DEPRESSOR

Slower than most of their output, and throwing noise/electronics into the mix, War Whore sounds like early '90s UNSANE/Am Rep crashing headfirst into later decade political crust...which is kinda what it is I guess. DEPRESSOR were a mysterious outfit while they were around, I think I only saw them once, but there is a substantial discography of limited cassettes and split singles that are sadly treated as $1 bin fodder. Oh yeah, and "Devils" is probably the best track you'll hear all week.

WAR WHORE (+4)

NO STATIK tour starts tonight in Washington DC at The Rocketship. COKE BUST, VILE FAITH and MISLED YOUTH will be kicking our asses.

COLUMN OF HEAVEN

It should come as no surprise to learn that they did it, but nonetheless COLUMN OF HEAVEN left me stunned with this release. Classic industrial dirges and power electronics mesh seamlessly into soul crushing doom, a union that begs NEUROSIS/NEUROT comparisons even though I think my Canadian friends will call such a comparison weak and lazy. The presentation is instrumental, but no words are needed to convey the sorrow - Failures is every bit as bleak as the COLUMN OF HEAVEN...

FAILURES

It's just after 1:30am, and I leave for tour in three hours. Instead of catching a quick nap, I will be spending that time preparing the next two weeks for you, my dear friends. Expect ensuing posts to be brief, nonsensical to the point of being delirious, and likely filled with the shameless promotion of shows you likely could not attend if you wanted to (I'm mostly referring to geography here, but desire might be a factor as well). I will be back to normal eventually...

BAD SALLY

Tell me you wouldn't buy this cassingle for $1.00 when you came across it in a box of religious tapes in a thrift store in New Mexico. Go ahead, tell me it wasn't worth the gamble. Now let me sweeten the deal:  BAD SALLY are from Henderson, Kentucky and their contribution to the world of butt rock was self released on the band's Party Time Records. That pretty much erased any hesitation.

ALL I EVER WANTED // YOU FOUND ME

TRENCHES

Seems like every time I turn around there's another killer local band I feel like everyone should know about, and the next five minutes is going to make you realize that everyone needs to know about TRENCHES. Members of HUNTING PARTY, NO BABIES, THE LIGHT, REPLICA and others, I figure this is pretty much how hardcore punk is supposed to sound: straight forward and furious.

TRENCHES

Did you really just show up to pretend?

NOT SO HAPPY

I went on my first tour in 1992. After we started off in Clovis, New Mexico, we set off for Albuquerque to play with the closest thing to a "known" band we would share a show with during our two week, seven show adventure: NAKED AGGRESSION. But we showed up to find that our LA via Wisconsin pals had broken down, and that a band from El Paso was giving them a ride to the show...and that's how we met NOT SO HAPPY. Scruffy, fast and crazy catchy, they blew the other bands off the stage (and yeah, that included New Mexico's infamous WADS) then zipped off into the desert, carting a helpless NAKED AGGRESSION back to their busted ass van. Dudes from this band would spend the rest of the '90s in other underappreciated bands like CHINESE LOVE BEADS and LOS VAGINAL BLOOD FARTS (the latter did a split with HICKEY, though I think they were just called VBF by then).

NOT SO HAPPY

DAN HAUGEN

I suggest spending the evening putting yourself into a trance. I suggest settling deeper into your own thoughts than you have done all year. And I suggest doing it while listening to these sounds. Granted, you'll only have a little over a half hour for this personal reflection (unless you put these two tracks on repeat, of course), but I think you will find that DAN HAUGEN has already managed to look inside you...all you have to do is listen to what he has found and perhaps all will be revealed. 

FRUITS OF THE ORIGINAL SIN

SLAMBODIANS

I think I only know this band existed because Danny B. from ALL YOU CAN EAT played guitar in some incarnation, but listening today I cannot imagine why they aren't more well known amongst neanderthal thrash maniacs. Sinister crossover from 1987, not far removed from Bay Area contemporaries - dumb as a bag of hammers and totally shredding. The gratuitous use of effects on the snare drum and guitar are especially appreciated, and while the lyrics are sometimes cringe worthy, the vocals the deliver them are gravelly in the best way. 

YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN?