Let's keep our fingers crossed

50% ain't bad. Let's see another Rampage LP.

 

Zine Fiend #1: Spilled Blood #1

"People are as fickle as the weather, and when the herd really does like something these days, more often than not, it's terrible." --Brendan Radigan

spilledxblood@gmail.com for your own

Dylan's Dumb iPod #14: NYC Mayhem - "Deathwish"

Apparently there was a thrash band from Louisville called Mayhem. Never heard of 'em, but interesting nonetheless (No bro, I've never heard of the Norweigian black metal band. Educate me, for I only learn about bands when Cold World spoofs them for merch designs).

Cool shirt bruh

NYC Mayhem experienced a few sonic permutations in their short lifetime, but this demo sees the lineup of Tony Marc and Gordon Ancis (both of a band called Assault that you've never listened to...right?) and Tommy Carroll (yes, THAT Tommy Carroll) on drums and vox (Phil Collins style). Later on in the game, Craig Setari (Sick of it All, Rest in Pieces, Straight Ahead) would replace Tony Marc (though, he's credited as being "ex-Smegma" in Metal Forces Magazine, history is weird!). Were it not for later and subsequent contributions to hardcore, it's difficult to say if people could muster up a passing fancy in this band, but that ain't important.

D.R.I, C.O.C, N.Y.C

I love this demo. A lot. So much that once I was listening to it on the way home from work. It was dusky outside, I thought I was alone and the time seemed ripe for public moshing...so I did it...and right when I get to the crosswalk I was heading (moshing) to, some sexy latina literally laughed and pointed at me. D'oh. That's how college worked for me. I moshed at inopportune times and didn't get dates. The astonishing thing here is that at the time, the exchange didn't seem that weird.


Though staking their claim as one of those "fastest bands around," this demo's actually chock full of above-average instrumentation and not tuneless warbling like a lot of the "pioneering" fastcore bands. Especially for a trio. Vocals are muddled, but riffs are noodly. Lore and long-haired fandom asserts that this demo is NYC Mayhem's only purely "metal" release (and that's why they've got a page on the metal archives) and the rest is just "thrashy hardcore" but my favorite shit involves line blurring of all kinds.


"Deathwish" has a snakey intro that conjures up the crossover stuff that D.R.I was messing with, and the bass always has a presence with this band. Then it goes into standard blast beat territory from then on.

Thanks the godz for those comp sites that compile all this stuff for dorks like me. Apparently some thrash band called Mortal Sin (from Australia) also had a release called Mayhemic Destruction but it came out a year later and had no relation to the New York band.

If you're a Tommy Carroll superfan, track down that Crumbsuckers live set where he heckles Kirk Hammett for being a "rock star."

Also, they used to call this "death core." If only they knew.

Wyndorf sez: YOU CAN'T SAY THE N WORD

Warbling truths.

Dylan's Dumb iPod #13: Title Fight - "Symmetry"

I'm just as perplexed by the Title Fight phenomenon as you are bub, so get off your hardcore high horse for a minute and level with me. When it comes to pop punk lovin' hardcore, I leave that shit to middle schoolers and soccer moms. No, I never really dug too far into Lifetime, Kid Dynamite or any of that nonsense (too busy listening to metal) and so seeing Title Fight's TIH 2009 set and the Fury of V caliber pit action accompanying it was just baffling. Yeah, I'm hip to their hardcore pedigree, and when it comes to this kind of music, I don't loathe it...it just ain't my bread n' buttah.

So now you're asking, "OK Mr. Hardcore, whyzit on your iPod then?" Well douchewaffle, the magazine I write for pitched me their newest album Shed to review about a year ago. Not wanting to be a jabroni, I dug into their back catalog to make an informed judgment on the album, and in the process snagged The Last Thing that you Forget. I liked the cover art and connected with it more than I did with Shed and just left it on my digital jukebox.


In my book, Title Fight is strongest when they're playing fast and high energy, something TLTYF has in spades. While Shed is deemed a more "mature" record with more "depth" (or something stupid) and more emphasis on slow songs, it didn't hold me long enough to care.


"Symmetry" is TLTYF's opening track and essentially Title Fight at their best. Fast, tuneful, throaty and there's even a breakdown near the end (Still not used to seeing people mosh for 'em). It's a great song, and lyrically the line "you're a match that can't be lit, spark a flame, burn infinite" reminds me of the lyrical coupling going on in Bad Religion's "Incomplete." Plus the inverted "round" style of singing at the end rules.


Yeah, they've got a wider appeal than Bad Seed and will always be more popular...but I'm allowed to have a preference aren't I?

Strange Ways

 

Hardcore 101

 

Familiarize yourself. These will be on the test.