TRUNCHEONS

Staying in Montreal for another day, this Noise Punk Monday plays host to TRUNCHEONS. A ten track cassette with screaming guitars and throat melting yowls soaked in reverb. It takes a couple of songs for them to revert into pure DBeat, but when they do you wonder what took them so long...you can feel the sway of the crowd forcing you violently to the front of the room and then they shift gears and kick into a blistering rage. The shit is on point. Members of H.O.P.E., AFTER THE BOMBS, THE TOTAL END and others.

TRUNCHEONS

VILE INTENT

I was pleased that Canada's VILE INTENT were every bit as ferocious live as their recordings suggest. Taking liberal cues from classic powerviolence as well as modern purveyors like THE ENDLESS BLOCKADE, these Canadian crushers unleashed their second EP earlier this year. It is great, and they were nice enough to make it available on cassette. 

REGRESSION TO THE MEAN

ABSURDO

Absolutely brilliant Spanish punk. Ferocious and impassioned guitars jangle and and scratch over breakneck hardcore punk delivered with such a delicately precise touch that ABSURDO almost come across as poppy, even though their attack is full throttle throughout. Vocals are snotty and snarled, and the songs are fukkn packed with hooks - fans of early '00s Copenhagen will eat this shit like candy. Fans of good punk rock will eschew such base attempts to woo potential fans and be genuinely and simply wowed by the brilliant jams. 13 songs in as many minutes, and enough quality to get you through the next week.

ABSURDO

If available, additional copies can be acquired from cintespodrides(at)gmail(dot)com

GET OFF MY LAND

A hunt saboteurs benefit cassette from the late '80s featuring a handful of bands you know (INTERNAL AUTONOMY, SOFA HEAD, AOS3) and heaps more that you are about to enjoy. BEDOOHA's first tune comes off like a killer WIPERS outtake, R.D.F. would have been a favorite of mine had I heard them at the time, and the B side of the tape is packed with lo-fi dub brilliance. HAPPY SHOPPERS' two drugged out tunes take the cake for my ears, while THE AK47s and a bedroom 4 track instrumental from MR. LULLEY are total winners.  A chilled out and not at all serious sounding comp, meant to benefit a wholly serious cause.

GET OFF MY LAND

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

Last year the world was all a buzz about the mighty return of CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. The seminal North Carolina band was going to unleash their '80s fury on eager punks everywhere in the form of the lineup that brought us the Animosity LP. Rejoice!! Gone are the wasted 1990s and the groove metal and the (almost) top 40 hits and the revolving door of sterile "musicians" with long hair slogging away on the third tier cock rock touring circuit - C.O.C. are fukkn back!! They booked a west coast tour, and the punks were salivating - we've all seen the videos, and we know the records inside and out - early C.O.C. were the fastest and most sinister thing going. They were from North Carolina (and they looked the part), and the only thing more fierce than Reed behind the kit was Mike motherfukkn Dean with a four string assault weapon strapped to his chest - this band took the BLACK FLAG model, made it faster and re-tooled it for the second coming of hardcore....and they were back. There was a show booked in San Francisco with a ton of bands I was admittedly less interested in, and then I found out that an old friend's band was playing across town - so I skipped the show, convincing myself that it was probably going to suck anyway. It was an easy argument to make; CORROSION OF CONFORMITY had a really killer run, but it lasted only a few years until their first break up, and the two decades that followed are filled with utterly forgettable schlock that a small but determined handful of punks keep trying to make excuses for (no, Deliverance is not "pretty good for a rock record," it totally sucks). 1990s C.O.C. has about as much relevance as COLLECTIVE SOUL, so how could the people responsible for that crap possibly deliver anything other than a novelty punk reunion performance, good only for old timers and ex-punks who haven't seen a hardcore show in years, right? So I was on my way home from my friend's show when I got a message: "Got an extra ticket to the C.O.C. show - it's yours for free if you want it" (thanks, Paul), and in an instant all of my self convincing evaporated - "FUKKN Animosity!!" so I jumped in a cab.

