Noise

GOOD MORNING bring to mind early 90’s crust and band like RESIST and DESTROY.  Remember on the early RESIST stuff when they had the cleaner more punk vocal but the background vocal or “second voice” was an over-the-top almost comical Cookie Monster growl?  Well these dudes have brought that back!  In all seriousness though GOOD MORNING is rocking hard!  The go from crust to hardcore to grind, and it’s their grind moments that remind of DESTROY.  I cannot find any info on GOOD MORNING anywhere, the only web address in their liner notes takes me to a site that has nothing to do with them.  PSYKOTIC KINESIS lends to the mystery as their myspace address takes me to another band called ZEITGEISTS that I think we played with years ago.  The record label is Dilapidated Records and there only web presence is a myspace page with no info on it.  Anyway… PSYKOTIC KINESIS has unique yet crustcore sound with some sick female vox leading the charge.  Both bands are unique in their approach and it makes for a really cool record.  (Clusterfuxjosh)

Dilapidated Records

Noise

This record is straight out of the 80’s.  Immediately I was thinking TOXIC REASONS, but there was something else…As I was dancing around the house making breakfast for the boy, it was killing me!  “Dude!  What is this???  I’ve heard this before!”.  It was eating me up, I couldn’t stand it anymore.  I was about to explode and then it hit me!  “Yo!  It’s mothafucken’ WARZONE!!!!”  This dude sounds like fucken’ Raybeez yo!  Only two songs on the Side Effects EP and I wanted more!  This little slab ‘o wax is fun! (Clusterfuxjosh)

Broadcast Interrupted Media / www.myspace.com/middleclasstrash

Noise

These Detroit area hardcore lifers have been together in some form or another since 83!  I immediately detected a US Hardcore influence and CRO-MAGS – Age of Quarrel came to mind.  Not being familiar with these kats I had to did around, but was only able to find a few bits about their history, their myspace page was not much help in that regard.  Lots of pictures of a fun looking house show / party though.  What I did learn is that they used to be a straight edge band with a fierce 7” that was released in 83.  Reviews of the older material make CRO-MAGS comparisons as well.  This is a great 7” of high energy hardcore punk with manic vocals.  The lyrics tackle the usual fanfare of religion, society, and government.  ‘Destroyed Rock City’ is a cry for the punks of Detroit to rise and create a stronger scene.  The last song ‘Vixen’ is a little edgy and is about a girl.  It’s not over the top offensive, but could be taken as being derogatory and definitely juvenile.  I’m a little hung up on that, but in all other regards this record is a solid slab of 80’s fueled hardcore.  (Clusterfuxjosh)

www.statenoillusions.com / www.punksbeforeproits.org

Noise

Goregrind.  Brutal and disgusting.  The cover is a drawing of a bunch of chopped up people and the lyrics are about killing people.  Goregrind is not a subgenre that I get into to, nor is pornogrind.  But, for some it works I guess. (Clusterfuxjosh)

HPGD Productions / 3346 Princeton Ave / Philadelphia PA 19149

Noise

The LAYBACKS are from Finland and rock out some melodic hardcore and have been doing so since the beginning of the 2000’s.  They kind of remind me of some of the melodic hardcore bands that came out in the early 90’s.  There is a heavy SCREECHING WEASEL thing going on here and maybe even some NOFX in parts without being quite as obnoxious.  RANCID is one of the bands these dudes crank on high while swilling brews and skateboarding.  Do they skate?  I think so, there is drawing of little guys skating on the cover.  They drink beer, it says so on the ‘one-pager’ that came with the disc.  They describe the themes of the album as “beer, friends etc, things from normal life”.  There you go…  (Clusterfuxjosh)

The Laybacks / www.myspace.com/laybacks77

Noise

This is apparently their fourth full length effort and the sticker on the packaging says they are “one of the top Punk-Crust-D-Beat European Bands!”  Quite a claim!  Until now I have not been familiar with them but sometimes I can be found napping under rocks.  Anyway this is pretty bad ass and makes me want to bang my head and mosh around a lot.  I’ll certainly have to throw this on in the morning and mosh around with my 2 year old, he likes to get down to heavy music with a thrashing beat, what a character.  This is grind, it’s crust, it’s thrash, it’s fricken cool.  Their list of influence reads like my list of favorite bands: ENT, NAPALM DEATH, MERCYFUL FATE, DRI, FINAL CONFLICT, CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER, DOOM, and on and on…Basically a who’s-who of crust, d-beat, 80’s crossover and thrash metal.  And W.A.S.P.!!!  Fuck yeah!  W.A.S.P. rules…or ruled until Blackie became a born again douche bag and decided that playing some of the older more evil and twisted songs wasn’t good for his Christian morals anymore.  Fuck that weak shit!!!  Ha! Ha!  Anyway…this disc rips!  At times it’s a little mechanical and Pro-tools production is a little to slick but for the most part this is a kick in the pants.  The lyrics tackle apathy, religion, technology, evolution, man’s quest for peace and human hypocrisy.  Some of the songs have a little explanation which I am a fan of, I like to get an idea of the author’s frame of mind for writing the song and their inspiration.  Great disc, I’ll have to look into some of their other releases.  (Clusterfuxjosh)

