THE RUTS AND HENRY ROLLINS LIVE LONDON 2007

So some of you maybe familiar with The Ruts but i find it surprising how many times I mention this band to people with good taste in music and they say they know their biggest hit "Babylons Burning" but that's about it! The Ruts in my opinion were one of the finest bands from the original late 70's era of Punk and are easily the equal of their more famous contemporaries like The Clash, Pistols etc. The Ruts however did have some bad luck they fired their singer due to his drug addiction and he died soon after of a heroin overdose, they continued through the 80's and to this day as Ruts DC with a more dub orientated sound.

Henry Rollins has made no secret of his love for The Ruts and has talked about them often in his spoken word shows, so when guitarist Paul Fox was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in 2007 and they decided to do one last benefit gig for Fox's family and cancer research and who else could they ask to step in on vocals but one Henry Rollins, their no 1 fan! So having got together to rehearse the set on 16th July 2007 they played a short set (Due to Fox's ill health) in Islington London which was documented on DVD but what I was surprised that there was no audio of this ever released so I took upon myself to find the video of the whole set and make an audio version, now it turned out OK however it's lacking a little in bottom end and Rollins vocals are a bit too high in the mix all in all it sounds like a VERY high end audience recording or a decent soundboard tape however this is a moment in music that can never be repeated and deserves documenting.

So I was going to do a longer write up, but on the subsequent spoken word tours Rollins did after this a portion of his set to talking about his love of The Ruts and also talk about the experience of this collaboration so rather than bore you with my words though it has never been officially released I have managed to get audio of Rollins talk on The Ruts and I have enclosed that this in the file.

So below you will find the full Ruts set with Rollins on vocals plus the whole section of spoken word that Rollins did about the experience all in one file so what I would suggest you do is kick back with a coffee or something listen to the spoken word part and then listen to the set, both are a GREAT listen because what better way to hear the story than from the man himself he was there after all and if you know Rollins you will know he is the MASTER of documentation and it's an  entertaining, funny and tragic tale well worth 40 minutes of your time! 

The Ruts were a phenomenal band dogged by tragedy and I feel they never really got their "shot" at success because of this they wrote great tunes had great musicians in the band and it really is an utter shame that a few studio recordings some singles and one album is all that they left as their legacy and I strongly recommend, if you have not already, that you check out their album "The Crack" it's a stone cold fucking classic! I'm really glad Paul Fox got one last chance to play with the band in front of a large and enthusiastic crowd and for his peers as well! So go enjoy an earful of Rollins and a set of great tunes from The Ruts with Hank singing because i doubt you will find this unique little package of music and words anywhere else! R.I.P. Paul Fox & Malcolm Owen.

ROLLINS & THE RUTS - Mediafire

BUY the DVD - HERE (All profits go to charity)

DJ SHADOW

*NOTE* an astute reader alerted me to the fact that "Entropy" was missing from the "B-Sides & Remixes" link I have no idea how that happened and as it's an essential piece of Shadow's work I have re-inserted "Entropy" and re uploaded the whole pack for you all so the new link is up below...."

I have wanted to do a post on this guy since the beginning of the blog and though I post a lot of punk/metal etc many of my favorite artists lie outside that small scene and to me just listening to one kind of music is like going to the worlds biggest buffet table and just eating Bread!

I first came across DJ Shadow in 1996 when I was working at a Virgin records store he had just released his debut album "Endtroducing" and I picked it up because this new scene of music known as "Trip Hop" was just starting to gain some traction and I had heard the recent Portishead and Massive Attack albums and heard something new in these bands I really liked a lot so when I read about this album I REALLY wanted to check it out Initially I didn't really like it, I had little experience of Instrumental music at that time and it just seemed a bit like background music without any lyrics/vocals to focus on, so I shelved it for a while.However some more astute friends when visiting would request it played and the more I heard it the more i realized this was a work of sheer genius and that was really the beginning of my infatuation with that mid 90's - early 00's Instrumental hip hop beats which i still love to this day!

DJ Shadow has not really been the most prolific of artists as far as albums are concerned having only done 4 actual albums in his over 25 year career however for the sake of this post I am mainly going to concentrate on the era from 1991 - 2000 although some of the recordings fall well outside of that date it's mainly this era we are dealing with as whilst I'm a fan of pretty much all the music he has done he has always progressed his music forward throughout the years and tried to main contemporary and unique whilst in most cases this is great I feel it's early sample based work that is rooted in hip hop and DJ culture and it's the stuff I like the best and wanted to share here.

DJ Shadow began experimenting with beats and hip hop whilst still in high school using a 4 track recorder for these early experiments but his work would not see a vinyl release until 1991 (*NOTE* A self released cassette called "Hip Hop Reconstruction From The Ground Up" was his official first release and was released by Shadow in 1991 in order to gain some promotion for his work I do have a copy of this but it has more of the feel of a radio mix and the sound quality is a little tinny but anyone who would like it posting comment and I can upload it) His first appearance on vinyl was a remix of the track "Real Deal" by rap artists Lifers Group backed with his original composition "Lesson 4" and in 1992 he contributed production work and his unique scratching style to the album "Sleeping With The Enemy" By rapper Paris.However despite building a name and various production work and remixing it would not be until 1994 when Shadow came to the attention of James Lavelle the man behind UNKLE and the then fledgling jazz breaks/hip hop label Mo Wax Records that the ball would really start rolling for Shadow as an artist. His debut for the label "In/Flux" backed with "Hindsight" which would be credited to DJ Shadow & The Groove Robbers (The Groove Robbers being his nickname for his turntables at the time) This epic 12 min piece would basically lay the foundations for what would become known as "Trip Hop" forever, there were several more stunning 12"'s & EP releases leading up to the release of his debut album including a version of most famous track "Midnight In A Perfect World". During the time period being covered with this post there would also be a lot of collaborations with the Solesides label & artist collective who later became Quannum projects whose more well known exponents are Blackalicious, Latyrx & Gift Of the Gab.