CORROSION OF CONFORMITY

4 track 1985 demo, aka The Good Shit

So what's the moral of the story? If you have seen the supposedly-once-again-awesome CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, then you know that they sucked. Sure, they were technically proficient, but it was sterile and limp. Getting a group of accomplished rock musicians to play hardcore is easy - we punks aren't typically virtuosos. But what I saw was a room full of eager fans trying to get excited while three accomplished rock musicians slogged through songs that they seemingly hadn't given a shit about for 25 years, and it was painful. It was the epitome of "going through the motions," a band who can no longer pull an audience with their commercial music falling back on what little street cred they have left to pry another $25 from the wallets of a handful of dedicated hopefuls. 

ESCAPE IS TERMINAL

I started another cassette blog, the world apparently has more cassettes than Terminal Escape can contain. Escape Is Terminal will exclusively feature live recordings, and will be updated 2-3 times a week. Today's post is a C.O.C. set from Washington  DC, recorded in 1985, when they still had teeth.

TUKAARIA // ODZ MANOUK

I will leave black metal accolades and descriptors to the experts, but rest assured that if I offer you a metal cassette on Terminal Escape then it is one that I feel achieves some significant goal. In the case of TUKAARIA, it is relentless and genuinely haunting lo-fo kvlt sounds presented as self absorbed goth music. ODZ MANOUK are even lower fi and more traditional black metal, with everything but a tinny guitar and sporadic crystalline keys buried in a wash of murky distortion. This is another release from the Rhinocervs label, who have yet to disappoint. 

TUKAARIA // ODZ MANOUK

ROSE CROSS

Hopelessly dreamy female fronted garage punks from Georgia. Sweaty, filthy and distorted, this tape sounds like TYRADES felt the first time I saw them - ROSE CROSS are much more restrained, but it feels the same. Most of these tunes clock in around the one minute mark, and as infectious as the vocals are, their mastery of The Riff is what really puts this banger over the top. Blown out to shitsville, beer cans flying, this is brilliant.

ROSE CROSS

MANIA

Raw fukkn punk from the Silenzio Statico tape label. Long Beach's MANIA churn through eight UK influenced burners - tell me that "Radiation Nights" isn't a ripper and I'll call you a liar.

RADIATION ACID CLASH

SALAD FROM ATLANTIS

SALAD FROM ATLANTIS started out playing purely fukkd noisy UK punk on The Squat Sessions, and then progressed (in terms of both talent and vision) with Where's My Future? to a high caliber and totally unique act. Göd Peäce and Greenery continues the journey with four songs showcasing SALAD FROM ATLANTIS as a more mature band playing driving UK punk with brooding and snarling goth-eque vocals. "Something In My Cyder (mänträ)" is a plodding psychedelic tinged number that sounds just a touch off its axis, while "God Loves" closes the tape suggesting that these chaps had aspirations loftier than the alleyways of Brighton...excellent and moody sounds. 

GÖD, PEÄCE AND GREENERY

HUNTING PARTY

Sometimes it's hard living in San Francisco. It seems like I have to have a new favorite local band just about every damn week. Conveniently, the guitarist for my last favorite local band also has a hand in this new juggernaut. HUNTING PARTY are mean and frustrated hardcore punk, steeped in internally driven and intelligent '90s hardcore. Members of MIGRAINE, VACCUUM, ECOLI, YADOKAI, FACE THE RAIL, DESOLATION, SYNTHETIC ID and plenty of others. No rules, no convenient subgenres, just ugly. Four songs, all awesome.

HUNTING PARTY

San Francisco: NO STATIK, FUTUR SKULLZ, HUNTING PARTY tonight at El Rio.

