VOCIFERIAN

 

This is one of those "sit down and just listen" tapes. Two tracks, thirty five disturbed minutes of Belgian black metal that doesn't sound like anything else. Ever. The vocals are so bizarrely manipulated that you'll wonder what's happening in your earholes while you're sitting down (and listening, as I asked). Soaring, triumphant sounds from a different realm, and the drum solo on "Ode Aux Rats" should settle any debates about the normalcy of sounds contained on this cassette...and then there's the interlude/buildup that follows. This is something else. 

ɔ d ɔ ʀ a

COEUR Á L'INDEX

 

I know La Vida Es Un Mus released the LP earlier this year so Belgium's CŒUR À L’INDEX aren't exactly flying under the radar, but this No Fuss reissue of last year's demo was welcome nonetheless. Influences on their collective sleeve, hear CHIN CHIN, SHIVVERS, DOLLY MIXTURE, Girls In The Garage and GIRLS AT OUR BEST ooze out of these four brilliant minimal power pop masterpieces...and then go snag that full length. 

DEMO I

D.I.Y. CONSPIRACY VOL.6

 

The beefiest contribution to the DIY Conspiracy series, from the bulldozer Scandi-crust of CONVINCE to SHEEVA YOGA's fastcore/grind and an absolute smasher from ΝΥΞΗ leading the charge. Bands from Chile, Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Greece and Czech Republic spatter a Swede-heavy volume in a series born out of Covid isolation. Pop one of these shredders in and you'll be instantly reminded how big DIY punk is....and then you'll likely skip the reflection and start raging. 

DIY CONSPIRACY VOL.6

CHEAP DRUGS

You ready? You ready for some shit to crash right into your fucking face? You ready to eat your own fucking thoughts? Are ready for life to kick you in the gut and laugh while you fall to the ground breathless, clutching your stomach as if it was your reality? Steel yourself punk, because that life thing that just fucked you up? It's your fault. This shit ain't easy. It's ugly. It's fucking hard...and you're going to be wrong. A lot. Go ahead...try. It's going to hurt. Good luck. 

CHEAP DRUGS

 

GREENEARTH TAPES

 

Not going to take up a ton of space talking about how important international tape comps were (read: are) again, instead I'll just let you know what's waiting for you on this 1990 slammer.  RESIST, NUNCA MAS and INSURGENCE representing the US (hard to believe no one has unearthed the INSURGENCE catalog for a fancy reissue...yet), SEDITION and CRITERIA from Scotland, plus European hitters like VERDUN (France),  STRAWBERRY (these Polish punks were new to me), SILENT WATER (Belgium) and AKIE MAU MAUS (Germany). Throw in Canadians HYPOCRICY and English crustlords DISASTER and you've got an hour of fucking rage that starts with "Dismember Nazi Scum" and ends with "Growing Greed." 

DIE FREIHEIT VOL.3

NERVOUS MOTHERS

 

The word 'groove' conjures all the wrong feelings and it's hard to justify saying that a crushing hardcore band 'swings' but fukk if that ain't exactly what's happening on the introductory song on NERVOUS MOTHERS first tape from 2014. The slow parts are like a crunk mosh, a drunken churn....a swinging groove of the most demonic nature. And then they blast. Oh do they ever fukkn blast. Not one ounce of the tonnage is lost when they speed up (if anything they hit harder the faster they play). Just a nasty fukkn display of power with high/low vocals and equal nods to '90s USPV and '00s Euro bands like SUFFERING QUOTA (for reference, the tape closes with STACK and LEFT FOR DEAD covers). If you're short on time, just skip right to "Plague," that one is particularly deadly. 

NERVOUS MOTHERS

"I wish I could say we could clean up this mess together..."

UNIVERS ZERO

My landlord passed this one off to me...wanna take a trip? Freak show 1970s Belgian prog...dark theatrical adventures spread out over on gloriously bizarre TDK D90. If you're a renter, perhaps ask your landlord for some musical suggestions. 

UNIVERS ZERO

FRUSTRERAD

No bullshit clenched fist DBeat three piece from Belgium. Absolutely nothing fancy here - just a relentless beating with a gorgeously peaked guitar. Six tracks, including an appropriate VARUKERS cover as a closer ("Innocence" is truly the shit smashing rager though). You don't have to be fancy...you just have to be good.

SHADOW OF LIFE

MAXIMUM BELGIUM vol.1

Absolute ripper. 14 essential offerings from Belgium, running the gamut of powerful DIY hardcore. HETZE, REPROACH (I mean, of course), PERMANENT DEBT, AGATHOCLES (I mean, also and even more so "of course"), VVOVNDS...all killer, not a hint of filler. VONNIS stand out for grinding harder and sounding more fukkd than anyone else, SUNPOWER stand out for maybe being catchier than anyone else, RAW PEACE stand out for starting the damn thing off so fukkn fierce, but there is not a single clunker on this tape. Regional comps rule anyway, but rarely are they this crucial. 

 MAXIMUM BELGIUM vol.1

SUFFER DAMAGE

I suppose it's a perfect accident that I drop this 2014 demo in your lap just after Belgium's SUFFER DAMAGE dropped a full length platter on my head, right? It sounds like it looks like it sounds: noisy, distorted, damaged raw punk. Bass dominates the recording while the guitar sears its way through nine tracks that sound positively shithammered. If there's something else you need...well, this is all you need for today, ok?