DJ Shadow has a long and interesting history with hip hop & beat making and I know I've said this before there are many better more thoroughly researched articles online that you can read as well as http://djshadow.com/ which has vast archives and detailed discographies of his work as a producer and DJ as even though he has released only 4 albums of his own work he is not called DJ Shadow for nothing and he also has a long and lucrative career as a DJ and Beat Mixer with in excess of 20 DJ Mixes and collaborative efforts with other DJ's (Most predominantly Cut Chemist) released I could be here all day so I'm gonna check myself before i get into a history of beat based hip hop here as I feel woefully qualified to do such a thing! SO let's breakdown what there is here for you....

OK so not all of these links could be what you would consider "rare" as such however I have sourced the majority of this stuff from my own collection at the best quality available and in some cases I have bought whole albums just to get the Shadow produced track on there! So let's begin....

Your first Link is "Early Singles" the majority of these saw release on the Mo Wax label then were later compiled on the compilation "Pre-Emptive Strike" however a few did not appear on this compilation so this file contains all of his early singles taken from their original CDEP format and not the compilation CD so included in here are "In/Flux/Hindsight" EP , "Lost And Found (S.F.L.)" ( DJ Shadows side of a split 12"/CD with DJ Krush on Mo Wax) The "What Does Your Soul look Like" EP which is a 4 part 32 minute epic beats masterclass, The DJ Shadow side of his "Excursions" 12" on Mo Wax (Split with Chief Xcel) and the "High Noon" EP (with It's intro and Bonus Beats that were NOT featured on the "Pre-Emptive comp) I also mistakenly Put his debut release "Real Deal (Shadow Mix)/Lesson 4" in this pack which also appear on the B-sides and Remixes collection Which i shall get to in a moment

Next up we have the deluxe edition of his Debut album "Endtroducing" which is bolstered by a bonus disc of demo's and B-sides entitled "Excessive Ephemera" which also contains DJ Shadow's full debut live appearance in Oxford UK from 1997 closing out the bonus disc. I do not have the words to describe the fantastic piece of work that is "Endtroducing" Shadow manages to convey more emotion with a sampler and decks than most musicians can with a full band and a string quartet, it is a masterpiece and anything i would say would only detract from it's impact if you have never heard Shadow before then I suggest this is where you start. The bonus disc is an interesting glimpse into the process of the albums "becoming" however it is far from essential I put it in here for the curious or those not wanting to fork out an excessive amount of cash for the deluxe edition of the album! (Tho I have had a look you can apparently pick up a used copy of this deluxe edition for as little as £3 on amazon.co.uk I paid a LOT more for it!)

OK so none of the above are strictly speaking hard to find I'm sure there are plenty of places you could find these if you really tried but I have at least put them all together in one place ripped from their original formats at the highest quality possible however your final link this is the icing on the cake for the DJ Shadow fan... So I mentioned above that I am nuts for the early era of Shadow and being the obsessive I am I made it my mission over the course of maybe a year to gather on CD where possible and from MP3 and various other sources to gather Most if not all of Shadows B-sides and Productions from the beginning up to around 2000 and ALL of his released Remixes and this is what I have done here and what you will find in the B-sides & Remixes file I have Broken it down into 3 Parts but all 3 parts are inside the one folder making it a whopping 525 MB pack however this should take less than 20 mins to download from any reasonable internet connection!So I am now going to give you a tracklist for each part and maybe talk a bit about any tracks that you need to know anything about so here goes.....

Part 1 (Early Works)

1:The Wreckoning (Instrumental)
2:Entropy (Includes_ Intropy; The Third Decade, Our Move; Count & Estimate (With The Gift Of Gab); Back-To-Back Breaks; DJ Shadow's Theme; Endtropy)
3:Lesson 4
4:Count And Estimate (Gab Dub)
5:Hardcore (Instrumental) Hip Hop
6:DJ Shadow's Beat
7:Swan Lake (Instrumental)
8:Lady Don't Tek No (Instrumental)
9:Duality (Pt.. 2)
10:89.9 Megamix
11:Midnight in a Perfect World (Extended Vision)
12:Stem [Cops 'N' Robbers Mix]
13:Soup
14:Red Bus Needs to Leave!

1 - 8 : (Various DJ Shadow Tracks & Instrumental versions of Tracks for rap artists he did for for Solesides records I have not credited the original rapper/artist for each track because without the Rap these are 100% DJ Shadow instrumental tracks)

9 "Duality" is a 2 part song by DJ Krush from his "Meiso" album DJ Krush has the first Part which I removed and here is DJ Shadow's part only (Hence why I have Called it Duality Pt. 2) this is prob my fave Shadow tune

10 : From a split 12" with DJ Krush entitled "A Whim" Shadow does his megamix thing!)

11 - 14 : B-sides from "Endtroducing" Era Singles "Stem" & "Midnight In A Perfect World" some of these are repeats from the "Excessive Ephemera" Collection that comes as the Bonus Disc with "Endtroducing" above sorry!!)

Part 2 (Works 1998 - 2005)

1:UNKLE (Main Title Theme)
2:Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death Pt. 1) (Instrumental)
3:Rabbit In Your Headlights (Instrumental)
4:Nursery Rhyme (Instrumental)
5:Unreal
6:Storm Warning (Instrumental)
7:Divine Intervention (Instrumental)
8:Dark Days (Main Theme)
9:Dark Days (Spoken For Mix)
10:Giving Up The Ghost (Original Version)
11:Untitled Heavy Beat
12:Disavowed
13:Treach Battle Beat
14:100 Metre Dash
15:March Of Death (Feat. Zack De La Rocha)
16:Grand Ol' Party Crash (Instrumental)

 1-5 : In 1998 DJ Shadow teamed up with James Lavelle to make the UNKLE album "Psyence Fiction" DJ Shadow is almost SOLELY credited for all the music so "Psyence Fiction" is in essence a Shadow album. The album had only 2 Instrumental Tracks ("Unreal" however was originally an album instrumental and later released as a single with Ian Brown Singing on it and was re-titled "Be There") the rest of the tracks on "Psyence Fiction" were DJ Shadows music with a cast of "All Star" collaborators providing vocals however as well as the 2 instrumental tracks on the album there were some RARE promotional items and singles released which contained instrumental versions of the vocal album tracks so my reasoning being if you take away the vocals you are left with a Shadow Instrumental track so these 5 tracks are strictly speaking UNKLE tracks but in my opinion with no contribution from anyone else they are in fact DJ Shadow tracks)

