Lines In Wax

TWELVE YEARS OF UNWANTED OPINION

Month: August 2012

Carcass – Symphonies of Sickness (1989)
death metal grindcore

Carcass – Symphonies of Sickness (1989)

This is one of the albums that changed my life, as far as music is concerned. By far superior to anything else the Carcass discography, Symphonies of Sickness is the ultimate expression in downtuned guitars, scatterfuck dual vocals and blasting drums. The crisp and warm guitar tone can only be described as grinding. This is the definate grindcore guitar sound; fuzzy, yet grating enough to create a suitable amount of audible chaos. Symphonies can sound a bit flat on CD, but this original Earache pressing sounds absolutely unbelievable. It holds a deep, almost fathomless sound. I dare any melo-death nerd that scorns at Carcass’ early cannon to come listen to my copy of Symphonies and disagree to it’s sheer awesomeness! The music here has always held a very morbid vibe for me. I’ve seen it all as far as gore and splatter is concerned (thanks to the internet), but there is something downright disturbing about Carcass’ all out graphic medical dialogue. Where some lyrics verge rather obviously into the regions of bad taste comedy, some passages of nauseating atomical gore descriptions succeed in truly curdling your stomach and rumbling your bowels enough to get your colon kicking like a frightened horse. “Excoriating Abdominal Excoration”, “Swarming Vulgar Mass of Infect Virulency” and “Cadaveric Incubator of Endoparasites” are but three prime examples of this. I thought it was so cool that in high school I used to insult people by calling them Carcass song titles; “Fuck off, you absolute swarming vulgar mass of infected virulency!” Whilst it may not share the same production efforts as later “polished turd”-era Carcass, Symphonies of Sickness holds a fantastic mix and is light years ahead of previous record Reek of Putrefaction, bridging the gap – and taking the best from – past and future efforts. The perfect balance and the perfect record! It is very hard to get such a fine balance between grind and death metal, but this here is a shining example. Whilst I do not believe that Necroticism onwards was the correct logical step for a band waist deep in filth such as Carcass, I do believe that it would have been astronomically difficult to top a record like Symphonies of Sickness if they had continued in this vein.

Black Sun – Paralyser (2008)
doom metal noise & power electronics

Black Sun – Paralyser (2008)

When I Initially bought this I thought it was an LP (silly me) so expectedly I was a touch disappointed on its arrival. Never mind, because that initial disappointment faded very quickly upon first spinning Black Sun’s self-destructive noise meets sludge attack. Imagine early Swans, Iron Monkey and Burning Witch having a fight in the bottom of an mine shaft and you should have a pretty good idea of how Black Sun sound. Paralyser isn’t as noise orientated or as electronic-based as releases that come before it, and it is not as polished as the ‘full-band’ style releases that come after it (Twilight of the Gods, much?). This EP comprises entirely of one track and its subsequent remixes. Paralyser is a test in aural punishment. The listener is subjected to a sprawling, clanking nightmare of a song that spans the entire length of side a. side b’s re-enditions seek to further dismantle and maul the already bare-bones agony to the point that it is almost primitive and unrecognisable. Spread the word on this almost unheard of British band who are too good to be stuck at this level of exposure. Out on At War With False Noise.

Re-Animator – Condemned to Eternity (1990)
thrash metal

Re-Animator – Condemned to Eternity (1990)

I don’t particularly find this record exciting in any way . As far as middle of the road, no frills thrash goes, Re-Animator have got it down to a tee. I’m sure that there is a bunch of metalheads out there who love this, without question, but the reason this is in my collection actually has nothing to do with the music on the disc. It is there because of its artwork. The artwork was done by a man called Terry Oakes, who just happens to be my mother’s brother (my uncle, if you can’t figure that out ha ha). I always knew that he did paintings for a living but I was unawares for years of a.) the type of paintings that he did and b.) that he did record sleeves. This is just one of many album covers that he has done in his time as an artist. I have more by him in my collection (donated kindly by the man himself) but I am still searching for a fair few others out there. I do kinda feel bad that someone in my close family has been doing something this cool for years and I didn’t even bother to find out more about it. Ah well, if anything it was my loss! Lucky for me I now have a whole ton of prints and a bunch of original pressings featuring Terry’s art. Can’t go wrong with that. Shame about the shit thrash! 😉

