STINKWEED CITY.

Redwood City, California is known these days as being the home of tech giants like Oracle & Electronic Arts, as well as being the city that housed Patty Hearst in jail only to be kidnapped by the SLA back in the day.
More importantly though, it is (in)famous for being the breeding ground for the immensely stoned & incredibly riff-laden powerviolence / grindcore heavy weights Plutocracy.
Sinister sounds of pain, fear, and psychosis fill your ears (along with plenty of movie samples) on this must-have collection of one of the greatest PowerViolence bands that ever was.

Rest In Peace, Stinkweed & Big Boy Dan.

You will be / are missed...

Plutocracy - Discography

ASSÜCK.

Without a doubt, this record is 15 minutes of serenity - to these ears at least.

Assück melded the best of both worlds - grindcore & death metal - like no other.

There are no weak spots on this "album" - other than it only being 15 minutes long - but then again, this is all killer w/ no filler. Insane musicianship abounds here - shit, these guys would be killer in any genre w/ the chops they possess - but just because they are masters of their instruments doesn't mean they can't write sick riffs.

This record is a testimonial to the musical supremacy that these heavyweights from Florida possesssed. Essential!

Assück - Anticapital

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Yes, the blog is still active - not so frequent I KNOW, but unlike so many other blogs, I AM NOT GOING ANYWHERE. November has been a crazy month here in SF (Giants World Series Win, Halloween, hangovers, work, real life, a Presidential election, more holidaze coming up, etc). Let's party!

SWARRRM.

Halloween is upon us again, and while this record ain't spooky by general standards, it is one that brings cold shivers to the spine, thoughts of anguish, (slight) feelings of peace, & then more chaos gets dumped upon you like a 1-ton bag of candy corn.

Swarrrm never lets you down, and they do the grind-thing like no one else.
One of Kobe's best exports, and I hope this mysterious band never quits.

I'd chop your left nut off to see these guys…

Swarrrm - Against Again.

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BOLT THROWER.

Simply put, this is a masterpiece album that mixes the best of fast & heavy.

A total juggernaut of brutality, 23 years later it's still hard to beat.
Downtuned beyond downtuned, but with a sense of purpose, the riffs on this thing are top-notch.

Doom-laden & heavy, this record sounds like you're stuck in a giant, cavernous sewer pipe w/ the almighty Bolt Thrower pummeling you w/ their chaotic rock mastery from the other end; the double bass (just a bit behind) teamed with the thunder-thump bass lines of one Jo Bench the whole time creating an uneasiness that feels just right...

Bolt Thrower - Realm of Chaos (Slaves to Darkness)

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DAMAGED.

I thought I'd start your new year off with some completely ugly neanderthal-styled grinding-death metal pummel-action all the way from Victoria, Australia - also known as the home of Victoria Bitter (Lager Beer, ya fuck!)

Damaged didn't get much respect when they were around in the mid-Nineties - at least not here in The States - but that hairy-fat-guy-in-the-cowboy-hat who sings for that "World's Greatest Grindcore Band EVER" (on Relapse) and writes for that fucking shit-awful metal magazine from Philadelphia - sang for them for a minute, so that is probably most people's introduction to these crazy Aussie Bogans.
It's hard to pin this band down - one minute they sound like a mid-era Napalm Death, and the next minute they lock into some chaotic groove that is as noisy & loud as it it is brutal & aggressive.

Definitely an intersting band / recording for the time. A hidden gem, per se'. Check it out.

Damaged - Do Not Spit / Passive Backseat Demon Engines

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RASH OF BEATINGS.

Eleven minutes of pain, paranoia, fear, anger, & "all-meat-no-filler" power-riffing, repeatedly pummeling you into submission.

I ain't never been to Fort Smith, Arkansas, but a town with "Hell on the Border" as it's motto, I can now understand how a band as fucking hostile & relentless-sounding (as these guys) came to be. They flew way under the radar, and it's not suprising that they were never on Relapse.

Pure fucking grind - that is hard to find these days. Get some.



Rash of Beatings - Rash of Beatings

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Off to Hawaii for a week - see you soon.

EXCRUCIATING TERROR.

The past month has been one filled w/ travel, beer, relaxation, BBQ, beer, good times & beer, so I thought I'd be a pal and punch you right in the dick via this unrelenting slab of violence & aural abuse courtesy of a few gnarly cholo-grinders from the Southland.

These guys came & went way too fast, but the good shit never lasts long, does it? If you're looking for a contemporary band flying this brand of freak-flag, search for BLOODY PHOENIX in the archives of this here blog (if you haven't got that already)...



Excruciating Terror - Divided We Fall

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ERODED.

