Timebomb ‎– The Beat Is Here, Fellas

And here's Timebomb's Ovidian metamorphosis from apocalyptic hardcore death metal to political experimental noise pop-punk close to Fugazi, Unwound, The International Noise Conspiracy, with their singer sounding like a more nasal Men At Work vocalist with an Italian accent! Despite being nothing remotely close to their classic discography I still like it! 2001 cd on Cane Records.

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Timebomb & Redemption split cd

On this split cd, Timebomb re-record three tracks from Hymns For a Decaying Empire, playing them tighter and closer to a metalcore sound, which is still good, albeit slightly less apocalyptic. Nonetheless, they still rock on this one, and nothing hinted to the surprise they had in store sometime later. Redemption is another vegan/straight edge band from Italy, and they play what one might call metalcore, with a more melodic edge close to early Caliban and Lifeforce Records, lots of double-bass and a female vocalist with a very cute and lovable voice. Not something amazing, but much better than what metalcore would come to mean a few years later. 1999 cd on War.Ds.

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Timebomb - The Full Wrath of the Slave cd

Easily on of the ten best metallic hardcore albums of all time, right up there with Integrity's mid-1990s unholy trinity, Kickback's Forever War, Catharsis, Ringworm's debut, All Out War's For Those Who Were Crucified, Gehenna's The Birth Of Vengeance 7". Rarely has hardcore sounded so majestic and with a sense of mournfulness and desperation, created by the masterly executed black metal-inspired riffs and blastbeats over the hardcore violence. 1998 cd on CrimethInc.

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Timebomb ‎– Hymns For A Decaying Empire LP

Wow, one of my favorite records of all time, absolutely epic and devastating metallic hardcore with 
creative influences (not copying that is) by the melodic moments of early Integrity, Bolt Thrower, and some black metal, but with a hugely personal sound and intense energy and political passion oozing from every note and drum hit. The lyrics are great with references to everyday life under capitalism, antifascist violence and all. Last track is an interview of the band in Italian. 1995 LP on the historical SOA Records.

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Timebomb - The Fury 7"

I have referred a few times to my teen years of metallic hardcore punk adoration and how this had been to a certain extent my gateway both to politics and noise music. One of those bands I was obsessed with apart from Integrity was Timebomb, a brutal metallic hardcore band from Rome with strongly political lyrics and a vegan/straight-edge message, which was however very far away from the tough-guy/exclusivist attitude of middle-class idiots like Earth Crisis. These people were connected to anarchist and communist political movements, and this was evident through the seriousness of their lyrics, their connection to political labels such as CrimethInc., as well as the passion and conviction emanating from their music. In this early 7", they still hadn't fully fleshed out the epic hardcore metal of their later full-lengths and they had a rawer punk edge akin to other Italian classics such as Raw Power, as well as the amazing Society of Jesus, who (if I remember correctly) shared the Timebomb vocalist, whose gruff vocals was one of the trademarks of Timebomb.1994 7" on the inimitable SOA Records.

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PS. As a bonus there's the 1993 demo of  Timebomb, which features almost the same songs as this 7"
Here

VA - In Our Time LP (CrimethInc. Compilation 1997)

I've mentioned how important CrimethInc. records and its bands were in politicizing me as a teen punk/metalhead. Its mid-to-late-1990s records of Catharsis, Gehenna and Timebomb were integral in the consolidation of the metallic hardcore genre, and more specifically the "holy terror" subgenre, along with Integrity, Ringworm, All Out War, Kickback and a few more American and European HC bands. The Inside Front zine run by Brian Dingledine - singer of Catharsis and key figure of the label/collective - opened my eyes to so many hardcore punk bands and features important articles about politics, anticapitalism and self-organization. Over the years CrimethInc. kind of became irrelevant to me politically as I moved towards more Marxist viewpoints but I still go back to read some of the stuff.

Anyway, this LP features seven tracks, one each by Belgian thrash-metal-influenced straight-edge/vegan legends Congress, Italian political metallic hardcore Timebomb, deathcore barbarians Systral from Bremen (check out their split 7" with Acheborn), more old-school hc by Refused side-project Final Exit, nightmarish sludge/punk by the incomparable Damad, technical mathy hc by Jesuit (members of which were Brian Benoit of Dillinger Escape Plan and Nate Newton of Converge/Old Man Gloom), and the highlight which is the absolutely evil, scary, infernal and apocalyptic medley of "Testimony/Divine Rewards" by Gehenna, one of the most savage and destructive hardcore punk bands ever. Even though all tracks here are absolutely awesome, they can be found elsewhere in the respective bands' releases, but this track, consisting of a jam of "Testimony" from their classic 7" The Birth of Vengeance and unknown track "Divine Rewards," hasn't ever been released anywhere else, not even in the re-release of The War of the Sons of Light and the Suns of Darkness.

Apart from the rich booklet containing lyrics and interviews/texts of the band plus a second booklet analyzing the strategies of standardization and uniformity in Western advanced capitalist societies. This is an essential release of 1990s political hardcore, so you must get it. 1997 LP on CrimethInc.

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