PETTYBONE

I came across Pettybone purely by chance I was recommended a band called Arboricido (check their bandcamp HERE ) who play a particularly good and heavy style of female fronted modern crust, I made a comment about the vocals sounding a bit like Amy from Auralskit and another friend mentioned the vocalist from Arboricido was called Amy Pettyramone and had been in a band called Pettybone and posted a video I liked the sound of it so i downloaded the one and only Pettybone album "From Desperate Times Come Radical Minds"  and was really blown away! I was obviously attracted by the name Pettybone as i thought it may possibly be a nod to Pettibon as in Ray Pettibon the man responsible for Black Flag's early artwork and flyers and also the "Bars" I don't know for sure if this is the case but this is some seriously powerful and raging female fronted hardcore that intentionally or not is definitely giving a nod to the early SST sound albeit maybe not blatantly as this is way heavier and more intense than anything SST released (with the exception of possibly BL'AST!) there are a few uptempo moments on here but this is mostly mid paced and i can't stress enough how powerful it is! When  i say mid-paced i by no means mean plodding at all,there's also a great variety of styles on display here I hear shades of Guitar Noise, Hardcore, Anarcho punk, Classic era SST bands etc but all put together in a style that is undeniably their own and of course Amy Pettymramone's vocals are just intense this gal can sure HOWL! and some of the breakdowns are just face ripping and utterly shredding! However there's the odd surprise here and there like their 1 min 51secs cover of The Clash's lengthy dub epic "Justice Tonight" which is given a ripping hardcore makeover here and there are plenty of melodic moments to give you a breather from the more intense parts plus the sorta hidden instrumental track ( comes along about 3 mins after the last track ends but is a separate track) "Blues i got nothing to lose" really reminds me of the likes of The Jesus Lizard! I am really struggling for comparisons here as over it's short 30 minute length there's such a great variety of styles on display but as I keep saying all wrapped together in a cohesive package without jumping from one style to the other in a jarring way. This is a highly original intense and powerful album and well deserving of half an hour of your time.

PETTYBONE - Mediafire

BLACK SABBATH

Well I made a rod for my own back here! I figured with me saying things were gonna be less about the "rare" and more about the music I like well I decided it was time to tackle my two favorite bands and represent something on this blog that means a lot to me me musically, So let's start with Black Sabbath I knew doing a post on these sonic titans was gonna be hard but i'll try my best not to get too carried away here!

So when we're talking the mighty Sabbath before I even start I have to be clear I'm only interested in Ozzy era Sabbath that is their 1st 6 albums 1970-75 after that even tho Ozzy made a further 2 albums with them I still say everything after "Sabotage" is another era and another band it can bear the name Black Sabbath but it will never match the sheer velocity of those 1st 6 albums. Also this post will venture outside that time frame and beyond the first 6 albums here but all shall become clear later...

I am not gonna even attempt a history of Black Sabbath or their antics we all know they formed in the late 60's in Birmingham out of local and touring heavy blues outfits centered around guitarist Tony Iommi,they were originally called Earth (where Dylan Carlson's outfit took their name from) legend has it they changed the name last minute due to there being a film on at the cinema across from the studio where they were recording the first album the film was called Black Sabbath.The four original members of Black Sabbath were...

Ozzy Osbourne - Vocals

Tonny Iommi - Guitar

Bill Ward - Drums

Geezer Butler - Bass

And that's the four guys we are gonna deal with right now....

So debut self titled album Black Sabbath arrived in Feb 1970 I wasn't even born when this album was released! I realize many bands had been really pushing the envelope as far as heaviness and extremity were concerned (Take the Stooges or MC5 or the legions of unknown Garage and psychedelic bands or even Syd Barret era Pink Floyd for example) and preceding this album the "heaviest" band around were Led Zeppelin (who's place in rock history i get as I can't stand em and don't understand why they are worshiped so slavishly) but that was all about to change... from the foreboding opening of rain and thunder and an ominous tolling bell Tonny Iommi unleashed the 3 heaviest chords ever to exist and in my opinion yet to be equalled, "Black Sabbath" the song is a mighty and terrifiying beast of a song and what a way to introduce yourself to the world, this was a new style and a new take on "Heavy Rock" that was unheard of and unprecedented and would set the standard for the birth of heavy metal and the influence endures to this day! Over the course of 6 albums this is a theme that would continue to dominate Black Sabbath would continue to come up with the heaviest riffs and best music for the next 5 years setting a benchmark so high that no one, no matter how far they downtune or how well they can play will ever equal these recordings.

Now I could very easily dissect the albums/eras etc in great depth with stories from the era etc but I'm not writing a book here there are many fine books on the history of Sabbath and it's 4 original members so i don't see the point in rehashing that here it's been done a million times in the last 43 years and will probably continue to be done for another 43 and done far better than a mere amateur with a small blog could do so I'm gonna go straight to the files here and whats in them giving you a bit of a breakdown i shall try not to be too expansive but we shall see....

Black Sabbath (1970) Right firstly you may or may not know that in 2010 Sabbath reissued their first 3 albums in my much loved/hated "Deluxe Edition" format with bonus discs of outtakes etc I for one was practically salivating at this a whole disc worth of outtakes for each of the first 3 albums was just too much to take! But in the end i discovered that there were slim pickings to be had and I'm guessing releasing their first 4 albums in 2 years (the first 2 both in the same year) that there wasn't much to spare! As the bonus discs contain mostly alternative takes, instrumentals etc not a lot new to discover but I'll come back to that... So here you have The debut Black Sabbath album. First off let's take a look at the cover how it was originally released on vinyl in a gate fold sleeve here's the original folded out......

Now even by today's standards that is a pretty bleak and haunting cover for a debut album and the inside continues this theme here's the gate fold inner....

Now it has been said by the band that the inverted cross and the whole of the gatefold inner were done against the bands wishes the label trying to capitalize on the shock value of satanism by marketing the band as having satanic leanings due to their name etc however the truth being they were just 4 affable brum lads with a love for heavy blues and rock! whether it was the naivety of a new young band bowing to label pressure or not I guess we'll never know but to my mind this album could not have been packaged better and without it I'm guessing 99% of "black" metal bands covers would look much different!

Whilst the cover art etc would lead you to believe this is an album full of brutally heavy jams along the same lines as the opening track this is not the case whilst Sabbath may have invented the super heavy jam their albums are chock full of great grooves as well I defy anyone to not be nodding their head to the bombastic Harmonica and guitar intro to "The Wizard"! This album is chock full of heavy riffs but it is tempered by a sense of groove that is a big nod to their blues influences and is basically the "Stoner template 101" everything bearing the stoner tag owes it's sound to this and the following 5 albums! This is a stunning debut and there is not a bad song on here if ever there was a case of all killer no filler this is it.

So as i said the version i present here is the deluxe edition so whats on your bonus disc? well not a lot really there is "Wicked World" which was originally a bonus b-side on the single disc version you then get various takes on the album tracks there's "Black Sabbath" without it's trademark "rain and thunder" intro then an Instrumental version, there's nothing startling really on this bonus disc I love it because I am a fiend for anything "new" to be had from this era of Sabbath but unless you fall into that category then don't get overexcited! Should you wish to check out whats on there before downloading go here...

http://www.discogs.com/Black-Sabbath-Black-Sabbath/release/1844052

"Paranoid" (1970) So moving swiftly along... you'd think that unleashing such a devastating debut album, inventing heavy metal and pretty much everything metal that was to come that maybe the band would do some promotion and touring and get ready for a 2nd album sometime soon? HA! nope in September 1970 a mere 7 months after "Black Sabbath" came the album that made them world famous "Paranoid" Now before I even start on this album i have to say I really cannot stand the song "Paranoid" whether it's through over familiarity or what i don't know I would consider each of the 6 albums here to be amazing and considering the quality of music on display and the short timespan over which they were released you'd expect there to be some filler? I would disagree, but "Paranoid" is a fine song but it's just been done to death,played to death,covered to death and I can't really listen to it anymore! it's a personal thing and nothing to do with the band ok? So having released 2 albums 7 months apart you'd think maybe this album was "too soon" or maybe less quality this is definitely not the case. "Paranoid" is another album full of utterly essential heavy jams and blues grooves opening with another utterly destroying heavy riff fest first track "War Pigs" is just slaying, clocking in at a hefty near 8 mins this is a pretty bold move considering that "Paranoid" a fairly pacey 3 minute throwaway jam they wrote in the studio to basically make the album up to the required length had been released as a single preceding the album you'd think in the tradition of 70's albums that the label would have pressured them to make this track the opening one.This album is again another all killer no filler even the eerie, acoustic/bongo track "Planet Caravan" is great! This album is again chock full of super heavy riffing and great grooves just check the Wah Wah guitar and riff on "Electric Funeral" (A hymn to the fear of nuclear war pre-dating protest punk by near 10 years) As I said I'm not gonna breakdown these albums too much. This is again another stellar album and essential.

