy In The Closet       
9     Disc'o Kicks –     Believe Yourself       
10     Desecrate  –     Greedy Bastards = Profits = Another War       
11     Ladybug  –     My Fuckin Bike       
12     Puppen –     Freedom To Defecate       
13     RUX –     Harborside       
14     Demisor –     Mainstream Egoism       
15     Closeminded –     Born Bad       
16     Enslaved Chaos –     Unseen Barriers       
17     No Brain  –     Very Pleasant       
18     Disco Scratch Coke Avoid –     Not D.I.Y.       
19     Yani  –     The Glory Of War (2)       
20     Protest  –     Freedom, Not System       
21     All Stupid –     Sia       
22     Disco Scratch Coke Avoid –     Kill The Nuts       
23     La Haine  –     Tupac Amaru       
24     Jeruji –     Pi Anjingeun       
25     Charm  –     Good Close / Dedicator       
26     Demisor –     Nation Of Bastards       
27     Runtah –     Mega       
28     RUX –     Don't Wake Me Up       
29     Parkinson  –     Stupid Bastard       
30     Samchung –     International Anarchy       
31     Tokyo Sex Whale –     Out Amonst The Evergreens       
32     Kitsch  –     Death Of Three Dogs       
33     Disc'o Kicks –     I Hate Boredom       
34     Desecrate  –     Desecrate       
35     Enslaved Chaos –     I Hate Work       
36     Ladybug  –     Stop       
37     Weeper –     Am I Wrong


CD -> EAC (Offset Configured) -> FLAC (with Log and Cue)
Scans included.

 This CD documents the rise of the Asian and South-East Asian DIY punk scene during the 90s. That was the first opportunity for me to listen to bands from Korea, China or Indonesia. That coincides with the troubled context of the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis. I suppose the access to cable TV in the early 90s, with shows like MTV's Alternative Nation, Mall Punk bands like Green Day & The Offspring, MTV S.E. Asia, Channel [V] did have a non-negligible influence on the birth of the local alternative and underground music scenes. Most of the bands featured on this compilation started during the mid-nineties... Meaning that for most Young Asians back then, the first encounter with different kinds of music was due to the mainstream media, and less by fanzines and tape trading circles, in some ways, places like Korea, Indonesia or Malaysia were quite culturally isolated from the outside world, living under authoritarian regimes during the 80's...
This compilation present a wide diversity of bands and styles of music, covering Straightforward H/C punk, Street Punk, Melodic stuff, Crust/grind...
The bands featured here are:
Tokyo Sex Wale From China,
All Stupid, Closeminded, Jeruji, Puppen, Runtah, Savor of Filth & Turtles Jr. from Indonesia,
Charm, Disco Scratch Coke Avoid, Disc'O Kicks from Japan,
Kitsch, Weeper, RUX, No Brain and Samchung from South Korea,
La Haine from Macau,
Ladybug, all-girl-band from Taiwan,
Enslaved Chaos, and Parkinson from Malaysia,
Demisor, Desecrate and Protest from Singapore,

This great comp was coordinated in Japan, by the same person who produced the Napalm Death/S.O.B. flexi. Good initiative for sure, my only regret is the poor and unimaginative artwork, and the fact this CD didn't feature any bands from the Philippines...
- Brave New World blog

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