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205 lines
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| | c o m m u n i c a t i o n s | |
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|____________________________________________________________________|
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...presents... cDc core #6
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original album reviews
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by The Pusher
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>>> a cDc publication.......1991 <<<
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-cDc- CULT OF THE DEAD COW -cDc-
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______________________________________________________________________________
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A few notes:
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(1) Does anyone read this? Call Demon Roach Underground and let me know.
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(2) Looking back at previous cDc cores, some of the reviews are pretty crappy,
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writing-wise, and opinion-wise. There's a lot of stuff that I hated at first,
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but now I really dig. (UNDERDOG, for example.) I think you'll find that these
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are the best written reviews yet, hopefully they'll be interesting even if you
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don't have the records.
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(3) In the last cDc core, I said JUDGE has two ex-Youth of Today members in the
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band, Sammy on drums, and Porcell on guitar. (In case you didn't remember,
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Revelation reminded you via a sticker on the album.) Actually, JUDGE has THREE
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ex-Youth of Today members! Singer Mike played drums with YOT for a short time.
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He played on The Way It Is compilation. JUDGE broke up anyway, so who gives a
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fuck?
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(4) If you're responding to #1. Do you want to see other types of music here?
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Sub Pop? Amphetamine Reptile? "Alternative Metal" (FAITH NO MORE, PRONG, MIND
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OVER FOUR, etc...)? I've been listening to some different stuff recently.
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(5) The video store where I worked is now a pile of ashes, as a result of a
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mysterious fire. So I'm a little short on cash. So what's the point?
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#7 might not be out for a long time.
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______________________________________________________________________________
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BAD RELIGION: Against The Grain (Epitaph)
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A new album already! It seems like "No Control" just came out. Anyway,
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with this album, these guys further establish themselves as the greatest punk
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band in the whole world. Somehow they manage to get each album to sound better
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than the last. They keep progressing (refining is a better word) without going
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metal or pop. Bad Religion are known for using big words, but they go nuts on
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this album. "Syntactic is our elegance, incisive our disease, the swath
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endogenous of ourselves and rested in its lea." I think it's safe to say that
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if you don't like Bad Religion, you don't like punk. As far as the live show
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goes, they were the best band I saw in 1990.
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INSTED: What We Believe (Epitaph)
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I don't really buy a lot of SE records, but I do know that Insted is one
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of the biggest SE bands in California right now. While all the current SE
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bands have heavy chunky guitars and multiple mosh parts, Insted have an older
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fast 7 SECONDS style, free of mosh parts. The songs pretty much fly by,
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nothing really stands out. Despite the lack of creativity, I'd probably have a
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lot of fun at one of their shows. This album isn't really good or bad, just
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boring.
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LIMBOMANIACS: Stinky Grooves (In-Effect)
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With the success of the RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS, funk is getting really big.
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A lot of people say that these new funk/metal bands are just second-rate Chili
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Pepper rip-offs, but Limbomaniacs definitely have a unique style. First, this
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is straight funk, there's really no major guitar riffs. Second, there are
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keyboards and horns, so this really sounds a lot more in the vein of
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PARLIAMENT/FUNKADELIC. (Bootsy Collins sings on the first song, "Butt
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Funkin".) Third, the vocals are done in a standard rap style, and there's a
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lot of sampling going on. So what you get is a very "danceable" record that
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should appeal to many different types of people.
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QUICKSAND 7" (Revelation)
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In my humble opinion, this four song record is the best thing Revelation
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has ever put out so far, even with the tacky cover. It's basically a hardcore
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"supergroup". Drummer Alan Cage, currently in BURN (Revelation 7" out soon),
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bassist Sergio (x-COLLAPSE), guitarist Tom Capone (guy who played all the leads
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on SHELTER Lp and BOLD 7"), and singer Walter Schreifels (x-YOT), currently
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guitarist for GORILLA BISCUITS. This is not really hardcore, but high energy
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90's rock. (As opposed to retro-sludge 70's Sub Pap.) Most hardcore bands
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that have major musical ability end up in cheeze-metal land (WARZONE, REST IN
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PIECES, etc...), but Quicksand manage to avoid it. The music is riffy, slow
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and crunchy, but the guitars are sharp, not fuzzy. Good raspy emo-vocals also.
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SAMHAIN: Final Descent (Caroline)
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As we all know, SAMHAIN was Glenn "666=$$$" Danzig's band after THE
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MISFITS. SAMHAIN released two mediocre albums and then Glenn took the bass
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player from SAMHAIN ("Errie Von") and started DANZIG. The first side of this
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album is 5 unreleased songs. Glenn not only sings but plays guitar, drums, and
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keyboards! John Christ, guitarist for DANZIG is there to play the lead guitar
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parts, so we've got 3/4th of DANZIG here. The songs could easily be DANZIG
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songs, so you get impression that this wasn't recorded all that long ago. A
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side project for $$$.