So your bonus deluxe disc well again there's not much to be had you get the whole album again in the same order but this time you get 5 tracks instrumental 2 with alternative lyrics and one as an alternative mix and to be honest even for a diehard like me this is pretty lame I have put it up here simply because they are hard to come by to download and for the curious fans who may not have lashed out the extortionate price for these deluxe versions.

"Master Of Reality" (1971) So we are at the halfway mark and album number 3 " Master Of Reality" and again it had only been only 9 months since "Paranoid" and once again Sabbath have pulled another great album out of the bag (bear in mind this was their 3rd album in 1 year and 8 months) and in my opinion probably their heaviest set of the 6 albums i present here! The guitars are good and thick sounding and the riffs are just fucking monolithic towers of sound! There are 2 short instrumental interludes "Embryo" and "Orchid" but every one of the other 6 tracks presented here are just insane considering this is some 42 years ago! Just listen to "Lord Of This World" , "Children Of The Grave" and especially "Into the Void" and you'll see this album gives even modern day metal a run for it's money.

Again this album is in a deluxe edition and this time you get 9 tracks on the bonus disc and actually this time round you get some decent bonuses there's "Weevil Woman '71" an updated version of their cover of "Evil Woman" from the debut and "Spanish Sid" an early version of "Into The Void" as well as the usual Alternate mix/Vocal tracks and instrumentals for a more in-depth look at the full tracklist go here...

http://www.discogs.com/Black-Sabbath-Master-Of-Reality/release/1846791

"Vol 4" (1972) Onto album number 4 and what else could it be called but "Vol 4" and on a personal note this is my favorite Sabbath album, Opening with the epic 8 minute "Wheels Of Confusion" this album takes you on a ride that is totally unforgettable you can see that they have really developed their chops here due to the high demand for the then heaviest band on the planet the non stop cycle of tour/rehearse/record has done them big favors in the songwriting department, whilst this album is still chock full of heavy riffs there's a maturity on display that given the band were still only a mere 2 years into their career is staggering. Whilst the heavy moments are plentiful the likes of "Cornucopia" , "Supernaut" and "Under The Sun" (Who's opening riff is by far the heaviest in their catalog) are easily the equal of anything from it's predecessor "Master Of Reality" this album is not without it's more experimental and "commercial" moments the likes of the short interludes "FX" and the Acoustic "Laguna Sunrise" there is also the very treacly, ballady "Changes" now many people may be aware of the horrific Kelly Osborne/Ozzy Osborne version of this song that had some small chart success in 2003 when "The Osbornes" fiasco was at it's peak however this original piano led version with it's sweeping and soaring keyboards to me is actually a fairly pleasant listen breaking up the albums more intense moments and not a million miles away from "Planet Caravan" from the "Paranoid" album, sickeningly sweet and twee as it is i still like the song and wouldn't skip it when listening to this album. Again essential stuff, this is taken from the remastered edition as there has been no deluxe re-issue of this album.

"Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" (1973) Their 5th album is definitely a logical extension from it's predecessor, taking the influences and experimentation on "Vol 4" even further, again there are no shortage of Heavy riffs here but there is an obvious leap in the musicianship here but the acoustic interludes whilst previously brief on the other albums have now been extended "Fluff" from this album an acoustic instrumental clocks in at near 5 mins, then there's the prog rock keyboards of "Who Are You" and Rick Wakeman of all people providing keyboards to "Sabbra Caddabra" In fact all but Bill Ward are credited with various keyboards, synth, piano and mellotron here and the band have also employed some soaring strings as well which work pretty well with the heavier parts and even crediting one Will Malone as "conducter/arranger" whilst i may be making this album sound like a stab at a more commercial audience or like a really bad experiment you'd be absolutely wrong whilst the production is way slicker than before this is still one of the first 6  Black Sabbath albums and is still ball kickingly heavy in all the right places, whilst it may be a little lighter than the first 4 just listen to "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath" or "Killing Yourself To Live" for evidence of their usual titanic riff standards however it's around this point to my mind that the cracks were starting to appear in their sound whilst it would be foolish to expect a band not to progress in my own selfish way it would have been great if they had stuck with the template set out by the first 4 albums! This is still a great and essential Sabbath album but not the one I would recommend as a starting point for someone new to Sabbath's early albums.

"Sabotage" (1975) So we arrive at the final of the 6 studio albums that are the core of this post, "Sabotage" now there's a few negative points to be made about this album there's the atrocious clothing and terrible cover for a start.....

But the cover aside there are some great songs on this album there's the great opener "Hole In The Sky" which i think is as good as any other of the heavier tracks on the preceding album and Ozzy sounds really intense on this song! Then there's the song that to my mind pretty much gave what would become Thrash metal it's cue "Symptom Of The Universe" it's chugging riff and uptempo speed is fairly shocking for a band now 6 years into their career to come up with a song like this! Then you have the near 10 minute "Megalomania" which to me harks back to the song "Black Sabbath" whilst not nearly as gloomy or shockingly heavy as that song it's definitely coming from the same template. Those 3 songs plus the usual short acoustic interlude "Don't Start (Too Late)" would have originally made up the first side of the album on vinyl and in my opinion the band used all their "A" material for this as it's on the next 4 songs you really start to feel that they are fragmenting as a band as whilst these songs are not terrible they really don't live up to the standard of the A-side or the albums they had already done especially  "Am I Going Insane (Radio)" with it's ultra cheesy keyboards which i have to say is pretty bad, it just seems that the 4 songs that make up the rest of this album feel to me like a band exhausted by the intensity of their career to date with little idea where to go musically and because of that the closing 4 songs just seem a little lackluster and lack the fire and intensity of what they had been doing up to this point, I have to be honest here were it not for the "A-side" tracks i mention this post would have been on the first 5 Black Sabbath albums but the strength of those songs alone is a testament to the greatness of this band and why this album is still (in part) an essential listen.

So there you have 6 of the most important albums in my collection and 6 of the albums that would definitely be among the first i would grab should my house be burning down! but the Sabbath story does not end there there were a further 2 albums with the Ward/Iommi/Osborne/Butler line up and also a career that has lasted to this day with it's ups and downs along the way however the next 2 albums "Technical Ecstacy" and "Never Say Die" with this original line up are to me truly terrible and a blight on the stellar sound of this band's 70's work,

But this being Under The Surface you surely didn't think i would leave you with the 6 easily available Sabbath studio albums even if 3 of them are presented here in their deluxe editions? Hell no! Let us continue....

So Sabbath as i said were probably one of the most in demand live bands of the early 70's i think some folk may not be aware of how much this band dominated globally in the early 70's (their 1st 6 albums i have put up here have at the least 130 versions of each album  listed on discogs.com released in pretty much every country and on every format short of wax cylinder that you could think of) and in the 70's it was the live performance that really put a band into the minds of the record buying public even more so than the records and Sabbath were a great live band.

Sabbath only ever did one official live album the single album "Live At Last" which was one of those live albums that is selected from several different performances and cobbled together as a single performance in the studio however this was expanded and remastered into a double CD "Past Lives" in 2002 the majority of the tracks are taken from 1970 live performances but there are a few from their 1975 "Vol 4" tour which were taken from a live show in New Jersey so as well as the above studio albums you get "Past Lives" a fairly decent if not completely essential document of one of the best live bands of the early 70's....

