For review and radio play consideration:
Please send vinyl (preferred), CD, or cassette releases to MRR, PO Box 3852, Oakland, CA 94609, USA. Maximum Rocknroll wants to review everything that comes out in the world of underground punk rock, hardcore, garage, post-punk, thrash, etc.—no major labels or labels exclusively distributed by major-owned distributors, no reviews of test pressings or promo CDs without final artwork. Please include contact information and let us know where your band is from!
This Aussie ensemble concentrates on catchy songs, all done in a variant of the Mersey style with a slight rockabilly edge. There’s a lot of bouncy poppish fun on this album, though a harder guitar edge would have made it perfect. Pretty good.
Finally, a MESSIAHS record which isn’t on a major label which means I’ll finally add this trio’s powerful rock’n’roll blues to my collection. Psychedelic guitar, singalong lyrics, and a raging rhythm section in four of their old hits.
A chorused guitar sound and sung vocals provide the musical interest on this set of poppish punk songs, with the melody following the guitarwork in most cases. SCOUNDRELS succeed best when their songwriting wins over, but there is an inconsistency in that regard here. Good lyrics.
A compendium of this Aussie band’s material between ’82-84. Their slower tunes appeal to me the most, down and dirty a la STOOGES with lots of guitar noise. Those tunes that approach blues a la NICK CAVE leave me fairly cold, but they are a minority on this release.
Two thrash tunes (just very fast punk, really) and two punkers, all enjoyable. Good change of pace from metal/HC.
The humorous themes and high-velocity HC energy here reminds me of BEDLAM’s debut record, albeit with slightly less punch. Includes a fun version of a STALIN track, “Powerplug”, as well as eight other short ditties. Not great, but good.
A post-punk feeling comes from this LP, but the power and message is in no way compromised. The structure of each song is straightforward, bold, and creative. Loud, raw sound mixed with strong vocals that deal with personal philosophies and enjoyments. A lot of variety makes this surprising and striking.
A three-song job in the throbbing, rhythmic vein. All the “fed up with generic punk” types will like this generic post-punk stuff.
R.I.F. specializes in power chord punk with sung melodies, in the accessible Swedish style. The five tracks here don’t connect in the same way as the ASTA KASK or TREDJE KONET, but the record is well-crafted and definitely hummable. Very good.
This band has a basic thrash sound with a good bit of melody, but the heartfelt lyrics and good production sets this tape apart. Comes with booklet (with translated lyrics).
A very intense and rowdy thrash release. Seven songs in all, blazing and tight with manic vocals. A cut above, and an excellent debut.
Medium-fast paced neo-psych. High production, moody atmosphere, strong drums, and jangly guitars. Decent but a tad slick.
I could’ve guessed this trio was from NY by their thrash/metal/mosh sound, which reminds me a little of the CRUMBSUCKERS. Lyrics are in the abstract vein. Good job.
More of that irresistible British noise pop appears here on this second 12″ by the PRIMITIVES. The title track has the same mid-tempo guitar power and good female vocals that made their debut so special, though the two songs on the flip are lighter and slower.
21 songs of melodic yet powerful punk, alternating between driving and lighter cuts, enhanced by anti-war lyrics. Contains studio and live material.
A four-song release in the pop-punk mold—good pounding beat, lots of powerful clean guitar, and melodic songs and vocals. Sounds more like French punk.
A four-song thrasher with metal-ish solos. Lots of power but pretty generic — you know, flying-V guitars and all.
A three-song standard pop punk/thrash release. Nothing special, but as with most Japanese records, production and taste add. Decent.
Grungy rockin’ punk backed with vocals much like the late Darby Crash. Catchy tunes with personal lyrics dealing with religion, morality, and politics make this worth a try.
These guys call themselves a HC ska band and that’s pretty accurate: upbeat jangly ska tunes with Oi choruses. Mostly energetic stuff here, lotsa fun.
I like this group a whole lot and I think they’ve got some great sounds with them, and that’s why I’m just a little disappointed with this debut LP. They really thrash out here with some cool ideas, but there just aren’t enough great ideas and it suffers a sameness throughout. A good record, but not a great one.
This 3-song job is NO LIP after Roger Armstrong’s departure. Somewhat different, this is hardcore but there’s experimentation or complexity that both add and detract. Can’t say I like the singing, which is too damn clean.
This NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH hails from San Diego, not the Venice band. The lyrics are highly ironic and socially conscious, the instrumentals feature a crisp guitar attack, and the riffy punk ditty, “Man on My Street,” rates as the best cut here. Recommended.
Post-nuclear holocaust speedmetal, part of a new series of demo releases on this label. Eeek!
Rather like fellow Aussies LIME SPIDERS, this outfit opts for that rockin’ power on the A-side, while the ballad on the flip is slower and more “soulful.” Fragile hooks and a lack of real crunch put this one in the second rank.
Up-tempo punk appears on this 4-track EP, which sustains a curious ’78-79 sensibility — but with the typically Japanese gruff vocals. “Mother Fucker” is the only memorable song here, with its Farfisa/guitar backdrop and spunky songwriting.
