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!
For such a young thrash band, POIKKEUSTILA are pretty good. The guitar work is hot, as is the singing—those Finns have some of the most ragged voices—but the drumming lags behind a bit. If they get that hurdle cleared, they’ll be excellent.
The poor quality recording here unfortunately obscures some decent ’79-style punk. It’s a bit passé, but the speeded-up tempo compensates for that.
Here’s one for diehard fans of the SAINTS and RADIO BIRDMAN. This new Canadian group has the same heavy yet tasty double-guitar sound, half-sneering/half-sung ’60s punk vocals, and high-quality songwriting as their Australian mentors. Aside from a couple of slow numbers (“Walls Are Falling In” and “Action”), these gutsy blasts are pretty damn irresistible.
Huh? Anyone expecting an album full of incredible thrashers like “Fat Boys” and “Little Boys” will be in for a shock after hearing this. Aside from the ripping “Arabenrein,” this LP reflects a synthesis of their earlier post-punk style and their recent hardcore influence, in that it weds loud, punky guitars to melodic mid-tempo post-punk compositions with sporadic and (mercifully) restrained sax accompaniment. Even so, I like it.
Another crudely produced Italian indie release with intelligent political themes. UPSET NOISE has a raw thrash attack that’s tighter and catchier than that country’s norm, and hence remind me of a bit of the great INDIGESTI. WARFARE? has a slightly slower English-influenced sound, except for one experimental number (“Anarchia I”). A good blend.
Another extraordinary German hardcore band. VORKRIEGSJUGEND (who shouldn’t be mistaken for noise merchants VORKRIEGSPHASE) offer a potent mixture of tight, powerful thrashers with ultra-catchy choruses (like “Ratten” and “Haute Spass, Morgen Tod”) and slower, anguished sing-alongs (“Vaterland” and “Bombe”). If groups like this keep arising, Germany will become the new center of high-quality European punk in no time.
Still another thunderous, exciting EP from Italy’s WRETCHED. The compositions on this record are somewhat longer than on their previous efforts, but the messy, explosive thrash sound remains highly effective, especially on steamrollers like “Mai Arrendersi” and the title track. No question about it, here’s another winner. Bravo!
Another Boston Tea Party tape from Denmark. An excellent collection of tasty bands featuring the awesome “Havoc Zest Appeal” by WAR OF DESTRUCTION, who terrorize with their unique stylings. Also present are Denmark’s RAZOR BLADES, ILLEGAL 80, and ACTINGS OF A MAD MAN, the forging thrash of BAYONET from Finland, and MELÖSA HEMORROJDER from Sweden. A nice dose of crafty melodies.
A very roughly made tape that makes it difficult to appreciate the music. What I can hear is a fairly musical post-punk style, or maybe even pre-punk STOOGE-ish sounding rock. On the eerie side.
Some really garagy stuff can be found here, both in terms of production and style. PUBLIC HUMILIATION mainly offers punk rock with a simplistic beat, fun retardo lyrics, and an occasional freak-out (that they advertise on the lyric sheet as “wild solo”).
Hmmm. Early LA-style art damage meets jazz-pop meets death rock, with a dash of thrash thrown in. Happy Squid label fans will be happy, as will THROBBING GRISTLE fans. FALL fans might. I’m not too excited.
The NEW MR. ORRS are a bunch of weirdos! There’s a lot of experimentation here, and when they do launch into “songs” per se, it reminds me of a jazzier MEAT PUPPETS.
Hmm. This tape has sort of a LYDIA LUNCH, “No Wave”-type of vocal quality and overall feel, combined with an amateurish CRAMPS-ish rock ’n’ roll garage feel. Interesting and enjoyable.
A six-song debut by a local band that contains at least one former member of INTENSIFIED CHAOS. The music is in the classical punk style, with both English ’78 influences and US surf sounds. It won’t set the world on fire, but it’s good clean fun.
