Last Days Of Humanity - The Sound Of Rancid Juices Sloshing Around Your Coffin

Oh wow, on first impressions this album sounds absolutely huge on vinyl. There is definitley a depth of tone that CDs just cannot hit, no matter how crystal clear digital production can get. I don't dislike the CD format like some die-hard vinyl fans; I think that certain music is better suited to certain formats. It all depends on the nuisances and over-all sound the band is trying to achieve, I think. This is one of the pitfalls of the modern-day vinyl renaissance; I think that a lot of stuff that is ending up on "deluxe" vinyl really shouldn't be there. That's my two cents, at least!

 

Back to the record at hand; Last Days Of Humanity are an absolute testament to the development of the goregrind genre through the ninities and into the new millenium. Their dank and heavy sound is reminescent of a more classic underground death metal approach, but the song structures and those fucking acrid vocals make sure that things stay firmly lodged in the goregrind ballpark. I don't think Rancid Juices.... has ever sounded so good; this is surely related to what I was saying about certain things belonging to certain formats?

 

I suppose it helps that the album got the remaster and repress treatment thanks to Poland's Fat Ass Records, but still, it sounds fantastic on wax. Speaking of Fat Ass, fucking get a copy of this shit right now! Out of a variety of colours, but it's probably worth mentioning that the colour I have here is limited to one copy only...which I am totally proud and chuffed to pieces about owning. U jelly?

Aphex Twin - I Care Because You Do

Gah, don't you just hate it when 2 x 12"s are rammed into one non-gatefold jacket? Something about this just gets right on my fucking wick, son. If you're gonna fork out for a double album repress on heavy-as-shit vinyl then you might as well go the full hog and be good enough to include a gatefold jacket. This poor bastard is loaded to the gills with discs! Blinkin' heck Warp, it's not like you haven't got the financial clout to do so ;D

Anyway, on with the music! Aphex Twin's I Care Because You Do is a mammoth electronic record of brain damaging proportions. What the hell is going on here then? Ha ha! You would literally be hard pushed to put anymore weirdness into this mixed bag of jarringly different tunes, "songs" and collages of noise. Equal parts relaxing, confusing, uplifting, inspiring and introspective, I Care... runs the gamut of the electronic music genre; pushing the envelope in all four corners at once. People tell me that the Aphex Twin is boring or not challenging enough...well I think those people have had a few too many knocks to the head! This shit is utter genius, hands down!

Boo! Hiss! Get it in a gatefold!

Dead Infection - Start Human Slaughter

I knew that Dead Infection had death metal influences (World Full Of Remains will testify that for you) but until playing Start Human Slaughter I was entirely unaware how far into the genre they actually went at one point. Don't be fooled by the grotesque goregrind cover art, Start Human Slaughter is 100% old school death metal sickness; growly vocals, subterranean tunings, guitars solos and all! Fortunately, this type of music belongs on vinyl so ultra-props to Underground Front Records for reissuing this Polish classic on 12" wax.

 

There's no fucking around here, just straight and to the point, not to mention metal as fuck! Those who need a bit more variety in their tunes will probably find this a bit boring, but I think that the mid-paced death metal (for once) suits the low-quality production style that isn't a million miles away from a more muddy-sounding Symphonies of Sickness. The most surprising thing for me though is the length of the songs, most of which contain ripping solos in the middle eight. I wish I could say that this early Dead Infection record could appeal to the wider death metal audience but alas the production and the cover art will more than likely hinder it to forever remain as a cult classic. Well worth getting if you're into this shit, though.

Regurgitate - Effortless Regurgitation of Bright Red Blood / Concrete Human Torture

This here is the fantastic repress on Power It Up Records. Mine, unfortunately, is not the edition with the bonus 7" (I didn't know it existed when I bought this, which is a shame as I wouldn't have minded paying a bit extra for the whole set). This set contains Effortless Regurgitation... on one slab of wax, and the Concrete Human Torture tape plastered onto a single side of another slab of wax. Adorning side D is a brilliant etching of the old spiky Regurgitate logo. What a brilliant set this is! Shame about the 7", as that too contains an old demo/split thing and it would have been nice to round off this package of old Regurgitate shits.

  

The intro to Effortless.... is one of the most harrowing things ever, and it really sets the mood for the excruciating mix of Discharge meets early Carcass that is to come. I love Regurgitate's blast'n'd-beat approach to goregrind (although the d-beat isn't as prominent here as it is on later records), the mix is perfect! The vocals here aren't as high up on the scale of toilet-bowl-goodness as later albums but they are still shifted to hell and disturbing as fuck. The drumming is dirty and relentless, the guitar work is muddy and the bass is fuzzy and non-existent almost, but this record is fecking awesome!

 

Concrete Human Torture suprised me by having a slightly better production job; I always assumed it was a shitty demo, being one of thier first released tapes and all. But, no! Everything is wrapped up in a crisper world here. The drums are much clearer and things seem a lot tighter, mainly because there is less muddiness in the mix.

