Weekend Nachos - Worthless

Maybe this kinda production style on late 2000s / early 2010s powerviolence and hardcore hasn't aged all that well, but the music of Weekend Nachos surely has. The group have been quiet for a while now, but 2011's Worthless stands the test of time, as far as heavy music goes. 

Glue - Demo 2012

I need more stuff like this in my life! I stumbled across this little hardcore punk gem last month, and haven't been able to get enough of it. It's not exactly aeons long with six tracks clocking in at just over eight minutes, but it's a dirty ride, with a proper old-school production style. The bass drum is so fat, and whilst the guitars have Dead Kennedys written all over them, the riffs are busy and fresh. 

There's not a bad track here in all honesty, but my favourites are the intro, "The Jokes Write Themselves" and the fast/slow fuckery of the closing tune, "Falling Apart". Glue are from Texas, in the US of A and seem to have a bit of a cult following, with the 7" version of this demo selling for up to £20 on Discogs, which is a hefty price for a 7" EP. Have a goosey.

Total Abuse - Total Abuse

Total Abuse play messy, vicious hardcore with a downtuned, sludgy twist. Tracks range from the short 'n' fast machine gun cannon to more plodding, progressive numbers, and to the downright weird and unusual. This self-titled record is noisy as fuck, and probably has some roots in the harsh noise or avant garde. 

I originally mistook this as a full length album but it's classed as an EP, which is unusual because y'know, records just shy of half hour usually get counted as albums in these circles. Not that it particularly matters. It still sounds amazing. I'm not really into hardcore punk that much so it's always fuckin' great when I hear something that I can really enjoy jamming. It's probably Total Abuse's noisy tendancies that help them fall into my comfort zone. Some of the slower songs actually sound a bit like Big Black, for example, "Banned In Austin" sees layers of screeching dissonant guitars fighting over a plodding bassline.

Check it out!

Dwarves - Blood Guts & Pussy

I absolutely love (The) Dwarves. They are probably one of the most fun bands I’ve seen live, and all their albums (even the dodgy pop punk ones) are bursting with a childish, youthful punk energy, even as the band continue to age in the physical world. Blood Guts & Pussy shows a much more hardcore punk orientated side to Dwarves that unfortunately quickly died out as they adopted a cleaner, more mainstream sound. It matters not though, as for me, Blood Guts & Pussy is an absolute classic in the fields of short, fast and loud.

It’s very cheeky to call this an album as it’s over really, really quickly, but I don’t suppose its short enough to be an EP either. Opener “Back Seat Of My Car” is probably the most punk thing ever, as is “Drug Store” and the enormously rude “Let’s Fuck”. “Fuck You Up And Get High” is one of the simplest yet greatest tunes written in the history of music, while “Flesh Tantrum” is a stomping, bass-heavy mid-pacer dripping with malice. “You make my skin crawl!” spits Blag Dahlia, over and over.

The only downside with Blood Guts & Pussy is that it kinda just fizzles out; there’s no real ending as such, it just starts, fucks you up and then finishes abruptly. I guess it could be fleshed out a bit more with a few more solid tracks but then again I think that more than likely detract from the whole point.

Yeah, I’m Gonna…

Napalm Death - Scum

How does one approach a review of a revered classic that spawned a genre? There are various debates about whether Scum was the first grindcore record, but there can be no argument that it was the first one that blew up on any particular scale. It was the album that cemented this weird sounding “grindcore” as a real thing. It also put Earache on the map, and seeded the entire worldwide scene that would follow. That’s a pretty big achievement if you ask me.

The most hilarious thing about Scum is Napalm Death’s ridiculously OTT revolving door line up, with the only thing Sides A and B both have in common is drummer Mick Harris. I think personally I prefer Side A as it has a much better sound, but in reality the real grindy stuff happens on Side B, with track after track after track of pummelling punk goodness. Obviously Side A has “The Kill”, “Scum”, “Siege Of Power” and the classic “You Suffer” but Side B just churns out a gauntlet of really similar sounding tracks – not that there isn’t any decent tunage here too (“Life?”, “Deceiver”, “Conservative Shithead”, “Divine Death” and “Dragnet” to name a few).