THEE HEAVY '70s

My pal Brad lives in Milwaukee, he has a hand in (or is responsible for) TRTRKMMR, NO SANCTUARY, and OTEASANEK, and he likes making tapes. Fortunately for me, I have been on the receiving end of a few of them over the years. And fortunately for you, I like to share. As the title suggests, the next 90 minutes of your life are about to be filled with mind melting doses of heavy '70s psych and hard rock - guitar solos will pan from side to side and raspy men will howl with a pained intensity while a parade of drummers effortlessly bash the shit out of their kits - but never forget to swing. Especially amazing jams include NIGHT SUN and the start of the ANTROBUS song, but there is not a single clunker on this mix. Fans of the Seeds Of Inspiration cassette will want to jump on this immediately, those who enjoy rock 'n roll should do likewise. 

MAXIMUM VOLUME YIELDS MAXIMUM RESULTS

In the interest of completism, Brad's tape came with the following liner notes for the uninitiated:

1) The name "INCREDIBLE HOG" was a play on the comic book series "The Incredible Hulk." 2) DEMIAN is post-BUBBLE PUPPY. 3) ANTROBUS was previously known as IRON CLAW. 4) BUFFALO were the first non-British band signed by Vertigo Records, they were from Australia. 5) LEAFHOUND developed outy of the remains of BLACK CAT BONES. 6) JERICHO were one of the few hard rock bands to come out of Israel in the 1970s, previously known as JERICHO JONES. 7) THE FLYING HAT BAND was Glenn Tipton's pre-JUDAS PRIEST project. 8) NOVEMBER were one of the first Swedish hard rock bands to sing entirely in Swedish, they put out three albums and were quite successful in Scandinavia. 9) LINCOLN STREET EXIT were one of the few (if not only) mid '60s, all-Native American (New Mexico Sioux) hard rock bands to actively records and tour. 10) Marky Ramone played drums for DUST before moving on to play with Richard Hell's VOIDOIDS and then the RAMONES. 11) DAEMON was formed by two members of ATOMIC ROOSTER, the band name was later changed to BULLETT and then HARD STUFF. 12) The PENTAGRAM track is from the 1972 demo, members were also in STONE BUNNY and BEDEMON around that time.

CAUSTIC UPROAR PART II

Abrasive and relentless garage hardcore. I cannot think of a tape I have heard that is less concerned with being cool, which makes it infinitely cooler than all of the cool tapes you'll never hear because they were pressed in quantities that barely hit double digits so they can remain mysterious and seem desirable. Twelve songs here, and the tape still just manages to scratch the 10 minute mark - great fukkn songs delivered honestly.

CAUSTIC UPROAR PART II

HYSTERESE

Melodic garage punk with fukkn teeth, I love it. I know a lot of my friends really dig THE MARKED MEN, and Germany's HYSTERESE kinda remind me of that, but faster and way punker. They also remind me of THE SOVIETTES, who I also love (it might just be the female backing vox, though I think it's something more), but they are also punker than that. These songs rule, even though there are only four of them. There is, however, a new 12" record for you to buy after you fall in love with this demo. And you will fall in love with this demo.

HYSTERESE

FYRCE MUONS

A while back I spent a few months on The Escape posting weekly contributions from Oklahoma - I'm not sure how many people not from Oklahoma cared, but I spent a number of my formative years there and therefore the existence of punks and/or weirdos from that state is important to me. One of the tapes I borrowed from Blake that was used to mine these fine Oklahoma punk nuggets contained two bands, both recorded from vinyl, that I had never heard of and could find little or no information about: FIERCE MUONS and THE HOSTAGES. The latter was a killer female fronted art/punk act that will make an appearance here whenever I can track down the song titles, and the former was a brilliant and primitive minimal synthy no wave thing...hard to imagine that it came from Oklahoma in any era much less the early 1908s. FIERCE MUONS were hard to research, and it was only recently that I discovered that it would have been easier to track down this mystery EP had the label misspelled the band's name correctly. Oklahoma City's FYRCE MUONS released their sole EP in 1980 on Cynykyl Records, and the five songs it contains are sparse bursts of frustrated art weirdness. I recently snagged a copy of that EP, Programming & Production For Profit, off of the world wide web and was able to give these bizarre songs a little bit of context, though I confess that this "mystery solved" has only served to pique my interest even more. FYRCE MUONS are a confusing combination of small town bedroom recordings meeting up with truly visionary no wave sounds - ahead of their time regardless of zip code. "Smother" appears to be about huffing gas, a practice I participated in while living in Oklahoma at least once, and the rest of these tracks make about as much sense as recreationally inhaling fumes meant for internal combustion. If there are more recordings, then I want to know about them.

