MIRACLE DRUG / PIECE OF MIND split 7″

MIRACLE DRUG / PIECE OF MIND– Split 7″

Available on a few different color vinyl options and with a download code to boot!

 Available through Trip Machine Laboratories

 I have to start this review with a few clarifiers:

 

·      I purchased all 3 versions of this 7in (see pic).

·      If you are a fan of hardcore, then you should grab this.

·      Split records, for good or bad, are a contest of which side is better.

·      Sorry to anyone in Piece of Mind but…well…you were outgunned. 

 

I file my split LPs, 10ins, 7ins at the end of the alphabet but I’ve found I’m in the minority.  I was in NJ this past week visiting some pals and the consensus was that any split is filed alphabetically by the band you like better. An example being that the Faith/Void split rarely sees the F section of a record collection (FYI, mine would be in the F section so that may automatically go to the credibility of this review). 

With that, had this just been a Piece of Mind (PoM going forward) record review I would have gone bananas for it. They are very competent and hit all the right marks to make me throw a fist in the air while sitting in my chair reading along to their lyrics.  But here’s the thing, the folks in Miracle Drug (MD going forward) have each been in bands and playing and recording since the mid ‘90s (C.R., Mouthpiece, Supertouch, By The Grace Of God, Enkindle, Mouthpiece and on and on and fucking on… uhh, an exhausting amount of stuff). And, if I’m any good at math at all, that’s around 300 years of combined experience. Furthermore, with over a century’s worth of experience, MD have a “fuck you(ness)” about them that only comes with that. I’m not talking about the “fuck you” of being in a band in your 20s where you pretend that shit rolls off your back but if there is one missed note at a show, the entire band sends a palpable wave of embarrassment over the crowd. And then a band meeting ensues where an entire hour is spent saying things like “we gotta get tight before our next show”. The “fuck you” I’m talking about comes from adulthood. I imagine that if MD messed up a song at a show it would be an exchange of smiles among the band and their band meeting, if they even would have one, would be them giving each other shit and bustin’ chops. Also, as far as Hardcore goes, I’d be surprised if these guys listened to a lot of hardcore at all these days. I’d put money on that a few of these fellas dig Steely Dan as well as Black Sabbath.  There are a couple changes that took me by surprise and pulled me in. Who knows, they might also all be assholes.  

In the end, this is a great record with two great bands but maybe not the greatest combination. It wasn’t a chocolate and peanut butter tasty combo, but it wasn’t a toothpaste and orange juice one either. Maybe it was milk and Pepsi, complementing but not peer to peer. However, I did do this. I ordered the PoM demos and recent cassette to check out and maybe review. Look, PoM were just outgunned on this release and I bet they’d agree. Regardless, go grab one before they are gone. I guarantee that you won’t be disappointed.  (JD)

___________________________________________________________________

Justin Dratson: JD   Nate Wilson: NW   Matt Average: MA

UNDER ATTACK

UNDER ATTACK –  Demo

Tape (and Bandcamp)

Available through Vinyl Conflict and Autoreverse (see Bandcamp site for e-mail address)

Under Attack. Photo by Mike Thorn

As much as I love to hear new bands who sound like old bands, I find I prefer to hear a band that isn’t looking backward and chooses to be firmly grounded in the present. That said, there is something about Under Attack that reminds me of the very few straight up no frills hardcore punk bands from the 1990s. Maybe it’s their heaviness, relentless riffs, and dirty sound. No real clue, and I’m not terribly interested in getting bogged down in figuring it out. Too busy living in the moment.

Under Attack is an all-star band with a pedigree that will make the most jaded sit up and take notice: Hail Mary, Limp Wrist (the first album and EP – the good records), Discordance Axis, Human Remains, Suppression, Eucharist, and some other bands I’m momentarily forgetting.

Under Attack demo is known to send apes on a violent rampage. Photo by Nate Wilson

Five songs that clock in just a little over 6 minutes total, Under Attack crank out a heavy and semi dark sound that goes all out from the opening of “Drained” to “The Comforting End” (the longest of all five, at 1:35). Alex Copeland has a strangled vocal sound that works in tandem with Mark Telfian’s guitar mercilessly raking across your ears, while Witte bashes the hell out of his drums, and through it all, as much as these songs are nasty sounding, they are also catchy (don’t come in to this expecting a grindcore Discordance Axis 2.0).

“Through the Blade” is my favorite cut here, with a opening riff that brings to mind the Battalion of Saints, and then Jason Hodges and Witte come in the with low end to give it any more punch. The vocals also sound stronger here as well, bellowing out “I just want a reasonnnnn!!” and then going into the rest with urgency.