... However above i mention the fact that 3 of the tracks from "Past Lives" were taken from a show in New Jersey USA this was a show at Asbury Park Convention Centre from August 1975 the entire show warts and all was recorded professionally for famous American rock'n'roll show "The King Biscuit Flower Hour" with the intention of release as a Sabbath Live album however for some reason the project was shelved and never saw the light of day however the story (vaguely) goes that a CD-R of this show direct from the master tapes fell into the hands of an avid fan this was subsequently bootlegged to death in various forms all of which stem from this one original CD-R source Now this New Jersey show IS a definitive warts and all Sabbath Live performance so here i give you 2 discs 1 hr and 40 minutes of Black Sabbath professionally recorded but absolutely LIVE no studio overdubs or trickery and absolute brilliant quality (The Link is 320kbps direct download) it may well be a "bootleg" release but this recording is the absolute best of the "Unofficial" Sabbath live bootlegs that is out there believe me i have tried a few. This is a recording of a band whilst on the cusp of their downslope are here, live at their very PEAK just have a listen to the insane version of "Symptom of the universe" or the utterly towering version of "Black Sabbath" and you will definitely be convinced. I had to split the two discs into 2 separate links due to file size but trust me you need both of them.

So Sabbath went through many twists and turns, successes and failures, went through several vocalists (Ronnie James Dio and Ian Gillan to name but 2) had their wilderness years etc but Tony Iommi's faith in his music whether I like it or not cannot be denied the mans commitment to keeping the Sabbath name alive over the years is staggering.but let's face it like it or not whether you are a diehard or a casual fan we all known the Ward/Iommi/Butler/Osborne era of the band was their peak and what the fans always wanted and in 1997 that's exactly what they got! There were rumors flying around for a while that the original line up of Black Sabbath were getting back together, recording etc and these rumors turned out to be fact and in 1997 Black Sabbath the original line up returned for a tour and apparent recording, whilst the tour was a massive success the recording was not and in 1998 they released "Reunion" (1997) a double live album of their homecoming show at the NEC Birmingham in Dec 1997 whilst this would smack of cashing in etc what was of specific interest as well as the 90 minute live performance was that this release was bolstered by 2 new Sabbath songs recorded by the original line up in 1997 these being "Psycho Man" and "Selling My Soul" now, whilst the live performance is a great run through their early catalog and all the hits are there and played well this is now some 22 years since these guys performed together and now they were no longer young and hungry lads from Birmingham but middle aged men with a whole lifetimes experience and comfortable living behind them! Not that this is a bad live album quite the opposite it just doesn't have that raw,improvised feel of a true live gig and more the feel of a professional live band of well rehearsed older musicians running through their best songs in a professional no nonsense manner! I include it here because it's an important landmark for the original line up of Sabbath that this post covers, as for the 2 studio songs..... While they are both decent enough songs with crushingly good riffs the problem here is Ozzy had had a busy and prolific solo career for a long time and even though you have the original members of Black Sabbath writing and recording 2 new songs unfortunately there had been too much water under the bridge for both the band and the metal scene in general and it has to be said these two songs would appear to be ploughing similar contemporary metal styles that Ozzy had long been exploring himself over the course of the 90's and whilst they are good heavy songs they are nothing new or particularly exciting, if you like heavy metal and you like Ozzy's solo stuff chances are you'll like them (as i do) they are good but they are nowhere near GREAT!

Phew I am getting exhausted here but the story continues..... So all the promise of the 1997 reunion kinda fizzled away to nothing after the tour no more music appeared no more live work etc etc they just kinda disappeared again and that was that... Fast forward another 16 years to 2013 and here again we have rumors of Black Sabbath's original line up recording a new album with Rick Rubin at the helm, whilst over the years since the 1997 reunion there had been so many rumors of the band getting together again, touring, recording etc there was nothing concrete till 2013 and it turned out to be true they were indeed in the studio with Rick Rubin recording a new album for release that year!

So come June last year they were as good as their word and the new album from Black Sabbath arrived entitled "13" so firstly This was supposed to be the 4 original members but due to internal strife over money Bill Ward pulled out to be replaced by Brad Wilk of Rage Against The Machine whilst undeniably a fantastically talented drummer it's not about proficiency here it's about style and Brad Wilk is NOT Bill Ward.

"13" (2013) was released in a single disc and a 2 disc deluxe edition with a 4 track bonus disc here I present you the full deluxe edition. Now it's at this point i would normally launch into my usual breakdown of the album key points, good songs/bad songs etc. but this time I am not going to do this, I downloaded this album pre-release and i was in 2 minds about this could Sabbath really pull something worthwhile out the bag some 38 years since their last good album, would they stick to what they had done on the first 6 albums or try to bring their sound up to date, would these 3 guys all in their mid to late 60's actually pull this off and reclaim their crowns as the kings and inventors of Heavy metal?? there was so much running through my mind one of the most important bands to me were releasing a new album what would they come up with? That being said, that's all I am going to say, I don't want to give you my opinion on this album you download it for yourself and make up your own mind. It's here in it's complete form 12 tracks of Sabbath in 2013 (minus Bill Ward of course) free for you to download so go get it at the link below and judge for yourself however I would appreciate hearing your opinions in comments if enough people bother to listen to it and comment then I would LOVE to discuss this album with any of you.

Well that was really hard work I have to say trying to do the mighty Sabbath justice in words without getting too expansive was gonna be hard but i didn't realize it would be this hard even though i checked myself on my usual; ramblings it's still a massive post! Anyway in closing i would like to say that many people look upon Black Sabbath with derision mainly due to Ozzy's fame and the Whole "Osbornes" series then there's some of the terrible albums Iommi made under the Black Sabbath name over the years that plus the general derision heavy metal gets due to it's stigma as "dumb" music and the millions of parodies and piss takes over the years. What people tend to forget is that before Black Sabbath arrived in 1970 there was no "heavy metal" (anyone who thinks Led Zeppelin invented it can fuck off they were nothing but preening,muso wankers who ripped off the blues and stood on the shoulders of giants to make themselves a shitload of cash!) the term "heavy metal" originates from someone saying Sabbath's music sounded like a load of Heavy metal being dropped from a great height! It has to be said that looking at these first 6 Sabbath albums and taking into consideration the time they were recorded and the fact that these 6 albums were released over a mere 5 years that what Sabbath were doing not only set the template for Heavy music for all time but it was also genuinely groundbreaking and insanely heavy stuff the fact that those first 6 albums are still held in such high esteem now by a legion of fans not just those interested in "metal" and their influence on music in general these albums should be and probably are in the collection of every music fan worth their salt! All I can say is try this....... imagine it's 1970  press play on "Black Sabbath" the 1st song from the "Black Sabbath" album absorb the wind,rain,thunder and tolling bell intro and when the opening riff kicks in tell me it doesn't feel like the whole world is coming to an end! That's the effect Sabbath must've had all those years ago and still have for me now! One of the 2 greatest and most important and influential bands on the planet for me without Sabbath music as we know it would not exist. Get these downloaded, get on your knees and worship the glory that is early Black Sabbath there's nothing like it and never will be again.



Black Sabbath (1st) (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) - Mediafire

Paranoid (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) - Mediafire

Master Of Reality (2 Disc Deluxe Edition) - Mediafire

Vol 4 - Mediafire

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath - Mediafire

Sabotage - Mediafire

Live Asbury Park NJ 1975 (Disc 1) - Mediafire

Live Asbury Park NJ 1975 (Disc 2) - Mediafire

Past Lives (Disc 1) - Mediafire

Past Lives (Disc 2) - Mediafire

Reunion (Disc 1) - Mediafire

Reunion (Disc 2) - Mediafire

13 (Deluxe 2 Disc Edition) - Mediafire

HAYMAKER

I came across Haymaker around the same time as The Rites (see post on them HERE ) when i had a renewed interest in hardcore round the early 00's, This was when downloading from the internet first came along as well so i used to go round all the record label sites take the 1 or 2 songs from each release they would offer free and make my own CD samplers to listen to and one of the songs i got from Deranged Records was "Built To Destroy" by Haymaker from their debut album and this was one of the first Cd's I bought that renewed my interest in some of the newer hardcore that had happened while I was not paying attention to that scene in the 90's! Their last EP "Lost Tribe" from 2004 was the last I heard of them and I assumed they were long gone however yesterday i heard the news that they had a new EP called "Let them Rot" which is why i thought a post was long overdue.