Godflesh – Slavestate (1991)
electronic metal

Godflesh – Slavestate (1991)

Godflesh is one of my favourite bands. Not of all time, because I have not known them “all time”. But, when I finally got my head out my arse and searched for some music that wasn’t grindcore, German techno-porngrind or Sunn O))), I never, ever looked back. Godflesh’s effect on my outlook of music is just as important as Napalm Death’s original input into my perception of music (how ironic it is that both bands are / were so closely related). I was originally going to explain how Godflesh made me learn how horrible noise can be fantastic to listen to, but I guess some areas of grindcore cover that already. And as for learning that music doesn’t have to be 1000mph to be heavy, I can thank Sunn O))), or more traditionally, Sabbath, Cathedral et al. No, what Godflesh did is teach me more about an underlying mood in music. I have always felt moods in music, don’t get me wrong, it is why I feel so close to music in the first place, but to use sounds in such a way that create such a sense of claustrophobia and helplessness is truly an artform. Slavestate starts off with the title track; pounding 90s dance beats (that Godflesh seem to sneak into a lot of tracks around this era) quickly become dissonant guitars and pummeling drum machines. Rather pacey for a Godflesh track, Broadrick bellows “Fear Factory” over the top of this track as if there was no tomorrow (or any death metal band to instantly start mimicking him ;D). “Perfect Skin” comes on next, mingling brain-bashing drum machines with a glimmering, hopeful synth that nicely counteracts the crushing heaviness of Benny’s bass and Justin’s guitars. It continues to ache away behind the main barrage. If one may divulge into some top notch artsy-imagery; Godflesh is the oil rig, the synth is the beautiful ocean and sunset behind it. Wow that was deep. Ha ha. On the flipside “Someone Somewhere Scorned” bashes drums into your face like it wants you dead (again first coming on like something you’d hear on the Mortal Kombat soundtrack) before closer “Meltdown” is riff-bendingly good ‘Flesh of old. Chuggachugga Snare! Snare! *Head explodes*. Unlike many Godflesh EPs that would follow Slavestate, I would suggest this to somebody who was unfamiliar with the works of Godflesh. It represents their sound enough but isn’t as introverted and self-hating as later records. Godflesh become more “poppy” from Selfless onwards (disregarding final album Hymns), so Slavestate is a last shining example of their crushing original sound. A couple of different pressings of this exist, all on Earache of course, but the original contains only the main four songs. The remixes were originally released as a separate 12″ (which I also have here) but on later pressings of Slatestate the speed was cut down to 33rpm and they were bundled onto side B. This is fairly cheap, and the remixes even cheaper, so I recommend you pick it up 😀 

Wormrot – Abuse (2009)
grindcore

Wormrot – Abuse (2009)

This is the TVG Global Thrashcore Dealer pressing of Abuse, which I picked up before it was re-released by Earache a short while later. I got this off Shane Embury’s FETO stall in Deathfest 2010 (or were Wormrot selling this next to Shane Embury’s stall? That would make much more sense, surely? I don’t know!) back when Wormrot were very much unknown in the UK. They have come a long way since, and two full UK tours later I feel they have now (rightly) cemented themselves as a leading name in the international world of grind. I had never heard Wormrot before thier show at Deathfest apart from maybe in the car on the way to the festival, but that never counts. I was blown away and headed straight to the merch stall afterwards to snatch this record. For those who do not know, this band is a three piece, but certainly does not lack any punch for it. This is flat out blasting grind at its best, stopping or slowing only to fall into some of sort of d-beat or pit-widening riff. “Fuck…I’m Drunk” is one of the best song titles ever, and it proves that the band have quite the sense of humour (as does the inclusion of a Yeah Yeah Yeah’s cover song). I’m not sure how hard it is to pick up this version of Abuse, what with the Earache presses saturating the market. I know that the CD version contains a metric fuckton of bonus material that this record doesn’t possess, but it’s gotta be wax-over-digitrax any day!

