Various - Four Corners Lp

Building on the theme of my recent posts, here is a great early 2000s compilation Lp of posi thrash and fastcore bands... "Four Corners" came out on 625 Records in the U.S. and featured 5 bands - Life's Halt from the U.S., Dead End (Sweden), Razlog Za (Croatia), German straight edgers Highscore (from the last post) and Holland's Point of Few.  Each band contributes at least 3 songs, giving each about a split 7"s worth of material...  The entire is record is killer, with Highscore and Life's Halt doing what they do best.  Dead End were short lived and didn't release much else, but their tracks are some of the best and showed a group with lots of promise.  Razlog Za are perhaps the weakest link - mostly due to the recording quality of their songs - but their contributions are by no means detrimental.  Point of Few comes out the winner, though, in my mind.  Their short, heavy and ultra-fast tracks bring to mind compatriots like Lärm and Seein' Red or perhaps a more muscular version of U.K. thrashers Active Minds.  Overall, a great collection of fast, pissed off youth crew influenced hardcore.

Various - Four Corners Lp   

Highscore

Highscore were a straight-edge hardcore band from Germany that started up in the late 1990s and lasted until the early 2000s, releasing a couple of Eps and two Lps worth of fast, thrashy HC.  These guys had releases on 625 and Deranged Records, which should go far in describing their sound.  Other points of reference would be Dutch ragers Vitamin X, Life's Halt or the Uniform Approach Ep I posted a while back.  This post contains their two full length records - 26 tracks total.

Highscore - New Fuel and Unsuspecting Actors in a Bad Soap Opera Lps

Various - Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10" (Repost)

Here's the repost of another great compilation from the late 80s/early 90s... the "Beautiful Music for Beautiful People" 10".  This one features some great US bands, along with a spattering of international HC acts.  Libido Boyz and Dissent headline the US bands, but Crib Death and Tit Wrench have strong tracks as well.  Tit Wrench were bit of an odd-ball band.  Featuring Bob Barley of Vinyl Communications records, they played lightning fast techno like music with absurdly confrontational lyrics....think Pailhead or Lard.  "People Like That Should Be Spayed" is a good intro to their stuff.  I may post their discography some time since their stuff is fairly enjoyable in it's own weird way.  Anyways, the non-US bands on this comp. provide some great tracks as well... "Full Circle" is one of my fave Instigators tunes, the Scoundrels, Flitox, 16 B.U.H. also have strong tracks.  Australia's S.S.D.C. have a rousing number in "Free the Five."  The final track, from Denmark's President Fetch is the weakest, but not a bad song.  All-in-all a classic collection of HC from this time period.

V/A Beautiful Music for Beautiful People 10"

Inward - Blind Ep

This time out I've got a crushing 7" from Germany's Inward.  Like many other German hardcore bands of the 1990s, Inward's sound was infused with metallic riffs, glass gargling vocals and chaotic rhythms, placing the band squarely in the musical vicinity of fellow Deutsche bands of the period Acme, ABC Diabolo, Corrosive and Golgatha.  Definitely recommended for any fans of the aforementioned bands or of metallic hardcore in general...

Inward - Blind Ep

Abyss - s/t Ep

So, in the early 90's many of my friends and I were pretty much obsessed with German metallic hardcore... and there was plenty of to be had.  Bands like Acid Rain Dance, ABC Diabolo, Acme, Carol and the like became relatively known.  Abyss was a short lived, lesser player in that scene but their 7" left me wanting a lot more.  Strained vocals, bordering on "emo" over vicious metal riffs, blazing fast parts and crushing breakdowns made for a great debut.  This one lies somewhere between the straight-up metalcore of a band like Carol and the French style emo-hardcore of Fingerprint.  Unfortunately, beyond this sole 7" they only seem to have released a split Ep with Iconoclast (the NJ emo-hardcore version... an apt paring I must say).  If you are into any of the above mentioned bands, definitely check this one out.

Abyss - s/t Ep

Carol

Time for some more mid-90s German metallic HC... this time out we've got a group called Carol.  This band from Bremen featured members of the great Acme, Systral and Mörser.  I was discussing these dudes with a friend at a show recently and he hadn't heard this stuff, so this post will serve to get the music to him as well.  Like Acme, we've got a mid-tempo pace, crushing riffs and impossibly strained vocals... not quite at the god-like level of their predecessors but still absolutely vital.  Included here is their "Prefabricated" 7" and their split 7" with the almighty Stack.  Outside of these tracks I only know of their appearance on the "Cry Now, Cry Later #4" compilation.  Nevertheless, not a band to miss.


Carol - Prefabricated Ep and Split Ep w/ Stack

Luzifers Mob/Golgatha

 

OK, time to make up for some of the inattention to the blog with a big post... Here are 3 records from a couple of stalwarts of the German HC scene in the 90s.  Both were featured on the Plot compilation I posted a few weeks back.  Luzifers Mob played lightening fast HC with absolutely vicious vocals.  Golgatha were more on the metal end of things with mid-paced tracks focusing on breakdowns, leads and general heaviness.  Included here is the split Lp between the two, along with each band's 7".

Luzifers Mob/Golgatha split Lp, Luzifers Mob - s/t Ep, Golgatha - Ich Weiss Nicht.... Ep   

Various - Plot Compilation

Time for another compilation... this one is from Germany and was a benefit release for Plot fanzine.  It's simply entitled "Plot Comp." and featured some of the heavyweight of 90s German hardcore.  Here's the full track list:

Graue Zellen - Voice Your Opinion
Cwill - Ashamed
Ambush - Locuste
Ego-Trip - Here & Now
Golgatha - C.A.C.
Slumlords - Rainship
Zorn - Kranke Frucht
Acme - New Song
Systral - Pretending Judiciousness
Luzifers Mob - 5-19 (Und Der Bose Blick)
Stack - Armistice
Time to Suffer Power - Animal
Wounded Knee - Wake Up!
Mine - XXX
Corrosive - Rausch Des Irrens
Zelot - Lotzeyn
Dawnbreed - Menschmotorik
Bohren - Luder, Samba & Tavernen

Metalcore was really big over there at this time and a few of these bands lean that way (Acme, Ego-Trip, Zorn) but this release kept mostly to fast HC with a decent dose of heaviness.  Beyond the expected greatness of groups like Stack and Luzifers Mob, my favorite tracks are from Wounded Knee, Graue Zellen, Golgatha and Ambush.  The only disappointing tracks are the Slumlords and the final one from Bohren... some kind of lounge music outro thing.  Every other song on this comp. kills...

V/A Plot Compilation