6 & 7 : Instrumental versions of Vocal tracks from Shadow's time with Quannum projects hip hop label/artist collective as above these are tracks that were produced by Shadow for an artist to rap over however in my opinion they work better as instrumentals)

8 & 9 in 2000 Shadow provided some re-edited music from his "Endtroducing" album and a brand new track for the soundtrack to the documentary "Dark Days" (A film about homeless people who live in the subway tunnels under New York I suggest you find a copy to watch it is also on Netflix it's a harrowing & Moving documentary) the 2 versions of the theme were released as a VERY limited 2 track 7" & CD Single these are both tracks from the CD single

10 - 14 : B-sides and Album Bonus tracks from the Various singles from and versions of "The Private Press" his 2nd Album)

15 : DJ Shadow & Zach De La Rocha (Of Rage Against The Machine) were supposed to team up for a full album together, this collaboration never materialized and only 1 song was completed and released as an MP3 this is it!)

16 : Instrumental version of a track by rap artist Cage for which DJ Shadow provided the music again it's a case of without the Rap it's a Shadow Instrumental)

Part 3 - Remixes 

1:Lifers Group : Real Deal (Shadow Remix)
2:Zimbabwe Legit : Doin' Damage In My Native Language (Shadow's Legitimate Mix)
3:DJ Krush : Meiso (Instrumental Mix - DJ Shadow)
4:DJ Krush : Meiso (Klub Mix - DJ Shadow)
5:Dr Octagon : Waiting List (DJ Shadow & The Automator Remix)
6:Depeche Mode : Painkiller (Kill The Pain Mix)
7:DJ Shadow : Midnight in a Perfect World (Gab Mix)
8:DJ Shadow : The Number Song (Cut Chemist Party Mix)
9:DJ Shadow : Six Days (DJ Shadow Remix Feat. Mos Def)
10:DJ Shadow : GDMFSOB (UNKLE Uncensored Mix Feat. Roots Manuva)
11:Keane : We Might As Well Be Strangers (DJ Shadow Remix Instrumental)
12:Keane : We Might As Well Be Strangers (DJ Shadow Remix)
13:Radiohead : The Gloaming (DJ Shadow Remix)
14:Flobots : Handlebars (DJ Shadow Remix)
15:Klaus Badelt : Apocalypse Here And Now (DJ Shadow Remix)
16:Klaus Badelt : MotorStorm Apocalypse (DJ Shadow Remix)
17:Beastie Boys : Here's A Little Somethin For Ya (DJ Shadow Wet Remix)
18:Beastie Boys : Here's A Little Somethin For Ya (DJ Shadow Dry Remix)
19:Machinedreum : Eyesdontlie (DJ Shadow Remix)
20:Hybrid : Power Curve (DJ Shadow x Bleep-Bloop Remix)
21:Supersister : Dona Nobis Pacem (DJ Shadow Remix)
22:DJ Fresh : Closer (DJ Fresh Vs DJ Shadow)

Self explanatory! A collection of artists whose tracks were remixed by DJ Shadow from 1991 - 2014 not exactly a prolific remixer this set is an almost complete collection there may be a couple missing that were only on vinyl DJ promos and impossible to source without a lot of money and a record player. However In my opinion the remixes get weaker around track 11 whereas tracks 1 - 10 are PURE DJ Shadow and very indicative of his style (So Much so that some of these have seen re-release under his own name with the artist being credited as a secondary for example the Depeche Mode remix) with his early work he left little of the original track and put his stamp all over it the later remixes don't seem to follow that same pattern I have included them all here because as I said he hasn't done a great deal of remix work so you might as well have all of them and some of them they were REALLY hard to track down!

So there you go A fairly worthy collection of the (mostly) early works of one of the best beatmakers and most forward thinking artists in hip hop culture his style has been copied and influenced a whole generation of artists from instrumental beatmakers to hip hop artists and producers, In many cases some music does not date well but if you ever watch television (At least in the UK that is) you can still hear excerpts of "Midnight in A Perfect World" & " Stem/Long Stem" being used as incidental music for many "dramatic" promos for TV Programs and advertisements some 20 years after the albums release this is in itself a testament to the timeless nature of this work! I once read a quote somewhere however my memory is hazy whether it was Shadow himself or someone writing about him that said "You are either a fan of DJ Shadow or just a fan of "Endtroducing " I must admit that whilst I have followed Shadow's career since 1996 I think I mainly fall into the "Endtroducing" fan category that is the trouble with making such an important,groundbreaking and futureproof album...where do you go from there? You have to change and progress and whilst his 2nd album "The Private Press" is also a fantastic album, for me, the era covered here in this post will always be the one that means the most and effects me the most profoundly!

So I hope you enjoy this collection and it's not too far removed from the ethos of this blog (However I did get a LOT of positive feedback on the post i did on Portishead (See That HERE ) so here's hoping) and that my explanations about productions and instrumentals and versions didn't get too confusing? I am an utter fanatic for Shadow's work I have many more rarities and releases that fall outside this era so for those of you who are fans feel free to request more if you would like I can easily expand this post or do another! In the meantime download these kick back and enjoy some great music.CHEERS!


Early Singles - Mediafire

Endtroducing (Deluxe Edition) - Mediafire

B-Sides & Remixes - Mediafire

WINO ADDENDUM

If i remember correctly after my 4th (and supposedly FINAL) update of the "Wino Fucking Insanity" Post (See That HERE ) I thought I was done with Wino at least as far as the blog was concerned but i remember a while back before i got to the 4th update that apparently entire discographies of ALL the immense bands Wino has been in was not enough for some of you crazy readers and a couple of people had asked " Can you upload any of the Wino acoustic stuff" or something along those lines and to be honest I was barely aware of any of his solo material other than the "Punctuated Equilibrium" album and to be honest wasn't that interested in "acoustic" Wino either, it also pissed me off a little cos I thought "HEY! I just given you a TON of Wino (for the FOURTH TIME) and it's not enough??!!" but recently whilst checking out Southern Record's "Latitudes" Offshoot (A label where they release limited vinyl and CD's of bands and side projects in a more experimental style have a look at the discogs page for Latitudes HERE ) I stumbled across the Wino & Conny Ochs albums I really enjoyed them so I sought out the rest of Wino's acoustic releases and decided well I might as well get them on here for you guys!

