SAMHAIN.

Offered up today for your internet leeching consumption is a collection of (studio) outtakes from Samhain's "Magnum Opus" album, November Coming Fire.

The mix is loud, unbalanced, and awesome.

Honestly?
I'm always a fan of the rough mix / demo stuff more often than not, and this one is far more fun for me to listen to than the final product.

Fuzzy/overdriven chorus guitarage, plodding "soggy" drums, buried keyboard melodies, lots of howls & shit like that… no spray-on hair or cat litter shopping frenzies yet…

Samhain - November Coming Fire (Outtakes)

Link in comments.

RORSCHACH.

Absolutely one of the finest "hardcore" bands there ever was.

They sounded like no one else before them, and a million bands have fallen short of the mark of trying to emulate their sound (which came from pure anguish, feeling, pain, & emotion). The crumbing concrete eroding in Mr. Maggio's throat is testament to that, and the guitar tones / riffs are some of the most unique I've (still) ever heard. Fast, heavy, metallic, core-as-fuck? It's all here...

You really should have everything by these guys, and if you don't already, i'd be completely surprised. Alas, this record needs to be celebrated, so have at it.



Rorschach - Remain Sedate

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RORSCHACH.

Pretend for just a moment that you are a small animal trapped inside a vessel which has no oxygen holes. Now, think about those last fleeting minutes when you exhaust your final breath, and you realize for a few moments more that there is no space for the sound of your agony - just complete implosion within yourself.

That is the sound of Rorschach.

A masterpiece in the melding of dissonant hardcore rhythms & atonal thrash progressions, fused together via some serious out-there alienation, courtesy of the serrated throat of Mr. Maggio.
"Protestant" will always hold its own in the annals of hardcore/powerviolence.



Rorschach - Protestant

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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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DRIPPING.

New Jersey seems to pump out some top-shelf brutal bands, doesn't matter if we're talking hardcore or metal here, folks.
You can't argue with that.

Dripping plays some extremely fucked up - I mean that in the best way possible - gurgled-out & gluggy brutal death complete with sick-ass samples, bass runs buried in mud, syrupy drum-flam-damage, adderall-addled vocal incoherence, etc. Altogether it adds up to a winning formula for me - one that I can say makes them one of my favorites for sure.

The internets says they are still active, but it's been years since they've released anything new. I'd love to see these guys onstage - it's got to be something amazing to witness this barely-controlled mess in a live setting.



Dripping - Disintegration of Thought Patterns During A Synthetic Mind Travelling Bliss

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FUNEBRARUM.

Been sitting on this one awhile, letting it sink in, or rather I have been sinking into the depths of cold, dank vintage Swedish-style death metal...

While these guys conjure the sprit of greats such as Nihilist / Enotmbed, this AIN'T no retro rehash, brother. This shit stands on it's own like few contemporary bands can do it. It doesn't stop there either, as these guys gurgle & shred in their own unique way.

Each release is solid, and I gotta thank reader Memphis Ben for turning me on to these guys.

Did I also mention that this is a "Daryl Kahan" band?
Yeah, check the Taste of Fear post I did a while back - having Citizens Arrest & Assück on your resume' certainly ain't no joke, son.



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Funebrarum - Beneath the Columns of Abandoned Gods

RYE COALITION.

Another record I was obsessed with a few years back.

I could rattle off some generic cliche' such as "boogie van rock mixed w/ math rock" but that ain't the case. Let's just say that with all the irony in the lyrics, there lies some FAT riffage, and the drumming is solid as fuck.

I saw these guys on this tour and it still stands as one of the greatest shows I have ever been witness to. The interplay between the seriously competent players was dynamic to watch, and "on top" of all that, some of these dudes were in the seminal hardcore band Merel, so there you go...



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Rye Coaliton - On Top




Now playing: Medication Time - Something Obscene
via FoxyTunes

THE MISFITS.

What can you really say about the Misfits that hasn't been said before.
At this point, you must have been living under a rock for the past 20 years if you haven't heard them before.
Classic hardcore - possibly their finest moment being the "Earth A.D" era.
Anyways, here's a great-sounding recording from The Misfits very first live gig from way back in 1978...



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The Misfits - 12.20.1978 Max's Kansas City, NYC



Now playing: Out Cold - The Golden Age Of Psychobabble

LUDDITE CLONE.

Can't really call these guys metalcore or noisecore or grindcore, but they did represent a wonderful amalgamation of each said genre, and they did it better than most. And much like this record, it seems like it/they ended before it/they even began.

Fucking awesome.

LINKS -
Metal Archives.
Relapse.

D/L Luddite Clone - The Arsonist and the Architect right here.



Now playing:


Nappytyme Junction - March of the Thunder Knomes
via FoxyTunes