Burzum – Burzum (1992)
black metal

Burzum – Burzum (1992)

So I finally grew the fuck up and got this album. After years of holding out, hoping and praying for a shot at the original pressing from back in the day, I finally gave up on owning a piece of musical history. I can only justify so much for a record. It is, at the end of the day, historic or not, it’s just a piece of vinyl. I don’t like Burzum enough to justify spending hundreds on an original Deathlike Silence pressing. Back On Black’s repress in a lovely gatefold that includes the follow-up EP Aske (which is just as pricey in its original form) will do nicely, methinks. I still paid over the odds for it thanks to Plastic Head but it is a fancy package so I’m not too unhappy with how much I paid. I’m not sure if Burzum is the black metal record; but it definitely encompasses what the original scene was trying to achieve. For me, personally, at least. Every time I suggest this around metalheads I seem to face mostly disagreement, but if there is anything that will satisfy my “black metal urges” it is this record (or something by early Darkthrone). It was made at such a place and time that wholly impacts upon its structure, delivery and the entire finished product. If Burzum was recorded at any other point in time, or even with a different producer at the studio, or through a different guitar amp, it would not be the same record. That might sound a bit obvious, but it is more than that; what Burzum reflects is an idea, a vision so strongly held in belief by its creator that it eventually led to arson and later to murder. To know through these terrible acts that there was 100% belief and conviction in this music, in this way of life, makes the listening all the more powerful and dark. Not that I personally advocate the burning of churches or stabbing your friend and record label boss in the face. And I don’t sympathize with the views held by Burzum’s bat-shit insane creator Varg Vikernes either. But, I am all about the music here, not politics, so if Varg’s (possibly worrying) drive for Norwegian racial purity fuels him to continue creating such beautifully vicious and mood altering music, then so be it.

1349 – Hellfire (2006)
black metal

1349 – Hellfire (2006)

Another smashing Back On Black black metal pressing (did you have to read that twice? Ha ha). This is really fancy, smooth and shiny and looking as sexy as black metal can in all its gatefold glory. I learned my lesson after purchasing Burzum’s Burzum and instead got this from HMV for the fucking criminal price of £9.99 including delivery rather than being raped by Plastic Head. Why go direct, eh? 1349 are something else. I’m not particularly massively into black metal anymore but they are one of the modern day black metal bands that continue to impress me. This record is fucking nasty! It is just so fast, so brutal, so necro! Frost is an absolute animal on the drum kit. I heard “Sculptor of Flesh” by accident back when this first came out and I was totally blown away by it. After finally seeing the band live recently I decided it was about time to get some records. Whilst some of their other albums have been a tad questionable for various different reasons, Hellfire is relentless and absolutely punishing and is a must for die hard black metallers. Listen and love, reading masses! It is hard to pick stand out tracks so I’ll just go and put the first song “I Am Abomination” as this post’s video link. The drumming is absolutely insane on this record, even if it sounds like Frost is playing on cardboard boxes. Also, somehow I forgot to take pictures of the actual discs (Ha) for this post (what a twat). I almost put my girlfriend’s camera back together and took some more but all you need to know is that they are black and rather boring, so I decided against it. Another Lines In Wax first; a vinyl blog post with no pictures of vinyl. Stayin’ original, that’s what that is. <a href=”http://candlelightrecordsuk.bandcamp.com/album/hellfire”>Hellfire by 1349</a>

Misfits – Legacy of Brutality (1985)
punk & hardcore

Misfits – Legacy of Brutality (1985)

