DIKTAT

Hell yeah - who's gonna make DBeat sound unique after damn near 40 years of people trying to perfect a style born out of ineptitude? The motherfukkn FRENCH PUNKS, that's who. Skip the wall of noise, forget about the hyper distorted guitars...throw in a treble heavy rumbling bass and guitars that would feel more at home on a CATHOLIC BOYS single and then make sure the drums are as fierce anything this side of a leather jacket with an ANTI-CIMEX logo and add the fierce, throaty vocals the genre demands no matter the level of nuance in the presentation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to suggest that DIKTAT are doing something totally new or anything - they play hardcore punk, after all - but this thing is not just good; it's interesting. And in 2018, that's worth some serious consideration. 

A DOUBLE TOUR

LIQUID COURAGE

Listen to the intro to the opening track "Underpants," and if you're like Karoline and me you'll find yourself anticipating the vocals - knowing that the voice is either going to send this one to the stars or shove it into the garbage. Those opening bars could be from an early '90s-era NEUROSIS worship band like PAY NEUTER, but they could also be from a second rate but as-yet-undiscovered Midwestern SXE hardcore band...and they could also be the token heavy riffs from an otherwise forgettable frat rock band. But it's this kind of mystery that keeps these tapes interesting, right? For context, this demo is from 1992 or so, and LIQUID COURAGE had a split flexi with TYRANNICIDE (whose underrated thrash LP has been essential $1 bin fodder for years, and will likely remain so for the foreseeable future) which means they were likely from the same outer San Francisco suburbs that gave us VIO-LENCE and FORBIDDEN and SADUS. I mean....you must be a little curious....right?

'A' ... FOR EFFORT

THESE BASTARDS

It's easy to look at your surroundings and wonder where all the good things are, to wonder why your world has been forsaken while everyone else gets to have all of the fun. And sometimes, in the middle of feeling sorry for yourself, there is a tap on the shoulder reminding you to open your eyes and pay attention to the things closest to you. So fukk those dismissive conversations about how there are no hardcore bands in San Francisco and let these old dudes serve you a sub six minute platter of blast. Members of CONQUEST FOR DEATH (see "things closest to you" comment) and VENKMAN among many others, THESE BASTARDS drop visceral hardcore full of charisma, and a solo in "Burn The Fucker Down" that is a perfect example of why nerds are better at punk than "punks." Not coincidentally, I will be seeing THESE BASTARDS for the first time this afternoon in Oakland...and I am not bummed.

COME ON DOWN TO THE TECHIE APOCALYPSE

NORMS

It's been almost five years since I shared the first demo from this Hungarian freak show....and they are way gnarlier now. This ten song deposit is the aural equivalent of being punched in the face repeatedly by a plastic bag full of poop - a bag that just will not break. Filthy downtuned guitars that should be bashing out third rate stoner riffs are instead delivering off the rails mutant hardcore, and it makes everything sound even weirder. The vocals struggle to keep up, and I picture a singer who spends more time losing his mind on stage than actually singing. It's "Inkább Otthon" where things really click - that awkward repetitive riff playing host to samples of live hardcore banter for nearly two minutes....and you realize that NORMS are actual geniuses. True freak hardcore in the finest sense of the term - like INFEST and ACRYLICS together, but as teenagers. "Menedék" is the choice banger, and has the slammingest intro that the cool kids and the hyped bands try so hard to write. Maybe that's the point...the cool kids try so hard. Maybe you just gotta BE. Maybe you just gotta be NORMS. 

HÜLYE HARDCORE

INTRICATE

This one comes courtesy of a concerned FOTE, hoping to ensure yet another artifact is not lost. Previously unknown to me, Germany's INTRICATE shine through a rough live recording on this 1992 cassette release that is full of power. This pre-dates the German Metalcore explosion by a few years, but the trajectory seems relatively clear, and INTRICATE serve as a potential bridge leading to the JANE, SYSTRAL, MÖRSER and the like. Maximum intensity Pain/Word-era NEUROSIS tries to find a niche amongst primal speed metal riffs and relentless European crust - most of the material here is live and it is amazing...but when the studio track drops in it's like a fukkn steamroller. Cheers to Will for the loaner...I'll have it back in your hands soon. 

A CONVULSION ATTEMPT

WOOLWORM

I shared another tape from this Canadian trainwreck last year, and I dare suggest that Famine Walls is even more terrifying. A bludgeoning collection of distortion and hate, one that never succumbs to anything even approaching subtlety. This is us, my "friends"....this is hate. 

FALSE STOICISM

LUNCH MONEY THUGS

Hard drinking Portland (Maine) Oi! from the turn of the century. It's hard to tell how tongue in cheek these freaks were, but the Oi!s are everywhere, the chorus to the first track is "you think you're tough // we think you're drunk" and there's a track called "Sister Flame Thrower" that sounds like it was lifted from a CLUTCH demo. If the internet is destined to become the $1 Bin of the New Age, it's artifacts like this one that will keep people digging in the Real World for the physical goods, because  LUNCH MONEY THUGS may never reach a reverential status in the Digital Realm, but somewhere in rural New England 18 years ago, there were 75 punks escaping their reality for a night...and LUNCH MONEY THUGS were the soundtrack for their escape. That is important. 

LUNCH MONEY THUGS