I'm not gonna go into too much detail here as this is one man (or in the case of the Conny Ochs collaborations 2 men) and an acoustic guitar so there's not a lot to break down really but first up you have "Adrift" from 2010 this was Wino's second solo album and his first foray into the acoustic singer/songwriter territory and it is a thoroughly enjoyable album Wino is in great voice he seems a little more sedate and whilst his voice has a great timbre to it and is instantly recognizable as Wino he has pulled back a little from his trademark howl and his soft almost spoken delivery along with the gorgeous sound of his acoustic work well together to create a fantastic atmosphere and would be perfect for kicking back after a bowl or two and chilling out! However it's not all gentle strumming and sedate sound there's a great acoustic cover of one of my favorite Motörhead songs "Iron Horse/Born To Lose" and in many cases Wino creates some real drama and tension over the course of the album which is no mean feat for one man and his guitar and is a testament to how great a songwriter & how talented a player he is! I can't see how anyone who is a fan of his work could not fail to love this album.

WINO (Acoustic Solo)

Arift - Mediafire

In 2012 Wino started collaborating on his acoustic stuff with Conny Ochs someone who I know nothing about nor have I heard of any of the bands he has been in however i can tell you he is a singer/songwriter from Germany, quite how Wino came to collaborate with him well I shall leave you to do your own research I'm happy to listen to the astounding music they create together!

Whilst I said before that there's not much can be said about an acoustic sound as it's one man and their guitar however in this case it's 2 men and their guitars. Over the course of the three albums they have done there's some great interplay in both the guitar work and the vocals Conny Och's voice adding a great second layer of vocals there's also occasions where electric guitar is employed backing the acoustic (Who's playing which i don't know and i don't think it matters as it's a collaborative effort) and Conny's voice is at once a great melodic contrast to Wino's more roadworn bluesy style and it creates a sound that is not entirely unique but certainly works well and is thoroughly compelling, plus the addition of extra guitar and voice as opposed to Wino on his own on "Adrift" allows the songs to build better and soar higher and it really draws you in and keeps you interested, I find that sometimes solo acoustic outings from people better known for heavier musical output can fall on their face and be a bit well... boring however since aquiring this Wino acoustic stuff I have returned to it several times because it's just great and gorgeous to listen to and the albums with Conny Och's also reveal so many surprises on repeated listens!

All in all I have been pleasantly surprised by all of these Wino acoustic ventures and they are definitely a worthy addition to his already impressive discography that is not to downplay Conny Och's contributions an artist who's solo work I am definitely gonna be looking into! So below you will find links to both Wino & Conny Ochs albums from 2012 "Heavy Kingdom" & "Labor Of Love" and the latest one from 2015 "Freedom Conspiracy" all three are of a high standard and definitely worthy of your full attention I am sure once those great voices and fantastic guitarwork start winding their way round your ears you will be back for repeated listens! Enjoy....

WINO & CONNY OCHS

Heavy Kingdom - Mediafire

Labour Of Love - Mediafire

Freedom Conspiracy - Mediafire

ENTOMBED UPDATED

(Entombed 1989)

**NOTE** If you have been to this post already please scroll down to where it says UPDATE in yellow there you will find the new goodies I have added to this post if you have not been to this post before the please...Read On....

This band should need no introduction really if you are a follower of my blog you may remember me doing a Death metal top 10 a while back (If not it's HERE ) and i named Entombed's debut "Left Hand Path" as THE #1 definitive death metal album, which I definitely stand by however I am not going to repeat myself here go to that post and read what I had to say about the album there,

Entombed are one of my very favorite metal bands whilst they have had their ups and downs both personnel wise and musically they are the ONLY band from the late 80's heyday of Death Metal that i still truly love and don't just listen to for nostalgia purposes, coupled with the fact that the band almost always push their sound forward with each album whilst still remaining undeniably Entombed (Except for maybe the "Same Difference" album get to that shortly) So i decided that even though i had done this post before that it deserved to be re-done so you can get pretty much every scrap of Entombed available in one place!

Having had a fairly staggering 27 year career since their early years as Nihilist outstripping pretty much every original death metal band from the late 80's and the fact that they have remained great I could do a really massive blurb on this band however I do not intend to, I think that anyone coming across this post is no doubt going to be aware of this band already and anything I have to say would more than likely be repetition of far better written pieces on this awesome band so here's a breakdown of your links and some key points....

Nihilist Demos - OK so it shouldn't be new to anyone that Entombed did actually start life in 1987 as Nihilist they recorded 3 demos before another american band called Nihilist contacted them and asked them to change the name and they did to Entombed which is a far superior name anyway! and whatever happened to the american Nihilist? who the fuck knows! The Nihilist demos created quite a stir on the underground i for one caned them to death when i got my hands on them and as Nihilist these guys pretty much put Sweden on the map as one of the twin capitals of Death metal along with Florida! They did one further demo as Entombed "But Life Goes On" before re- recording almost all the demo tracks for their debut album however their label Threeman records re-released all 3 Nihilist and The Entombed demo plus unissued tracks from the demo sessions all on one handy CD which i have given you here, Left Hand Path -  See top 10 Death Metal albums post linked in 1st paragraph for a more in-depth look at why this is the greatest Death metal album of all time Clandestine - 2nd album and fairly disappointing LG had left the band at this point to be replaced on this album by Nicke Andersson (Drums) and Uffe Cedurlund (Guitar) stepping up to split the vocals between them even though Johnny Dordevic is credited and pictured on the sleeve he did not sing a word on this album! I felt the fucking scorching debut would be a hard act to follow and it was the majority of the album seems mid paced and a little like a band treading water definitely a difficult 2nd album that goes for the 2 EP's that came out with it "Crawl" and "Stranger Aeons" though of the 2 "Stranger Aeons" fares a little better with 2 scorching b-sides one being a re-done version of "Revel In Flesh" from "Left Hand Path"

In the interim between albums Earache released a live album and DVD entitled "Monkey Puss Live In London 1992" it's a pretty decent live set as well LG is back on vocals and the 10 tracks played are culled from the first two albums and it's pretty good to hear LG singing the "Clandestine" tracks however this release was one of those things where the band didn't really approve of it and it was done on a sort of like it or lump it kinda basis as live albums go it's good.