Hailing from Hamilton, Ontario in Canada and featured folks who have played in The Swarm (aka Knee Deep In The Dead), Left For Dead, Our War, Cursed and Chokehold to name but a few  the members are of Haymaker are rooted in the best and most brutal hardcore to come out of Canada. Haymaker play a particularly violent,nasty,negative and nihilistic not to mention face shredding style of hardcore projecting a sheer menace that is missing from a lot of hardcore bands, in fact the lyrics and ethos behind the band is pretty much the antithesis of hardcore with songs that are anti-scene, anti religious,incite violence,suicide and a lot of personal and projected negativity which, i think is one of the things that attracted me to them in the first place! not that I am a violent or negative person I just find that sometimes when life is kicking you in the balls and you are full of anger and hate then a loud blast of Haymaker can be very helpful. I can only assume that the fact that they aren't THE most popular hardcore band could be down to some of their attributes. All of this negativity is backed up by a sound that is absolutely FEROCIOUS downtuned heavy guitar (heavy but not in am metalcore way were talking nasty and fuzzed out not chugging sub thrash boredom here) dirty bass and utterly hateful vocals all combine to make a sound that has a great bottom end heaviness and really nasty and right in your face but is at the same time utterly compelling. In some ways they remind me a little of an Canadianized Extreme Noise Terror sometimes although they don't have the brutal cement mixer/plane crash vocals, Haymaker's vocalist does spit his words with much venom and anger but you can clearly understand him, however it's in the fast semi D-beat drums and brutal riffing that i hear ENT slightly which makes me think all tho this is without a doubt Hardcore and not crust that people who come here for the heavy stuff will definitely like this band a LOT!

So onto your files I decided once again to compile the bands 7" EP's and demo into one file for you so the link below "Demo's And EP's" contains their debut Demo (later released as a 1-sided 12"), their "Love The Music Hate The Kids" EP from 2000, The 2nd EP "Fuck America" from 2001, their Split EP with Oxbaker also from 2001, the "Lost Tribe" EP from 2004 and the 11 track Live 7" (dunno if this is a bootleg or what as it's not mentioned on Discogs but it's 11 tracks from 5/8/2001 no venue stated) That's everything they have done before the album with the exception of their split EP with Fucked Up unfortunately I think that there is a pressing fault with the Haymaker side as I owned it on vinyl and whenever you played it it sounded like someone had spilled jam on the record and my copy was a first press original! so that has been omitted due to being completely unlistenable quality.All of these are taken from vinyl rips "Love The Music..." is a decent quality rip but is extremely quiet just turn it up the quality is there, "Lost Tribe" sounds crackly but unfortunately that's just how it is, i owned it and it sounded like that first time i played it,the others are decent enough quality as I always say i would not post anything of such poor quality that it wasn't listenable. Next up you have their self titled and only album recorded in 2001 released in 2002 and i have to say this is the best of Haymaker 25 tracks of sheer hatred and bile in 22 minutes this album grabs you by the throat pins you to the wall and fucking screams at you till you can almost feel the spittle flying in your face! ha ha doesn't sound pleasant? trust me it is! I cannot tell you how utterly ripping this album is one of my utter favourite hardcore albums of all time, ripped from my own CD at 320kbps! And lastly well the inspiration behind this post that being that Haymaker are back in 2014 with a new EP which is fucking great news to me and below you will find a link to the not even released yet  "Let Them Rot" EP 4 new Haymaker tracks in as many minutes, has any of the bile or hateful sound been lost? has it fuck it's like next day not 10 years later great stuff!! The Lead track has a riff that reminds me of a fucking fast and nasty version of Gang Green's most well known song "Alchohol"! A great return for an excellent hardcore band!

So there you go if you're a fan of hardcore and have perhaps overlooked this band then you need to rectify that RIGHT now I suggest you go for the Album link first as tho the Ep's are great it's a big file and because they are ripped from vinyl the quality is a little hit and miss however the album is ripped from CD so is great quality and contains their best material in my opinion. Blaze Some Hate.....

Demos & EP's - Mediafire

Album - Mediafire

"Let Them Rot" EP - Mediafire

SLEEP - 1990 - 2018 THE STORY CONTINUES

This post was originally done in 2013 There has been a lot gone on in the world of Sleep since then so I have completely re-edited the original text and updated old links with better quality ones and added some new ones. this supercedes previous posts and is to all intents and purposes a new post. Read on..

A band like Sleep should need no introduction especially with their recent touring and mighty remastered version of "Dopesmoker" last year. If you didn't know here's a quick history Sleep started off as brutal sludgy crust band Asbestosdeath who released 2 x 7" singles they then evolved into Sleep, doing their debut album "Volume One"  in 1991 which was not a million miles away from what they had done in Asbestosdeath (3 of the 4 tracks  from the Asbestosdeath 7"' appear on Sleep's debut) they then recorded a second album of all new material which they shopped around labels for a release, a tape of it found it's way to Earache records with this letter....

Earache saw the potential and signed them. The subsequent "Holy Mountain" album was a radical departure from "Volume One" and pretty much invented the "Stoner Rock" genre. After the success of this album Sleep decided to sign with major label London records and for their London Records debut to record the now legendary 1 hour plus epic that was proposed 3rd album "Dopesmoker"!  Exec's from major labels aren't known for their open mindedness and immediately balked at being presented with a concept album of 1 track an hour long, the main theme being weed smoking (unlike today this was not the most acceptable or commonplace activity in 1995!) The band and label butted heads severely, the band refusing to change or alter the album and the label refusing to release it! They were subsequently dropped, the master tapes were shelved, causing the band to fracture and it wasn't until 1999 long after Sleep broke up that "Dopesmoker" was released albeit broken up into 6 parts and re-titled as "Jerusalem" then in 2003 it was reissued in it's original 1 track format as a rough mix "Dopesmoker" with a bonus track "Sonic Titan (Live)" Then in 2012 the masters were handed over to Brad Boatright of Audiosiege for a proper remastering and released on Southern Lord, this time with "Holy Mountain" Live from 1994 as a bonus track for me that is the definitive version. So that's a brief history of Sleep here's a more in depth look at the albums I've posted....

Asbestosdeath - 7"'s "Dejection" & "Unclean" these were released by Profane Existence and the other by the band themselves in 1990 and are 4 tracks of slow, crawling sludgy stuff reminiscent of Dystopia but if you listen carefully you can hear that trademark classic Matt Pike riffing in there underneath the sludge! and as I said before 3 of the 4 tracks were re-recorded for the Sleep debut album "Volume One" These 2 x 7"'s were collected together on one CD by Southern lord this file is taken from my CD 320kbps.

Sleep Volume One - Debut album from Sleep and released on what was then the European home of all things Grunge & Seattle in the early 90's Tupelo recordings (also responsible for releasing the first editions of Nirvana's "Bleach" in Europe) Not exactly a good fit, however this album whilst the stoner edge can be felt is still not a million miles away from what these guys had been doing in Asbestosdeath this is slow heavy sludgy metal that is also to my ears heavily influenced by early Melvins, in fact the main reason I bought this album is because when I listened to it it just screamed "Gluey Porch Treatments" at me. Remember these guys pretty much invented stoner rock so at this time in 1991 there was nothing to compare this to and it certainly wouldn't fall into the stoner genre had it been invented then!! Like i say this is slow heavy punishing stuff and whilst the vocals aren't quite as anguished as Asbestosdeath this is still some pretty tortured music and vocals.It's a killer heavy album and there's nothing else (outside of Melvins early work) Ripped from my CD at 320kbps

Sleep Volume Two, This,now ultra rare 7" EP was released on Eric Keller (of legendary Swiss grinders Fear Of God) label Off The Disk in 1992 and is probably the holy grail of Sleep collectables as it was probably limited to copies in the hundreds maybe 1000 copies at a push This 7" features their version of Sabbath's "Lord Of This World" (made to sound live but isn't!!) backed with excellent early demo versions of "Nain's Baptism" & "The Druid"! High Quality FLAC vinyl rip converted to MP3 320KBPS