SUFFER DAMAGE

AGATHOCLES // NOTOKEN

Belgium's mincecore masters were far from passe when this split dropped, just bare bones hc/grind that might've been called powerviolence had they hailed from Cailfornia - too metal for the punks then, and too raw for the hessians. This is, perhaps, the plight of AGATHOCLES, and these recordings are some of the best I've heard from them. Go ahead and dismiss them based solely on the number of split releases and your preconceived notion of what they deliver...your loss. Ecuador's NOTOKEN are more forceful and more straightforward shred, 19 tracks of lo-fi hc/thrash/grind recorded in 1995. I love this shit. 

AGATHOCLES // NOTOKEN

AGATHOCLES

Legendarily prolific Belgians AGATHOCLES have been cranking out epic bursts of politically fueled grind/hardcore for two decades (and counting). While the quality of their output varies greatly (and they are as famous for regurgitating songs and live recordings as they are for their willingness to do split records with...well, anyone), this 1992 recording is simply outstanding. Distributed on all formats over the years (often released under the title Use Your Anger), this cassette incarnation of 1992 recordings comes from Mexico and shows AGATHOCLES at their more hardcore, less grind finest. Bare bones thrashing with throaty vocals (that keep making me want to listen to INFEST, though never before have I drawn a parallel between those two bands, and I probably never will again). Some live stuff, some studio, all of it excellent.

CULTURE OF DEGRADATION

CONSPIRACY OF GIANT NOIZE WOODPECKER MUTANT FROM OUTER SPACE (Vol. 1)

Averaging well under one minute per song, seven international bands blast through 27 fastcore gems on this comp. New York's I OBJECT start a truly international comp that includes bands from Sweden, Czech Republic, Indonesia and Belgium. KOBRA XI's raw grinding madness leads into '00s thrashcore from JACKSTONE, bringing to mind TOTAL FURY - a vibe that continues with the USHC stylings of Sweden's DICK CHENEY. POWERCORE might be the most ferocious band on the tape, fast and blown out hardcore perfection, but the whole comp rages. An hour that goes by without listening to hardcore is an hour that you could have spent listening to hardcore. Don't make a mistake you'll regret.

CONSPIRACY OF GIANT NOIZE WOODPECKER MUTANT FROM OUTER SPACE (Vol. 1)

ALLEZ CRACHEZ LES BELGIAN PUNKS

This 1982 comp was slapped onto the flip side of a hometaped copy of THE EX's History Is What's Happening cassette, and I couldn't be happier. Featuring a few tracks from each of seven barely known Belgian bands, the comp shifts from brilliant UK82 style chaos punk (the opening track from VORTEX is one of the punkest songs I've heard) to slightly more anarcho sounding bands like O-VEUX and ANARCHISTS ON DOPE. The female vocals in TYPHUS are addictive, as is their mid-tempo melody, a characteristic they share with NUITS ST. GEORGES and UNDERDOGS (though the latter is more feriocious). And in case the band name intrigues you, SEXY BOLLOCKS are every bit as punk as their moniker implies. There are a few tracks from the original that didn't make it onto my copy (this is on one side of a C90), but the thoughtful tapemaker added a few Dutch acts to the end of THE EX record, so today you get bonus tracks from SVÄTSOX, DE GROETEN and the recently reissued RONDOS...sometimes you win, whether you deserve it or not.

ALLEZ CRACHEZ LES BELGIAN PUNKS

DEFLAGRATION

For the last two weeks I've posted compilation tapes that were really more like Best Of collections. Last week's Bad Entrails was a comprehensive trip through '80s US hardcore, while the Us Against Them  comp concentrated on some of the best the UK had to offer.  But this Friday's compilation is full of deep cuts, and doesn't really flirt with anything more well known than DEZERTER or NEON CHRIST. The tape centers mostly on European hardcore, with the aforementioned Southerners and Canada's F.O.A.D. and UNNATURAL SILENCE as the only off continent contributions, and is full of lesser known killers like BLOEDBAD (Holland), UNDERAGE (Italy), CERESIT '81 (West Germany) and UNDERDOGS (Belgium) as well as French TE alumnus RAPT and KROMOSOM 4. Most of this shit is fast and raw hardcore, and some of the recordings leave a bit to be desired in the sound quality department (in the bands' defense, the tape was distributed on a sub-par Salvy brand cassette, which might have affected the distortion levels in an adverse manner...it just depends how much you care about such things and, in turn, how punk you are), but when you hear crucial blasts from Finland's PROTESTI or classic shit from Germans INFERNO and SCAPEGOATS or SQUIRT from Switzerland, do you really care about a little tape hiss?

DEFLAGRATION Vol. 3 Side A

DEFLAGRATION Vol. 3 Side B

BAD INFLUENCE

BAD INFLUENCE draw as much from early 80s political anarcho punk as they do from late 80s UK thrash, and the end result doesn't sound like either - but totally rules. Personally I prefer the female vocals, and it seems that she is not a part of the reformed, modern version of BAD INFLUENCE (too bad), but these tracks will power you through your doldrums regardless of the vocalist's gender. Nearly 45 minutes of late 80s political Belgian hardcore that will power you through your day and then some.  You are thinking to yourself "I don't need this...whatever, this shit ain't really all that good and besides, I got enough punk." And I am thinking that you are foolish, and that this is your loss.

              

TOGETHER WE ARE STRONGER THAN THEY THINK