Sounds a lot like the FALL or CREEPERS, with a steady (monotonous) beat and post-punkish feel.
Rock and roll with definite punk sensibilities or perhaps it’s insensibilities. A fun/dumb band a la SAMOANS or DAYGLOS, intentionally (hopefully) retarded lyrics and punk delivery. Singer sounds like he teethed on the HOLLYWOOD ARGYLES (“Alley Oop”) and Handsome Dick Manitoba (DICTATORS).
MOD FUN opts for more of that poppish ’60’s neo-psych, with the only drawback being that a certain telltale wimpiness accompanies the accessibility. Cute background choruses, jangly guitars, not much passion… Okay, I guess.
New recordings here as the band has re-grouped, though a few older songs (re-recorded) appear as well. This does rage throughout, an energetic blast of excitement with a very “live” feel to it. Get it.
A cut above most metal-influenced hardcore bands. There’s an urgency to their music and a feeling of more intelligence/thought than on many such groups, which combined with the hot production makes this highly listenable. Breakneck speed but tight as hell, like early MDC.
Lots of influences pop up here — neo-’60’s, power-pop, power chord punk — and all mixed so much together that no one style predominates. There are a few good songs (“South Africa” is my fave), but LOST PATROL doesn’t strike me as exceptional, either.
An unusual record—not so much in the music (good pop punk), but in how the first song continues onto the flip, and then abruptly changes to the second. Interesting.
Rocking pop music very much in the REPLACEMENTS mold. Four songs.
The NUN rock full out. They’ve always been a rock band and offended in a humorous way, but with this posing girl front cover, posing band back cover, big production, and some trite rock songs they’ve lost their appeal. Only one song I like. What happened?
Christian punk in a simple power chord style abounds on this, the LEAD’s second release to date. The slow songs are boring, the fast rippers have tiresome lead breaks, and the music is largely uninventive. And as to the lyrics…
Garden variety Japanese thrash is presented here — good tempos, passionate screamed vocals, riffy thrash guitar — respectable in all categories, but lacking in that extra emotional punch. And then, perhaps it’s a little too garden variety…
The touch is lighter here than on past KOHU-63 releases. “Salattua Historiaa” has good speed, but none of the three songs here have memorable songwriting or a HC punch. Sounds like they’re going through the motions.
This three-piece hails from the Pacific Northwest and features nine original songs on Side One in the pop-garage rock vein with personal lyrics. Side 2 features cover songs ranging from CCR to the DEAD BOYS. A very strong release with fantastic production!
The material here is about 1-2 years old, but that shouldn’t deter you from picking this disk up. From Japan comes EXECUTE, a mainstay of the HC scene there. Their tunes appeared on a 7″ there, re-released here in all their powerful glory, with little or no metal damage. INFERNO, from Germany, have a bit more melody but at no loss of power — and again no metal overdose. Hot!
The second record by Florida’s twisted answer to the MEATMEN has a mix of arrogance and humor that tries and will annoy and insult just above everyone. While I chuckled the first time I played “Pope John Paul Can Suck My Dick” and “I Wanna Fuck Your Dad”, I just don’t think I’m going to go back to this record. It’s a little like a little kid saying “booger” for the first time — the shit gets old fast.
Ultra-fast R’n’B based rock’n’roll — very cool and lots of fun. Better than most similar neo-’60’s bands.
Wild and woolly don’t even come close to a description to this gent. Here’s a scruffy singer/songwriter whose music is so wild and spastic he can’t teach a band his changes — so he goes it alone on the acoustic and cuts loose with his stylish rockabilly weirdness.
Missed reviewing this a few months ago, so I wanna make up for lost time by saying that this band plays wonderful pop-punk in the tradition of the RAMONES or LURKERS. Get everything they’ve put out.
Slow to mid-tempo punk is mutated by post-punk tendencies on this EP, which manages a gritty (and sometimes wanky) guitar sound abetted by sung vocals. Completely unnotable, stylistically or musically.
The band says they sound like the STOOGES, AEROSMITH, and the PISTOLS — and guess what? Yup, that’s what they sound like on both tracks here, with a dash of DEAD BOYS.
Necrosis adopts a slow, riff-laden YARD TRAUMA approach to its macabre theme, while the flip does much the same, with more of that restrained guitar. This record never really blasts off, either vocally or instrumentally.
This European equivalent of GONE—an all-instrumental band—claims to bridge the gap between hard rock and hard core. One such GO_E is enough (too much) for me, though this one does include a lyric sheet for their all-instrumental songs. Hmmmm.
Oh God, another Japanese packaging flipout—comes in a mylar sleeve, the record itself is a picture disc that looks like a circus clown on PCP devised it, and there’s an extra flexi included. After this, the music itself is a letdown.
One side is 33 and contains a pop-ish thrash tune, the other side is 45 and has a grunger and thrasher, both hot. Also hot is the packaging, a multi-colored, flecked white vinyl EP packaged in a fishnet, plastic cover with “sex” written on it. Wild.