Sleep's Holy Mountain I first heard Sleep in 1992 on the Earache records cassette comp "Naive".This was a showcase for all the non-grind/death metal bands that had releases out or coming out on Earache and featured bands like Clutch, Fudge Tunnel, Scorn, Pitch Shifter and of course Sleep. I was already aware of a few of the bands but when iI got to the Sleep track "Dragonaut" (Subsequently the opening track on "Holy Mountain") I was utterly floored. This was PURE Sabbath worship given a 90's twist and made even heavier!!! (Ozzy Osbourne himself is quoted as saying when he heard Sleep out of all the bands that are influenced by Sabbath, Sleep were the closest in sound and feel) I had been a fan of Early Sabbath for a while then and had exhausted those first 6 Sab's albums, so this came along at a perfect time for me! Though there is no denying the Sabbath influence Sleep have the sound and feel as Ozzy says but they are not straight off ripping Sabbath off for a start this is way heavier in sound and production and riffs like the Monster intro to track 2 "The Druid" are so utterly fucking amazing it just makes me go arrrgggggghhhhhh! everytime! This predates the legion of Sabbath pilfering and weak stoner rock that's around these days by almost a decade. Like I say this album practically invented the style there was NO ONE else doing this type of music in 1992 and there has been no one yet from the stoner genre that has recorded ANYTHING in the same league as this album it's an utter masterpiece! (320kbps Reissue version with "Snowblind" from the Earache "Masters of Misery" Sabbath tribute as a bonus track)

Dopesmoker - I've already gave you the history of this album and about how it never saw release till 1999 (in altered form) years after the band broke up after originally recording it in 1993.However is this the absolute pinnacle of a short lived career by the band who invented stoner rock? Hmm it's a good album no mistake and there's immense fucking walls of riffage by the dumper truck load, But I think it may have been a little ambitious, because I don't think there's enough to it to keep me completely involved for a whole hour. The main riff to the song is a theme throughout and mighty a riff as it might be.... I mean don't get me wrong, when I play this album some parts just make me go whoaaahhh FUCK yeah! And because it's 1 song it's good that when you listen to it certain parts blow you away and it keeps repeat listens interesting, but I have to say the majority of this album kinda washes over me until aforementioned parts just grab me! I'll leave you to make up your own mind on this album and say no more except here is the Brad Boatright remastered 2012 version with "Dopesmoker" and "Holy Mountain (Live 1994) and as a bonus I've also tacked on "Sonic Titan (Live)" from the 2003 version! All ripped from my own CD's at 320KBPS

2012 Dopesmoker reissue art by Arik Roper

I recently discovered, and, being a huge Sleep fan I kicked myself repeatedly, that both a double CD and cassette were released of their reunion show at the famous All Tomorrow's Parties festival in May 2009. Since it has been out for over 4 years (11 years now!) and I only just found out about it last week is an utter tragedy. Becasue 1: I will now have no chance of ever owning one and 2: It's a double CD/Cass of live Sleep!!! So the CD appears to be a bootleg and the cassette is an official release, which of the two these files are sourced from I don't know, I found it on the internet the bitrate is high but the quality is not the most sparkling. It sounds somewhere between an audience recording and a soundboard recording not terrible quality but not amazing either. However the quality of the music is another matter this is an epic 95 minute Sleep set. Now having only got this downloaded yesterday I have listened to it but not intensely, as well as a wealth of material culled from their "Holy Mountain" album there are some NEW Sleep songs on here along with epic length versions of the "Holy Mountain" material (a 14 min through "From Beyond" HELL yeah) this means you should have been reaching for the download link at the point where the words "New Sleep Songs" were mentioned. Don't let my quality control alarms put you off, this is a great live set from one of the greatest bands around not a terrible bootleg for diehards only. This is well worth an hour and a half of your time for even a casual fan, do not doubt it! 

Secondly, at the same time as I discovered the above live CD I also discovered there had been a semi-official live 12" from a 2010 show in Denver Colorado. For the sake of completion I thought I'd try and get a download to add to this post. When I was looking for a copy of the 12" online I happened upon a nice little blog by the name of "That's The Thing About That" (Check it out HERE).The kind soul behind that blog had the full set from the show posted up in glorious 320kbps! Now I have downloaded this myself literally minutes ago and I am just having a quick listen the sound is heavier than than the Reunion show recording, but the quality is about the same, not amazing but again far from unlistenable. The set is almost identical and I might have considered not posting this because of that, but as well as the usual glut of material from "Holy Mountain" and the same new songs, this set is worth your having because clocking in at a massive 2 hrs long it also contains an opener of a near 10 Minute run through the intro to "Dopesmoker" which segues nicely into "Holy Mountain". There's another 8 minute run through a second part of "Dopesmoker" later in the set and a super heavy Sleep style run through Ozzy Ozbourne's "Over The Mountain" from his "Diary Of A Madman" album! All in all the fact that I went looking for the 3 track live 12" and found the complete set from the Denver show makes it worth the inclusion! So there you go no less than 2 amazing Sleep Live sets for you.(The link to this is not mine but I have just checked it whilst editing this post today (Apr 2020) and the link is valid and works should that change i will upload it myself)

The story does not end there of course ....in 2014 it had been some 20 years since riff titans Sleep had been anywhere near a studio. I was excited as anyone when I heard they were to release a new single through the Adult Swim Program (check that out HERE ) and lo and behold we received the first new recording from the revitalized Sleep."The Clarity".So is it any good?  Well yeah of course it is good, but to be honest I don't know if my expectations were too high or what, but, to me whilst a decent song and at near 10 mins in length there's plenty of it, to my ears, it sounds a bit too much like OM with guitar. Whilst this is not necessarily a bad thing as readers of this blog will know I am a fan of OM, we already have a ton of OM releases to listen to, with a new Sleep single I can't help but have expected a bit more than that. It's a titanic riff and there's a great solo, but all I hear as I said is OM! I have only listened to it a couple of times and I have really enjoyed it, but the reason I loved OM was because they were doing something different to what Chris and Al did in Sleep, from Sleep in 2014 I expected something more along the lines of the new songs they debuted on recent live releases. It is the first thing they have released and maybe the OM thing won't be so apparent with the album, as I'm sure there is to be one! Anyway I shall leave you to judge for yourself. Go check this out Sleep? back in 2014 FUCK man I couldn't be happier!

The above paragraph was edited from my original post on "The Clarity" now whilst I stand by the OM vibe I feel maybe, as I said, my expectations were maybe too high. So lets FFWD 4 years.
In 2018 some 26 years since the last Sleep album (not counting the multiple Reissues of "Dopesmoker") and with no warning, no hype, no intensive ad campaign, no pre-order bonanza on the 20th of April 2018 Sleep quietly released their first new album in 26 years! This was entirely brilliant, not just because of the date it was released (In the U.S. they put the month first in dates so the release date for this was 4/20/18 for the significance of the number 420 in cannabis culture then please go HERE to further your knowledge) Not only was the quiet release of this album controversial, the album itself seemed to polarise fans. I definitely think the lack of collector arousing pre-order packages, thus denying the collector fraternity their opportunity to outdo each other and everyone else by getting it first and "best" genuinely pissed a lot of people off, because of  this, and the surprise release I read several threads where people were complaining about the fact it was difficult to get this on vinyl, simply because demand had probably been underestimated, however that didn't stop the dickheads taking to the internet and bitching about being unable to get ALL the colours (who needs the same fucking album in 5 colours? ) but it was also because of this idiotic collector mentality that the availability was scarce, collectors buying multiple copies, as well as scalpers getting in on the act to flip em on ebay! Whilst this isn't Sleep's fault entirely surely the demand should have been predicted by anyone running a record label having any remote idea how the market, particularly with the kind of music Sleep play actually works these days! It wasn't just that though, once people got their hands on it and ears around it then the bitching really started "It's too short" "2 of the songs have been around for years" (Yes 2 tracks or 1/3 of the album have been staples of Sleep's live set during their various reformations for years but did anyone stop to think that these songs had maybe been in preparation for the next album they had intended before they originally broke up and this IS the next album!) "That intro is pointless" etc. etc. it continued Here's my take on the whole thing...