“Bad trip” music in a noise/psych/jazzy vein, designed to put you in a very unpleasant mood. If you were already there in the first place, put CHOIR OF PAIN on and you won’t feel alone anymore.
Poppy rock-cum-punk. Sometimes it clicks well, as in the great garage punk title track, but more often it leans too much towards commerciality. It’ll be interesting to see which direction they more in.
Excuse my German, but the six ditties on this release sound like light-hearted, goofy funnypunk in the best tradition of ERIC HYSTERIC and friends. While an inability to understand the lyrics hurts one’s capacity to enjoy this record fully, DER DURSTIGE MANN still manages to produce some fairly catchy mid-tempo punk—especially “Kronprinz Rudolfs Letzte Liebe” and the title cut—with somewhat overloud vocals. Pleasant enough.
Boisterous, growling hardcore from Austria. Named after a politician shot in office—sound familiar?—the DEAD NITTELS thrust forth a bombardment of rough-arsed exertion with raunchy vocals and intense punches of rapid momentum. This barking assault really shows some strenuous roars at establishing Austrian punk in a torpedoing exhibit of alert disorder and exhilarating rhythms. Exciting and young!
A not-too-exciting German EP in the mid-tempo punk tradition. The title song is boisterous and catchy, despite its well-worn sentiments, but the two cuts on the B-side lack distinguishing thematic or musical features (except for the cool bridges in “No Rights”). OK.
This vinyl offering from a new German band contains one fast punk song with a nervous, screechy guitar ending (“Fleisch Rollt”), and one hot little thrasher with a sudden chorus and more sharp guitar parts. Good.
This powerful album features an energetic, thrashy sound aided by killer production and some truly inventive compositions. Songs like “Lange Cesichter” and the superbly arranged “Dein Leben” add variety to a solid collection of tracks that contain some excellent guitar work. A consistent, strongly recommended record.
Perhaps not as consistently appealing as their debut EP and album, this new release from JFA takes a few more musical chances, with tracks ranging from punk and surf to weird psychedelia. Two instrumentals (“Tentpeg” and the rollicking surf tune “Pipetruck”) are the songs with the most melodic interest here, but the old JFA wit resurfaces more convincingly in “I Love Broads.” Although mixed in terms of quality, this LP just might be worth a gamble.
Skin-ripping thrash chock full of blistering spasms that detonate this Tennessee invasion in the vein of CAUSE FOR ALARM or DRI. KORO thrusts a powerful convulsion of firing speed and rapid guitar screaming that swirls in furious catapults of overall chaos. This scorcher is hard to find.
Jazzy-metal instrumentation, extremely gruff vocals, and smart-ass lyrics are the hallmarks of this debut from KILLDOZER. A lot of weirdness seems to emanate from up Wisconsin way, and this interesting release on the TAR BABIES’ label keeps with that tradition.
In France, even the skin bands seem to have a skunk sound rather than the pure “Oi” approach, with its sandpaper vocals, and the WARRIOR KIDS are no exception. On this 45, there are two catchy mid-tempo numbers—”Adolescent” has a much better chorus, but the flip has a more innovative guitar intro that reminds me of CRISIS.
An intense album chock full of Brazilian hardcore. Most of RATOS DE PORÃO’s songs are adrenalin thrashers in the Finnish style, though some are ultra-fast (like “Caos” and “Que Vergonha”), and some have blistering leads (like “Sistema de Protesto” and the title cut), and others are slower ditties with more melodies or sing-along qualities (like “Não me Importo” and “Asas da Vingansa”). The bass-heavy production tends to muffle the piercing guitar tone, but raging blitzes like “Poluição Atômica” and “Periferia” will shake your cranium.
The title song is a hilarious trashing of the EVERLY BROTHERS’ classic “All I Have To Do Is Dream,” with altered X-rated lyrics. The flip contains one slow, tuneless Oi cut (“In the Name of Science”) and a much better speedier number (“Suicide”). The production is absurdly muddy, and the B-side label has the wrong song order.
