Wednesday, June 23, 2010

PUNCH (US) - DEMO 07 & EP 08 & LP 09

PUNCH



Right up there at the top of the heap, like this shimmering gem in a tarnished crown, stands this brood of youngbloods that simply let their demo do the talking and DEMAND attention be paid. Blogs all over the place started to upload this rare little cassette demo by  a hardcore band with a strange yet simple name: PUNCH.



It did everything a demo is supposed to - full of kick ass songs, displaying and hunger and energy hard to rival, promising of much greater things to come.

Following this, the band released the now legendary 'Eyeless' 7" ep which has gone through a couple pressings by now and raised the bar yet again, gaining them more and more fans all over the planet. Tighter that a fish's ass (and we all know that is water tight), this frenzied attack can launch into mega-ton assault then stop and turn on a dime - remarkable stuff, and surely enough to excite even the oldest and jaded fans.




If the heaviness and razor clean execution of the musical side, formidable as it is alone, isn't enough - the spectrum is shot to shit now with the heralding of a demonic banshee at the microphone. Surely this sweet little gal ain't the one raging on fire like a rabid cougar? Bet your sweet ass it IS!!! Meghan's vocals set this band apart yet again, and together they deliver the goods pointedly and mercilessly - making PUNCH an obvious band to watch with great interest and enthusiam.

A personal favourite that now adorns my wall.

The self titled album has been sold out throughout all pressings thus far and even brought the band to Australia over the xmas period where they were met with great praise and decimated everything they touched along the way. Yeah I totally missed that one, thanks to my son getting a huge fine from the local transport authority for putting his feet one of the seats!


Yup, I missed 2 nights of this sickin' band for that bill.

Hell, every time I go to their merchandise page they are almost always sold out of whatever they have available at the time. For dam good reason too.

YOU HAVEN'T LIVED UNTIL YOU HEAR THIS BAND!

I was sufficiently impressed with the material I grabbed online to buy as much stuff as I could afford from them, including both the regular black and limited pink vinyl pressings of the debut album, and have NOT been as excited about a new band since Question or Geriatric Unit or Nightstick Justice or the Spanish 9mm assault Disflesh - all of these bands being different and unique but sharing the commonality of kicking my ass just the way I deserve it.

This bunch seem to be a humble lot, and friendly and full of candor to boot - when you mix that with heads down, no bullshit attack, what more could you want? No macho posturing, No glossy mega-label pushing less than adequate music down my throat - this is honest to goodness IN HOUSE ass kicking.


Keep your eyes on these pages for possible re-pressings since at the time of writing everything is sold out. You are a jerk if you just relegate this to an mp3 collection and don't get the real thing.

I EXPECT EVEN GREATER THINGS FROM THIS BAND TO COME - MARK MY WORDS.

HAND YOUR ASS OVER FOR A GRANDIOSE BUTT WHOOPING HERE:

PUNCH (US) - DEMO 07 & EP 08 & LP 09


KEEP UP TO DATE AT THESE RELEVANT LINKS, IT SEEMS A NEW RECORD IS COMING SOON!




Wednesday, June 16, 2010

QUESTION (US) - DEMO 2006 & EP 2007 & EP 2008

QUESTION


IF YOU ARE CRUISIN' FOR A BRUISIN' - LOOK NO FURTHER!

Sold out and rare recordings seem to come hand in hand with this violent hardcore assault. They are not well represent online, and take forever to locate - and are all but out of print. For now the first ep seems available so check the links are the end of this blog.

I can't claim to know a great deal about this amazing little outfit, but the band apparently is half from NY and half from Minnesota. The bassist and also the vocalist are female, the drummer and guitarist are male - and this act kills. Rapidly up there in my opinion alongside the almighty Californians, PUNCH. The bands ofcourse do not sound even remotely similar, they hold uniqueness from eachother in so many ways, but both have plenty of capacity to hand your ass right back to you and that's what I want from harcore. The vocalist of this band is phenomenal. Period. There doesn't appear to be a weak link anywhere, every song rages so hard and leaves you wanting more and more and more, like PUNCH they are the hardcore equivalent to crack, a short intense high that turns you to an addict snorting the carpet looking for crumbs.



