SARJAN HASSAN

I heard that your day wasn't going quite fast enough, and that there were not nearly enough movie samples between the songs that make up the soundtrack for your life. Well you're in luck, chumps, because I have the 2005 demo from Malaysian crossover thrashcore studs SARJAN HASSAN. Eight songs in under ten minutes, vocals that land somewhere between a scream and a shriek, and drums that fly by in a blur...and then there are the circle pit breakdowns - you must have circle pit breakdowns. These dudes did a split tape with one of my bands a few years ago, and we played with them in KL in 2008 (they took 30 minutes to set up, and then tore the roof off the joint all out of tune and thrashtastic)...the guitarist looked like this afterwards, I guess he was pretty stoked:

SARJAN HASSAN 2005 DEMO

CONQUEST FOR DEATH // SARJAN HASSAN

Malaysia's SARJAN HASSAN have visited the escape before, a full on blast of retro crossover thrashcore. Sick. CONQUEST FOR DEATH started as a project of sorts, and has evolved into a sporadic juggernaut  - a vessel that has brought a constantly evolving network of friends to half a dozen continents. In 2006, our pal Kiku (ASSFORT, CHARM) was visiting San Francisco from Tokyo and he and Devon (WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, ALL YOU CAN EAT) concocted a one-off studio project. The project included Alex (SAY BOK GWAI, cult Bay Area '80s thrashers MORBID LIFE SOCIETY) and was recorded by Craigums (YOUR MOTHER, WHAT HAPPENS NEXT, LOVE SONGS) who not surprisingly contributed guitar work to the project. The result was a self titled EP and plans for a west coast stint later that year with CHARM and Tokyo's fast/noisecore monsters U.G. MAN. I was drafted for that tour, and the next few years was/has been a whirlwind that included members from three countries and tours of five (soon to be six) continents. The songs on this split were culled from that first session, written and recorded in one afternoon.

HUMAN ERROR

SARJAN HASSAN // DAIGHILA

Terminal Escape veterans SARJAN HASSAN bring modern crossover thrashing back to your earholes with 12 blasts of face melting 'core. At times they owe more to EXODUS than to the '00s fastcore that was clearly their initial inspiration, but then tracks like "Play Fast Or Die" come blasting out of your speakers. Proving that this split is rooted more in ideology than musical similarities, DAIGHILA fill the flip side of this tape with metallic emotional hardcore devoid of even the most subtle shred of thrashing madness. Think more along the lines of MAJORITY RULE or ENVY but with more blatant nods to metal and a disjointed/distorted approach that blends mid '00s US emotional hardcore and early '00s German metalcore - think Per Koro records here, with more black metal leanings. I salivate at the thought of living in a place where there two bands that sound this different would not only play a random show together, but find that they have enough in common to collaborate on a split release...apparently I need to spend more time in Malaysia (but I already knew that).

REDEFINING D.I.Y.

PEOPLE AGAIN

I don't spend a lot of time posting crust, but don't let that lead you to believe that the genre is not well loved at TEHQ, especially when done as well as this. Wisconsin's PEOPLE AGAIN were active for most of my residency in Milwaukee, and I saw them level more than a few basements, but these two songs are possibly the pinnacle of their output. Charging like a herd of elephants, PEOPLE AGAIN are a full on assault - in line with Europeans like EKKAIA, obviously nodding in the direction of Portland, but with a pace that is relentless and leads more in line with US hardcore than the Swedes so often adored by the melodic crusters of the world. PEOPLE AGAIN dished out a split EP with yesterday's guests SARJAN HASSAN a while back, so it seemed fitting to get their demo up today.

PEOPLE AGAIN

Drummer/vocalist Zak is one of the sometimes drummers for CONQUEST FOR DEATH (he played on the Japan tour tape released last year), and he gave me this tape at the wedding of our guitarist Craig in February. I knew he had given it to me, but somehow between the wedding and home, I fukn lost it. Too ashamed to ask for a replacement, I chalked it up to my bad fortune and got on with my life. Then, in July, I was packing for a trip to Wisconsin to go to Zak's wedding to my dear friend Abby and pulled out my suit. I don't wear a suit often, so it should have come as no surprise when I pulled the PEOPLE AGAIN demo out of the pocket of the jacket. Hooray for weddings! But in case you thought 8 minutes of crust was the best thing to come out of their nuptials, get a load of the sweetest looking matrimonial photo ever:

(elephant hats, in case you were wondering)