PROGRAMMING & PRODUCTION FOR PROFIT

INFERNÖH

I missed the boat on this one, it sold out before I even knew it existed (like most of the things D-Takt & Råpunk put out). The word on the street was that INFERNÖH are the second coming of ANTI-CIMEX, and while I don't necessarily subscribe to that opinion, this is certainly one of the finest plastic shells to pass through my hands in quite some time. Justin loaned me his copy so I could share it here and you too could enjoy Scandi-beat madness and searing leads. Guitarist from SKITKIDS has a hand in this, in case you needed anymore reason to dive in - it's every bit as good as advertised.

INFERNÖH

GEESE

Solid and rocking hardcore with just enough rock and roll. The base here is traditional Japanese HC, but GEESE add slick bluesy solos and the vocals put just a little more pelvic thrust in the monitor than you are probably used to. Make no mistake, this isn't some schlock rock - these dudes pop the collars of their leather jackets before they hit the stage and Die Is Still Rock drips with that attitude...while it scorches.

DIE IS STILL ROCK

EARTHSURFERS

Chaotic and psychedelic noisy punk, kinda like if SKATE KORPSE, THE SPITS and FACE THE RAIL all got really high and recorded with KURO at the helm. I was on the fence for a while with this one (the folded piece of paper with zero information was a turnoff as well, securing their apparent yearning for mysterious status), but I have hopped off of that fence, and landed squarely on the side of "this is awesome and I want more." No information to share, not even song titles (see last sentence's parenthetical "mysterious" jab), just a suggestion to get into these drunken distorted sounds.

RYDERZ OF THE WYLD WAVE

Deep Tapes is responsible for this and a load of other genuine weirdness. Get lost in it.

EUROPEAN HARDCORE

In the interest of full disclosure, this tape has a rather misleading title, but I'm guessing that Finnish and Italian Hardcore didn't really have an interesting ring, so the tape maker just lumped in the whole damned continent. And while a tape called Finnish and Italian Hardcore might inspire titillating excitement in your loins, you would have a hard time constructing an arsenal as potent as this one. Most of these tracks come from relatively (or extremely) sought after records, so the true collector scum among you may skip this tape, but we common punx will be treated to indispensable tracks from KAAOS, NATO, INDIGESTI, CADGERS, SEKUNDA, DACHAU, TERVEET KADET and others. This is a masterful 90 minute trek through the annals of hardcore legend. Mandatory.

FAST LOUD HARDCORE

12 Bands, 90 Minutes, 74 songs

LEGION OF PARASITES

LEGION OF PARASITES just fukkn kill - ripping pre-thrash UK hardcore punk. Smart and snappy with rapid fire drums that will jackhammer these five songs into your skull until the guitar intro to the title track just comes unhinged. This  band has been well documented, and some of these sounds appear in more polished versions on the mandatory Undesirable Guests 12" and equally essential The Prison Of Life LP. Do this shit, you need it.

DEATH WATCH

BLACKEST WOODS

This whole crew of Norwegian weirdos sure does make some killer music. BLACKEST WOODS flirt with black metal presentation while playing aggressively dark trudging hardcore interspersed with oppressively dark doom laden sludge. The vocals are almost over the top enough to sound ridiculous, but they land squarely in the evil camp, giving off a seriously twisted vibe throughout all four songs. Twisted plodding madness from a family that has delivered nothing but weird and awesome. This one is both. 

ALL MY CHILDREN

DANIEL LENTZ

Easily dismissed as some pretentious new age shit, Daniel Lentz's 1986 composition Missa Umbrarum is a genuinely soothing collection of unconventional "instruments" and vocal treatments...avant garde ambient sounds. This dude was way ahead of the early '90s swell of suburban intellectuals and college students extolling the virtues of medieval Gregorian chants and trying to convince their friends that they were hip to ENYA way before she started adding those contrived dance beats to otherwise pure and valid musical sounds...DANIEL LENTZ began avant composing in the '60s, and was actually worthy of such pretentious accolades. Struck, rubbed and tapped glasses combine forces with bells, rasps and voices to create a subtly disconcerting composition for people who wear turtlenecks. 

MISSA UMBRARUM

What, you never wore a turtleneck? Not even as a misguided pre-teen? Well, your loss (both in the world of ill advised fashion and in the context of this tape). Also, DANIEL LENTZ is a visual artist too, look at his things here.

NÖ PÖWER

It's Monday, do I really need to say anything else? You know what you are here for, and NÖ PÖWER is it. It's noisy, the guitars jerk off on random tangents and the vocals sound like they were recorded in a a cave. Like I said...it's Monday.

NÖ PÖWER

This tape was brought to me (and thus to you) by Statue Story, who are also responsible for the MOENDA tape that blew your minds last spring. Respect. Band can be found here.

TAB!

Total retard thrash from Milwaukee. These wingnuts can barely seem to make a song last more than 30 seconds and cannot tear themselves away from subjects related to artificially sweetened soda. Instead of judging, perhaps you should just let go of your inhibitions and pretentions and just live a little...I mean really, you've earned a day of juvenile entertainment, haven't you? And even if you haven't, these 13 tracks will take up less than 400 seconds of your day, and you probably spend more time than that taking a shit, so really - what have you got to lose? Just listen to this while you are taking your shit. There. Problem solved.

TAB!

It's Sunday and it is now officially autumn, and I am posting a band from Wisconsin. If you know me, then you know what that means. If you don't know me, then make something up and go with it - your random guesses are probably way more punk than the truth.

FAMILY STONED

Even though they achieve only marginal success some of the time, Olympia's FAMILY STONED reach such dreamy heights when they fire on all cylinders that their efforts cannot be ignored. Wandering from psychedelic dirges through a sea of guitar effects into a deliberate (and hopefully intentional) re-appropriation of a FLOWER TRAVELLIN' BAND guitar lick (or at least half of one), this quartet makes a mature leap into the world of droning retro sound. The vocals don't always work (and indeed they are the only downside to this cassette that my ears can detect), but the constant and deliberate pace and the monotonous guitars create an aura that conjures up lonely late night smoke filled rooms. And drugs. When the vocals do work to their advantage, FAMILY STONED sound like WOODEN SHJIPS interpreting early SONIC YOUTH - and also drugs. 

FAMILY STONED

RAW WAR

This was the third cassette comp release from Xcentric Noise Records. I could try to spend some time describing it, but I figure that Pushead did a pretty good job in the review section of MRR in 1983 when this gem was unleashed: "The best international sampler cassette available, with bands from Brazil, Canada, Finland, Holland, Italy, Norway and U.K. Features TERVEET KÄDET, NEOS, OHLO SECO, INDIGESTI, RATTUS and more! A lot of jarring explosive doses of chaos from the world of punk" (Maximum Rocknroll #5, March/April 1983). Lots of live tracks, some tunes from records you might have if you are a collector scum, SIB, 5º BRACCIO and NY RAVERS are probably my favorites on this tape, although the RATTUS and TERVEET KADET tracks are pretty unfukkwithable. And remember ADMASS, those inept UK punk miscreants who made a pair of of yawn inducing appearances on The Escape? Yeah, they made it onto this tape filled with '80s international heavyweights, and Gary Bushell is still a cunt.

