Monday 30 March 2020

SPINE WRENCH



Spine Wrench were a new discovery for me I read about them somewhere on social media but I must have completely overlooked them at the time. In the late 80's and Early 90's there seemed to be a massive shift in the underground "extreme" scene where many bands were moving their sound in a more Industrial/guitar noise direction, bands were splitting up or members jumping ship to form bands of this style for example Mick Harris left Napalm Death and formed Scorn, Phil Vane left Extreme Noise Terror and formed Optimum Wound Profile who also featured  Martin Peck of Deviated Instinct. I personally believe a lot of this was down to the shock waves sent through the scene by the emergence of Godflesh in 1988 they were probably one of the most influential bands around at that time also Swans early material and incendiary live performances were also causing a massive stir due to them frequenting the UK on tour a LOT in that era. There were also some bands that came out of nowhere such as Pitch Shifter and Sonic Violence who were also playing this heavier Industrial style so it appeared to be kind of a "trend".

Deviated Instinct had started off as almost like a crusty/anarcho punk Hawkwind type band in 1985 and evolved through a brace of hugely popular demos and albums that by the time of their 1990 2nd album "Guttural Breath" founding member and vocalist Leggo had left they had also moved into a more industrial influenced sound and on their final "Nailed" EP even covered "Listen To The Sirens" by Gary Numan's Tubeway Army! So Deviated Instinct broke up and Rob "Mid" Middleton (also an artist in his own right providing artwork you would most definitely know if you have ever been involved in the "extreme" scene he did covers for bands such as Extreme Noise Terror, Optimum Wound Profile and MANY covers for later era Napalm Death to name but a few)  formed his own band, building on the sound of the last Deviated Instinct recordings with new band Spine Wrench. They had started off with a drummer but after their debut (A Split CD with Sin another Industrial type band from NY featuring members of highly respected anarcho/crust band Nausea kinda making my point that this shift from punk/metal styles to Industrial was something not necessarily restricted to the UK ) the drummer left and they decided to go forward with a drum machine. This is where their sound really started to evolve for me They play a style of Industrial type music which is more riff based rather than all tortured guitar noise, though there is plenty of that as well but if you are a fan of the bands I mentioned above then this is something you will definitely want to check out.

Spine Wrench were a fairly short lived band releasing only 3 x 7" singles an EP a Split 7" and a split CD over 3 years amounting to a total of 14 tracks and  about 80 minutes of music also they seemed to operate under the radar as I have said previously I didn't hear of them till a couple of years ago and I was around at the time in the early 90's and was a fan of this new Industrial sound.

There's not a lot more I can tell this post I guess is for those who know the time and bands I am talking about and to preserve a discography from a curious obscurity of the time that is unavailable elsewhere,one of my kinda "For posterity" posts it took me a long time to source their material and in some cases I had the a side of a record but couldn't find the B-side track! Eventually I managed to get them all and that's what you get here. I had actually had this uploaded for so long that I had found the last bits I was missing and had to re-upload the whole file! I have said i am no longer going to be posting "extreme" music but I feel this falls more into the same category as some of the other bands I have been posting just maybe a little bit noisier/heavier

So here's what you get in the file...

Spine Wrench Side of Split CD W/ Sin

Heeldrag 7"

Soulscape CDEP

Spite Junkie 7"

Tapping The Vein 7"

Spine wrench Side of split 7" W/ Def Master

I have to say right off the bat I have taken these from the best sources I can but of 14 tracks only 7 are taken from CD the rest are from vinyl rips of varying quality/bitrates however as I have often stated I wouldn't share things if they are unlistenable quality and this certainly isn't unlistenable.
A long lost completely out of print and unavailable elsewhere discography by a lost band of the era Enjoy.



SPINE WRENCHMediafire

1 comment: