According
to the ever-reliable source for information that is the internet, Top
40 Hits is considered a bit of a disappointment in the worldwide
circles of AxCx fans (or at least it was upon it’s initial release
date back in 1996). But, you know me, I don’t give a fuck about
what the internet says (lawls, hardcore) because for me, Top 40 Hits
shows AxCx at their messiest, blurriest best. Granted, this record is
missing the offensive content that the band would become so
well-known for (well, if you discount the fact that the band is
called Anal Cunt, that is), but this is still a stone cold noisecore
classic.
The first
few times I heard this in my teens I wasn’t too sure what to make
of the whole thing. Seth had it up for free download (possibly
against Earache’s permission?) off his old website, back before
AxCx reformed for a final time and Seth replaced his personal webpage
with that of Wicked Sick Records. The first few songs are mixed so low that the first thing the record
will have you doing is reaching for the volume control with a
confused expression on your face. I have come to learn that these
tracks were mixed this way in order to rumble the living fuck out of
speaker cones, and maybe even damage them in the process. Cheers,
Anal Cunt!
Despite the
mushy, low-fi blur tracks that carried over from the previous LP
(only on a much lower frequency, ha ha), we see the first budding
AxCx jokey tracks. Tracks such as “Art Fag” and “Shut Up Mike”
are a nod to what type of stuff was to dominate on future AxCx
records. The best thing about Top 40 Hits however, is the full and
amazing production that the band finally dedicated to their small
selection of sludgey, doom-metal paced tracks. Some of the best Anal
Cunt tracks are their slow, Eyehategod-esque sludge epics. Seth
Putnam is a fantastic vocalist, and to confine listening of his
talents to just Anal Cunt is definitely a waste; the guy was an
absolute legend, there is no doubt.
So all in
all, Top 40 Hits does seem like a bit of a jumbled up mix of styles
that don’t really go together; it doesn’t help that it seems that
the sludge songs, jokey songs and blurry, old school noisecore songs
all seem to have come from different recording sessions, which
totally annihilates any chance this album had at attaining a flow. I
think maybe that this is what put a lot of people off when it first
come out; that AxCx had literally just thrown out a whole bunch of
shit on one CD and called it a new album. But once you get over the
flow issues, you can appreciate each parts for what they really are;
fucking amazing! Ha ha! This was released on Earache back in 1996.
I dunno why this vid has the old artwork for the Fuckin' A album attached to it - perhaps the uploader is a cretinous swine ;)
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