BRAINxTOILET

Utterly guttural Southern grind. Forceful, massive, chaotic, relentless....and fukk is it fast. Choice cut is "Infinite Regret" if only for the (slightly) slower kinda '90s sounding guitar part that creeps in just before the robotic lurch/squeal/mini mosh, but each of those parts whizz by in just a couple of seconds. This 2013 release from North Carolina's BRAINxTOILET requires maximum attention, and maximum volume comes highly recommended. 

BRAINxTOILET

LARVAE

The world of regional USDIY '90s hardcore has yet to be fully explored. So many bands that existed - and thrived - in their own (then) isolated pre-internet areas and then faded away....legacies that are little more than legend and short run demo tapes. LARVAE is one of those...the 1995 demo (more on that later) is a ripper, but this collection of tracks from the following year is colossal dual vocal political crust in league with MANKIND? and other more revered acts. Ten tracks, and the whole thing fukkn cooks...even through a less than optimal demo quality recording. But everything is here, and tracks like "Ruled By The State" show the chops and vision of a band that deserves more than some grey bearded boner blabbing about them on the internet twenty years in the future. Picture this band blowing DEFIANCE out of the room, this is why '90s hardcore fukkn rules. 

LISTEN

Check the post of LARVAE's 1995 demo here, and read a story about a dude named Jizz and his friend Shitbong. Even if you remember the story from when I posted that demo two years ago (yeah....as if you remember that shit), it's worth revisiting because good stories are always a good time. And who doesn't like a good time? Dummies. That's who. 

ANOPHELI

File under: "epic"

Five tracks filled with the kind of stadium crust that is so permanently identified with the mid/late '00s that it's almost impossible to believe that this project was recorded in 2014. While I do not miss the time when half assed versions of this music were seemingly represented at every show, I certainly miss the opportunity to see the good ones with devastating frequency. And ANOPHELI, dropping their cello drenched mid paced dual vocal action years after the cool kids started worshipping at the dupa-dupa altar. It's a nice altar - but come the fukk on.....sometimes you need power. Sometimes you need emotion. 

A HUNGER RARELY SATED

EXTRACTION

A few months ago there was a fast, heavy hardcore band coming through town and I was talking to my buddy Will about locals to team them up with. We quickly reached an unfortunate conclusion: our geographical region suffers from a severe lack of crust. It's too easy to take crust for granted, perhaps because poor-to-average crust bands are a dime a dozen, but there's never a bad time for a dirty downtuned DBeat churn with metallic guitars and fist in the air breakdowns...that's what we wanted. But fear not, "lack" does not mean "absence," and EXTRACTION are holding things down until proper equilibrium returns. Clenched fists, lots of hair, screaming (but short) leads, and tracks that get in make their presence known with force, then get out. Just seven tracks, Dead And Buried clocks in under eleven minutes and ends with a perfect chug in "Hidden." When Will and I were talking a few months ago, EXTRACTION exactly what we wanted...and wanted more of. 

EXTRACTION

WARFEÄR

Five gut churning bursts of high intensity DBeat crust from Malaysia. If this weekend has taught me anything, it's that (hopefully) fist in the air DBeat hardcore is "cool" again....although for some people it never went out of style. Check the breakdown in "Dead End"...this one is 100% cream. 

WARFEÄR

TRAPPED WITHIN BURNING MACHINERY

Snagged on a complete whim on a recent trip to Southern California, I basically thought this thing looked like it might be cool and figured it was worth a $5 gamble. Live loose, man...let it roll, you can't take it with you, right? So might as well shove some jams into your canal before you move on down the line. And so I gambled, and I was treated to 66 minutes of bleak atmospheric metal. Slow motion heaviness interrupts periods of carefully constructed quietude, with searing vocals that demand as much attention as the morose wailing guitars that permeate the interludes....interludes that create The Fifth Element's aura, but make up a substantial portion of its content. Get dark.

THE FIFTH COLUMN

CONTAINER CRUSTIES FROM HELL

If you were around in the '00s then you likely heard about this French band. And if you weren't turned off by the art then you surely dismissed them because of the name. I mean, you have a lot of stuff to choose from, a lot of things to enjoy, so it makes sense that you would want to focus on the things you think you might like. It's cool...I did the same thing. Thankfully, the folks at Dratsab Records in Malaysia are here to help us to get right with this one, and they've made these tracks available to a new audience - even if that audience is made of people who should have paid attention the first time around. Absolutely relentless crust/grind with searing female leads and harsh male backups. The guitars are like rusty knives, and there's a vibe that touches the killer German shits of the era that we all fukkn loved for a season (AKEPHAL, ACME, etc.)....but mostly this tape just rrrriiiiipppppssss. No reliance on downtuning or crushing riffs, instead CONTAINER CRUSTIES FROM HELL just drop a monster in your earholes and leave. Because after a half hour like this? There simply ain't nothing left.