They've been to Europe atleast one time I see, and you can bet your ass that everyone who saw them play , or has seen them in the states, has witnessed a cluster bomb erupt in their face. There's a couple short clips on youtube and a full gig as well floating around which give testament to how intense this band is. I may as well be right back in 1987 here.

Given that the material is just so rare, I decided to zip all three recordings together for your convenience. Be aware that once you open this file you'll be splintering your furniture! You'll soon experience a band that is biological and not some sort of bullshit contrived garbage puporting to be this style or that and sound like shit after you waste your time.


I expect great things indeed from this bastion of tenacity and power.

DON'T BE A WIMP - DOWNLOAD THIS AND COMMENCE YOUR ASS KICKING!

QUESTION (US) - DEMO 2006 & EP 2007 & EP 2008

LINKS:

Keep up with what the band is doing here:

This label did the 'Insanity' EP 2008 but is currently sold out, watch them close incase they repress it:

The self titled EP 2007 & t-shirts can be purchased here:


All images courtesy of Question and "old hc dude".

THIS BAND NEEDS TO DO A FULL LENGTH NOW!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

HERESY (UK) - RADIO ONE PEEL SESSION AUG 3 1987 (WITH PEEL COMMENTARY)

HERESY

HERESY - the UK band, not some cheap impostor running about using a name that should be eternally OFF LIMITS to anyone else, let alone some cheap, crappy, plastic 'metal' band. The wonderful SHOKO from SPEEDSTATE RECORDS in Japan did some stellar projects with the band and for a short time offered these killer buttons when you ordered the cd's.

They pretty much sum up everything music is meant to be for me, although I enjoy other styles of 'extreme' music and ofcourse MANY other bands - these guys had it all as far as I am concerned. Their legacy is undeniable, thus the title of one of their many classic (they are all classic) songs winds up being the name of this blog.

Everyone knows - RIPCORD, UNIFORM APPROACH, UNSEEN TERROR, VIOLENT ARREST, FORCE FED, CONCRETE SOX etc, and certainly the current mega-powerhouse-outburst taking the cake these days: GERIATRIC UNIT, all having blood ties to this legend.


Check out the posts I'll make here occasionaly, just random stuff that kicked my ass when I was a kid, or still does, or maybe even is newer, the whole point being to make some of this rare stuff available in atleast another linked form, rather than buried. Chances are I've been listening to it alot recently which would be why I might be more motivated to post whoever it is at the time.

Who cares? Download this gem! And don't forget to check out all the bands listed above. Unseen Terror possibly will be releasing new material after decades, Violent Arrest and GxUx are going strong and are doing it with honour - support 'em.

Although ofcourse the sessions at the BBC with John Peel back in the day on Radio One are excellent, nothing can compare to the tapes of the actual radio transmissions as fans within radio range hit their 'record' buttons and captured the airings as they happened, with John's commentary included. Yeah the sound quality might not be as good as the cleaned up BBC studio versions which have been done to death now, but the biological realness and candidness of these taped versions can't be outdone. This Heresy session, one of 3 the band did, is the same as my tape traded audio, seems to be the exact version that was circulated back when it was rare to even KNOW about the sessions. I haven't heard another taped copy that contains any extra of John's magnificent candor. For those of us that were well out of radio range back then, we hung on news of these tapes becoming available on our trader's lists, not just because of the bands, but because John's treatment was genuine and his commentary honest, and above all entertaining.


HERESY (UK) - PEEL SESSION AUG 3 1987 (WITH JOHN PEEL COMMENTARY)http://www.mediafire.com/?nzjnjjwqky1