BURGERKILL

You don't just have to pay attention, you have to look. There are hundreds of these. Thousands. Bands that popped up somewhere on the other side of this flat disc we call home, played their hearts out and then moved on or faded away before the geographically challenged had a chance to notice...or, perhaps, bands that took an entirely different trajectory and ended up playing Wacken, like our Indonesian guests BURGERKILL. 2000's Dua Sisi was their first release, and it's very much a hardcore platter, though the roots of the metal powerhouse they evolved into are evident. I suppose if you put the term "crossover" in a modern context, this is a perfect example? I just think it's a meaty hardcore platter.....

DUA SISI

THE ACCÜSED

1987 recording of tracks that would be included on the More Fun Than An Open Casket Funeral full length. Fast, anxious crossover thrash from a band at their absolute prime - when these dudes were firing on all cylinders the result was scary. Worth noting that this is presented as a four song promo, one of which is scrawled out by hand on the cover...but there are five songs. Hey man, beer helps.

4-SONG PROMO

CHRONIC PLAGUE

There are rehearsal demos...and then there are rehearsal demos. This three song banger features a rough recording of CHRONIC PLAGUE raging while the vocalist speaks the lyrics over the rest of the band. Presumably this was just meant as a tool to prepare for a future studio session...but even the unfamiliar will appreciate the novelty here.

CHRONIC PLAGUE

SLAMBODIANS

More...uh, "refined" than 1987's You Know What I Mean?, SLAMBODIANS entered the new and exciting decade with a five song collection of knuckle dragging crossover thrash. I don't even mind the slap bass on "Livin' Large" (the lyrics are a different story...wow) when delivered with this kind of fury, and when they slow down to a subtle ska beat on "Never Better Than Late" to are without question listening to a band from a different era. But the thrash shit? These motherfukkrs could go hard, and even with the edges smoothed up a bit the rippers on Wot's Wtrong Wit Choo? are certifiable. Under the radar Bay Area thrash? You're welcome.

WOT'S WRONG WIT CHOO?

MASTERS OF EAR DESTRUCTION

Super tripped out German avant metalpunk from sometime in the late '80s (I'm guessing). The first track conjures serious Japanese thoughts (and thoughts of the highest echelon, if you know what I mean), and then the tape stands up and just kicks you in the ass. If there were a genre called "outsider thrash," then MOED would be the flag bearers, just super fukkn weird and manic crossover mania with songs like "Suck My Dick (your)," "Where's The Meat...." and "Fucking East." I have rarely listened to a band that gave a smaller fuck than these monkeys seem to give, and of course that's a quality that I appreciate and celebrate,. Get weird, my monkeys. 

REAL SHIT

BACCHUS

The thing about tapes like this one is that it makes you wonder how many bands there are/were from weird suburbs. I mean, it's easy to make a list of crucial late '80s bands from San Francisco or Oakland...but what about South San Francisco, San Bruno or San Mateo? I'll be thinking about this raging thrash metal this morning while I'm settling down to a fun filled day in a cubicle near the SSF/San Bruno border, and I'll wonder what happened to these mutants. And I'll be thinking about that crew of teenagers with leather jackets and punk patches that I frequently see chilling near the San Bruno BART station when I'm on my way home, clearly up to no good and obviously on my team (even if they don't know it). Hardcore and thrash metal were fukkn made for the suburbs, and bands like this were fukkn made to be from the suburbs. Screaming, demented crossover/thrash insanity at its unpretentious best.

BACCHUS

GUILLOTINE

Listen to the start of the second track. Just listen...this is what raw metalpunk is supposed to sound like. I heard their only proper release once, and I was underwhelmed (Late '80s. Alchemy records. Hit your dollar bins, thrashers), but this demo is a fukkn screamer. Equal parts MOTÖRHEAD, ENGLISH DOGS and ripping California thrash/punk, this demo is a power packed assault with So Cal hardcore vocals, metal leads and a drummer that is dead set on playing heavy metal beats, even while his band is getting all primal on some street level crossover thrash. How do you find this energy and honesty today....? I don't know, but I want to learn.

