Crucial Youth The United Way cassette
A hilarious, scathing parody of the positive outlook straight edge scene, with songs like “Positive Dental Outlook” and “Posi-Machine.” A total crackup.
MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL
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A hilarious, scathing parody of the positive outlook straight edge scene, with songs like “Positive Dental Outlook” and “Posi-Machine.” A total crackup.
This sucks! Wait, are you kidding? This is a live recording of C.O.C.’s metallic madness and NOTA’s HC barrage, with good production and comes with lyrics. Fuckin’ righteous shit, dude.
This follow-up to their fine debut album, despite some moments of power, shows a decline in songwriting and a notable increase in speedcore tendencies. This band would profit by increasing their influences rather than narrowing them.
While I wasn’t impressed by their debut single, this album is really something to crow about. Strip down to a hard-edged bluesy sound, all the songs have that really fervent sound similar to DMZ/LYRES. Very cool.
Both German bands here come right in your face with power crossover music like that of BLAST, C.O.C., and early BLACK FLAG. Lots of stop and go thrash, melodic raw vocals, and even some tedious speedcore riffs. Lyrically, both bands communicate a lot of energy and concern.
I’m not too keen on live recordings unless they’re amazingly electric, conveying a dynamic unavailable in a studio. As far as this one goes, it’s okay, giving you a good idea of the RIFLES’ hard-driving Australian rock meets early punk. But special? No.
More fun in the mud and sun from the anal outlaws. It’s kinda hard to do a review on these jokers; if you haven’t figured it out yet, then you never will. Loud, noisy, fuzzy, ugly, and wonderful.
Decent but relatively unexciting pop punk à la ’78 or so. Eight songs and all, with little variation from the mid-tempo beat.
This German garage band has three nice songs in more of a “jamming” style with some pretty good interplay between the electric organ and guitar. Limited to 750 copies.
Can’t read the lyrics sheet — it’s kind of black and red print, not synchronized. It does say “UKHC” in several places, does have a song called “Best of Both Worlds,” but after hearing it and seeing the cover, it should be called “UKHM” …and I understand why the lyrics don’t matter.
Eccentric as hell, BOMB go for varied song structures which go from soft to loud, sung to screamed, weird to punky. The experiment wore thin on me, but suckers for novelty might give this a listen.
On their debut LP, this band gathers together a very consistent clutch of pop-punk tunes, all of which meld Scottish vocal motifs, catchy power chord progressions, good melodies, and interesting lyrics. BLYTH POWER has a unique sound exploited well here. A solid LP.
Hot!! Blazing thrash with unique embellishments and male and female vocals. A dozen songs, good stuff!
Very powerful Swedish HC with “fuck you” lyrics and attitude. Words cover conformity, Freddy Krueger, and more. Good clean fun.
An Xmas record I just got a hold of, and excellent pop punk it is. Four songs, all with a characteristic French punk rhythm machine, fuzz guitars, good hooks, and even bagpipes. Cool.
Mid-tempo speed metal without the leads. Gruff-ola vocals, repetitive riffs, good production, and a song called “In My Eyes” that isn’t the song we all know. Oh, the band’s from Sweden.
This New Zealand band opts for a pop-punk approach with good guitar bite on their second EP. Of the three tracks, “Deja Vu” and “Friends” are especially strong, and aficionados of upbeat melodic punk will enjoy this one a lot. Very good.
I had all but given up on these lads when, “boom,” they surprised me. Besides some of the mellower stuff they’ve done recently, this LP includes folk, blues, spoken word, industrial, and a really decent portion of raw, well-done punk a la CRASS. Includes a great cover of one of punk’s all time classics, ATVs “How Much Longer?”
Highly intelligent and politicized anarcho-punk here, which delivers in packaging, lyrics, and music. Supporting this kind of indie effort is a pleasure.
These guys are as punk as their name! They play basic powerful slow-to-fast punk with angry vocals and hateful lyrics.
Shitty adolescent cover, great shitty rough production, and this six song “best of” 7″ is probably already rare. If you can’t get it — don’t sweat it — he’s got a tape coming out on ROIR as well as a full LP on Homestead soon. Jesus…
Okay, okay, so dumb lyrics aren’t just limited to the USA. Actually, less than half the tunes here have gore-related subject matter, while the rest are introspective and brooding, not so lame at all. Musically, mostly speedy thrash, but more musical than speedcore, as well as some slower tunes.
Recorded 3-½ years ago, I’m surprised this LP finally saw the light of day. If it had come out back then, the YOUNG LIONS would have been seen as the forerunners of today’s “HC gone eclectic” bands. One side maintains the HC edge while indulging in rock, metal, and other slight influences — powerful sound. The other side sounds like another band entirely — pop, country, etc. Good lyrics throughout, but schizo as hell.
DRI-ish thrash with a slight shade of personality. They’re competent and possess good lyrics, but need to develop their own style.
Punk attitude/lyrics meet post-punk almost wave music. Assets: great female vocals, sometimes haunting moods which remind me of several recent UK femme-vocal bands. Drawbacks: doesn’t quite pack the punch of their live set. Comes with free 70’s Top 40 schlock 7″.