I've been sitting on this one for a while now; it's so fucking good that I have had a hard time trying to figure out just how to describe this…

Japan has been home to some of the most brutal (and beautiful) bands on the planet - this band is a precursor to 324 - one of my favorite grind bands of any era.

While the grind rears it's underappreciated head in small doses on this here release, what you get most of the time is some solid thrashy/heavy/death-infused metal - all with a crazed, Japanese neanderthal screaming some beautiful guttural-speak over the top. It goes from heavy one minute, to stony as fuck the next. A great fucking record that to these ears would seem to be an inspiration to other Japanese bands like Swarrrm, 324, Taiho, Greenmachine, etc.

Fits great next to those expensive & out-of-print Hellchild records neither you or I own…



Eroded - In

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PUNGENT STENCH.

I have been obsessed with these guys once again - it's nice when the internet gets all "Zer" on you and stokes you by re-awakening you to bands you forgot about cuz your hard-drive is nearly 400GB deep…

Heavy yet catchy, this is classic old-school death metal with an in-your-face quality that I find quite enjoyable - the guitar tones on this are excellent / interesting ones - who plays a Tele in the death metal world, right? I dig that (I own one, as well as a Les Paul) about these Austrian madmen - a bit of bucking-the-trend, etc.

To (loosely) quote Bob Slydell, I myself "celebrate their entire catalog"...



Pungent Stench - For God Your Soul… For Me Your Flesh

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HELLCHILD.

One of my all-time favorite bands, this should not come as a surprise to many of you - it's most likely one of your favorites as well, no?

Hellchild bridged the gap between hardcore & thrash/death/grind with a sense of intelligence - even their burliest/heaviest/grindy-est moments came off with a painstakingly-heartfelt precision.
There was a lot of soul running deep in the work they put out there, and Harakawa is the fucking BEST when it comes to gutturals in my opinion.
His pipes bellow the most beautiful of all pain, desolation, madness, sadness & anguish I have ever known.

If you didn't already, you certainly won't now - this is for the rest of US.



Hellchild - Circulating Contradiction

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NAPALM DEATH.

I've been listing to Napalm Death all day - and while I can't pick a favorite era, this record has been speaking to me a bit more than the rest have as of late - I go through different phases with this band (probably you do too)?

Jesse Pintado is sorely missed - one of my favorite guitar players for sure - and on this LP he brought a bit of that (classic-as-fuck) Terrorizer relentlessness to the table - this is pure Napalm though, no doubt about it.

The beginning of a great era for these guys, and honestly I hope they never go away…



Napalm Death - Harmony Corruption

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HOMBRINUS DUDES.

This fuckin' two-man unit of fuckin' pain & anguish fuckin' blisters your fuckin' cranium-innards with a caustic fuckin' grind that fills your fuckin' earholes to the magnitude of where your fuckin' dumb ass is sayin', "there is no fuckin' way that this glorius fuckin' din I'm hearin' is made by just two fuckin' manic-blasting motherfuckers from that fuckin' town in shit-fuckin' Michigan where that fuckin' Amway cleaning products fuckin' cult BULLSHIT & sturdy fuckin' office furniture comes from", but when it comes down to it, that's the fuckin' truth, so you best believe it.

Completely off-the-radar - and off their rockers - these guys bust out an acidic blend of classic grindcore that hints at the greats such as vintage Napalm Death & at-their-best Nasum.

Fuckin' take that, brand-new-neck-tattoo-slash-mathematical-haircut-guy!



Hombrinus Dudes - Politi-Kill

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CARCASS.

Let's start the year off by ripping & tearing into a greasy fat chunk of meat from the Carcass of some of Liverpool's finest gore-death mongers ever known to filet the riffs, shall we?

Not much needs to be said - a visceral power-trio if there ever was - Bill, Jeff, & Ken lay down the heavy - w/ the grind - w/ the atmosphere to create something unique in the gore/death/grind genre.
We all have our favorite era of Carcass, and I pretty much like all of them - really. This one is cleansing my palate quite nicely right now.

Rediscover this if you haven't already.



Carcass - Symphonies of Sickness

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Kind Reader:

Sorry the year didn't go out with a bang around here. I was totally sick w/ the flu all through the Xmess holiday, then I barely recovered a day before I had to fly (last-minute) back to MI for my Grandmother's funeral service.

That was the relaxing part of the last two weeks for me in many ways; the flights I took were all delayed/almost missed/or rebooked. I spent New Years Eve by myself in a hotel in Cleveland for fucks' sake - then I got flown to Newark, NJ the next day so that they could put me on plane EIGHT HOURS LATER bound for SF.