Early Misfits seems to me to suffer to the same bane as Agathocles, all the same shit seems to be released on tons of different bloody albums. It is hard to tell what is the original recording of a track and what is different. I was going to start off by saying that Legacy of Brutality mixes alternate recordings of some tracks with other tracks that are originally off…then I drew a blank. They really didn’t know how to handle their shit back in the day! Ha ha. I personally judge everything by Static Age, although it wasn’t released until 1997 or some shit, it was the original record and that was how it was intended. Anything else is compared to that tracklist and mix to make things easier, including Legacy of Brutality, the most confusing 12″ ever. For a start, the tracks are listed backwards on the sleeve. Side B is first, then A. Also there are a whole bunch of numbers running down the side of them like track lengths should. Fuck knows what they mean. I’ll have to look it up. Crazy ol’ Legacy of Brutality. Is it a compilation? It is a full length? EP? Who fucking knows, and when it comes to the music, who really fucking cares? It is rather amazing for a band so typical of the punk sound to sound so unique. I guess Danzig’s vocals have a lot to do with that, although the early Misfits sound very much out of tune, as if none of them can actually play a damned thing. There are some great tunes on this album though! “Where Eagles Dare” is a massive sing along of a tune, so is “Halloween” and “Hybrid Moments”. “She” is one of my all time favourite songs ever, “Theme for a Jackal” is just downright odd, as is Danzig’s best/worst Elvis impersonation on “American Nightmare”, which oozes rockabilly grease and shitty guitars. All in all I can’t help but love this collection of awesomesauce tunage, but if I were you, I’d just buy Static Age, which is so damned good and at least sounds like a coherent record rather than a jumble sale.

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker (1999)
electronic

Aphex Twin – Windowlicker (1999)

One of my all time favourite songs! Shaming that I never got around to buying this any sooner too! And I gotta say, it sounds fucking massive on vinyl. The higher vocal frequencies end up in fizz a bit, but the bassier parts are much more prominent to what I am usually expecting. Also, the panning seems somewhat different? The joys of analogue music (assuming Aphex Twin was still using analogue equipment to make his noises by the time Windowlicker came out). The title track is nothing short of demented; the beats and tune itself are not too spasmodic although they do flex or burst every now and then as if underneath epilepsy-triggering breakcore is trying to push through, but the groaning, squealing, moaning vocal contributions are nothing short of down-right retarded. What the hell is wrong with this guy!? Who knows. If you thought side A was a trip, the second track is something else (I won’t even bother trying to write it out here, just Google this release to find out the name of it). It sequences manically between wop-wop-wop bass with head-nodding drums and noises far from beyond the ether, created by pushing the boundaries of electronic equipment in ways that it was never designed to be pushed. The final track, “Nannou”, rounds everything off nicely, all lovey dovey and chilled with what sounds like a million clocks ticking and winding; although I suspect under the correct substances this could instead sound (and feel) like a swarm of crickets festering on every inch of your flesh. Hmmm. As always (or most ways haha) this Aphex Twin wax was pressed by Sheffield’s very own Warp Records. I would also like to draw your attention to the artwork, which is fucking amazing. A proper “why didn’t I think of that?” moment. Imagine your very visage grafted onto to a smoking hot chick. It is enough to give you the creepies. As per usual, the Aphex Twin video for this takes the whole concept a million steps further.

Immortal ‎– Sons Of Northern Darkness (2002)
black metal

Immortal ‎– Sons Of Northern Darkness (2002)

One of the first black metal records I ever heard, and one of my favourites. I waited a very long time to get this on wax; eventually getting a copy on white when Back on Black were good enough to release represses. The original vinyl pressings on Nuclear Blast are worth a bit more, but that’s ok, I’m not particularly wild or fanatical enough about black metal in the grand scheme of things, so I can let the original pressings slide and live with a repressed copy. Immortal seem to have a surprisingly varied back catalogue with albums ranging from the downright ‘necro’ right through to highly produced riff fests, such as this. I gotta be honest, I think I prefer this Immortal to the ‘vltra kvlt’ Immortal sound. They are really talented metal musicians and the almost thrashy sound works well for them. I’m not entirely sure if Immortal are serious or not, although I guess this lends to the whole ‘atmosphere’ surrounding them. Do they really, really think they are more metal than metal itself with all that gurning and waving about of spiked weaponry? Or is it all just an act and they always laugh at themselves? Who knows! I gotta say, I really wouldn’t be surprised either way. Some crazy shit has come out of Norway in the last twenty years or so. I didn’t order the coloured version so I was mega happy when I ended up with a white copy, thank you HMV. The HMV store is generally very poor but if your in the UK you can get a limited supply of vinyl at generally very acceptable prices with the added bonus of free shipping thrown into the mix. Bonza value, mate! £9.99 for a double LP delivered to my house is pretty awesome.