Rastilho Records / Apartado 764 / EC Marrazes / 2416-905 Leiria / Portugal

Noise

Two Portland bands here on another Rodent Popsicle / Pyrate Punx split release.  My brother said he saw RUM REBELLION a while back and said I wouldn’t like them.  Well…I, much like this CD, am split.  I really like the guys voice, he has a cool singing voice that isn’t raspy or snotty, it’s just cool.  I dig the Irish jig, pirate howdown, folk thing they have going on and they are incredibly talented.  The arrangements are really cool, a lot of fun and I like how strong the backing vocals are and their ability to play off of the main vocal.  But…They lost me when they started shouting “Oi, Oi, Oi”.   The lyrics are pretty lighthearted and they state on their site they are not into being political they are more into Punk, Skin and Hooligan unity.  HAMMERED GRUNTS share a drummer with RUM REBELION and play more straight forward street punk type stuff.  Songs about being punk and pissed pretty much make up their half of this disc.  Whenever a band enters into a split they, sometimes unfairly, risk being compared to the other band and on this split CD RUM REBELLION takes the (rum?) cake.  Even with their chants of “Oi”.  (Clusterfuxjosh)

Rodent Popsicle /P.O. Box 1143 / Allston, MA 02134 USA / www.rodentpopsicle.com

Noise

Not what I would normally expect from the Rodent Popsicle label, but Bill is doing all kinds of stuff these days.  This is pretty cool metallic crust.  This anarcho/political three piece hail from New Hampshire, the state that has the honor of being home to Congressman Dick Sweat.  Seriously, that’s his name.  Nevermind…back to the music.  Overall the production is crisp and clean and not of the blown-out sort which keeps their brand of crust moving along at a good clip not getting bogged down in the mud.  Sometimes one of the cymbals sounds kinda weird, I thought it was some piece of electronic equipment in my house malfunctioning for a moment.  The vocals go from a throaty growl to a screechy scream, I cant tell if it’s the same dude or if they trade off.  At times they remind me a little of AGAINST EMPIRE.  The last song has a really cool intro that builds up with a lot of energy and emotion before breaking into a killer tune called “The Downfall of the World to Come” that drops a little bit of the metal and owns a more TRAGEDYesque feel.  Overall I really like the disc, it is pretty good and I can see it getting added to my Ipod and getting a few more plays.  And they do play homage to everyone’s heroes DISCHARGE with a nicely executed cover. (Clusterfuxjosh)

Rodent Popsicle / P.O. Box 1143 / Allston, MA 02134 USA / www.rodentpopsicle.com

Noise

Another Pyrate Punx / Rodent Popsicle joint effort here.  This one originating from the rainy city of Seattle where my friend Zach lives.  The cover art and even band name had me believing this was going to be retro 80’s thrash metal effort as both lend themselves to that nicely.  The cover has some cool post-apocalyptic Seattle skyline destruction going on complete with gas masks and a jumbo jet teed up to 911 a skyscraper.   There’s nothing bad about this disc but there is nothing great either.  Pretty straight forward punk rock with slight oi / street punk undertones as well as 80’s US hardcore.  They cite ARTICLES OF FAITH and the ZERO BOYZ as influences, there’s the 80’s hardcore sound I was referring to.  Semi-political lyrics are interspersed with songs of scene frustration and cliques.  If you long for that sound of yore this might satisfy your craving. (Clusterfuxjosh)

Rodent Popsicle Records / P.O. Box 1143 / Allston, MA 02134 USA / www.rodentpopsicle.com

Noise

Full speed ahead blazing skate core from the Land of Oaks!  Do they have a lot of oak trees in Oakland? I didn’t see any.  This disc rips!  I was gonna pick it up but just as luck would have it, there it was in the review pile.  I had one of their songs on my myspace page for awhile.  Shouted, just shy of a scream, lyrics blast out over fast- tempoed-hardcore skater punk.  SHORT CHANGED would have been very at home on one the early Thrasher SkateRock comps of the 80’s.  (Clusterfuxjosh)

Rodent Popsicle Records / P.O. Box 1143 / Allston, MA 02134 USA / www.rodentpopsicle.com

Noise

This wild, manic, noisy and totally crazy assed cdr contains 7 tracks of brutal fucking grindcore that flies by you so fast you won't know what the fuck hit you! This 4 piece outfit hails from France and have been around since 1989 with several years of inactivity between 1999 through 2008. They have several comp tracks out there along with 7" Eps, split 7" Eps and other things. Good stuff! (Ken Ciderpunk)

www.myspace.com/filthycharity // filthycharity[AT]gmail.com

Noise

I believe this is the first full length record from this out piece band out of Bremen, Germany. The music is good, mid paced HardCore that has a bit of a melodic feel to it with plenty of hooks to reel you into the jams. Unfortunately the vocals/lyrics are all in German so I can't comment on what they are trying to say in their music. That small hurdle aside I still like what I hear and give this a thumbs up. (Ken Ciderpunk)

www.impact-records.com // www.myspace.com/kommandokaphoorn

Noise

This four piece band from Gothenburg, Sweden treat us to 11 tracks of metal tinged HardCore that has a strong early 80s feel to it. The tempo is mostly on the slow to mid paced scale with fast bits here and there. The harsh vocals full of piss and vinegar are spit out with crazy energy and force. The band have former members of THE SMACKDOWN, SEVEN FEET FOUR, ANCHOR, 8 DAYS OF NOTHING and REPO MAN. This debut LP is well worth picking up for all of you MetalCore bastards out there! (Ken Ciderpunk)

www.refoundation.it // www.myspace.com/deadvows

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