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!
While not the “thrash” LP I had heard rumored (there is one thrasher), it is definitely more of a rocker than their previous outing. What’s even more interesting is the fact that the RAMONES now have a few “political” songs; actual “peace” songs. Take that, you wimps!
A very abrasive one-man punk band with a rhythm machine that strongly advocates a political pacifist course of thought and action. Both the lyrics and music are intense and non-wimpy, with good guitar. No trendy politics here at all, and John Dwyer backs up his intelligent lyrics with an extensive reading list and the addresses of many organizations. Recommended.
Despite all rumors and confusion, POISON IDEA rages with rapid-fire, foaming bites of outrageous energy. This is what you’ve been waiting for. This band deals out the goods with frenetic, hammering madness and rabid intensity thrash-style compositions.
This new 100 FLOWERS release combines their usual rhythmic post-punk stylistic devices with a somewhat rawer production. They’ve always used guitars in an awkward, interesting way, but here there’s more overall rumble and punch that I would have anticipated. Pretty good.
Recorded in ’81, we find ourselves in an Orange County invasion of Mexico. While the sound quality is not so hot, the burritos were. The music, on the other hand, maybe should have not made the trip. “Meester, you wanna buy my tape?”
Billed as “the wildest rock ’n’ roll song ever,” the title track of this 1959 release is pretty wild R’n’R, but doesn’t really hold up with today’s frantic HC. I’ve also heard some wilder ’50s stuff, but this ’50s bar band (not unlike the Northwest’s WAILERS) does kick ass. The two B-side tracks are more rockabilly/R’n’R, a bit like the EVERLY BROS.
Not sure if they’re a “fuck” band (hee-hee), but supposedly they’ve been around since ’78 (no, not ’69). Recorded both in studios and live, this is “LA sleaze punk” at its best (?). A collectible period piece.
Abrasive, droning noise with a heavy bass and some disorienting guitar frills. The A-side highlights the less-than-joyous vocals, whereas the flip, true to its name, focuses attention on the dissonant, repetitive instrumentals. MISSION FOR CHRIST sure knows how to make people feel alienated, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing.
MALEFICE’s highly distinctive musical approach incorporates elements of thrash and hard rock into a near-psychotic performing style. Of the three songs on this EP, the title track rips with an unbridled instrumental fury reminiscent of the NEOS, while the other compositions boast somewhat less passion. This is good.
LAST RIGHTS, who are already defunct, showcase a chunky, mid-tempo punk attack on this 45. The guitar sound is dense and heavy, the tunes are eminently suitable for singing along, and their controversial singer Choke (ex-NEGATIVE FX) has a mean voice. It’s hard to determine what the songs are about, but they nonetheless improve with each listen.
Try to imagine a sort of early HALF JAPANESE garage style meeting in the real teen world—this totally destroys! A well done bit of trash. (Not thrash, you Europeans!!)
They describe themselves as playing “somewhere between metal and punk.” Yes, it’s true. They do. Honest. Sort of a MISFITS on downers. Actually, it’s more melodic metal than punk.
Never known for being a great live act (too drunk to rock), this line-up of GUN CLUB (same as on the first LP) must’ve had an “off night,” cause they hold it together pretty good. While not nearly as great as that classic debut album, this ’uns perty gud.
An excellent tape that combines short, crisp, and punchy thrash with biting, satirical lyrics. Although the sound is not perfect, it’s of decent quality, and these guys rip with enthusiasm. Tight, too.
The best way to describe this outfit is to say that they’re “new wave.” They have a melodic saxophone, cute vocals, and a rather slow poppish beat. These guys remind me of a million club/bar bands that I never remember except that I got really drunk that night. Fine for some, but not for me.
Garage thrash from the Pacific Northwest. The production quality is very primitive, which adds oomph to E-13’s raunchy attack. There’s nothing radically new here, but their adolescent snottiness, goofy guitar parts (in “Eddie” and “Humor Demons”), and trashy sense of humor remind me of early JFA, and that’s good. Unappetizing cover, too.
A whole LP’s worth of Doc Dart’s “Jerry Lewis” vocals, spitting out all their satirical, biting songs, is a real treat. Not only are all their classics here from their earlier tapes, but the “recordings” interjected between songs are worth the price alone. Hot, weird, and intense political punk!
A four-song “live” release out of Australia that may or may not be a boot. It’s typically raunchy CRAMPS material, and finally contains a recorded version of “Five Years Ahead of My Time,” which they’ve been covering for years.
