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