A new band to be excited about, and particularly if you’re part of the burgeoning AARPcore scene. Very much looking forward to hearing what they have next (and hoping they find themselves out west in the not too distant future). (MA)

____________________________________________________________________

Nate Wilson: NW   Matt Average: MA

 

CITY HUNTER Deep Blood 12″

CITY HUNTER – Deep Blood 12″ 45

Youth Attack Records (YA 103)

I’ve been following everything Mark (McCoy) has been doing with Youth Attack Records since the beginning….yup day one, I was there.  For me to see the evolution of his label has been a pretty incredible thing to watch over the years. Its been awesome and makes me proud of an old friend.  I still can’t help but to wonder why, and how he still does it to the degree that he does.  He puts everything he has into the packaging, layout and the sound that many of the YA bands seem to carry. Then right after the record comes out, usually the bands break up.  

At any rate, on to the record review.  When I got this City Hunter 12” I was in awe just by looking at the complete package.  It looks like every single slasher film that I’d stay up late for in the 80’s to watch on USA’s Up All Night.  City Hunter are from from Colorado and feature members of Cadaver Dog, Civilized, and Creep Stare.  This seems to be a very incestuous scene that have put that region on the HC map.  

When I first put this on my turntable I had sort of the same feeling I had when I first heard Carcass.  I’m not sure why, maybe because its extreme in a way I haven’t been exposed to in a while?  I’m by no means saying these cats are as good as Carcass.  I do however find the band to have some what of a Carcass feel that is mixed in with Void, and then a black metal element in the guitar melodies.  The melodies have me able to hum along with the songs even though the music is so chaotic and rawly tuneless.  The beginning of the song Schizo really had me feeling the Void thing.  Fourteen killer songs that have had me listening to this on multiple occasions.  

Advice…listen kids if you want to get signed to YA you must worship Void.  Its a fucking no brainer!  

Get this City Hunter if you still can, everything about this record is beautifully ugly.  

The song titles…

01. Watching Blood Darken 

02. Living Nightmare 

03. Bind Torture Kill 

04. Beyond Recognition 

05. Crimson Streets 

06. Dark Descent 

07. Open Season 

08. Silhouette of Death 

09. Dying Out 

10. Stab and Repeat 

11. Slow Death 

12. Hollow 

13. Schizo 

14. One By One

(NW)

 

THE GODFATHERS OF HARDCORE (2017)

THE GODFATHERS OF HARDCORE (2017)

Director: Ian McFarland

Viewed On Showtime

I must admit that when I heard about this movie I had very little faith that a Agnostic Front Showtime documentary could be any good.  I went into this thinking… oh lord this is gonna suck balls.  In my opinion suck it did NOT.  I thoroughly enjoyed it, so much so that I watched it again when my buddy Devon was in town for a visit. 

 I grew up loving AF, and was lucky to see them many times in the 1980’s.   I’m 100% behind the first three LPs (yup even Cause For Alarm), and the live at CB’s record.     

This documentary sort of breaks things down by going between chillin’ with Vinnie Stigma (on a roof with pigeons, in his apt, on the streets of NYC, and in a church).  The camera will then hang with Roger Miret in his home in Arizona, working on old cars, going to the doctors, playing with his kids, and hanging with his wife & mom.   It was interesting to hear stories from both these NYHC legends about their upbringing, their families and their lives in general.  

There is enough old footage of the band to make the movie exciting and keep it real for folks like myself.  Of course there is new footage as well (which I’m really not a fan of), but it keeps things relevant and current.  

Things take a turn toward the end and get dark/depressing with much talk of Rogers medical ailments.  

At any rate the only negative things I have to say about this documentary are that by the end it starts feeling long (not in a “fucking end this already” sort of way).  Its only an hour and a half long, but feels longer.   Also I really would have loved to hear much more from some ex members of the band, along with some NYHC legends that were around in the early days.  Fuck this archive footage bullshit.  (NW)

_____________________________________________________________

NW: Nate Wilson    DC: Devon Cahill   MA: Matt Average

Who we are*

Who we are: A bunch of punk rock hasbeens/neverwasbeens. At the point in life where we go to shows and stand in the back, watching the clock as much as watching the bands, hoping the whole thing is over by midnight. Whereas, when we go see  movie, it generally starts on time and ends at a decent hour. We are fans of genre cinema and sounds from the underground (if such a thing even exists anymore). We cover what we like, and sometimes do not like. What we do like is: Henry Silva, Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Barbara Bouchet, Edwige Fenech,  Carpenter, Fulci, Argento, Sergio Martino, spaghetti westerns, Black Flag, Judas Priest, Brainbombs, noise, hardcore punk, metal, Iron Maiden, Mob 47, Black Sabbath, Electric Wizard, doom, Pam Grier, Sid Haig, Robert Forester, Rudy Ray Moore, Tank, Italian prog, Can, Ash Ra Temple, The Offenders, Articles of Faith, Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Crossed Out, Totalitär, Mads Mikkelsen, Corman, Landis, Godzilla, kaiju, Seijun Suzuki, samurai, Kenji Fukasaku, Dick Miller, Amarok, Roberta Collins, Chuck Connors, Ancient Altar, Pagan Altar, Karen Black, Richard Stark, Anitra Ford, and on and on and on…

 

Send material for review (physical formats only, thanks) to: 

PO Box 25605, Los Angeles, CA 90025

* We are not employees of the Aero, just patrons, and this line up best sums up what we’re into.