"The Sciences" - is a fantastic album, and for me it sounds like the next day of Sleep not some 26 years later,  herein lies pretty much every whiny little fuckers problem. It's not the next day, it's 26 years later. Whilst Sleep may have played a huge part in inventing the sound we know as Stoner/Doom, for 26 years bands have run riot with it, there are thousands and THOUSANDS of bands who play and have played this style and the problem is the template for the music is a small one. When this music was first around in the 80's and 90's there was a small handful of bands playing it and the influences were a very small platter indeed and the best thing about Sleep was they took that platter of influence and drowned it in SABBATH SAUCE! In 1992 NO ONE had made music this close to the classic Sabbath sound, and made it even heavier! The problem is, in 26 years every tiny little facet of the first 6 Sabbath albums has been plagiarised, every note, every cover, every lyric, has been done to death, it's an oversaturated scene and genre to the point now where it's almost mandatory to plagiarize Sabbath, and,  where doing anything original in stoner/doom is pretty much impossible.
So tell me this... How the FUCK were Sleep gonna accomplish the feat of redefining a genre/style that they pretty much invented with something new and groundbreaking after 26 years? They WERE the groundbreakers. How is that possible within a genre that has a strictly defined sound and under a monolithic wave of successive generations of bands who stole the sound Sleep themselves stole from Sabbath? If you truly like Sleep then you will love this album it does exactly what it should shows that the guys who invented this style are still one of the best at it! Here it's ripped from my CD at 320KBPS

So this brings us onto the last 2 bits of Sleep goodness Shortly after the album Sleep issued a 12"/Download of what I assume is an album outtake. "Leagues Beneath" clocking in at just shy of 17 minutes well I can see why they left it off the album due to the fact it probably woulda necessitated the compressing of the 6 album tracks to fit it all on 4 sides of vinyl, so I suppose that's fair enough and they did make it available for download however they coulda put it on the fucking CD right? But once again we have the usual pandering to the vinyl collectors with a fancy one sided limited 12" I'm not gonna start it fucks me off I'm leaving it at that! The track itself is an absolute towering beast of a riff and is easily as good as the other new material on the album and at it's length if you take it on a playlist with The "Sciences" brings the playing time up to 70 minutes! More than enough Sleep to keep you going for 26 more years??

Lastly we have "Live At Third Man Records" so I was surprised as anyone to find these guys signing with Jack White's label for all the new releases but I guess if you are in the vinyl target market then he is the man! This mammoth live album was released on multiple coloured  3 LP and 1 x 12" boxset yadda yadda yadda fuck it I'm gonna get onto a rant about vinyl AGAIN so I'll stop there.. Onto the music Recorded on December 12th 2018 in the Blue Room at the Third Man headquarters in Nashville to a live audience using a direct-to-acetate system and mixed and mastered in real-time.There you go so this epic set clocking in 8 mins shy of 2 hours I assume must have come with a download because I certainly have noticed any hiss or crackle of a vinyl rip and that's what you get here 11 tracks of Sleep live including a near 23 minute run through their masterwork "Dopesmoker" Playing all 5 of the tracks from "The Sciences" (excluding the intro) as well as both "The Clarity" & "Leagues Beneath" With only "Holy Mountain" and closing, unsurprisingly, with their biggest "hit" "Dragonaut" being a nod to the old days! It's a fantastic quality set everything is clear in the mix there's nothing overwhelming about it it's just a fairly decent document of Sleep live and superior in quality to all of the various bootlegs around!

That's it then folks This already huge post updated! There's not a lot more to say other than Sleep are the godfathers and about the best at this kind of music (Save of course Sabbath)

Current Sleep Line Up Date Unspecified I would say 2018 though

ASBESTOSDEATH EP's - Mediafire

VOL 1 - Mediafire

VOL 2 - Mediafire

HOLY MOUNTAIN - Mediafire

DOPESMOKER - Mediafire

REUNION AT ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES DISC 1 - Mediafire

REUNION AT ALL TOMORROWS PARTIES DISC 2 - Mediafire

LIVE DENVER 5/9/10 - HERE

THE SCIENCES - Mediafire

THE CLARITY - Mediafire

LEAGUES BENEATH - Mediafire

LIVE AT THIRD MAN RECORDS - Mediafire



And as an extra DOPESMOKER bonus here's something I was shared from youtube....

Calvin Armstrong (cello), Brian Courage (bass), and Kelson Zbichorski (drums) from the Heavy Metal Ensemble of Lawrence University performed Sleep's Dopesmoker on June 2nd, 2012, in the Lawrence University Memorial Chapel.This is just fucking insane unfortunately it's an amateur recording and when the rhythm section kick in properly, great as they are, the cello gets kinda drowned out. but this is still amazing I don't blame you for not watching the full performance but EVERY Sleep fan should check out the first 5 mins...ON A FUCKING CELLO??*~%$$!!! Amazing!

SAINT VITUS

I have been a Saint Vitus fan for a long time I have already posted some on here when I had the original posts of the first 40 or so SST releases but those were unfortunately lost (along with around 3 months of write ups and uploads) when 4shared FUCKED me! I had owned all of their stuff on vinyl but as you readers will know I no longer have vinyl playing equipment and in a recent vinyl for CD trade i did with a friend of mine i received their "V" and "Live" albums which in turn inspired me to ignore the high price of their SST releases and replace my long gone vinyl with CD's! So i figured a re-post of the "Lost" SST stuff and a proper post on Saint Vitus was overdue (That and the fact i can now give you everything in glorious 320kbps direct from CD! now). Onwards....

I came to Saint Vitus simply because they were on SST and i had heard a lot of good things about them, I picked up their "Thirsty And Miserable" 12" as one side was a Black Flag cover however (In my opinion at the time) the burnt out looking California hippies and one of those wearing an Alice Cooper t-shirt on the cover kinda put me off and the music itself well didn't immediately grab me lacking reference points for their gloomy rock I kinda wrote them off as one of the "crap" SST bands, however for some reason i felt compelled to keep going back to it and after a while the 2 originals on the flip of the 12" "The End Of the End" and "Look Behind You" just started to seep into my brain to the point where I became utterly addicted! I sought out what else there was at the time (around 1986 i think all there was then was their debut, "Hallows Victim",Born Too Late" and "The Walking Dead" EP) And as i said before became a BIG fan

A quick history... Saint Vitus began life as Tyrant a 3 Piece Of Dave Chandler - Guit/vox, Mark Adams - Bass and Armando Acosta - Drums (These three would remain the core of every Saint Vitus line up tho having 3 different singers over their existence these three guys ARE Saint Vitus (until Acosta's death in Nov 2010) but they soon added vocalist Scott Reagers and changed their name to Saint Vitus (Taken from Black Sabbath's song "Saint Vitus Dance" from their "Vol 4." album) This original line up of Saint Vitus would make their recording debut with their 1st self titled album on SST records in 1984 and would follow with "Hallow's Victim" album and "The Walking Dead" EP in 1985 all of which are fucking great solid Saint Vitus recordings however in 1985 vocalist Scott Reagers quit the band to be replaced by the total colossus that is Scott "Wino" Weinrich on vocals (See my post on the massive and amazing career of Wino HERE )and from this point on this is the line up of Saint Vitus that would go on to define genres and garner their reputation as THE original doom/stoner band and would be the line up that would record their most important and revered albums. There have been several twists in their long career and even a break up however lets deal with these era's individually....

Inception - 1985 - Well we've already covered the history and members so let's start with the first line up. Signing with SST in 1984 and making their debut album "Saint Vitus" shortly after, it's a pretty stunning debut as well, opening with a squal of wah-wah effected guitar noise first track "Saint Vitus" is a fairly uptempo number which is reminiscent of the kinda stuff Black Flag were doing at the time (Albeit less skewed and off the wall as Flag and with a far more retro 70's Rock/ Sabbath influence Note - Both Black Sabbath and Black Flag were a big influence on SV by their own admission and they toured with Black Flag a LOT in the 80's) However as the album unfolds you start to see the seeds been sown for what would be the trademark Saint Vitus sound gloomy riffing, slow motion drumming and heavy bass! It has to be said that Dave Chandler's guitar sound is unique and is most definitely the defining feature of Saint Vitus whilst their albums went from strength to strength it has to be said that their actual instrument sounds never really varied throughout their career sure the songwriting skills got better and better as did the bands playing but from album to album the sound had been set early and never really changed! Second album "Hallows Victim" and EP "The Walking Dead" (Both recorded at the same session in 1985) follow a similar pattern to the debut however the opening 2 tracks of "Hallows Victim", "War Is our Destiny" and "White Stallions" would remain in the bands set for the rest of their career and both make an appearance on the "Live" album some 5 years later! I would say this is testament to the strength of their material and the consistency in good writing however "White Stallions" is probably one of the most uptempo songs in their back catalog clocking in at the speed of your average SST hardcore band at the time! However these releases are not without their trademark doomier tracks see "Mystic Lady" Or "Empty Love" for evidence of this and the titanic near 12 minute ultra slow burn of "The Walking Dead" is an exercise in doom mastery! It has to be said that Scott Reagers was a great vocalist and has not received enough credit in this write up so far he was easily the equal of his peers at the time and easily as good as the likes of Eric Wagner of Trouble or Bobby Liebling of Pentagram (Both bands doing a similar if completely different take on what was later to be called "Doom" metal) Why he chose to leave the band I don't know it's something I've never really looked into but his replacement was a more than a stroke of genius for Vitus.....