So that pretty much covers the primitive Death metal years next up was "Wolverine Blues" & the 6 Track "Hollowman" mini album all recorded at the same session and to my mind this and their next album were the ones that propelled Entombed from being a 1st division death metal band and into the collections of every metalhead worth their salt! LG was back fronting the band and "Wolverine Blues" was a beast of an album although opener "Eyemaster" is probably one of the fastest songs Entombed had ever done and would have had most people thinking that these guys were back with another album full of Death Metal you'd be sorely mistaken because "Eyemaster" is the only real death metal song on there the rest of the album is just chock full of supremely heavy mid paced songs with hooks that are extremely memorable and just fucking great! Take one listen to the opening riffs to the title track or "Demon" and you will be in no doubt that these guys are masters of their craft! LG is in fine voice as well sounded as brutal as ever but this time round dunno whether it's the pace of the songs or just a natural progression but you can easily understand the lyrics! It's around this time they got stuck with the "death'n'roll" tag which is one fucking dumbass thing to call a band but i can kinda get it because whilst they retain the heaviness and fire of death metal the pace and riffs and song structures were something completely new at this time! "To Ride Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth" follows a similar path however this time around these guys have firmly got their "new" sound nailed this is a seriously rocking album albeit still with that heavy Entombed sound and as i said this was really where the metal world started to take notice! However with the exception of a few i feel the songs while great are not as memorable this time around of course one listen to "Damn Deal Done" or "Like This With The devil" and you're unlikely to forget them! in 1998 however came what i consider to be the only real "blip" in an otherwise stellar career, after an amazingly successful album like "To Ride..." you'd think with the formula set these guys would continue along the same path? well this was not to be the case "Same Difference" is a pretty weak album peppered with "groove" whilst normally this wouldn't be a bad thing but when I say "Groove" i do not mean the kind of thing that gets your head nodding this album to me is a blatant attempt to dilute the sound and bring the band to a even wider audience and it fails badly LG attempts a sort of half shout/half sing sorta style that doesn't really suit him and there's all sorts of disjointed technicality to the music that whilst maybe shows that the band are talented it just doesn't work I have no idea what the fuck they were trying to do here, I hated this album when i heard it it just seemed like they were trying to fit in with a lot of the weaker more commercial nu metal of the time and it's a dismal fail, even after numerous revisits I still can't get my head round it after the ferocity and originality of the last 2 albums it just falls flat on it's face and is only included here for completions sake.

During 1999 Entombed sneaked out a 10" EP on home of all great stoner music Mans Ruin the "Black Ju-Ju" EP includes 3 covers and one original, this EP didn't really give a hint on whether the band had clawed back any of their previous greatness but it's a decent record and worth a listen So after the terrible "Same Difference" and 2 years since their last album and Nicke Andersson one of the bands primary songwriters had left the band to concentrate on Hellacopters there was rumour of a new album on the way and it was being hailed as "The best thing they had done since "Left Hand Path"  I was skeptical after the last album and losing Nicke I really didn't see how they could pull anything out of the bag and redeem themselves...I was VERY wrong 2000's "Uprising" was a shock to the system the slick overproduced grooviness of "Same Difference" was gone this was an album that was rawly produced loud and fucking nasty! I bought a promo of it from a local 2nd hand shop pre-release and when i got home i was immediately impressed by the sheer loudness of it, this is an album chock full of amps on 11 everything to full and in the red Rock 'n' Roll annihilation with a great grasp on the heavy and deathly this album has song after song of just sheer pummeling and is just bursting with energy THIS is the album that should have came after "To Ride..." Every song is memorable and energetic even the mournful; cover of Dead Horses "Scottish Hell" is a blistering listen, LG is back in fine form and sounds great here as well. What i find strange about this album is it's really like a more deathly version of Hellacopters whether this is what caused Nicke Andersson to leave or that this was like a bit of a fuck you to him or what i dunno but if this wasn't so heavy loud and raw it would just be like some of the modern garage rock type stuff that was around at the time! A thouroughly great listen and a SERIOUS return to form here totally essential! The version i present here is the US version with 3 bonus tracks as well. Post millennium these guys were pretty prolific so next up was "Morning Star" from 2001 and the death metal influences are back with a serious bang this time round the production is toned down and is less raw than "Uprising" but the songs are just as ferocious there's less of the garage rock sound and more deathly riffs as only Entombed can do Just take a listen to "Ensemble of the Restless" it's so fucking fast and intense reminding the crew of young death metal bands that had followed in their wake who did it first and best!!! There's plenty of fat double bass and chugging riffage and "Year One Now" is so much of a Master rip off it's almost funny if they didn't do it so well! Again another stellar album! So int the interim between "Morning Star" and the next new album we have "Sons Of Satan Praise The Lord" Entombed love a cover version and this double album has 27 of them culled from various B-sides/tribute albums etc along with some new covers recorded specifically for this album  but the choice of artists to cover is really a testament to their wide ranging influences from Roky Erikson to Stillborn to Twisted Sister, Jerry's Kids and Bob Dylan along with more expected stuff like great covers of Repulsion and S.O.D. it's a good and varied selection of tunes and is well worth a listen.Then we have live album "Unreal Estate" Live With the Royal Ballet At The Royal Opera House Stockholm 1/3/2002 this was a special performance these guys did and it does exactly what it says on the tin, I'm not a fan of live albums but it would seem this one is done with a bit of flair and involves a ballet! I will leave you to have a listen and make up your own mind however without the visual really it's just a straight up live album! So 2003 and studio album number 8 for Entombed "Inferno" (The version i present here is actually the limited 2 Disc "Inferno/Averno" with an extra disc with 3 bonus tracks and 2 video edits of previously released tracks) at this point i feel maybe Entombed were flagging a little, 3 studio albums in 3 years as well as a live album and a covers compilation I have to say i fell that this album is definitely a "Treading Water" type release whilst it's heavy and deathly the production is really flat and it feels like they used all their "A" material on the last 2 albums it's by no means a terrible album but after bursting out the gate with 2 brilliant albums in 2000 and 2001 maybe they should have taken a break instead of doing this album so soon? I would give it a listen for sure but of all the Entombed albums the 3 I listen to least are "Clandestine" , "Same Difference" and this one, maybe if the production was better it might have fared better but as it stands in all aspects it's just a bit..... Dull.