FUCK CONTINENTAL / DELTA AIRLINES!!!

Let's all hope that 2011 holds something better than what 2010 shit out.

IMPETIGO.

If you enjoy grind-gore infused w/ a heaping spade-full of old school death metal, then Bloomington, Ilinois' Impetigo is what you're looking for.

Great snuff samples interweaving throughout; some excellent throat-gurgling groans /blood-curdling screams that sound completely inhuman in a way that hasn't been done before. The guitars are groovy-but-heavy in the riff department, not always blasting away at top speed, but plenty of down-tuned chug to set the stark atmosphere, and although this release is more death-than-grind, it completely shreds - not a bad song the album, if you ask me.

A unique record - a classic, actually - in the gore-grind/death genre.



Impetigo - Horror of the Zombies

Link removed due to bot leeches at punks and skins dot com - MOTHERFUCKERS FOR SURE.

DISASSOCIATE.

Here's a little something to get your fat ass off the couch to get ready to go back to work tomorrow morning. How about some seriously scary / real Brooklyn grind-hardcore!

None of that fixie-riding / ironic beard / women's jeans / one-man black metal bullshit. This is like "getting dusted" at some party a friend-of-a-friend "invited" you to in a strange part of town (filled with creepy people), and then not knowing who/what/when/where, etc. for the next 12 hours.

They were huge in Japan, and played w/ all the great Far East grinders, but you missed them 'cuz that fat girl w/ the white sunglasses & bitch boots (who turned you gay) "didn't like that kind of noise".

You fuckin' puss.



Disassociate - Controlled Power

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GRIDE.

Wow, I find it hard to believe no one gave a fuck about the last post.
That record has to be one of the greatest "ringtone" records ever conceived!

I'll forgive you for not a single comment left (good or bad) on that one, and in return, I'm gonna shatter your day w/ some nut-kicking Czech Republic power-grind(lence) from Gride, who - if you've been around here for awhile - I first posted here two years ago. That would be the first part of their discography.

This here collection spans the second part of their discography documenting the years 1997-2009, and was an edition of 500 CD's pressed for the U.S. tour.
Enjoy the chaotic battery thrown down by these longtime powerviolence / grindcore legends from the land of Fernet, hockey studs, & long-legged high-fashion models...



Gride - Faster Than Death, Harder Than Life

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HUMAN REMAINS.

A masterful cutting-edge meshing of grindcore, hardcore, death, and thrash from the early Nineties - straight outta Jerzzz!!!

The pedigree of bands that were spawned from what these guys laid down is unreal - YOU can keep your Dillinger records, dude, I'm NOT interested - but that's no big surprise when everybody's favorite drum-smasher-dude Dave Witte is in the mix.

The shit gets heavy - technical at times - with off-beat time signatures everywhere, ripping guitar licks traded back & forth, and some tasty inhuman vocals bringing it all together - two-discs deep, son…



Where Were You When

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DECRYPT.

Goddamn haybailing-ly solid deathy-grindcore from "The Middle of "Merikuh", aka, Indiana.
Lots of excellent starts and stops, blazing/fat riffage, awesome throat-popping vocals with some weird little breakdowns tossed in when you least expect it. Spastic and electric, yet stony as fuck at the same time - how'd they do that?

This record has recently become a new favorite of mine; perfect for that early morning commute, etc.



Decrypt - Holy Erotic Rapture

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REGURGITATE.

Wonderfully-sickening gore-grind from some a Swedish crew that are some of the most important players in the game, this here hard-to-find-but-crucial-as-fuck (CD-R only) release gathers up their recorded output from a multitude of split releases they belched forth from 1991-2002 - I think - for a total of 78 brain-rattling tracks.

Gurgly gut-churning vocals, grindy-blurr riffs w/ a smidge of melody here & there, backed with a franticly blasting backline makes this collection a keeper...



Regurgitate - Easy Swallowin' Bloody Gore E-Piece

LINK REMOVED DUE TO D/L LEECH-FAGS VIA PUNKS & SKINS DOT (SUCK MY COCK) COM.

CAPTAIN CLEANOFF.

Some insanely kick-ass violent grindcore from Australia for you tonite...

Captain Cleanoff - what's up with that name? Anybody? - play grindcore in it's earlier, punkier form, sorta like how "From Enslavement to Obliteration" grinds along. Manic, solid, blurred, forceful, and INTENSE!
No new-school crazy tech-shred here - I love that stuff, by the way - just scuzzy, fat, juicy riff-filled assaults on yer dome.

One of the contemporary frontrunners of the genre right here, folks.



Captain Cleanoff - Symphonies of Slackness

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