While sporadically exciting, the CORPSICLES fail to live up to the promise of their fine debut 45 with this album. The instrumental sound on these biting punk numbers is sharp and abrasive, but the melodies follow the guitar chordings too much, making for lackluster songwriting. The thrasher, “Scene,” is a good example of their more accomplished material.
Although people I know found this album disappointing, I really like it. The CHEEPSKATES may have that poppier, organ-based sound that some of us ’60s punk fanatics don’t approve of, but they’ve retained a loud guitar assault and the ability to build up to a wall of sound when necessary. They also happen to write great tunes that stick in your head, so I don’t see any problem at all here. Recommended.
Anything from the BUTTHOLE SURFERS is great by me, so taking that into account… here’s another great one from the rrreal rrrockers themselves. This live 12″ contains most of the material on the first EP with two extra tracks: “Cowboy Bob” and a short, surreal ditty called “Dance of the Cobras.” These guys are such a great live band that hearing the whole five-piece with live banter is a real treat and worth the investment.
Chunky ’77-style punk from Northern Illinois. The speed is medium and the song structures are appealingly basic, but BLATANT DISSENT’s disarming live humor doesn’t really survive the transition to tape and their sporadically exciting guitar parts are unfortunately muffled by the bass-heavy recording here. More excitement needs to be generated next time.
A mysterious split single in a plain white sleeve. While the HAPPY SCHIZOIDS play a fairly uninteresting minor-chord pop number, ASBESTOS ROCKPILE plays a really crazed ditty, “Industrial Religion,” that is musically stark with its repetitive fuzzed guitar and beat—but has lots of sound effects and ominous, sputtering vocals that satirize big religion. Worthwhile for that track alone.
This release doesn’t come off as well as the band does live. Somehow here, the vocals seem almost annoying, and the instrumentation lacks the power they can display. Still, it’s not horrible by any means—just not as good as it could have been.
A four-band comp of current NZ bands, one (FIVE YEAR MISSION) that goes as far back as ’79. K-4 are pretty experimental, Á la PREFIX, CORRECTIVE TRAINING are fairly standard ’78 punk, REX THE FISH have a female vocalist and a moody post-punk sound, and the aforementioned FYM, who are the speediest, but are still within a traditional punk beat.
Some pretty well-known bands from around Europe are featured here: INFERNO, NEUROTIC ARSEHOLES, NUCLEAR, M.A.F., RAZZIA, and J.R.’s MOTHERFUCKERS AND THE HOLY GHOST from Germany; PANDEMONIUM from Holland; DESTRUCKTIONS and RATTUS from Finland; ANTI-CIMEX from Sweden. There’s some live, some studio—my faves are RATTUS and PANDEMONIUM.
This one concentrates on the Dutch scene (’65-’68). Just as today there is great punk in Holland (BGK, PANDEMONIUM, etc.), there was a flourishing scene back then, too. We’re given some hot tracks by the OUTSIDERS, MOTIONS, JAY-JAYS, etc., and a few klunkers, but it’s overall a worthwhile addition for collectors.
45 bands? From all over the world? This is one of the better thrash-attack tapes I’ve heard. While the sound quality is decent-to-good, the energy level is good-to-great. Powerful.
An international comp with MENTAL CRISIS (US), ATROX (UK), CAPSILTA, KIELLETTY, KLIMAX, and CHINAPPI (Finland). This tape rocks hard and long.
An intense thrash tape, with mostly German bands (TODISCHER, M.A.F., SCAPEGOATS, SYPHILIS, LOBOTOMY, SAOBOYS, etc.), some from Holland (FUNERAL ORATION, M.O.G., MURDER INC. III, etc.), England (PANIC STRICKEN), US (DIET OF WORMS, SADISTIC EXPLOITS), and Sweden (CRUDE SS, AVSKUM, MOB 47). Sound quality is basically good.
This compilation is put out by a Swedish alternative studio that supplies free time for recording. This contains hot stuff by E.A.T.E.R., NYX NEGATIVE, BRISTLES, GUNNER ZIDE, AVSKUM, S.S.G., SIX-TEN REDLÖS, and SVEA SKANDAL. Some of it has been already released on vinyl, but it’s still a good representation of today’s powerful Swedish punk/HC.
