Soar - Discography CD

Here is another French HC band that were attached to Stonehenge Records... Soar featured folks from Cause & Effect and a future member of Amanda Woodward.  Soar was quite different from both of those bands, however... they played a more metal influenced hardcore that stood somewhere in the nexus of screamo, metalcore and grind.  While each song seems to traverse these genres, the constant emphasis is on heaviness and power.  This CD compiles their self-titled 7" and a split Ep with Grievance, seven songs that are effectively the entire discography of this short lived band.  Great stuff.

Soar - Discography CD

Conniption

Here's another 90's hardcore group from upstate New York... Conniption was fairly short-lived and released a couple of split 7"ers and one full Ep - one of the splits being with recently posted fellow New Yorkers Half Man.  Though they came out of the hardcore scene, their sound was very metallic and lay somewhere in the overlap between Hardcore, Grind and Death Metal.  At least one of these guys went on to form slightly more well-known straight edge grind band Monster X after Conniption's demise.  Here is Conniption's full Ep and the split with Half Man (including the Half Man tracks that I left out of the last post)... I still need to get my hands on the split Ep with Scapegrace.

Conniption - Self Titled Ep and Split Ep with Half Man

C.R.

Up next is another band from the Northeast - C.R. (technically Compassionate Revolution, but always shortened to the initials) hailed from New York and played ultra fast and thrashy hardcore influenced by both grindcore and straight-edge.  These guys were active for a few years at the end of the 1990s and released a few Eps and one full length.  Their sound definitely put them within the orbit of the best from the vibrant east coast hardcore scene at the time - bands like Drop Dead, Ulcer, Dissension and Hail of Rage or even VA grinders Enemy Soil.  Here is their discography CD, simply titled "46 Songs."

C.R. - Forty Six Songs

Ulcer

Alright, Happy New Year everyone... I'll start off 2015 with post from this side of the pond, namely the 39 track (plus a live set) discography CD from Massachusetts thrashers Ulcer.  These guys were around in the early to mid 1990's and played blistering hardcore, bordering on grind, with plenty of doses of thrash and power violence thrown in the mix.  Ulcer did split records with 90's HC mainstays Capitalist Casualties and Failure Face, which should give you some further clue to their sound.  To my ears they share a lot in common with Rhode Islanders Drop Dead, but with more insane vocals - reminiscent of Septic Death or, even more closely, the Unsettled Ep I posted so long ago.  This CD collects all of Ulcer's material - an Lp, an Ep and two split 7"ers, along with the aforementioned live set.  Enjoy.

Ulcer - Discography CD    

Boxed In

Alright, here's an X-mas day post to fulfill a reader's request - more great UK hardcore from the early 2000's.  Boxed In featured members from several classic UK HC groups - most notably Sned from Generic, One By One, Health Hazard and Suffer (and also the proprietor of the long running and crucial Flat Earth Records).  Boxed In carried on in a similar vein to the most recent of those groups - thrashy, ultra fast HC, bordering on grind, with smart political lyrics.  This post is their discography CD which includes their sole 12", three Eps and a few songs from compilations.  37 tracks total, including some vital covers - including Anti Cimex, Kafka Process, Iconoclast and more.  Enjoy!  

Boxed In - 2001-2005 CD

Various - Iron Columns 2xLp

Time for another compilation... here is a double Lp of late 90's hardcore, crust and grind from Mind Control Records.  I've posted a few Mind Control releases before, and pretty much everything this label did was great.  Iron Columns features a bevy amazing punk and hardcore from this time period and many of the greats are included - Los Crudos, Forca Macabra, Ebola, Counterblast, Extinction of Mankind, Krigshot, Disclose, Cress and one of my particular faves, Black Kronstadt.  Beyond the heavy hitters, most of the lesser known bands contribute strong tracks as well, making this a solid collection overall and a great glimpse at the state of international DIY hardcore at the time.

Various - Iron Columns 2xLp

E.B.S. - Destroy Your Enemy

Here is the (almost complete) discography LP of Florida grinders E.B.S. (Every Body Sucks).  This early to mid-90's band played super fast hardcore, bordering on grind, with intentionally offensive lyrics and imagery.  Musically they are up there with some of my favorite HC of the period - bands like the U.K.'s Health Hazard, Suffer or Urko.  Other bands that come to mind, both musically and lyrically, are Cripple Bastards, Rupture and the like...  Definitely an overlooked hardcore outfit from the U.S. and well worth checking out if you dig any of the aforementioned bands...  This record collects their split 12" with Failure Face, their Cosmetic Society EP, and various compilation tracks.