Napalm Death – From Enslavement To Obliteration (1988)
grindcore

Napalm Death – From Enslavement To Obliteration (1988)

Where Scum put grindcore on the map for most people, From Enslavement to Obliteration took the whole genre to new depths of mental speed and heavyness. I read once, I think in Terrorizer magazine, FETO being described as the bastard of a younger brother to Scum. Scum may have started it all, but FETO perfected the blueprint. To be honest, it just rips your fucking head off. I got this picture disc as a gift one Christmas a few years back and I was very, very surprised to see it. I had never heard of a picture disc version before, let alone in full colour, and I feared that a family member had spent a lot of money on a bootleg. Nevertheless, some quick research revealed that this pressing is indeed genuine (and rather rare); Earache pressed a bunch of these up in 1990, just after the initial gatefold run. I find the full colour artwork rather bizarre, even to this day, being so used to seeing the original purple’n’white. Dig from Earache also uploaded the original full colour version of Scum to his blog Ask Earache, even though it was never used in any (legitimate) pressing of Scum. You’d be very surprised at how different it looks. Unfortunately my copy is a bit crackly, and opener “Evolved as One” skips a bit. Picture discs aren’t exactly known for their excellent sound quality but other than the signs of wear it sounds really, really good. Better than the fucking CD, anyway! It is definitely a collectors item though, I think most fans would be better off settling for the dynamic represses of new or the original FETO pressing on black wax with the bonus 7″ (which I am still looking to obtain). If Earache had ever pressed Scum with the same full colour picture together with this it would make for some fantastic wall art. I always used to think that FETO’s one flaw was that it couldn’t stand up to the music of today for sheer impact, but as I’ve matured and realised that loudness isn’t everything (also having the bastard on vinyl helped – so much better!), FETO has come full circle for me as something to listen to and enjoy often. After all, it is a blistering whirlwind of a record. It is also mental to think that this line up of Napalm Death lasted for so little time – who knows if they would have gone on to make more powerful things than FETO? It is sad to see how back in the day Napalm Death chewed up and spat out it’s members, but some of the bands created in it’s wake are equally or more so breathtaking (Godflesh, Cathedral, Scorn and Carcass to name a few).

The County Medical Examiners – Olidous Operettas (2007)
grindcore

The County Medical Examiners – Olidous Operettas (2007)

This has to be one of my favourite records – just look at those colours! The way this album was packaged and marketed by Relapse was brilliant; alongside this excellently nauseating vinyl package, the CD version came with extravagant packaging and a formaldehyde scented disc for ultra-mortician vibes. That’s dedication! For me, I find that I love The County Medical Examiners because they fill the void that Carcass left when they fucked off to make shit melodic death metal. In fact, I’d even go as far as to say they sound more like Carcass than Carcass ever have, and if you don’t like Carcass, something tells me you won’t like this. The County Medical Examiners have come along way from their demos, and even their first LP. It really was a surprise for me that they would make such a well produced and heavy as fuck album. Anyone who has heard their earlier demos should sympathize with my opinion here. Olidous Operettas is fathoms above anything else this band has ever done. It is a shame that they haven’t done anything since. The joking-personas of band members indicates this is obviously a side project, and I hope that this isn’t the end of the line for them. Although I gotta say, it’d be hard to top this record. “Casper’s Dictum” is one of my favourite grind/death metal songs, so please play it loud. Oh, and did I mention that they sound like Carcass? That’s pretty important.