A very lengthy compilation that alternates between studio demo tracks and barely recognizable live recordings. There are a few better-known bands (SUBHUMANS, DESTRUCTORS, BRISTLES, HATES, etc .), and a lot of younger outfits (DECEASED, ACID ATTACK, NO BRAIN CELLS, DEATH ZONE, and countless others). It’s a decent buy, if you can stand the changes.
This recent Danish compilation is a real letdown. While it does contain some hot tracks (one by WAR OF DESTRUCTION, another by ELECTRIC DEADS—same one as on MRR’s comp), a decent SODS cut, and one passable FRESHLY RIOTS track, the rest is post-punk/new wave drivel that’s unlistenable. Too bad.
An exciting dose of live Japanese punk. This outfit has some potent riffs with hummable songs structures, but a studio recording of this material would be great. ZOLGE should be an exhilarating live band; the power on this record is raw and potent.
On one track, they sound like NICO meets modern post-punk, while on another, they sound more like Aborigine tribesmen. My fave, though, is “Run Amok,” which sounds like a cross between SoCal femme thrash and powerful UK punk. A great track.
A driving two-song release that is basically thrash with some metal/rock guitar bits thrown in. Liked the thrash parts, loathed the leads—cant have everything.
Some well done and well produced pop/punk, with occasional gnarly thrash interspersed (like the title track). Some of their obvious influences are the RAMONES and UK SUBS, and maybe some of the ’77-ish Australian punk bands. This band rocks.
Dedicated to SKY SAXON, ROKY ERICKSON, etc., you may know what you’re getting into. Actually, while there is a definite ’60s punk sound here, there are aspects of more modern forms of punk too, making it interesting. It’s unfortunately not wildly psychedelic, the guitarist doing mainly some “mood” stuff with all his echoes. Gimme the real thing.
Metal riffs and infuriating lead guitar breaks mar this somewhat nondescript album of heavy metal-punk from Winnipeg’s UNWANTED. There’s good energy and responsible lyric content on this one, but the uninspired music leaves me cold. The numbers “Party Degs” and the LP’s title track are adequate, but hardly appealing. Too bad.
There’s more than a strong touch of early GBH/DISCHARGE-style vocals and sound on this EP, though the music is a bit more melodic in places. There’s good power on these three songs, but not the wall-of-sound of the aforementioned bands. Good debut.
A foot-tapping pop-punk release from Australia that reminds me of the halcyon days of British hard pop (1979-’80). I’m a sucker for good melodies backed by loud guitars, and “Danger in My Mind” fits that bill well. The production could be rawer, and the B-side is almost post-punky, but this still deserves a listen.
Medium-speed thrash and fast punk are T.S.T.’s tempo territory; catchy sing-alongs are their lyrical lode. This eight-song job rocks steady—even their cover of DION’s “Teenager in Love.”
Since they’re not happy about their split LP, or the label, this band has put out their own tape. I imagine that they’re not really happy with this either, as it’s not a “garage” or “live” recording (which they feel is “real” punk), but is more studio stuff. Personally, even though the drum and bass could be fuller, it’s an excellent tape. Punk and thrash.
On their second EP, Sweden’s S.S.G. reveal a startling schizophrenia. The A-side contains two irresistible tuneful numbers with sing-along choruses and a variety of crude yet fetching guitar segments, whereas the flipside contains a pair of hookless, dull songs. I guess it’s just one of nature’s many mysteries.
Quite a garagy-sounding tape, with the drums seeming pretty tinny. But the charge of the music tends to overcome that, with the vocals and guitar leading the way through. Energetic as hell!
Gritty, grinding guitar scratchings wail in total banzais of chaotic thrash attacks. PANDEMONIUM tries to play as fast as possible, which doesn’t always work to their favor…but when it does, it’s a howling barrage of mayhem. Good slow, driving intros, with heavy bass haunting this sonic assault.
Again, a New Zealand band with an older punk style. Nothing particularly memorable here, but the singer does, at times, sound a bit like he should’ve been in SOCIAL UNREST.
Some pretty powerful thrash that I bet Pus would like: sloppy, energetic, and echoey, with cool guitar and vocals. Good sound quality too.
This is more like Finland ’82, since it’s totally thrashed out. One side has a previous vocalist, who’s good, but can’t come close to the ragged edge their new one has. Quite intense.
Side one is a re-release of their Slow Death EP of ’79, with two experimental tracks (down and dirty), and two full-on punk tracks. The flip is a long version of the title track, from their Live at Scala record. The Swedish equivalent of early PERE UBU.