E.B.S. - Destroy Your Enemy

Head Hits Concrete - Hope, Fear and the Terror of Dreams Ep

This week I've got another Canadian band, Winnipeg's Head Hits Concrete.  These guys play some brutal grindcore with a slight tech-metal influence.  Their sound reminds me a bit of Discordance Axis or fellow Canadians Malefaction.  HHC existed from 1999 to 2004, though there are rumors that they are back together and recording new material.  This Ep is from 2003 and came out on Intolerant Messiah records.   

Head Hits Concrete - Hope, Fear and the Terror of Dreams Ep

Shitfit/Human Greed Split Lp

Sorry for the long delay between posts.... I've been a bit under the weather and scrambling to catch up on work that I'd missed whilst ill.  Anyways, the post this week is split Lp of Canadian crust/grind bands which was unleashed in 1993.  Shitfit played fast paced crustcore with very distinctive vocals.  Musically they come from the Doom or Hiatus side of things but the vocals are very unique and bit hard to describe... they aren't growled in typical crust fashion, but aren't "clean" by any means.  Human Greed's side of the split is more typical crust influenced grindcore from the time.  Definite anarcho lyircs, pointed samples and crappy production should bring to mind early Disrupt or Drop Dead.  Overall a good split, especially for the uniqueness of the Shitfit tracks.  Each band had a few other releases - Eps and split Eps before calling it quits.  I need to track down the other Shitfit material.  Human Greed did have a discography CD which appeared some time in the 90s, though I don't think Shitfit ever had such a collection.  Both bands were part of the burgeoning Quebec HC scene of the 90s that spawned other greats like Immoral Squad, Seized and Dahmer.

Shitfit/Human Greed split Lp

Dahmer - Dahmerized

How about a change of pace?  Here's some Canadian grindcore - the Quebec band Dahmer.  As you can tell from their name and the song titles, they were a bit obsessed with serial killers... not my usual lyrical taste but relatively apt for a grind band.  This LP contains the tracks recorded for a 7" which was set for release on Relapse records but which never materialized through some disagreement between the band and label.   Those songs make up the A side and the B side are their demo recordings.  All in all, 20 tracks of brutality.    


Dahmer- Dahmerized Lp

Various - Plot Compilation

Time for another compilation... this one is from Germany and was a benefit release for Plot fanzine.  It's simply entitled "Plot Comp." and featured some of the heavyweight of 90s German hardcore.  Here's the full track list:

Graue Zellen - Voice Your Opinion
Cwill - Ashamed
Ambush - Locuste
Ego-Trip - Here & Now
Golgatha - C.A.C.
Slumlords - Rainship
Zorn - Kranke Frucht
Acme - New Song
Systral - Pretending Judiciousness
Luzifers Mob - 5-19 (Und Der Bose Blick)
Stack - Armistice
Time to Suffer Power - Animal
Wounded Knee - Wake Up!
Mine - XXX
Corrosive - Rausch Des Irrens
Zelot - Lotzeyn
Dawnbreed - Menschmotorik
Bohren - Luder, Samba & Tavernen

Metalcore was really big over there at this time and a few of these bands lean that way (Acme, Ego-Trip, Zorn) but this release kept mostly to fast HC with a decent dose of heaviness.  Beyond the expected greatness of groups like Stack and Luzifers Mob, my favorite tracks are from Wounded Knee, Graue Zellen, Golgatha and Ambush.  The only disappointing tracks are the Slumlords and the final one from Bohren... some kind of lounge music outro thing.  Every other song on this comp. kills...

V/A Plot Compilation

Various - Reconstruction Lp

OK, I've got time for one more post before the hectic holidays...  Here's one last record from France for now - the Reconstruction compilation from Stonehenge Records.  This one collects all the emo "heavy-weights" - Fingerprint, Vanilla, Undone, Ivich, as well as some grind (Ultimate Disorder, Co-Exist) and crust (Autonomia Indigena) to keep things interesting.  All the bands on this one deliver, with the exception of Cause & Effect... as much as I love their 7", their track on this one is little more than a throwaway.  A shame, too, since it's the only other song they appear to have released.  All tracks seem to be exclusive to this LP.  Check it out.

V/A Reconstruction

Enola Gay/Vomit Yourself split LP

 

...And now for something completely different.  I'm a little weary of posting U.S. punk and HC for the moment, so here is a split LP of French bands - Enola Gay and Vomit Yourself.  This one dates from 1995 or so and both bands play blistering hardcore.  Enola Gay, one of a gazillion bands with that name, remind me alternately of Doom and early Extreme Noise Terror - great Euro crust-core.  Vomit Yourself are even faster, with shorter songs bordering on grindcore.  Both sides of the LP totally rip.  This one came out on the great French label Panx.  Enola Gay had a 7" and a couple of splits which I never tracked down but this record seems to be the only output of Vomit Yourself.  Download and be destroyed.

Enola Gay/Vomit Yourself split LP