RAW WAR

My copy came to me sans cover, and thus sans track listing. Thankfully, Kill From The Heart came to the rescue in both departments.

NAILS

Not to be confused with the current hardcore act from the US, Germany's now defunct NAILS fall in line with some of the best introspective melodic hardcore bands from the '90s. Angry and serious, but with hooks galore, NAILS dished out top notch mature hardcore until their demise in 2010. This tape contains all of their recordings. 

NAILS

CANCER // DIPERS

Four posts in a row that barely (or don't) crack the ten minute mark, and the second from New York fukkn City. CANCER blaze through their four nameless USHC tracks in one four minute blur (and they are presented as one four minute track) - nothing fancy, no bullshit, but these songs will sneak up on you. They are pretty great at first listen (pay special notice to the sparse but necessary solos), and they become indispensable after subsequent jams. DIPERS are F.O.T.E. (Friends Of Terminal Escape), so an objective description is difficult, but suffice to say that their smart and raucous hardcore is just as awesome here as on the last tape I tried to shove down your throat. Eat The Life  does good work, and I endorse their behavior.

CANCER // DIPERS

NUCLEAR CULT

It doesn't get any faster, any meaner, or any more intense than NUCLEAR CULT. These German maniac blaze through 8 songs in just over 4 minutes on their 2009 demo, played with precision and ferocity unmatched. 

HEIMSPIEL 

Because nothing says matrimonial happiness like German fastcore, I would like to thank Karoline for being my partner in this nonsense. We were married fourteen years ago today, and I am pretty happy about that. Here is a picture, it's pretty much the only one that we got without shadows on our faces. My hair is awesome, but not nearly as awesome as my wife.

LAST CHAOS

They named themselves after a CROW song, so the Japanese influences shouldn't need to be mentioned,  right? Australia's LAST CHAOS come from the same family tree that bore the fruit called TEARGAS, so it should also be assumed without mention that they are really fukkn good at cranking out high quality over the top hardcore punk. Well, I guess I just mentioned it, but I just want to be sure that you know everything that you need to know. And you need to know that LAST CHAOS are about to level you with 520 some odd seconds of galloping raw punk with a few nonsensical solos and vocals echoing back from the doors of ridiculousness. Yeah, it's awesome, but so are garden fresh cantaloupes. I'm not one to tell you what to do, but unless you have a fresh cantaloupe in you backyard right now, waiting to be picked, then I suggest that you listen to LAST CHAOS. Really loud, so the juice runs down your arms.

WILD MEN

CREEM

Seriously, this shit is awesome. Four gnarly and pissed hardcore punk songs in under six minutes. Midwest hardcore meets '80s NYHC - I can say it until I'm blue in the face (or type it until I'm numb in the fingers), but it doesn't really matter if you're doing something original, just as long as you are doing it right. And CREEM are doing it right. Their new(ish) EP is really good too.

HATES

RAYOS X

Los Angeles has not made an appearance on The Escape in a while. Around the same time I realized this, I saw the second RAYOS X demo sitting on my shelf. Lonely. Waiting to be shared.  My next move was an obvious one, and here is your tape: Sufrimiento. Stellar Spanish language sing along ass shaking punk rock from a band that plays punk better than anyone has in years. There is nothing new in what they do, and they do it with casual perfection. Awesome.

SUFRIMIENTO

Get their first demo here, check out a blog from one of the dudes here, and if you live in San Francisco then go see these motherfukkrs tonight at El Rio with LA VOZ and GENERACION SUICIDA. In my daily list of reasons to stay alive, these three bands in one room is very near the top.