It’s because of the disjoined “is it a record / isn’t it a record?” argument that I think most people prefer the follow up, From Enslavement To Obliteration, which is a lot more solid and expands upon the sounds on Side B of Scum (with the same line up, no less) and also comes across as more of a full album rather than two separate studio sessions crammed together on one disc. Scum is, in all honesty, a bit shakey, and isn’t something that I listen to on a regular basis. But you gotta know your roots. I spend most of my time in grind and its freakish subgenres, so it’s only right that now and then the granddaddy of grindcore albums gets a spin.

Hey, I own it three times, so it can’t be that bad!

Human Touch - Human Touch

Wow, this fucking rules! Human Touch is some insane shit, playing grind-speed hardcore punk with frenetic, worryingly spastic female vocals. Imagine mixing Minor Threat with Despite You, or something. I'd absolutely love to see this band perform live, because after only 5 songs (only one which has any substantial length) I'm left a little shocked, and most definitely wanting more. 

The sound is spot on; definitely paying homage to true hardcore production styles of old but incorporating modern clarity. There's nothing worse than losing amazing grind or hardcore in a muddy, shitty mix, and thankfully that doesn't happen here. Apparently this EP was recorded in an attic apartment, so kudos to whoever recorded it, because it sounds great. 

I'll shut up now. Just make sure you press play. 

Type O Negative - Bloody Kisses

Now here's something I have listened the absolute fucking death out of during the last few months. I've always been a casual Type O Negative fan but I've always put off buying their albums, because I'm lazy as fuck like that. Anyways, I stumbled upon a free copy of this when I worked clearing out unwanted crap from charity shops, and for the next couple of hours in the van I became baptised in the awesome world of Type O Negative. Man, why didn't anyone tell me about this shit before? Mix equal parts doom metal and hardcore punk with hammy keyboards, then dress the whole thing up to take the piss out of a subculture that takes itself far too seriously, and bam - you've got the perfect recipe! 

The opening tracks (20 minutes on their own) "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1" are stone-cold goth metal classics. Taking the piss or no, Pete Steele & Chums churned out more promise and epicness in two fucking tracks than in the entire discographies of Sisters Of Mercy and HIM combined. "Kill All The White People" marries hardcore punk and Sabbath-worship riffage in a puzzling yet amazing duality. "Summer Breeze" sounds as the title promises, and "We Hate Everyone" pulverises the listener with more hardcore punk-influenced terror before the sheer epic of "Bloody Kisses" kicks in. Nearly 11 minutes long, the title track is a mammoth depressing beast. Shit sends fucking shivers up my spine, yo - especially during the piano solo (hahaha). Joking or otherwise, it's a seriously heavy track and boasts a fucking wicked chorus. "Too Late: Frozen" is another favourite of mine, starting off fast as fuck and slowing down to a doomy pace for the remainder.

I'd absolutely love to see these play live, but I'll never get that chance as Pete Steele sadly died before I developed any real respect for the band. I consider this album to be an absolute staple in my list of legendary metal records. I have only shame and regret for not discovering this total gem of a band any sooner. They have fecking stacks of good songs, but none of the albums live up to the sheer back-to-back quality of tracks on Bloody Kisses, which might just be the definitive goth-related record for me. 

Crank this up and crack out the black nail polish.

The Misfits - Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood

This is one of the more 'brutal' Misfits releases. If anything, it is the fastest, grimiest (studio) recording the band have done. Even the cover art alone is something more crust/grind-looking, although it was released a while before those genres really came into their own. This spins at 33rpm, which is surprising considering how short it is, I was expecting it to be a 45. Still though, Earth A.D. / Wolfs Blood is a short and sweet rampage through some fast-paced, horror-themed hardcore punk.

The speed of this record doesn't stop the few (obligatory) massive Misfits-patent choruses sneaking into a couple of tracks ("Death Comes Ripping", or "Queen Wasp"), with plenty of "whoaaaaaa"s for good measure, but tracks like "Wolfs Blood", "Devilock" and the massively grind-before-grind-existed "Demonomania" (at an impressive 45 seconds in length) are in territory that The Misfits would never stray into again.

 

I have this, and a couple of other Misfits things, on CD already, but I had to get it again, cuz y'know, old punk belongs on vinyl. The CD version however, combines this LP with the Die, Die My Darling 12" single (which I also have separately), and also adds the bonus track "Mommy Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?", which is recorded live. The CD sounds a bit flat though, as with a lot of old shit turned into a digital format, so I (perhaps predictably) recommend purchasing the vinyl version.