So it would be 3 years before anything would be heard from these guys and they returned in 2006 now down to a 4 piece Uffe Cedurlund having jumped ship to Swedish heavyweight crust titans Disfear and now with only LG and Alex Hellid remaining from the original line up at this point with all the ups and downs and 3 years passing since the dull "Inferno" album that this would maybe now be a band well past it's sell by and maybe on it's last legs? NOPE! What do they do but only what Entombed could do a 5 track EP of slaying brutal death metal! The "When In Sodom" EP Is great, good production,great riffs and songs and sets up nicely for 2007's "Serpent Saints, The Ten Amendments" the last album from Entombed as we know them, as this write up has gotten a bit out of hand all I'm gonna say is is a great, heavy death metal album in the finest Entombed tradition and also "Masters Of Death" is a brilliant tribute to their influences!

So to quickly round up whats left I have also given you the 7" "When In Sodom Revisited" from 2012 with a redone version of "When In Sodom" a new track and a short outro, also you get "Entombed Vs Candlemass" split 7" which has Entombed doing Candlemass's "Black Dwarf" and Candlemass doing Entombed's  "To Ride..." And lastly as a special bonus some of you may be aware that Alex from Entombed is remastering and doing deluxe reissues of 3 Entombed albums however having pledged our money way back in September 2013 I am still waiting for my CD's they are in the works but nowhere near completion however as a thank you for our patience Alex posted up a 40 minute mix of some of the bonuses that will be on these re-issues so you get 40 mins of extras,mixes,alternate versions etc that is your "Pledgers Exclusive" sampler link below tracks are taken from "To Ride..." "Uprising" "Same Difference" Era i also tacked on one of the other extras he gave which is a version of "Clandestine" played with an orchestra so that's in there as well! So unless you pledged money to buy the reissues it's unlikely you will hear them as they are supposed to be exclusive to those reissues and the orchestral "Clandestine" is not slated for release at all so there's one for the diehards!

So there you go folks a comprehensive and as far as I know complete discography of Entombed to date! I don't know what the future holds for them as if you are a fan you may be aware that LG has taken most of the band and formed Entombed A.D. and Alex plans to keep Entombed going so who knows? the Entombed A.D. album "Back to the Front" is out soon so we shall see! In the meantime enjoy one of the best metal bands to grace the planet and certainly one of my favourites!

(Entombed 2006)

Nihilist Demos - Mediafire

Left Hand Path - Mediafire

Clandestine - Mediafire

Crawl EP - Mediafire

Stranger Aeons EP - Mediafire

Wolverine Blues - Mediafire

Hollowman Mini LP - Mediafire

Monkey Puss Live 1992 - Mediafire

To Ride Shoot Straight And Speak The Truth - Mediafire

Same Difference - Mediafire

Black Juju EP - Mediafire

Uprising (U.S. Edition 3 Bonus Tracks) - Mediafire

Morning Star - Mediafire

Sons Of Satan Praise The Lord - Mediafire

Unreal Estate (Live 2002) - Mediafire

Inferno/Averno - Mediafire

When In Sodom EP - Mediafire

Serpent Saints The Ten Amendments - Mediafire

Entombed/Candlemass Split - Mediafire

When In Sodom Revisited 7" - Mediafire

Pledgers Exclusive Sampler - Mediafire

**UPDATE**

So As Promised here's your update I apologise for taking so long!! So as I mentioned above  back in September 2013 Alex from Entombed launched a Pledge Campaign for Reissues of 3 Entombed Deluxe Packaged,Remastered Editions of "To Ride..." , "Same Difference" & "Uprising" all of which were to be exclusive to people who pledged ONLY and each album to be expanded with a bonus disc with demos,outtakes etc. This seemed like too good a thing to miss especially being a massive fan of Entombed as I am! However things did not go to plan and it took almost 18 months from when I pledged my money to seeing the actual CD's land on my doormat in early 2015! So as these were a pledgers exclusive and these CD's cannot be bought NEW elsewhere and to my knowledge sold out and it's almost a year since the finished products were released i figured I would share them with you! So below please find links to the 3 albums that were remastered and expanded now normally I would break these down for you however as i have a lot of posts to do today and I already talked about these albums in their original forms above I figured I'd make this short, so underneath each link to the albums you will find another link which will take you directly to the immense discogs page for each release where you will find ALL the details of what the bonus materials are where they were recorded and basically everything you need to know about the material. All of this below is taken straight from my discs at 320kbps and the digital bonus disc of "To Ride" is a straight copy of the 320kbps download so all is in sparkling quality, Here You Go, Enjoy....

UPDATED EXPANDED VERSIONS

To Ride..... 

(Deluxe Expanded Edition) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

(Note - this link will take you to the discogs page for the "To Ride..." 50 track digital version tracklist because it was released as a deluxe double disc set but due to the wealth of material from this era of Entombed a further digital "Disc" was given as a download to Pledgers. On this page tracks 1- 14 represent Disc 1 tracks 15 - 38 Represent Disc 2 and tracks 39 - 50 The Digital Bonus Disc)

