REPUGNANT.

I love it when I'm at work and I throw the 'ol iPod on shuffle and the tiny shiny beast rewards with something I forgot I had - like these ghouls from Stockholm known as Repugnant.
They may have been overlooked by the masses by some of the more famous names in the scene back then, but you'd be hard-pressed to say these guys don't belong up there when mentioning bands like Grave or Nihilist.

Awesomely chunky riffing, nice, swingy-thrash drumming at times, cold-throated lyrical delivery, audible bass runs, & sweet solos when you need them - you'll find it here...



Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness

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POSSESSED.

S.F. Death Metal stalwarts who may have coined the name for the genre - that's old news to many of you, I know - but honestly? I don't think these guys ever got as much attention / respect as they are worthy of.

While Seven Churches is the standout long-player of their catalog, I would have to say that this little EP is solid from start to finish (Joe Satriani produced? Really?), and could very well be my favorite of all their recorded output. The guitars are hot-sounding, and the vocals are agonizing in their feel.

Excellent thrash / death from back in the day...



Possessed - The Eyes of Horror

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DISINCARNATE.

Just to re-state the obvious...

James Murphy is (a goD), and one of the founding fathers of classic Florida Death Metal as far as guitarists go.
Stints in Death & Obituary (amongst others) proves his legacy.

On this here beast of a record, Mr. Murphy played everything except drums.
He didn't sing either, but his six-string efforts certainly do.
James drives the tempo & atmosphere of each song with tasteful & memorable riffs that are still unique to this day.

If you haven't heard this, now is the time to be blown away.
If you are familiar, re-aqcuaint yourself with the mastery of Mr. Murphy's PURE death metal guitarwork...



Disincarnate - Dreams of the Carrion Kind

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LOVE CANAL.

Old-school Orange County HC that I thought for years was an East Coast / NY scene band for some reason - in fact, I wish they were, because I was never that big a fan of the O.C. version of HC - always felt it was too "suburban" & "war-paint skanky" or whatever - kinda like that scene from "CHiPs", or "Quincy", ya know? Besides, BLACK FLAG set the bar too fuckin' high for most bands.

Anyways, back to Love Canal...

I think the first song I heard by them was "Hitler's Brain" and yeah, it's still a jam, as is this unsung HC gem from the Left Coast. They were only around for two or three years, but they put a stamp on the scene, playing all those Mega-huge Hollywood HC shows, and this record is proof of their capabilities.

There's some funny bits in here as well, back when "hardcore" bands still had a sense of humor - unlike most of today's heavily-tattooed/girl-pants-wearing set - which I find to be quite humorous in itself...


Love Canal - It's A Dog's Life So Blow It Out Your Ass

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SEPULTURA.

While the Cavalera Brothers have moved on to newer/groovier pastures - as has the current lineup of this band - there was a time long ago when four like-minded hombres came together & created one of the greatest "pure thrash" metal records ever conceived.

Aggressive on all levels, the drumming is relentless and spends most of its time in a drag race with the razor-sharp riiffing. The vocals are no-frills/full-throated crossover-style, and when this thing came up on my iPod today at work during shuffle mode, I had one of those moments of, "Holy Shit - I forgot all about this record!" and had to turn it up loud (at 8:15am) and remember how great these guys were - even if it was only for (maybe) one record more (Arise).



Sepultura - Beneath the Remains

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