SAVE THE DEAD

From the opening riffs delivered by Oklahoma's BLEEDING NUNS, and the lyrical assaults that make up "Fuck Fashion" and "Neo Nazis," you know you are in for a killer fukkn mix tape. What follows is the best hour of under appreciated US hardcore punk...Mississippi's WORKIN' MUTHAS, Idaho's STATE OF CONFUSION, Michigan's BORN WITHOUT A FACE, Wisconsin's US DISTRESS (from the original K-Town), S.N.O.T. from Texas, STEVIE STILETTO, BLEMISH ON SOCIETY, HEADLESS MARINES and MAGGOT SANDWICH from Florida, Virginia's PSYCHODRAMA (their song "No Homo Zone" was clearly recorded well before the emergence of politically correct punk politics), Alabama's DISPERSION, and then there's GROUP OF INDIVIDUALS (weirdest song on the tape) from Chicago and bands from parts unknown like BONG and POISON. Musical styles all sit in between the world of '80s American punk and '80s American hardcore, and the quality is way higher than one might expect from a tape comp of unheralded bands - though STEVIE STILETTO is marginally appreciated by punk historians and MAGGOT SANDWICH are generally recognized as a solid second tier (and therefore relatively affordable) hardcore act - plus, I dig their mustaches. I asked Aesop about this shit, since a healthy percentage of these bands are from Florida, but he just told me that BLEMISH ON SOCIETY were terrible (though I kinda dig their shitty songs here, if only because they are so shitty) and MAGGOT SANDWICH ruled (which I already knew). I was kinda hoping for a story about 15 year old Aesop fucking the drummer for DISPERSION's girlfriend in the back of their van while they played a show in Florida, just because that would have been funny...not such luck. No stories, just great jams.

SAVE THE DEAD