All from Spain, most of the bands here favor a psychotic thrash sound, although a healthy dose of ska/reggae appears. Hottest tracks are from B.A.P., ANTI-DOGMATIKSS, and SUBTERRANEAN KIDS. Good job.
A metalcore sampler, featuring ANNIHILATED, CIVILIZED SOCIETY?, LORD CRUCIFIER, and DESECRATORS. Unless you’re really into speed metal, this is pretty hard to take, with guitar wanking all over the fucking place. Only CIVILISED SOCIETY?’s cut is listenable, but a better version appears on their LP. Some good lyrics, and a collective effort.
A good sampling of West German bands (CERESIT, CIRCLE OF SIGTIU, etc.), a few U.S. bands (SEIZURE, BURNT, etc.), and more. This is mostly forceful stuff, so pick this up.
Thrash or die, indeed! DEPRESSION, GASH, PERDITION, and five more Aussie acts blast out some rad shit, all with pretty good production. Booklet enclosed. Cool.
A 14-song, 8 band punk/hardcore comp tape from the Philippines. Some notable material from BETRAYED, PHILIPPINE VIOLATORS, and COLLISION to name a few. Nice package, lyrics, and band info included.
A comp from the garage, featuring punky and thrashed out noises from STATE OF CONFUSION, BORN WITHOUT A FACE, S.N.O.T., and more. Some good stuff here.
A solid Filipino comp with hot cuts by the BETRAYED, WUDS, and PUBLIC SCANDAL. Mostly punk, but a couple rockabilly tracks are thrown in.
Contains many “big” European acts like INFERNO, RATTUS, WRETCHED, INSTIGATORS, etc., plus smaller acts scattered around the globe. Lots of good stuff here.
This on-going chronicle of unknowns swings to Sweden, 1964-67. Most of the tracks are Mersey, Mod, or R’n’B, with the hottest coming from the PALMES, HEP STARS, and TAGES. This volume, unlike the others, contains many live tracks, some of which aren’t the hottest sound quality.
Ahhh, some diversity — 14 bands, 24 songs, from Spain to the USA and over to Japan. Styles ranging from ska inspired pop-punk to speedy hardcore mix this international sampler up nicely. Great sound quality and some notables such as STEVE STILETTO and TARGETS plus a nice package make this a winner.
A blazing hot dose of live HC by the likes of BGK, LEEWAY, FALSE LIBERTY, and many more. Sound quality is generally good. Snag up this fucker.
This Philippine comp features four bands, BETRAYED, PRIVATE STOCK, GI AND THE IDIOTS, and the WUDS, all recorded live at the last show at Katrina’s (a club at Manila). Good quality punk rock, includes band photos and has a nice package to boot.
A way hot tape starring CLOWN ALLEY, LEEWAY, RAPED TEENAGERS, VICIOUS CIRCLE, and many more. Ninety minutes of great material, so get this, dude!
Another comp of European outfits, showcasing a variety of punk and hardcore sounds. Most notable are GEPOPEL, DISACCORD, and PLAGUE. Good selection of material here.
This decent North American comp has something for every musical taste: powerful hardcore, funnypunk, melodic rock, reggae, a 70’s cover and a couple of mid-tempo standard tunes. F.O.D., A.O.D., DISSONANCE, and SCRAM stand out from the pack, but there could have been better tracks from the name bands overall.
Relatively powerful punk with a considerable amount of gusto. Cool guitar sound, pretty rockin’ stuff here.
Another of Rev. Norb’s “finds”, and the A-side is again barely palatable pop wave, but the flip has a more punk edge. As Norb said, “OK, so they ain’t quite the PAGANS or AVENGERS, but this ain’t S.F.”
A re-release of this retarded song. Trubee sent off ultra-weird lyrics to a Nashville recording outfit, doubting they would ever record it. They did, and Mykel Board now wants us all to know and enjoy it. A short but sweet joke.
Mostly pretty tedious 77-ish punk with a few catchy choruses to make some cuts memorable. Lyrics are in the “personal rebellion” vein. Okay.
Distinctive, nasal vocal meld with a gritty instrumental sound not unlike a cross between BLACK FLAG and traditional fast-and-loud HC. The result is unique and effective a fair proportion of the time, though consistency isn’t S.D.T.’s strong suit. Aggressive and loud.
The re-formed STARVATION ARMY showcases four medium-tempo rockish punk songs on this EP, which lack much in the way of power, melody, or interesting lyrics. Below the standard.
An energetic trio that has a pretty sparse (guitar is largely rhythmic) and clean sound. Goofy lyrics and boppin’ tunes are the thing here, and should appeal to a broad range of listeners.
This well-known English ska outfit fares quite well indeed on this selection of early cuts. Terrific tunes and energetic performances make this record special — in particular the bouncy version of “Monkey Man.” One of the better Peel session releases.
Three songs this time, two of which are up-tempo pop-punk ringers, and another which builds up (too little too late). Again, the obvious BUZZCOCKS influence, and again, enjoyable.
The special appeal of this record is in the fact that it’s the first real taste most people have had (aside from a pathetic bootleg) of the early, punk SLITS. Some familiar, and some unfamiliar material — all of it very raw and quite interesting. Recommended.