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Side two is just Glenn doing vocals and guitar, Errie Von on bass, and
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some other dude on drums way back in 1987. It's nothing more than re-recorded
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versions of half the songs on the "Unholy Passion" album. I DO like DANZIG, so
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I enjoyed this, and I'm sure 50,000 MISFITS fans will also.
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SLAPSHOT: Sudden Death Overtime (Taang!)
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Boston's legendary hardcore goon squad return with their third LP, and a
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brand new sound. While the previous records were 4-chord crude hardcore,
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Slapshot now have a Marshall stack assault similar to KILLING TIME. Unfortun-
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ately, Slapshot aren't the greatest musicians, so their attempt at "Noo Yawk
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styley hahdcaugh" often comes out as generic heavy metal. The riffs are ok,
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but the solos just plain SUCK. Even worse than the ones on the last six BLACK
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FLAG albums. What saves this is Choke's vocals, and their basic half-joking
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"Straight-edge In Your Face" attitude. They're really straight, but they know
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how to poke fun at themselves. Best songs: "Something To Prove", a total rip
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on the NYC scene, "Punk's Dead, You're Next", for all the EXPLOITED fans, and
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"White Rabbit", an unintentionally hilarious cover of the JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
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classic.
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YOUTH OF TODAY 7" (Revelation)
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As THE band of the modern straight-edge movement, Youth of Today were
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often compared to MINOR THREAT. Like MT, Youth of Today have released a
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posthumous 3 song 7" that seems to say, "It was fun, but now we're gone, good
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bye." I have no idea when this was recorded (the record has "The Washout
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Sessions" etched in the middle), but I think it's the best thing YOT ever did.
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The songs are pretty much in the vein of the earlier stuff, but the playing is
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solid. There're a few things here and there that make it sound almost like
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JUDGE, these songs are more distinct than those of previous days. The best
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part of this record is the great production. Everything is clear and powerful,
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unlike the "We're Not In This Alone" album, where you can't even hear the bass
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and drums. There're some good old photos of the band, including Ray reading
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some Hare Krishna literature on the van, and a very cute looking Sammy. (He
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couldn't have been a day older than 13.) The lyrics are just a preview of what
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would soon come with SHELTER.
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Three compilation 7"s:
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FOREVER (Irate)
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Aside from the fact that 4 of the 5 bands here are from New York and play
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at ABC NO RIO, there's no theme to this record. TURNING POINT aren't as
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melodic on here as they are on the REBUILDING 7" (see two reviews down).
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"Insecurity" sounds just like SICK OF IT ALL. BORN AGAINST are super-primitive
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punk. If it weren't for the incredible lyrics, they'd really blow. RORSCHACH
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are awful. BURN do a great song in the old ABSOLUTION style, but suffer from
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bad production. CITIZEN'S ARREST are total grind-core mania. If they were in
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England, they'd be bigger than NAPALM DEATH. On the whole, there's some good
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material here, but an overall bad sound kills it.
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HARDCORE 1990: East Meets West (Nemesis)
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The fourth live 7" from Nemesis, and the third compilation. This one has
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an interesting idea: three New York bands together on tour and three local
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Nemesis bands together on one record, all captured live. Unfortunately, like
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the other live 7"s, the sound quality ranges from so-so to just plain awful.
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(It sounds like they were recorded by some guy in the crowd with a tape
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recorder.) POINT BLANK and CHORUS OF DISAPPROVAL are nothing new, while VISION
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is easily one of the best melodic hardcore bands in the country. CARRY NATION
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(with two ex-NO FOR AN ANSWER people, and the drummer from INSTED) are pretty
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good. The KILLING TIME (now disbanded) and SICK OF IT ALL cuts are songs I've
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heard a million times live. I'm sure you know what they sound like by now.
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This isn't really necessary.
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REBUILDING (Tolerance)
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This is a benefit record for Trans Species Unlimited, an animal
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rights/vegan group. TURNING POINT do a great melodic tune. BURN, who I've
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seen live about 6 times this year, do a slow grungy song that once again
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suffers from awful production. GORILLA BISCUITS do a silly song called
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"Biscuit Power". NO ESCAPE play a moshy and powerful one.
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_ _ ____________________________________________________________________
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/((___))\|Demon Roach Undrgrnd.806/794-4362|Grassroots..............new # soon|
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[ x x ] |NIHILISM.............513/767-7892|The People Farm.......916/673-8412|
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\ / |Tequila Willy's GSC..209/526-3194|The Works.............617/861-8976|
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(' ') |Lunatic Labs.........213/655-0691|Ripco.................312/528-5020|
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(U) |====================================================================|
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.ooM |Copr. 1991 cDc communications by The Pusher. 01/03/91-#152|
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\_______/|All Rights Pissed Away. |
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