Anal Cunt – Wearing Out Our Welcome (2011)
grindcore

Anal Cunt – Wearing Out Our Welcome (2011)

I don’t think in the history of music that an album title has so correctly summed up it’s contents like this one. By the time Anal Cunt announced that they were working on a new album that wasn’t shitty attempts at rock music, most people had either forgotten or given up completely. Now you have to take what I’m saying here with a pinch of salt because it is Anal Cunt and it is hard to use the terms sloppy, awful and hideous without highlighting their good points. But, Wearing… is tired, boring and badly recorded. It is unfinished, yes, but a crap end to a long line of ear-melting music. The worst thing about this entire release is the shitty, overdubbed backing vocals. They are weak, too loud in the mix and absolutely ruin what remaining awesomeness this record had. Unfortunately, songs without these vocals are few and far between. Due to Seth’s death the record was unfinished so perhaps I am unfair in my current judgement, but this one-sided, 12″ muddy mess is very, very disappointing indeed. You can however thank the awesome Limited Appeal records for bringing us this post-humous look into what AxCx were in the process of churning out for us next. Their intentions were good, I’m sure. It’s not their fault this is a steaming disappointment. There are only 394 copies pressed, and 81 of them are on green vinyl. I have also recently discovered that a repress has also been issued, and that too is sold out.

Swans – A Screw (1986)
avant-garde rock

Swans – A Screw (1986)

In the 80s, Swans went through various forms of horrible music; starting with the fuckfest of jazz and no wave, then somehow mutating to dirgy, percussion heavy, bass guitar driven nightmares. With the album Cop, Swans added the focus to real distorted guitar in the mix and created something more musical yet still epic and heavy, and thus instantly inventing Godflesh and a hundred other bands in the process. In the remaining gap between that period and Swans becoming a much calmer beast with Children of God, the band pursued a strange electronic direction. Equally as visceral and crushing as earlier efforts, but with an almost pop sensibility laughing at you from the edges of the songs. When the record starts, you get a pretty unobtrusive beat and a bog standard bass line that doesn’t sound threatening at all. And it’s not like the song builds or gets heavier, what happens is a rare case of mood changing so subtly within a song, accompanied by minimal instrumentation changes. All of sudden Michael Gira is groaning about (presumably) stuffing dollar bills down the throat of a hooker or something and things seem a lot different to what they were mere moments ago. In a split second, that unobtrusive beat is grinding your soul to pieces and the bog standard bass line is making you feel horrible, horrible vibes. It bashes your skull to smithereens in all it’s lo-fi glory. It is dirty, yet so clinically executed and machine-like that it covers both ends of a very jarred and weird spectrum and puts you in a place that only early Swans can put you in. The pounding beat is like a timekeeper to some seriously perverse fucking. It makes you want to get on a plane to Amsterdam’s red light district, find the youngest, most innocent and naive looking girl there and give her a cold, hard, perfunctory pumping over her sink until she starts to fucking cry. I wish I was joking*. Early Swans is a drug that should be taken with extreme caution, and this k.422 pressing of A Screw, along with the pressing of Time Is Money (Bastard), are two of the most challenging and disturbing pieces of music ever written. (*disclaimer: I am joking) 

Scorn – Refuse; Start Fires (2010)
electronic

Scorn – Refuse; Start Fires (2010)

As far as dubstep goes I’m still pretty inexperienced, but as my musical tastes somehow mutate drastically I find myself listening more and more to this genre. Scorn for me were the in-road into this electronic genre I would have maybe never touched otherwise, despite the fact a lot of types of dubstep (or gorestep) artists mimic the structure and heaviness of metal music. This double 12″ by Ohm Resistance however, does not strike any resemblance to the pseudo-dub-metal that Scorn once shat out many moons ago. I have heard this style of music described as both darkstep and dungeon dubstep; and I can see how the slow, clanking, echoic and vividly dark vibe lends itself excellently to these well deserved tags. A lot of Mick Harris’ later Scorn stuff tends to blend together, but Refuse; Start Fires stands out from the later offerings by incorporating a real drumming performance alongside the usual ear-drum piercing sampled snares and bass hits. This adds a strange dynamic to the otherwise rather clinical and menacing Scorn sound that hasn’t been seen since the days of Colossus etc. when Harris performed drums himself. My one criticism is that if you are actively listening then the songs can drag on a bit too long at times and can be a bit repetitive (no offence), but if your listening as background music (which I often do with Scorn due to its eerie but chilled out nature), you won’t notice. Refuse seems void of typical ‘drops’ as it were but still gets heavy now and then with nizzling bass and the odd bangin’ fuckin’ wup wups, if you get my drift, yo.