VOIMATON

 

Maybe I should have dropped this on the live blog, even though most of y'all skip that one completely (your loss). Because it's live, I should...but because I had never heard (or heard of) VOIMATON before I snagged a party pack of dead stop metal tapes a few months ago and I suspect most of you haven't heard (or heard of) them either I dropped it right here. In your lap. So you can let the downtuned death/doom cover and smother you. You're welcome. 

LIVEWIRE LOUNGE 2019

WRATH

This CD was in one of the last promo packages I received when I was doing radio in Oklahoma, though by 1990 I was immersing myself in whatever goth and/or industrial and/or punk stuffs I could get my hands on so I wasn't particularly juiced on some Midwest thrash metal. But Insane Society scratched an itch even then, and when I saw a pristine copy of the cassette sitting on a shelf last week, I did not deny myself a little trip down memory lane. This was the third and final album released in WRATH's initial run (they got the band back together in the '10s) and their sound was fully realized here. Razor sharp mid tempo US metal clearly weaned on The Big 4 with a hollow rumbling bass vocals that teeter on the edge of being too over the top. Choice cuts are "Swarm" and "Law Of Lies," both a touch faster and more melodic, and the glorious stomp of the title tracks, but you really need to crank the whole thing - preferably while working on bikes in your garage or something. 

INSANE SOCIETY

ARMAGEDDON EXPERIMENTAL BAND

 

Tempted to just leave this one here and see if y'all know to do the right thing.

So I'm going to just leave this one here.....you know what to do. 

CRIES FROM PLANET EARTH

AFFRONT

 

Tough as nails, raw as fuck hardcore from Chicago. AFFRONT don't need a justification and you don't need to know their pedigree. You just need to listen. Listen to "Speak" and listen to "Merchants Of Death" and know that this is what hardcore sounds like when you take away all of the bullshit. When you take away all the nonsense. This is what you're left with. Eight minutes of pure. That's it....AFFRONT is pure. 

A DEMONSTRATION OF AN AFFRONT

LOS CRUDOS

 

I'm going to assume that LOS CRUDOS need no introduction in this community (and that's what we are...right?), and I'm also going to assume that this assumption is correct. This Polish release from Plague tapes collects the '91 Libertad demo, "500 Años" from the In The Spirit Of Total Resistance comp and a radio show recorded very early in the band's run.....basically? Essential shit. So here you go - maybe you didn't need an introduction...maybe you just needed a reminder. 

1492-1992: 500 AÑOS DE VIOLACIÓN Y ASESINATOS

MOCK EXECUTION

When MOCK EXECUTION exploded out of Chicago a few years ago it kinda felt like the floor dropped out from underneath me. It wasn't that we'd never heard anything like them, it was just that MOCK EXECUTION did the shit better. The riffs were fire (like, every single riff was fire) and the delivery harnessed a ferocity that defied description. And now....a half decade and several heralded vinyl releases after that first tape split my ears into pieces, Milwaukee's Unlawful Assembly gives them a platform to demonstrate that they still dominate the cassette format. 

 

REBELS WITHOUT A CAUSE

SFO

 

Figured they might have been from the Bay with the name (it's an airport), but they're from Chicago. I ripped an L7 set from 1991 the other night, and that primed me nicely for this trio - plodding, in your face, guitar heavy sludge/punk...I'm real into it, and I wish the second side hadn't been all fucked up and warbled so I could hear all six songs. Listen to "U-Lock" and smash shit, because it's Thursday. 

SxFxOx

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING

 

HIEROGLYPHIC BEING presented a solid ninety minutes of deranged acid house damage to start Reel Torque's series of focused mixes that has been kicking for over a decade. A dark and debaucherous journey through new beat, funk and industrial-tinged EDM that would have sucked me into the series from the start had I only been focused in that direction. As it is, the rest of the 30+ tapes in the series appear pretty hard to come by, but I'm in the market if anyone's holding. 

REEL TORQUE VOL.1

PRODUCT KF

Think about the time you first heard COMPLICATIONS. Think about how familiar it sounded even though it sounded completely new (to you) in that moment. Think about how excited you were to have discovered a new band with a new sound who were actually a new band with a very old sound. That's how I felt when I listened to PRODUCT KF last week....and now I can't stop. 

PRODUCT KF

 

I.B.M.

 

Pararhythmic sex obsessed acid drenched acid EBM from Chicago's I.B.M., a release that opens with the deliciously distorted title track "Eat My Fuck" and then drags the listener through an hour of dirty trance inducing glory. Eat My Fuck feels filthy, Eat My Fuck feels magical...Eat My Fuck fits perfectly. The only question is: Are you ready?

EAT MY FUCK

RAZORXFADE

 

They were a quick blip around the turn of the (last) decade, but RAZORXFADE's blip was fukkn loud. Completely unhinged Midwest SXEHC with wild song construction and a COLD SWEAT caliber vocal assault and the way the guitars break in the recording - tiny amps bursting at the fukkn seams with squelches and squeals permeating any dead space in the songs - puts the listener on edge from start to finish. I recommend paying particular attention to "Choke" crashing into "Called Out" because...well, because that shit is just something else. Six songs in a little over seven minutes, and then the 12" they dropped in 2011 was the final word....

RAZORXFADE

COMPRESSIONS

 

Chicago's COMPRESSIONS were but a blip, and I believe they had vanished before I knew the blip had blipped. PEDESTRIANS, LOSER LIFE, PILLAGE, MANIPULATION personnel teaming up for an eight song kick in the gut that doesn't sound anything at all like CONVERSIONS or COMPLICATIONS or any other band I can think of that starts with a CO. COMPRESSIONS are born from the POISON IDEA by way of CAUSTIC CHRIST school of USHC - the sound of determined sonic nihilism. "You Do Not Exist" on fukkn repeat all day. 

COMPRESSIONS

FUCKED UP FUCKIN SYSTEM

 

Three motherfukkrs from OKlahoma City hooked up with a fierce motherfukkr form Chicago sometime in the mid-teens. They thought it was going to be a one off because they were all friends and it was a good excuse to hang out....next thing you know they went on your and made a couple of demos. You like LEMONADE? You like JUDY & THE JERKS? Then I'm thinking you're going to like FUFS, because these motherfukkrs.....

FUFD UP // TO BE A FUF

CONDENADA

 

Rarely have I seen a live band as intense as CONDENADA. Rarely have I seen a band that felt as real as CONDENADA. I said all of these things a few years ago when I wrote about their Not Normal collection - all those words still fit, and I recommend listening to those recordings also so you can hear the full realization of their sonic mission....but I still return to this demo. Everything is rougher, presented with all blemishes in tact. There haven't been many like them, but we could surely use one now. 

CONDENADA

THE BUG

 

THE BUG were one of the most crucial USHC outfits. Their complete lack of pretension clashed with their confident ownership of the live setting - there was nothing else that mattered in the world when they played because they were putting out everything that they had - it was casual chaos. It was fukkn real. And when their dust settled, two tapes and one EP are all that remained. The brightest ones do burn the hottest. 

WHAT'S BUGGIN' YOU?

PRONOUNCED DEAD

I know what you're thinking...you're thinking The Wizard done gone and lost his mind because PRONOUNCED DEAD already stopped by The Escape so why am I posting it again. Well, first I wanna remind you that I posted that other shit like twelve years ago, and that's like three punk generations. And second I urge you to look at the track listing closely, because this one is different from that one. And besides, Chicago bands from the '90s who never really toured don't get enough press, and PRONOUNCED DEAD deserves way more press than punk will ever give them, so why the hell shouldn't I heap a little more on? Exactly, because the shit is so damn deadly. So here's another dose of the John Finaldi P-Beat (if you aren't familiar, check HIGH ON CRIME and KUNGFU RICK) driving six doses of bulldozer Chicago crust. This band was the embodiment of relentless ruthlessness.

PRONOUNCED DEAD

PITFALL

 

They only burned for a hot minute and this might have been their only recording, but damn PITFALL left a mark. From the ashes of PUNCH IN THE FACE, this Chicago tossed aside all of the unnecessary elements and got right to the heart of their mission - gruff, hardcore street punk. Ebro's vocals are the perfect strained, tuneful gravel that you want from Rust Belt Oi, fronting a band that wastes absolutely nothing. The lead on "Misery Lights" last about six seconds and uses just two notes...because if that's all you need then that's all you fucking use. Seven slammers with a SLUGHTER & THE DOGS cover to wrap things up, I just don't know what else you could want. 

PITFALL

HIGHWAY STACY

 

Covid-era mindfuckery from Chicago's HIGHWAY STACY.  Shit-fi drum machine mania crashes into experimental bedroom punk with full and relentless force...this is what happens when there's no one around to tell you you shouldn't do something. And this is why you should do things when there's no one around to tell you that you shouldn't. Because clearly you should. Listen to HIGHWAY STACY. 

IS THAT ALL?

THE LIPSCHITZ

Remember a couple of weeks ago when I said that Not Normal Tapes was one of the best labels in North America? I present THE LIPSCHITZ as further evidence. These ten songs barely manage to fill a quarter hour, but these ten songs are bursting at the seams with attitude, Reatard hooks and snotty, jerky art punk vibes. It's....I mean, it's basically a perfect (and timeless) collection of songs. From the faux Nuggets doldrums that makes up most of "Brown Eyes" to the hard driving NWI stomp "Metro PCS," every moment of Lava is deliberate, and every moment feels necessary. It's...I mean, it's basically perfect. Good job. You should probably buy a copy. 

LAVA

 

KRANG

Chicago's KRANG were more a sum of their parts on the first demo. The high/low vocals are straight Minneapolis crust, the tinny MetalZone guitar totally shouldn't work (but oooohhhhh it certainly does) and the drums hit this "almost-DBeat but also too fast for stench" sweet spot. Throw in solos like one near the end of "Oubliette" and the utterly relentless speed chug of "Heading For Internal Dankness," then pump the volume accordingly. KRANG dropped a slew of vinyl slabs before calling it quits in 2016, but if you don't have the The Bog Of Eternal Stenchcore EP at your disposal, I recommend Onward, Desolation... for your evening fist banging session.

ONWARD, DESOLATION...