The price on this set is absolutely criminal, currently averaging £15 on Discogs. I highly recommend it, especially the version with the extra 7", as it is a bloody good bargain and you get three early Regurgitate releases in one go, all on lovely jubbly vinyl. The only downer I can find with this release is that the gore pictures on the front and back cover seem a little stretched, giving the artwork a bit of a cheap feel, but that really is the minor downer here, this set is fucking amazing!

Iron Monkey - Iron Monkey

It has been a long wait, but I bet a whole bunch of people are happy with Earache for finally deciding to press both Iron Monkey records onto wax for the first time ever. They are pressed from digital masters, so I wasn't expecting the world but they actually sound absolutely fantastic. I've always been put off by Earache's CD comp of all Iron Monkey shit (I'm a record-in-it's-original-form kinda guy), so when I heard about these vinyl pressings I jumped at the chance to own each record individually. I got mine from HMV for like 3 pence.*

 

Anyway, this is a classic of the sludge sub genre (or at least I feel it is). For me it channels the vibe and sound of Take as...era Eyehategod and makes it more direct and streamlined; more, should I say, to the point. Also those vocals sound like they have a permanent flanger effect but they are a hundred percent natural. Shit blows my mind. I love this album but for some reason I don't feel I can talk about it in depth. Nevertheless, I am happy to final own a copy of it (coloured too!). Listen loud please. Rest in piece Mr. Morrow.

 

*PS: I take back everything I said about HMV's excellent vinyl prices! One day in early August nearly all of the records for sale fucking doubled in price for absolutely no reason. Fuck them!

Agathocles / Shikane - Split 7"

A quick note on looking back at this blog's beginnings: I realise how harsh I was towards Agathocles in some posts. Whilst I do tire of them constantly re-hashing the same old stuff over and over in different shitty recordings, they are an excellent grindcore band (yes, grindcore!) and when they actually make original material it is usually very good. Not to mention they are fucking excellent live!

I picked this 7" up from Nic's Bones Brigade stall on the Wormrot UK tour. It was staring me in the face and was the only thing in the 7" pile that really tickled my fancy. I had a sneaky peek inside and didn't recognise any of the tracks as being the usual 30 or so that are re-recorded again and again for splits so I took a risk and slung ol' Nic three quid and went home. What I got was one of a 1000 repressed with a blue cover and a red disc. Original pressings (also 1000 pieces) have a black cover and a transparent orange vinyl. All versions were put out in 1997 by Keloid Records. 

Shikabane are fucking excellent grindcore and I will be checking these guys out more when I get some time! Japanese hypergrind anyone? Think Carcass Grinder but not as awful. Think Unholy Grave but happier and less noisecore. It reminds me greatly actually of a band I was meant to split with before called Infiltro, but the project fell apart. Sounds very similar. Excellent grind anyway, and the drum sound is brilliant. Nice bright ping ping snares all round!

 

Agathocles have original tracks here, so once I got over my minor heart attack I dropped the needle to the wax and enjoyed. Fucking bliss! Seriously guys, you should do this more often! Ha ha. All jokes aside, it's nice and upbeat "mince" from AGx, but with Jan's usual growls / shifts replaced with yelps and odd laughing sounds. Excellent and entertaining lyrics as usual. I will say that the AGx side is over way too quickly though. Nevermind! That means I'll just have to collect more 7"s, right guys?

PS this track is a Shikabane song from a different release. I can't find any videos for this split.

Burzum - Burzum

So I finally grew the fuck up and got this album. After years of holding out, hoping and praying for a shot at the original pressing from back in the day, I finally gave up on owning a piece of musical history. I can only justify so much for a record. It is, at the end of the day, historic or not, it's just a piece of vinyl. I don't like Burzum enough to justify spending hundreds on an original Deathlike Silence pressing. Back On Black's repress in a lovely gatefold that includes the follow-up EP Aske (which is just as pricey in its original form) will do nicely, methinks. I still paid over the odds for it thanks to Plastic Head but it is a fancy package so I'm not too unhappy with how much I paid.

I'm not sure if Burzum is the black metal record; but it definitely encompasses what the original scene was trying to achieve. For me, personally, at least. Every time I suggest this around metalheads I seem to face mostly disagreement, but if there is anything that will satisfy my "black metal urges" it is this record (or something by early Darkthrone). It was made at such a place and time that wholly impacts upon its structure, delivery and the entire finished product. If Burzum was recorded at any other point in time, or even with a different producer at the studio, or through a different guitar amp, it would not be the same record. That might sound a bit obvious, but it is more than that; what Burzum reflects is an idea, a vision so strongly held in belief by its creator that it eventually led to arson and later to murder. To know through these terrible acts that there was 100% belief and conviction in this music, in this way of life, makes the listening all the more powerful and dark.

Not that I personally advocate the burning of churches or stabbing your friend and record label boss in the face. And I don't sympathize with the views held by Burzum's bat-shit insane creator Varg Vikernes either. But, I am all about the music here, not politics, so if Varg's (possibly worrying) drive for Norwegian racial purity fuels him to continue creating such beautifully vicious and mood altering music, then so be it.