EDGE OF DOOM

MANIACAL GENOCIDE

Worth a download for the eponymous track alone, MANIACAL GENOCIDE are the epitome of blurry late '80s crossover thrash. The San Gabriel Valley may have missed the hardcore explosion in the early part of the decade, but these mutants did their part to put the suburbs on the thrash mania map...even cheesy bangers like "So Trendy" have teeth in the current millennium (which might say more about this era than that one?). Screaming whirlwind thrash. You're welcome. 

TOO LATE FOR APOLOGIES

CHRONIC PLAGUE

In the late '80s when some hardcore bands were injecting funk into their songs and others were slowing things down and getting more and more schlocky, there were still new bands determined to play faster than ever but still managed to move away from the accepted formulas and make things a little dark in the process. The Bay Area was prime for shit like this, perhaps a reaction to the impressive array of high profile thrash bands from the region, and bands from here often seem like they have a different edge. Take CHRONIC PLAGUE from Albany (that's near Berkeley, and the town where a relatively well known band from area was formed around the same time this 1986 demo dropped) - first track is really just a crossover thrash screamer, but other shit starts to creep in on "Disillusioned" (especially the intro) and these primitive sounding yet quite complex bangers with their crackling guitar and teen frustration make a serious impression even on first listen. Do not expect a produced or polished assault - this is raw and very very real garage thrash. Also, I'm pretty sure the dude playing bass was my roommate in San Francisco ten years after this was recorded.

CHRONIC PLAGUE

DEATH IN ACTION

These Germans dished out three full lengths on We Bite, but it should come as no surprise that this 1987 demo smokes all of them (several of these tracks appear in a more polished form on DEATH IN ACTION's 1988 debut Toxic Waste). Off the rails crossover thrash metal, all the screws tightened just right. Musical similarities to S.O.D. but there's a clear UK punk sensibility and something distinctly German that I can't quite put my finger on. Furthermore, unless you listen to the first DIE KREUZEN LP today, then the time change in "God, Where Are You?" is going to be the highlight of your waking hours. 

VEINS OF FEAR

CURIOUS MID-CRUDS

Churning through a quarter hour of metallic post thrash, Japan's CURIOUS MID-CRUDS are a harsh toke for people looking for brainless hardcore. Solos out of a Satriani songbook, vocals ripped from the throat of Devil Chicken (AGONY COLUMN punk, get amongst it), and songs that draw from virtually every hardcore/metal subgenre. It's like EXODUS slammed headfirst into technical metal without fear of funk, and then they just get weird. The 8+ minute "Actuality Of Fear" is like a tutorial for people who've never heard metal or punk or thrash... maybe the title of their demo describes that band better than I can.

HYBRID CROSSOVER

LETHAL AGGRESSION

Mid '80s drug fueled nihilistic hardcore from New fucking Jersey. There is nothing even remotely subtle about these seven ragers - there's a little metal sneaking into the program, but it's in the context of screaming bloody mayhem...the title of this demo provides pretty good insight into where these dudes were coming from. These are not friendly sounds.

FROM THE CUNT OF THE FUCKING WHORE

New Jersey Drug Core

BROKEN BONES

I'm not proud, and I don't see any reason to make shit up to make myself seem cooler than I actually am. The first time I knowingly heard BROKEN BONES was a couple of weeks ago when I ripped this tape my friend loaned me (and I only wanted it for the live SEPTIC DEATH that was on the flip side). The internet tells me that these tracks are from the Dem Bones record from 1984, and that the dudes that played guitar in DISCHARGE started this band. Don't worry, I've heard DISCHARGE.

DEM BONES

ABSOLUT

Sometimes I am a little late to the party, and this tape is a prime example. There are punks in this world that have been listening to this demo for months, and here I am just turning myself onto it a couple of weeks ago. My fault, no excuses, the fukkn thing was sitting in my pile, I just get distracted. But maybe the wait made ABSOLUT just a little more awesome? More tantalizing? More mysterious? Probably not, but it helps to make me feel better about snoozing, so let me have my consolation...please? This Toronto outfit is the very definition of bombastic Japan/Sweden DBeat hardcore, but with classic heavy metal solos instead of the Scandinavian bendy notes. And I can't believe that no one has thought of this marriage before now, because it is a beautiful union. I try not to beat myself up about missing shit while I'm on tour, but these dudes are playing a few blocks from my house a few days after I leave, and that is a bummer. 

ABSOLUT

They've released a couple of online demos since this early 2013 creamer, and while I think the recordings lack the power of their first offering, the jams on Insane Power Demos are certified. West Coasters should consider themselves lucky.

SLAMBODIANS

I think I only know this band existed because Danny B. from ALL YOU CAN EAT played guitar in some incarnation, but listening today I cannot imagine why they aren't more well known amongst neanderthal thrash maniacs. Sinister crossover from 1987, not far removed from Bay Area contemporaries - dumb as a bag of hammers and totally shredding. The gratuitous use of effects on the snare drum and guitar are especially appreciated, and while the lyrics are sometimes cringe worthy, the vocals the deliver them are gravelly in the best way. 

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

SUDDEN IMPACT

This is perfect pre-crossover North American hardcore punk. Regional identification is not immediately obvious as with some bands of the era, but if I told you they were from Toronto (Willowdale, technically, an "established, affluent suburb") you would probably listen to their rust belt originality, their New York attitude and their DC energy and think (the title track "Freaked Out" is practically a lost MINOR THREAT jam) "yeah...that makes sense." Vocals are fukkn flawless for the style, and the guitars just make you clench your face into a fist that says "yes...this is why I do this." There were full lengths that followed in 1986 and 1988 - the first is a more bombastic and metallic take on this demo's hardcore attack, and the second is a relatively flat foray into crossover thrash...naturally I prefer the raw power of 1984's Freaked Out. Get into it.

FREAKED OUT

SLAUGHTERED GRACE

New Jersey....wow. This is absolutely primal death/thrash metal from Lodi, NJ circa 1989, six tracks of face melting shred of the highest caliber. All of the necessary elements are presented for your enjoyment: rampaging, forceful drums seemingly just a hair ahead of the beat, screaming (and dueling) guitar solos, sporadic breakdowns with ominous gang vocals and a singer trying desperately to cram all of his wisdom into each verse. Equal parts (early) DRI and SLAYER with a thankfully subtle element of cheese, these maniacs dished out a slab that holds up perfectly today - in fact it makes me want to wreck shit. After this demo and one single SLAUGHTERED GRACE called it quits...I can only imagine how good they would have gotten had they kept going.

CALL THIS PLANET...SLAUGHTERED GRACE

TRANSGRESSION

There must have been thousands of bands like this in the late '80s, dirty crossover hardcore/thrash that could just as easily come from the punk underground or from dudes who want to be SLAYER but don't quite have the chops....or both. TRANSGRESSION come off like a metallic midwestern D.R.I. with a few extra hooks, but comparisons be damned once you start thrashing, right? The file has their 1987 self titled demo and Better Days from from following year. You get two tapes because I like you.

TRANSGRESSION

THE CORPSE

I've posted tapes from THE CORPSE in the past, but everyone can use a little refresher on occasion...and these tracks are far and away my favorite from the band (at least this week). A few tracks appeared on 1984's split with MOSKWA, but by the 1988 release of Skazani Na Ból! their assault had become faster, more precise, without losing one shred of the raw intensity that sets them apart from throngs of late '80s hardcore/thrash.  The chops are undeniable (combine the most essential moments of Eastern European punk, US crossover and Japanese hardcore), but the fire with which THE CORPSE deliver their fury transcends genres. This is absolutely mandatory listening. If you don't know, then it's time to learn.

SKAZANI NA BÓL!

IMPETIGO

25+ years later, this listens like a (slightly) more metal STIKKY. Thrash punk/crossover from Illinois, these Bloomington, Illinois ragers rips through 12 ultra sloppy and ultra snotty numbers on their first demo recorded live in 1987. Later releases would have IMPETIGO dishing out gore/death metal and honing their chops substantially, but here they are ripping tongue in cheek pimply faced thrashers. More than enough energy comes through this recording to compensate for the less-than-precise delivery, and these dudes sound legitimately hilarious between tunes. I read once that this was recorded at their first live show, but consider that nothing more than an unsubstantiated internet missive.

ALL WE NEED IS CHEEZ

Tracks from this demo appeared on the 1999 split EP with TRANSGRESSOR, which was my first exposure to IMPETIGO. The whole thing was issued on CD around the same time by a porno grind label from Europe, in case you were curious.