Tremendous explosions of maniac proportions that blisters as it smiles in triumph. Titanic nitro charges of frizzling speed and determined spunk packed by well-written lyrics snorted out in a raging fury. This entire effort reminds me of the NEOS. It is irresistible and crude, as it devastates with hammering force. A band that should not go unnoticed by compilers around the globe.
I was under the impression that INTERTERROR were a thrash band, but their well-recorded vinyl debut features two chunky classical punk cuts. “Lili Marlene” is a bouncy, sarcastic punked-out version of the old song sung by homesick German soldiers; the flip is a faster, more driving number with bitter anti-repression lyrics and a terrific join-in chorus. Highly enjoyable music with serious themes.
A newer Dutch hardcore band. Their thrashers are distinguished by strong instrumentals, hook-filled choruses with alternating female/male vocals, gutsy female lead singing (like Julie from SIN 34), and progressive political themes; they also do slower punkers (“Hart…” and “Candlelight”) of which only the former has teeth. Though not as frenetic as I expected after Tim’s remarks about the INDIREKT material on the Bijna 2000 Jaar Geleden compilation (in MRR #12), this EP has a couple of mini-classics (like “Shell Helpt”).
Solid Danish post-punk. Good bass and drum interaction and quality guitar work are in full display on DIE KAPELLE’s debut EP, and the songs are also pretty good (especially “The Kingdom of Despair”). MARCH VIOLETS fans should appreciate this, but punks might be put off by the overlong tracks and underemphasized guitar sound.
Almost every time I go into a record store, they’ve got a new MILKSHAKES record in stock. Amazing! This, their first American release, has tracks from several of their earlier UK platters, and “showcases” their early ’60s R&B/instrumental/KINKS/Merseybeat sound at its best. Despite their self-imposed limitations, these ex-POP RIVETS are undeniably fun.
Despite SELF ABUSE’s good intentions, this is a boring example of current Britpunk. The songs have an awkward feel, the laid-back production disguises the existence of two guitars, and the overall effect is not very exciting. Maybe next time.
The recording quality here is pretty poor, so the potential of bands like CHUMBAWAMBA, the PASSION KILLERS, KULTUREKAMPF, the CHOIRBOYS, etc. is barely discernible. I know that a lot of the punks who put out such tapes are skint, but is it really worth the effort for anyone but fanatical fans? Maybe. I did like what I could hear of the INSTIGATORS, though.
VERTICAL HOLD is essentially a moody post-punk band with undistorted guitars, as the two songs on this EP’s B-side demonstrate. But “Angel Dust” is the really worthwhile cut here, with its loping tempo, punkier structure, boss background vocals, and clever bass/drum-oriented bridge.
For some reason, ANIMAL FARM sounds like a punkish band from the ’79 era (e.g. the SHAPES). They have a certain quirky melodic quality, a clever wit, and a cleaner guitar sound than one normally finds today. “Model Soldier” is a sarcastic look at enlistees; the flip seems to be a continuation of the Jilted John/Julie story. Neat-o.
If you’re familiar with the FLAMIN’ GROOVIES’ Shake Some Action album, you’ll have a general idea what this third Barracudas long-player sounds like. They even look like the GROOVIES! Personally, I think a lot of the material here is pedestrian—it certainly doesn’t even begin to approach their best—but if you like that melodic, jangly-guitar folk-rockish genre, some of it might click.
Every song on BROKEN BONES’ second 7″ is a pile-driving metallic thrash cut with good vocal and instrumental hooks. In retrospect, it’s clear that Bones played a major role in DISCHARGE’s early greatness, and if he can control his tendency to do too much guitar wanking, his new band should overwhelm the current incarnation of DISCHARGE.
This 45 is a vast improvement over their rather lame debut. The main difference is that there’s much more musical muscle behind their psychobilly this time around. “The Cave” is a hot guitar-picking number with screams; the other is a more traditional, less interesting track.
