In keeping up with my posts on 2000s records I really like of various punk sub-genres, here's one of my favorite crust records ever from Poland's FILTH OF MANKIND. This is an excellently balanced record, nothing is too metallic about it, nothing too raw, nothing too d-beaty, nor nothing too polished either. It also has its own unique tone and atmosphere, something that's hard to pull out of the crust genre when it's so easy to sound just like every other band or sound like a cliche. What I also like about it, is that the songs are actually catchy and have original structures; they really sound like they were creating their own sound in the genre rather than just mindlessly rehashing the great crust lords of squatters' past. I think it also helps that they chose to sing in Polish, which really lends to the crust sound, it can be such a harsh sounding language with it's SZs, CZs
and high frequency consonant clusters, not to mention the brevity in which you can communicate an idea in the language when compared to the wordy languages that have articles and are less heavily reliant on cases as Polish/Slavic languages are.
This a heavy, long song, epic crust record done right, it's never lacking in faster parts and isn't scared to have more grit and isn't diminished or watered down with ultra high production values. One of the best examples of a cohesive LP in the crust genre I think.
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Filth of Mankind!
I've uploaded this purely for SIVIILIMURHA, don't get me wrong, ULCERRHOEA are great. But their brand of well executed grindcore just isn't for me to get excited about. Any fan of grindcore will like it well enough, but it doesn't stand out to me in any particular way. For some really great raw and lo-fi grindcore, check out my post on BRUTAL DEATH.
But yeah, SIVIILIMURHA. They are a one man project of Sami Kettunen in Finland, a prolific artist who's been involved in the death metal, black metal, hardcore-punk scenes forever. SIVIILIMURHA is the best of ultra early proto Finnish hardcore and noisecore wrapped up into one obnoxious package. The vocals sound like he was holding his noise for the entirety of their delivery. Musically this is a perfect blend of inept, stupid music and fuzzy noisecore. Think of the first two TERVEET KADET EPs mixed with KUOLEMA's tape released in 1984 and you'll have a good approximation for SIVIILIMURHA's sonic absurdities. They also released a split with AGATHOCLES and UNDER THREAT that are equally as good, as well as their EP entitled "Tolkuton Tuho". They later became more of a traditional noisecore band with poor sounding so-shitty-it-sounds-computer-made drums. I still need to track down and hear their tracks on this comp LP called "Saastaa Suomesta II" that I think are in this latter but equally as good style. I think SIVIILIMURHA is one of my most favorite stupid-noise bands ever.
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Siviilimurha/Ulcerrhoea!
Here is the pinnacle of amazing, stupid, silly, brilliant and wonderful mind melting noisecore. This is a one-sided EP with a picture disc label stamped on the one side and all 35 tracks crammed onto the other side of the bright pink vinyl with a normal label stamped on that side. GORGONIZED DORKS start off my rip, and they make demented circus music with blast beats. The vocals sound like they were recorded while gargling and then focus through a laser beam to maximize their demented nature. They definitely don't avoid trying to be catchy with their noisecore, an approach I very much appreciate. That's what's so great about bands like CONFUSE or GAI, basic catchy punk but then sped up and noisefide. Perfect. HATED PRINCIPLES on the other (same?) hand go for pure staticky bursts of noise like you're trying to listen to some brutal hardcore on a dust ridden, sat out in the basement too long tape. I like the fact that their approach is a bit slower than most blast out noisecore groups, so it's more about the fuzzy noise than the speed of the music. Only download if you feel like turning off your brain for a moment and you appreciate stupid music :)
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Gorgonized Dorks/Hated Principles!
Here is probably the last great power violence record of the 90s. Godstomper's monster of a first full length hits all the right notes of lo-fi heaviness and grooviness to take it out of traditional traps of generic powerviolence. I think this record is one of the best examples of what a piece band can and should be. The record has that perfect recorded-in-a-cave tone and echo throughout, and reflects a demo quality lack-of-refinement that I've argued in the SFN post is the best quality for any grindcore/powerviolence record to have. One thing that makes GODSTOMPER's record stand out is that it doesn't get completely boring within the, expansive for powerviolence, format that is an LP. I think their slow to midpaced songs are the most effective here when both members can get into a groove with each other, and luckily they never over complicate anything. It's pure, raw, and crude, just how powerviolence should be. I think this record is the pinnacle of their expansive catalog.
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Godstomper!
Probably my favorite contemporary D-Beat record, released at the height of the War on Terror in 2004. In a genre where it's hard to avoid being contrived, gimmicky, insincere and boring, KEGCHARGE avoids all of those traps and were able to make an authentic, pommeling and genuine sounding record that still fully falls within the limiting parameters of the D-Beat genre. I love the atypical aesthetic of the record art and lyrical approach as well. It comes off as completely earnest and dire, like the War on Terror could have brought about the apocalyptic fall of the entire world unless people mobilized against it.
Which, in a way, it did create an apocalypse for the middle east in the form of ISIS and the Syrian civil war that has completely destabilized the region and created another hopeless situation akin to Afghanistan; where there seems like no foreseeable solution and nothing promised except strife. The US is notorious for intervention, destabilization and the creation of extremism in almost all conflicts we've involved ourselves in, always dividing our support along ethnic or social lines that then radicalize the non-supported group. I can only imagine the long term ramifications of the lip service we've been giving the Kurds in the fight against ISIS, when they are the main support and real world example of democracy in the middle east and the primary group holding their own and beating back ISIS extremists. The US wants them to do our dirty work while we won't actively acknowledge or accept their aspirations for a free and independent Kurdish state while being oppressed across four country borders in Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq.
This album is intense. It feels completely genuine in its message and worth the listen.
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Kegcharge!
More awesome 2000s records coming up! This record by the bay area's BRUTAL DEATH is one of my favorite grindcore records ever, complete musical devastation, lo-fi, raw, pulverizing and crude. Amazingly the members were just 14-16 years old when this was recorded if I'm remembering my facts correctly. I love this record for the same reasons I love the HERPES or IMAGEN EPs from late 80s Medellin Colombia. The drums sound like they were recorded in a cave, the only way grindcore drums should sound ever I think. Kudos to them for having a completely ungooglable band name as well. Even if you try and soulseek them you'll find some trouble tracking down their stuff, impressive of its own right. Nothing much else to say, just download and let the noise melt your mind.
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Brutal Death!
Very different than what I would normally post and the first of what will probably be a string of posts of bands I wouldn't normally be expected to post or talk about.
SFN is a huge exception within the powerviolence genre in the fact that I think their demo EP here is one of the best releases of the 2000s and it still completely holds up for me as a record. I don't think powerviolence really translates well to an LP format, I think an EP is the full length equivalent for any PV band, anything past that tends to get boring or monotonous in my opinion. Likewise it seems like the majority of powerviolence bands' best material ends up on their demo. I think it might be partially a production thing, I don't want to hear ultra polished or well recorded PV or grind. I think the lofi stuff is the best representation of the genre. Here SFN have both aspects playing to their favor as this is their demo and best material in my opinion and delivered in the fast pacing of an EP.
This is completely original PV with tons of twists and turns, funkiness to keep things interesting, and I love how it mostly stays fast to mid-paced throughout. I cannot think of a musical strategy that looses my interested faster than PV bands that go for high contrast ultra-fast parts juxtaposed with doom metal level drudgery, and thankfully SFN never falls back on that in this demo. Highest recommended power violence record I can think of.
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SFN!