Saint Vitus (84) - Mediafire

Hallow's Victim (85) - Mediafire

Walking Dead EP (85) - Mediafire

*NOTE* "Hallow's Victim" link is taken from the expanded "Hallow's Victim/Walking Dead re-issue CD and contains a bonus of "Look Behind You" from the SST comp "Blasting Concept Vol 2" and is the original version with Scott Reagers singing (Later re-recorded with Wino for the "Thirsty And Miserable" EP) and there is also a short outro as an extra bonus also from the same session.

1985 - 1989 So next phase for Vitus after Scott Reagers left the band they recruited a fairly unknown new vocalist a member of then also fairly unknown band The Obsessed a fella by the name of Scott "WINO" Weinrich! As I said before this was more than a stroke of genius/luck for the band because for me Wino just fitted the band perfectly not having the histrionic "rock" type of voice of Reagers, this was a far more "heavy" style whilst still having the ability to hold a tune Wino's doom laden vocal style was as much unique as the sound of Saint Vitus themselves and to say that he fit in with that sound well is a MASSIVE understatement when Wino wails "I was born Too late and I'll never be like YOU" on the title track of that album you fucking known he means it! To me this is where Saint Vitus hit the sound they were best known for the slow motion super heavy groove that would spawn entire scenes! First outing with Wino at the helm was the sheer fucking leadweight beast that is 1986's  "Born Too Late" less than a year from losing their original vocalist and NO momentum has been lost in the slightest and they are back with a new album and probably one of the most revered of their career, Opening with the slow crawl of the aforementioned title track "Born Too late" is a hymn to the dispossessed of society with Wino intoning Dave Chandler's lines about not being able to walk down the street without being laughed and pointed at or called a "Hairy freak" over a groove that is so damn sludgy and slow you wonder how it all doesn't collapse hideously upon itself, This new revitalized line up would become the masters of this slow groove and "Born Too late" is not an album I would choose to listen to if i was in a slump but at any other time it's utterly stunning music and there's not a bad track of the 6 on there. The following "Thirsty And Miserable" EP contains a great Vitus take on the Black Flag original seeing as it's probably one of the most vicious songs in the Black Flag discography for Vitus to slow it down and give it their unmistakeable groove is just brilliant! The 2 B-sides I mentioned at the beginning of the post are no "filler" either "Look behind you" being a re-recording of a Reagers era track but it's new song "The End of the End" that is the star of this EP whilst being more uptempo than anything from "Born..." it's main spiraling riff has an eerie creepy kinda groove but will have your head nodding in a second and once again Wino is faultless here! The Doomy theme would continue through onto next album 1988's "Mournful Cries" (Their last for SST) The doom and gloom is still prevalent here but the songwriting has come along leaps and bounds and also there is also more of a "tuneful" tone to the songs whilst still being fairly slow and sludgy they are not without memorable groove! Also Wino's performance here is epic obviously having gained confidence in his position as frontman as his vocals really fucking SOAR here, whilst i use the word "Tuneful" before It also contains some of Vitus most crushing riffs just take a listen to "Dragon Time" or "Looking Glass" for evidence.

So leaving SST for Germany's Hellhound records this incarnation of Vitus would see another two releases before the end of the 80's These being the "Live" album (An almost full set recorded live in Germany in Nov 1989) which is a damn good warts and all run through their back catlog and one of the few Live albums i actually own and like! However of more interest is their 5th and debut album for Hellhound the simply titled "V" many people consider this album to be their finest hour and the peak of their career whilst I would kinda agree with that i personally feel that though the production and sound is far superior to all the preceding albums I feel it is simply another great Saint Vitus album in a run of great Saint Vitus albums however it has to be said the opening 1-2 punch of "Living Backwards" and the mighty "I Bleed Black" is utterly flooring even by their own standards! There's still sludgy bleak grooves by the bucketload and believe me on this album the formula is perfected especially with the superior production and there's even a little acoustic and female vocaled interlude ("When Emotion Dies") it is all in all a fucking great album and easily the equal of it predecessors and most definitely a fitting epitath to the end of this era of the band.

Born Too Late (86) - Mediafire

Thirsty And Miserable EP (87) - Mediafire

"Mournful Cries" (88) - Mediafire

"Live" (89) - Mediafire

"V" (89) - Mediafire

( "V" & "Live" taken from the Southern Lord remastered reissues not Hellhound versions)

1990 - 1996 - Well as i said 1989 and "V" marked the end of the "classic" era of Saint Vitus, Hellhound Records (Saint Vitus home at the time)  had, with Wino put together a retrospective of The Obsessed material and it was at this point Wino decided to Leave saint Vitus  and reform The Obsessed whilst this yielded some great material (see Wino Post linked in 3rd paragraph of this post) and The Obsessed were a great band in my opinion this was not the shrewdest move on Wino's part after an ill fated spell on Columbia the band folded in 1992.Wino's musical endeavors are chronicled elswhere.... So after losing Wino Saint Vitus went on hiatus for more than 2 years and I have to confess I don't know a great deal about what went on during this 1992-95 period, however in 1992 they returned with Christian Lindersson ex vocalist of heavyweight Swedish doomsters Count Raven and a new album "C.O.D." make no mistake Lindersson is a great vocalist falling somewhere inbetween Scott Reagers more high end "Rock" style and Wino's trademark wail however after a succession of great albums with Wino he had some big shoes to fill. Whilst this is a totally solid album by any standard compared to past glories i really feel that much as i enjoy this album and as I say it is a great album with stellar production it's just not quite "there" Lindersson does a great job of the vocals and his haunting style adds to the sound well but Dave Chandlers guitar seems to have cleaned up a lot and whilst still heavy and still uniquely his own has lost a little of the muffled Vitus fuzz of previous albums. As i say there are some solid songs and writing on this album but you have a listen for yourself and see what you think.... FFWD to 1995 and Lindersson is gone and shock of shocks Scott Reagers original Vitus Vocalist is back in the fold for 1995's "Die Healing" now this is a pretty good album the muffled fuzz tone of Chandlers guitar is in full effect on this album and Scott Reagers puts in a GREAT performance although he seems to have lost his ability to hit the notes as well as 10 years previously and tends to veer into a sorta shout/scream here and there however it adds a welcome touch of agression to his usual smooth vocals! I never hear mention of this album much from Vitus fans and i don't understand why whether it's the lack of Wino or the fact that the band were on their last legs here (Although the quality of this album would dispute that fact) but it is a solid a Saint Vitus album as any of it's predecessors there's the return of some more uptempo grooves harking back to their earliest work but there's also sludgefests aplenty and some killer riffage throughout but unfortunately this original line up reunion was not to last Reagers quit again in 1996 and it's at this point that Saint Vitus Folded permanently. The 2 albums here from this era are both great albums but seem to be kinda overlooked by the hardcore fans however i see it as Saint Vitus have always been a core trio of Chandler/Adams/Acosta despite their vocalist troubles and throughout their career Chandler wrote the bulk, in fact almost all of their music with Wino weighing in here and there and it's the Chandler penned pieces that have remained fan favourites throughout the years and to my mind they continued to make quality music right up to the end no question. See for yourselves

C.O.D. (92) - Mediafire

Die Healing (95) - Mediafire

1996 - Present - So having called it a day on Saint Vitus in 1996 the band would not be heard of again until well into the millenium where they would reappear sporadically in 2003 and again in 2008 with the classic line up of Wino/Chandler/Adams/Acosta playing live dates and even headlining the mighty Roadburn festival in Holland but in 2009 due to health problems Armando Acosta had to leave the band and later died in 2010 and was replaced By Henry Vasquez of Blood Of The Sun, however also in 2010 rumours began to fly about the possibility of new Saint Vitus material could it be possible? the reunion and touring was to be expected due to their enduring popularity and the fact that Wino was back but new material some 15 years after the last album?? However the rumors were true, in 2012 Saint Vitus released their latest album confusingly titled "Lillie : F-65" i remember reading about what the title meant and i'm sure someone will comment however the music... after a 12 year lay off and some 22 years since last recording with Wino would it be any good? Hell yeah!! again no momentum has been lost the production is clean and sparkling however this time it does not detract from Dave Chandlers trademark muffled fuzz guitar new drummer Vasquez fills Armando Acostas shoes well and as a band they all play well together there's blistering chandler solos and sludgy grooves thorughout and Wino does what he does best and with whom he does it best with. It could have very been the next day after "V" when this was recorded (if you disregard the obviously 2012 production sound) A worthy end to this post oN one of the mightiest bands to exist on earth Saint Vitus

Lillie - F-65 - Mediafire

And as an added bonus here's the free live download EP that was available from Scion A/V last year 3 BLISTERING live tracks from their appearance at the 2012 Scion A/V fest in Tampa Florida 2012

Scion A/V Fest Live EP - Mediafire

So does the story end there I hear you cry? Well I'll leave you with this quote from the man himself Dave Chandler when asked "Would Saint Vitus make another album after "Lillie : F-65"? "

"Right now we're just taking it step by step to see how people respond to "Lillie...". There would be no reason not to because when you're constantly playing you get a lot of ideas. We're not going to say yes or no now. There are a lot of people talking about the record so hopefully it will live up to everybody's expectations."