Same Difference

(Deluxe Expanded Edition) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

Uprising (Remastered & Expanded) - Mediafire

Tracklisting & Details - Discogs

So as you may or may not know there has been some serious problems in the Entombed camp around 2013/14 They had an album in the can their first for some 6 years however there were some serious internal disputes and Alex Hellid the only remaining member of the band who had never left and been a mainstay since Nihilist left the band what remained of Entombed was L.G. and a bunch of guys who had played on NO Entombed recordings prior to 2006. You'd think that would be the final nail in the coffin if you lost your main songwriter and original guitarist and were left with a bunch of guys who are essentially bit players then you'd think it would be time to call it a day but nope L.G. is one stubborn S.O.B. Alex having retained the rights to the name Entombed, L.G. added A.D. to the name, all of Alex's contributions to the album were stripped away, and Entombed A.D. were born! So in 2014 the much anticipated new Entombed album now the debut for Entombed A.D. was released. Now personally if it was me after Alex left I would have gone back to the bunker with the band and I would not have left till I had an album of all Killer no Filler SEARING death metal that would firmly annihilate anyone who questioned that this band were carrying on Entombed's MIGHTY legacy, Unfortunately "Back To The Front" is definitely NOT that album! What you get are 11 songs of fairly pedestrian, mediocre, plodding Death Metal there's no spark, fire or even a decent fast pace to ANY of the songs presented here even when the songs speed up the pace is fairly slow for Death Metal there's not even any of the sorta "Death 'N' Roll" type thing going on here what you have is the sound of band on their last legs with no fresh ideas or anything really killer to offer! POersonally I think once they had trashed all of Alex's contributions they quickly put together some songs to make up this album! The sounds are there good gnarly guitar tone and L.G.'s vocals are up to their usual high standard but musically it's just boring and dull sorry E.A.D. but without a single remaining original member (that plays an Instrument) I'm afraid you're fucked! I could go on and maybe I'm being too hard on them? All I can tell you is i was REALLY excited for this album but it just fell flat on it's face so much so that I didn't buy it and I didn't even bother to try and source a 320kbps download (This one here is at 192) I have given it only for completions sake and for the curious as far as being part of Entombed's STELLAR back catlogue well I consider it a separate band! I'll leave you to make up your own mind...

Entombed A.D. - Mediafire

Well that's it I doubt I will have to Update this again unless Alex decides to do another pledge campaign for more remastered/deluxe Entombed albums!! I had heard rumours that Nicke Andersson, Uffe Cederlund and "Clandestine" era vocalist Johnny Dordevic were going to reform the REAL Entombed along with Alex but I have yet to hear anything further and maybe it was just rumour so in the meantime go ahead and Gorge yourself on the discography of in my opinion one of the best Death Metal bands that ever walked the Earth! Cheers

CITIES OF MARS INTERVIEW

Cities of Mars are a new 3 piece band from Gothenburg, Sweden playing some of the heaviest Stoner/Doom/(Insert genre here) I have heard in a long time, Whilst that opening line may have some of you rolling your eyes, as even though I'm a HUGE fan of the genre even I have to admit there's a lot of stale 100th hand Sabbath rip offs out there these days and it's getting a lot harder to find the real gems, however in this case, these guys are definitely one of them.

I recently joined a group for stoner/doom music on facebook and with 26,000 members there's always tons of stuff to check out, I don't know why in the avalanche of recommendations from members I decided to check these guys out but I'm glad I did it's not often I hear something that impacts me immediately but this had that effect, within seconds of the first riff kicking in I knew these guys were gonna be something really important. In fact it made such an impression I decided that the first interview in nearly 3 years of this blog would have to be These guys

Cities Of Mars : L-R Christoffer, Danne, Johan

Based round a concept of the many legends and tales surrounding the planet Mars the lyrical themes are as interesting as the music is amazing!  they have recently released a 2 song digital EP and both of the songs are phenomenal, First I have to say the sound is immense for a debut offering produced by Esben of Monolord who is someone who knows a fucking heavy riff or 2 with his own band he's really done these guys music proud! Opener "Cyclopean Ritual" begins with some eerie guitar strumming whilst this introduction is short it certainly sets the mood and is a stark contrast to the utterly crushing main riff which is enough to make anyone with the remotest interest in heavy music just snap their neck to it if you are not at the very least nodding your head with a look of sheer happiness on your face when that kicks in there is something WRONG with you!!!! What i find great about this band is they have a real sense of how to use their titanic riffage to best effect there's enough twists and turns within the song to stop it from just being one solid riff fest and shows a real maturity in songwriting though when you read the interview below the reasons why will become apparent! Second track "The Third Eye" is another stormer with it's stop start verse riffing and a vocal melody that reminds me a little of The Sword, that's another thing that i love about this band the vocals are just great, managing to sound on the one hand full of anguish and desperation and yet still hold a memorable melody to them! I've found myself humming both of these tunes which for music this heavy is no small thing! I would usually be gushing a hellavu lot more about a band this good but I think it's best that instead of my usual spiel you should read the interview below. Danne Palm (Bass & Vocals) was kind enough to find me some time out of his busy work schedule to have a chat on facebook and here we have Cities Of Mars in the words of one of it's members......


Dave : Ok So Firstly the obvious stuff Who’s in the band and who plays what?

Danne : Me - Danne Palm, bass & lead vox, Christoffer Norén, guitar & vox, Johan Küchler, drums & vox super stoked to have three vocalists!

Dave : Yeah it works well when i listened to the ep on headphones it sounds amazing on “Cyclopean Ritual”

Danne : Seems no musicians sing any more? Back in the day, every band had several singers

Dave :  yeah i notice a lot of instrumental music in the "heavy" scene these days or most bands seem to take a vocalist rather than handle it themselves

Danne : Indeed, the whole instrumental doom scene ain't for us...

Dave : no me either I'm always waiting for the vocals to kick in!!!

Dave : I know you have some previous experience in the “heavy” scene as a member of  the earliest incarnation of Monolord the sound of COM is not too dissimilar from Monolord  so how did you come to leave Monolord and form COM? Especially as you co - wrote the title track  (and my personal favorite) from their first album. Do any of your other band members have previous experience in other bands?

Danne : Well, I've played for 20 years, so there have been lots of bands during the years... My previous band Marulk was a boogie rock trio with Esben and Thomas of Monolord and we played together for five years. We developed a very hard working band ethos there, but when the steam sort of run out of Marulk a few years back we decided to form a heavier band as a side project, and that became Monolord. The other guys got super excited about this new band, but I had gone weary of the whole thing and felt that I needed to get out of the toils of a band for a while. The others pressed on to great success and I'm super happy to see their hard work finally paying off. We're still close friends and Esben acts as producer and recording engineer for CoM, so some old habits and ideas get spilled across I suppose. I love their sound, but it's not for me - I want to do other things musically and CoM is just beginning to realize its own potential, Johan is 20 years my junior and has played in different bands, but not yet with such a grumpy old geezer constantly on his back I suppose! Christoffer began in the 90's in the nu-metal scene in a band called Absent that I really liked back in the day. We've known each other all that time but never played together before. He's been in a band called Benevolent too, that has released an album and an EP, a bit progressive but lots of good guitar techniques that comes in handy in in CoM!