CONTAINER CRUSTIES FROM HELL

COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON

Another in the long list of under appreciated bands that The Escape enthusiastically celebrates, Seattle's COUNTDOWN TO ARMAGEDDON has dropped some serious tonnage during their run. Like a rabid pack of wolves, they charge at your earholes from the first "go" and never let up, subtle melodies lurking under gritty buzzsaw guitars and fierce dual vocals, while a driving snare batters relentlessly. Epic light speed hardcore/crust with all of the teeth that you need and none of the trappings that keep getting the subgenre dismissed by flavor of the month naysayers....(don't get me wrong, sometimes the flavor of the month can be delicious too, but you get my point).

TURN INTO SHADOWS

COLLAPSE SOCIETY

Noisy and chaotic beyond belief, poorly reproduced and suffering from waves of hiss, ramshackle mania with vocals mixed way too high and bass distorted to a near noteless rumble. In other words: perfect. I think this is how these sounds were meant to be listened to, and COLLAPSE SOCIETY has been doing the thing for fukkn 25 years. Noise Not Music, motherfukkrs. 

DEMO '93

MANIA FOR CONQUEST

MANIA FOR CONQUEST deliver perfectly executed light speed DBeat hardcore. Sometimes you think you know exactly what to expect, you just don't know how good it's going to be - and this is one of those times. They hit every base, and even the atypical diversions ("Noise For Peace," for example) aren't exactly surprising, but fukk do these North Carolina mutants do everything right. You hear a part coming and you think "oh shit - I bet they are gonna do this other thing next!" and then they do the thing but it's faster and tighter and so much better than you though it was gonna be....and this is going to keep happening while you listen, until you find yourself stomping around your room with clenched fists. You've got both demos in the DL today, and certified banger status is guaranteed. 

ARE WE DOOMED TO REPEAT THE MISTAKES OF THE PAST? // DESPAIR CONTINUES

ENDLESS NIGHTMARE

Criminally overlooked Philadelphia hardcore circe mid-00s. I only saw them a couple of times, but ENDLESS NIGHTMARE were a juggernaut in the flesh and this demo captures that fury. Breakneck crust with ScandiLeads and insistent vocals, it's all here, and it all holds up. I think the sheer speed and force of this band made them stand out at the time, and even more so in retrospect. Good shits.

DIE ALONE

LIFE

Hard to imagine that Tokyo's LIFE have been dishing out relentless bursts of bulldozer crust for more than two decades...but put this demo on high and fukkn believe it, punk. A twelve minutes, eight track chaotic Japanese assault - blast "Forest Destruction" and you'll understand how far ahead of the curve these punks were. Still one of my favorite Japanese bands...

WHEN THE PEACE COLLAPSES

TRAITOR CRUCIFIX

This one is something else, punk. Eleven minutes of Florida brutality...searing and relentless. Even when they "slow" things to a dull pummel on "Proclamation," these kids are a swarm of devastation. And that's when they scale it back a bit. You see where I'm going with this? Pure power..and those vocals. Ooooof. The shit is nasty in all of the right ways. Get it. 

TRAITOR CRUCIFIX

BRIDGEBURNER // SKUFF

Nasty, noisy crust/grind from Canada. BRIDGEBURNER are a classic, churning power trio, while SKUFF lose the guitar and make things even filthier. Get dirty, punks.

BRIDGEBURNER // SKUFF

GASMIASMA

I guess this is a super group? Whatever man. Grinding, grim and nasty DBeat hardcore from Louisiana delivered live and furious on the radio. Check the bass at the start of "D-832 Mortar Waste" and you'll be taken back to a time when the shit was less calculated, more filthy, less predictable, more reckless....and dare I say better? At least in some ways, I suppose it was. Derivative, definitely, but these fukks give zero fukks, and I like that. 

KRVS (KADAVERS)

MURROWIND

Minimum fidelity, maximum determination. Long periods of atmosphere punctuate extended bursts of raw and primitive black metal. Whatever MURROWIND may lack in proficiency (not much), they more than make up for with intensity. It's not pretty....and it's not supposed to be. Also, these fukks are from Kentucky, which leads me to believe that the desperation in these voices is, in fact, real. 

MURROWIND

TORTURE GARDEN

HECATOMBS

DECONSTRUCTION

Pure and absolute noise fukkn punk assault. Imagine Japanese crasher crust with the bombasity replaced with walls of muffled insanity and distortion, and then make it more brooding and distorted than that. Massive and oppressive sounds from a band who dropped just two demos before (to my knowledge) slipping away. 

DECONSTRUCTION

GEIGER COUNTER

Do you remember when I used to post compilation and mix tapes every Friday? Yeah, those things take long time to edit and I'm on fukkn vacation. You know what doesn't take too long to edit? Raging Minneapolis crust. You know what sounds killer while I'm on vacation? Raging Minneapolis crust. You know what GEIGER COUNTER do? They play raging Minneapolis crust. And I thank them for that. 

FEAR TOMORROW

KUSTA PÄSSÄÄ

Filthy '90s Brasilian grind/crust. Ripping fasts, searing blasts, multiple vocals and pure raw attack. Choice banger: "Gasolina," if only because when they scream the word it sounds like a very real threat. 

DT '98