Here's hoping! in the meantime here's all The Saint Vitus you could ever need! Hope you enjoy it as much as i do!

*NOTE* It has been brought to my attention by an astute anonymous user that Armando Acosto was actually ousted from Saint Vitus before suffering his health problems due to tensions between himself and guitarist Scott Chandler and various bad mouthing on the internet! So there you go. thank you anonymous user.

THE RITES

I have been wanting to do this post since i started this blog but unfortunately though i had ALL The Rites stuff on vinyl I had no rip of their final EP "Fuck Em If They Can't Take A Joke" so a discography post was not possible however just this morning I found that the label it was released on Six Feet under Records have a Bandcamp page and had it up for download! So what better way to return to my blog than with a post that's been on the cards since I started it!

So a bit of history there was a hardcore band called Dead Nation who did a few EP's and one album and broke up in 1999 this band evolved into Tear It Up who were hugely popular in the early millenium but during the time Tear It Up were around (2000-2003) various members were involved in 2 side bands, Cut The Shit and The Rites the history of the 3 bands is confusing it would appear that aside from the vocalist of Tear It Up every other member of Tear It Up was involved with either Cut The Shit or The Rites at some point and also various Cut The Shit and The Rites members that were not originally in Tear It Up also played on various Tear It Up releases! Plus Cut The Shit and The Rites both continued after Tear it Up broke up!!! Even with the aid of the inlays from all their various releases due to the penchant in hardcore for in-jokes and pseudonymns and minimal photos it's all very confusing however all 3 bands were ploughing the same thrash hardcore furrow!!! So onwards...

As I said The Rites were originally a side project of Tear It Up they released 3 EP's a 7",2 x 12 EP's and a live 1 sided album and they were gone! I have tried and tried but cannot find any information about what any of the band members are doing now however the last The Rites EP came out in 2006 so I'm assuming they have split!

Their debut EP "Your Last Rites" from 2002 is a raw blast of fast hardcore thrash that is not vastly different to what Tear It Up were doing, tight fast guitar lines, speedy drumming etc but the production is a bit rawer and the vocals to me are way better than Tear It Up they have more aggression and belligerence which i think is why i always felt they had a slight edge over the other bands playing this kind of music at the time 7 songs in barely 6 mins this is high speed hardcore fun at it's best!. However it's on the next two 12"s "The Rites" and "Wish You Never Knew" that where these guys really hit their stride! The production on both these 12"s is far superior to the EP the guitars are nice and thick (but not heavy) and everything is way clearer in the mix and here you can start to see them showing their influences a bit more, There's shades of Black Flag, Poison Idea and because of the high speed guitar lines it also reminds me of the early Boston hardcore sound (think Jerry's Kids and early Gang Green) and even a bit of chunky metal riffage here and there, this time round the songs are given a bit less of the raw feel of a new band and more of a sound that is big and loud and in your face! Also it's not all thrash although these guys are masters of flooring the accelerator pedal there's a lot of really great mid-paced and slower parts that shows they have their feet planted as much in hardcore PUNK territory as they do thrash see "Pissing On Your Grave" from the "Wish You Never Knew" 12" or "Asshole City..." from "The Rites" 12" for evidence of this! The thing I like about The Rites is that their songs while mainly fast and fairly short are totally memorable with great riffs and they really have worked hard to get a great sound for the band in both the writing and the sound of their instruments and above all these guys can really play they are VERY tight and never miss a beat!

The Rites were consistent throughout their short existence as far as the sound goes I can't say that any of their releases from "The Rites" 12" I mention above through to their last EP "Fuck Em..." are startlingly different from each other however with a sound as great as these guys had then why would you fuck with it? What i'm saying is if you like the sound of my description then you WILL like The Rites

I think unfortunately that bands like The Rites and their cohorts like Tear It Up and Cut The Shit are bands that were very popular that is, as far as popularity in hardcore goes, but were "of their time" so to speak, for example, when i got into these bands around 2002/3 and i tried to backtrack their records (when i still bought vinyl) as many of them are very limited the prices were sky high for example the debut Cut The Shit 1 -sided 7" had only been out 6 months when i got onto them and when i tried to buy it on vinyl it was priced around the £20/£30 mark, now you can pick it up for around £5 same goes for The Rites Their "Fuck Em..." EP  had 3 different pressings each with a different cover song on the B-side i have the most limited one which has a press of a mere 145 copies you'd think this would drive the price sky high? Nope you can pick it up for around £2.50! Their debut EP which has been out of print for 11 years goes for 83p for Black vinyl or £2 for green vinyl limited version Now while i think this is good that if you want the vinyl it's available at a reasonable price at he same time i think it's shocking that these brilliant records are so unwanted that they are dirt cheap, it also illustrates the fickle nature of Hardcore fans that a band as great as The Rites were and their records are in no demand at all and there's hardly any downloads available online either it seems no one is interested now

So there are 2 links below one contains all their 7"'s the other contains their 2 x 12"'s and the Live LP here's what you get...

Rites Sevens

"Your Last Rites" EP (2002)
"Pissing On Your Grave" 7" (2005)
"Death Of The Party" EP (2005)
"Fuck Em If They Can't Take A Joke" EP (2006)

Rites Twelves

"The Rites" 12" (2003)
"Wish they Never Knew" 12" (2004)
"There Shall Be No Encore (Live)" 1 -Sided LP (2006)

That's their full discography "Pissing..." 7" and "Death Of.." EP were both recorded at the same session but released seperately these and the Live LP are ripped from vinyl by me so are decent quality, the rest are ripped from my own CD's and "Fuck em..." EP is taken from a pay download so great quality also "Fuck Em..." contains all 3 covers songs they did for all 3 pressings of the 7" I mentioned above and a short bonus track so that's the whole session there!

So that's it a discography of one of the best kinda "lost" bands of hardcore no one i mention them to now has ever heard of them even though they toured the UK in 2005 ( I traveled to Liverpool to see them and turned up a day late and missed the show due to bogus info online) Unfortunately much as i love this music I really do lack knowledge as far as hardcore is concerned it's a genre that I have barely any interest in for me it was really exciting back in the 80's and again for a while in the early millenium but in the interim there seems to be a real lack of any kind of progression and most of it in fact nearly all hardcore really leaves me cold however occasionally if you follow it long enough you do get the odd gem unfortunately these are few and far between and I've yet to hear something since the early millenium that has really impressed me! So go check out some GREAT hardcore below as you know if it wasn't good it wouldn't be on this blog!

Here's your links Enjoy....

Rites Sevens - http://www.mediafire.com/download/z8adah5d75mci8r/RITES+SEVENS.rar

Rites Twelves - https://www.mediafire.com/download/ltnuxxequqv3uqx/RITES%20TWELVES.rar

Before i go I'd like to thank and credit a friend from back in the early millenium hardcore days a fella named Ellis who took the picture of The Rites playing live in Brighton UK at the top of this post I've lost touch with him now but if you happen to come across this post Ellis leave a comment, I have a full set of pictures he sent me of this night and after the show where the picture at the top of the post was taken The Rites went back to one of Ellis friends houses and played another set in their basement for the assembled crowd and Ellis band at the time also played, absolutely brilliant so here's some pics from the basement show too, wish I'd be there. Hope this post finally makes up for a lack of internet presence for this great band!