ACCIDENT clocks in with some slick, routine melodic punk with sung vocals, including some new versions of old songs. Most of the material here sounds like punk as attempted by power-poppers, and only a pair of songs on the flip escape that tendency for inoffensive cuteness. No power, no heart, no soul…no buy.
Long-time no-see from these Canadians, and they’re back with a vengeance. One side features most of their now out-of-print first LP, and the other is new material. The new stuff is a little metal-tinged at times, but old and new are rockin’ classic punk. Dirty, violent, obnoxious, and lovable, DAYGLO ABORTIONS have their hearts in the right place.
Another one bites the dust and bites it hard. Amazingly poor ’70s power rock much in the AEROSMITH vein. At times, the songs become comedy pieces with the “Oh, baby” and “Let’s rock” lines. One or two songs find their roots in early punk, but these still aren’t enough to help this drowning puppy.
This is an excellent debut album that mixes and matches the best of the SoCal punk tradition. DECRY has that powerful, cleanly produced two-guitar attack and a knack for writing catchy melodies. Careful listeners will soon discern the musical influences of great bands like the ADOLESCENTS, THE CIRCLE JERKS, and M.I.A., and certain songs remind one of BLACK FLAG (“My Bloody Dream”) or the TOXIC REASONS (“Asylum”), but these guys are not mere borrowers.
Some really cool, driving punk rock—like a more melodic early TOXIC REASONS. Two originals as well as a punky cover of the STONES’ “Mother’s Little Helper.” Good.
I was anticipating a jazzier sound from these Utahans, but this strangely produced EP contains fast thrash with periodic, unexpected stops and starts and fluid instrumentation. The lyrics are political but not simplistic, and some of these songs have a distinctive, hard-to-define quality.
Two songs in a fast, powerful thrash style (seemingly augmented by an organ), and two in a slower yet engaging style. Some of the lyrics are incomprehensible, even after reading them, and their live shows leave a lot to be desired, but this record is good.
Snarly vocals over slower, nasty punk. There’s a tinge of “horror” rock here, mostly satirical, as well as some fine, intelligent lyrics. Once again, a nice change of pace from Toxic Shock.
Bill of Toxic Shock fronted this band back when, and I guess couldn’t resist releasing this somewhat death rock relic “posthumously.” Actually, lyrically it’s not death rock (more intelligent than that!), but it’s the overall sound, enhanced by lots of production, that gives it that “ghostly” feel. Well done, if you like that heavy, power sound. Excellent guitar noise from Julianna.
Containing a good many of the songs from their under-produced Italian LP, these new recordings are a whole lot better done, and should help these lads out a lot when they return to tour North America this summer. There’s an increasingly heavy metal guitar influence, but the pounding thrash still predominates.
Over the metal edge go our Italian friends. This time out they present four songs, all of which sound like GBH to me. A step in the wrong direction musically, but they’re still hitting hard lyrically.
I think this is more or less RAW POWER’s original line-up (not the metal band that toured as RAW POWER) as there’s a lot less guitar wanking. Pretty straightforward thrash as well as some punk tunes. Lacks the overall insanity of some of their best material, but there’s plenty of hot stuff here and a lot more variety than usual.
After all the trouble we had getting a decent-sounding remix version of “Incubator Slide” for our 1984 album, I half-expected the production on RED TIDE’s EP to be terrible. But they’ve ended up with a chunky drive and a lot of edge on the guitars so, despite the occasionally weird vocal sound, this record turned out pretty damn well. The guitar parts are really cool, and “Santa Mari Marushi” is hotter than hell.
With vocals reminiscent of Ian MacKaye or Kevin Seconds, combined with an almost jazzy hardcore band makes for interesting listening. This band is big on intros that are slow and different then rip into a thrash song with changes throughout. BEEFEATER fans will relate to this. Lots of challenging/thoughtful lyrics to boot. Great effort here.
Can you dig a title derived of a stupid English punker’s desire to keep up with the hip MRR scene reports, but just being trendy? Yep, the STUPIDS stop at nothing to be bonkers, while the three-piece light the house on fire, then tell the firemen it was BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN who went thrash. Fast, fast, faster, the STUPIDS punch it all through the wall with that superb sound.
A shitload of bands from the far corners of the U.S. and Canada submitted their tapes, and these are the results—eighteen groups playing a variety of punkish styles (punk, garage, thrash, noise, post-punk). Some of the virgin-to-vinyl bands are RED TIDE, the KNOCKABOUTS, SEPTIC DEATH, DULL, the MASSACRE GUYS, B.I.U., DECRY, ABSCESS, and MAD PARADE. The album comes with a booklet and a Pushead cover.
Just when I thought SoCal was getting a bit stale, along comes this great 4-song EP with one cut each from KENT STATE, MODERN INDUSTRY, MOSLEM BIRTH, and MANSON YOUTH. All four present intense, unusual, and diverse styles of contemporary punk, tinged with deep cynicism. This isn’t LA schlock horror rock, but the real thing—the horrors of living today. Buy and die.
What can you say? You take one of the best all-time hardcore records, add 6 extra tracks (from previous comps and tapes) of equal quality, and you’ve got an awesome fucking record. Initially released in 1982, the singing and playing still outdoes most anything that’s happened since. Killer.