More RAMONES-y punk-pop from ERAZERHEAD. “Summertime Now” is a fast, danceable paean to summer with tasty guitar backing; the flip is a much weaker pop ballad with a dull sax. A 50/50 proposition.
Compelling female vocals of haunting persuasion highlight this melodic outfit called COLD DANCE, whose sound touches base with a SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES flavor. Gloomy but brave, with a persistence of moody guitar noises that beat with booming frequency. Interesting and effective.
Vigorous Finnish thrash strikes again! SEKAANNUS storm out with a firing presto-paced assailment of tumultuous melodies, as the vocalist snarls out cries and wails in the tradition of TERVEET KÄDET’s Läjä. Brisk activity with plucking bass clamor provide this onslaught with a sound influenced by a combination of T.K. and RATTUS. MASSACRE’s compelling momentum blares out some potent dashes of powerful force, a harder approach with swift twists.
This 45 from Australia’s SCIENTISTS is a fine new example of their distinctive fusion of influences from the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s. “We Had Love” is a mini-classic with sneering CRAMPS-ish vocals, a pulsating rhythm, and a wall of feedbacking guitars in the true ’60s tradition; the less-impressive B-side has a garagy post-punk structure and some nifty slide guitar.
A remarkably enjoyable X-mas 7″ from DIE TOTEN HOSEN. The title cut has a silly spoken intro before breaking into their well-known brand of melodic funnypunk; “Willi’s Weisse Weihnacht” is slower and not particularly impressive. But “Knecht Rubrect’s Fahrt” is the really outstanding track here, with its clean, heavy instrumentation, indefatigable sing-along choruses, and hilarious theme.
An exceptionally fine example of contemporary German hardcore, combining full-tilt thrash power with TOTENHOSEN-size vocal hooks, catchy instrumental arrangements, and some “on target” political themes (especially in “Geld regiert die Welt”). “Massenhysterie” is a choice cut that’ll have you singing along and waving your arms all over the place. The TARGETS contain former members of SLIME.
A strong Britpunk release. Most of the songs are in the standard fast- to medium-tempo range, the lyrics are good, and the vocals are rather high-pitched, but it’s the quality guitar arrangements, some well-placed sound effects, and a clever bridge or two that make this EP stand out from the pack. “All Creatures…” is an exceptional track.
A good new 45 from INSTANT AGONY. “Nicely Does It” has a bouncy medium-paced beat, a boss guitar riff, and ironic lyrics; the flip lacks the latter, but adds a better chorus. Both cuts definitely grow on you.
Three bands appear on this flexi accompanying a recent issue of the ’60s-oriented 99th Floor fanzine. PLASTICLAND produce their delightful psychedelic pop, and the FUZZTONES do a more-than-adequate cover of the MOVING SIDEWALKS’ song “99th Floor,” but it’s the VIPERS that deliver the coup de grace with a wonderfully fuzzed-out ’60s punk rave-up.
A highly varied selection of tunes, all from records already or soon-to-be released. Ultra-demented tracks by the likes of VOX POP and the MENTORS may not appeal to everyone’s tastes, but I was delighted by the compositions from the MINUTEMEN, SIN 34, and the hysterical reworking of “I Am Woman” by ACIDHEAD. Enjoyable, by and large.
The non-hardcore equivalent of Get Off My Back. Not surprisingly, it ranges from the excellent (MOTHER MAY I’s moody psychedelic pop, PRETTY POISON’s haunting dance-oriented pop) to the decent (light ’60s-style pop by the IMPOSSIBLE YEARS, BOOK OF LOVE, and the RED BUCKETS, as well as BUNNYDRUM’s eerie post-punk) to the awful (SENSORY FIX’s annoying meanderings and the STICKMEN’s jazz-damage). The mixing and editing is courtesy of former LOS MICROWAVE David Javelosa.
