Various - Hope For Us Ep

Here is the Wisconsin HC compilation I referenced last time out... Hope For Us came out on the same label that did the Animal Farm and One Day Away 7"ers and features tracks by both of those bands.  Additionally, two other short-lived bands appear on this disk - Buried and Damitol.  Damitol did a couple of Eps which I thought I had in my collection but apparently I am mistaken or they were lost somewhere along the way.  Buried seems to not have released any other material beyond the track on this comp.  Those familiar with the Eps I already posted know what to expect from Animal Farm and ODA.  Buried's track is in a similar vein with perhaps a bit more straight edge feel, like Verbal Assault perhaps.  Damitol is a bit more melodic with a bit of a Bay Area influence which reminds me heavily of Fuel and Crimpshrine.  Overall a cool document of a scene that seems to have sprung out of nowhere and for a little while in the mid-1990s plugged into the circuit of the DIY HC network that seemed to be growing exponentially at the time.

V/A - Hope For Us Ep  

One Day Away - s/t Ep

More 1990's obscurity... It probably would have made more sense to post this record a few months back when I did the spate of mid-western U.S. hardcore that included Animal Farm and Hinge but I moved on to other groups fairly quickly.  One Day Away hailed from Wisconsin and this 7" was their sole release and was on the same label that put the Animal Farm Ep.  ODA had a similar sound to those previously mentioned bands - mid-tempo but metallic and featuring a singer that sounded like Sam Mcpheeters gargling glass.  Political lyrics and a cover/packaging that made this 7" look like an Ebullition release rounded out the aesthetic.  Aside from this Ep, One Day Away had one track on a Wisconsin HC compilation that I'll be posting soon - a record that also featured Animal Farm. 

One Day Away - s/t Ep

Slag & Thaw

Alright, sorry for the slight delay in posts... switching musical gears, this time out I've got some heavy 1990's U.S. hardcore for you from two very short-lived bands.  Slag hailed from Arizona and played the kind of groovy, metallic hardcore that was becoming popular in the early to mid 90's - building on the sound of bands like Amenity or later Verbal Assault and moving into the territory marked out by groups like Citizens Arrest, Rorschach or Downcast.  One of these guys went on to play in Groundwork, a band that Slag's sound definitely fits with.  Thaw was around even more briefly and played a bit more straight-forward style with strained vocals that recalls bands like Half Man or perhaps even Jihad.  Slag only released one 7" Ep and a split Ep with Thaw - Thaw's side of that split seems to be their only recording... both records are included in this post and it hopefully serves to keep more memories of little known U.S. DIY hardcore alive.

Slag/Thaw split Ep and Slag - s/t Ep