Dave : Wow had no idea you had all been playing so long and it's good you (Danne) are not bitter about Monolord's popularity and with the length of time you had been playing it's understandable why you would need a break. I think CoM whilst still being real heavy have some subtle touches that are revealed on repeated listens

Dave: tell me a little about the concept behind CoM I know Mars has always held fascination for the human race but where music is concerned it’s generally electronic/ambient bands that seem to look to Mars as influence? Also I notice that you have started at the 3rd and 5th points of your timeline (See Cities Of Mars Page HERE ) Is this because these 2 songs are the first written, or is it intentional?


Danne : The concept came first, along with the name of the band. What if those stories and legends were true, that Mars actually had an ancient civilization and someone stumbled across it? After that initial idea, the story has basically unfolded itself. The planet itself, legends and mythology just feeds the imagination - all we need to do is open up our heads and the story keeps bringing ideas to the songs.The timeline is still in it's infancy, each released song will be placed into the timeline so the listener can relate it to the broader story. "The Third Eye" was the first song I wrote for the band, kinda surprised that it actually survived and came out so good.The first verse really sets the mood and scenery for the whole band and the concept:

"Thunder rolling on the plains of red sand/storm is howling across this dead land/mountain of the gods rise into the dark sky/spires of Bahb-Elon loom in eternal night."

Dave : I'm glad you said that because my next question was going to be that with there only being 6 points on the timeline at present i wondered where COM would go with the concept once all 6 points had been filled?

Danne : The timeline is not full or set in stone - we have only placed the two first songs on it along with a few points of reference. It will soon be filled with lots of new songs and events. Our band universe has 8000 years of history, there will not be a shortage of stories any time soon!

Dave : ha ha yeah for sure, You recently played your first gig at the Wizard Of Fuzz festival how did that go?

Danne : It was wicked! Since I had been super busy in organizing the festival too, I was so tired that I propably made it through on pure adrenaline? The guys delivered beyond every expectation, and I seem to have performed decent enough too. A good crowd and an awesome response, it couldn't have gone any better! I had worked 14 hours straight, changed clothes and played the gig. Then worked 6 more hours.First minutes on stage, I forgot how to tune my bass. My head just turned blank. (Dave: That's understandable) But the spacetime transmission is strong - I made it through and now we can't wait to get back on stage!

Dave : Do you have any more gigs lined up?

Danne : Not right now. We are looking around and are certainly open to suggestions. But we are writing more songs and will be releasing live footage from the festival with some new stuff real soon!

Dave : I noted that you mentioned that on facebook I'm looking forward to it which brings me to my next question, I watched a teaser of a song “The Gaze of leviathan” is this the eye of the mountain you mention on your timeline?

Danne : No, the eye in the mountain is certainly a main feature in the mythology. But Gaze of Leviathan is a 1971 song where the cosmonaut Najda finds a hidden subterranean temple where robotic corpse-droids are performing a ritual to an unknown Leviathan that resides somewhere far beyond a black hole. The ritual has been performed for millenia, without humans to sacrifice. So when Nadja suddenly appears, these corpse-droids see the opportunity... A bit of doom in it, and a bit of up-tempo stuff too. It will be out on Youtube in a while. Most of our songwriting is very cinematic - we ask what "scene" we are doing, what mood, scenery and actions that are being performed? A new and interesting angle of songwriting for us.

Dave : Yeah because during "Cyclopean Ritual" everything drops out to the sound of what I assume to be a beating heart?

Danne : You got it

Dave : I was quite surprised by that because your sound is so heavy then everything drops to that beating before rising again it's a fantastic dynamic!

Danne : Thanks, We think of the sound like a movie too - a movie with action and mayhem for two hours might not be too interesting? We want to build suspense and atmospherics it is very crucial to our music.

Dave : Yeah i found that with your music even tho there are only 2 songs and you are working within a "heavy" framework for your sound what i feel separates you from similar bands,apart from your concept, is the real sense of drama in your songs it is, as you say not 2hrs of mayhem!

Dave : It's obvious that whilst you are a heavy band, loosely speaking in the stoner/doom mold, that there's far more to it than that what bands or music do you take influence from as it's obviously not the usual Black Sabbath plagiarism with you guys

Danne : I would say Mastodon and The Sword perhaps? There are sooo many good bands out there that create good music, but I would say that Mastodon's masterpiece "Crack the Skye" would be the single most influential piece - not necessarily the music itself, but how it combines heavy and eclectic music with a theme and that sense of drama that you mentioned.

Dave : it certainly does make it more interesting, So I know you are short on time so I should wrap this up so lastly.... I for one cannot get enough of your EP I have played it to death!! Can we expect any more music soon? Have you had any  interest from anyone wanting to release something?

Danne :  We cannot reveal all the details right now - but yes there is music coming. We have a label that is interested and we will release a 3 or 4 song EP, hopefully in early late February or late March. And real soon we will publish a new song, a live video, from the Wizard Of Fuzz Festival too. We will make the details public within a week or so!

Dave : That's great news I will be looking forward to hearing it! Ok Danne thanks for your time and looking forward to more Cities of Mars soon!!!

Danne : Cheers!

So there you go a supremely nice guy and a great band! Below you will find links to their 2 song EP which you can download free or stream from Bandcamp (where you can also buy a T-shirt or a patch as well) you can also stream it on soundcloud and also links to their facebook page and homepage all of which are more than worth a few minutes of your time.

I seriously think that these guys are going to be huge if they can produce a debut EP of such high quality with an interesting concept behind them just think how good they will be a year from now! You are seriously gonna be kicking yourself if you don't get onto these guys right NOW because once these guys get a proper release out I can assure they will be the name on the lips of every fan of good heavy music! So.... what you waiting for....GO!!!!!

EP download & Merch : Bandcamp

Soundcloud : HERE

Facebook : HERE

Homepage (and Concept Timeline) : HERE

MASSAPPEAL

Ok so Massappeal were a band that came from Australia and whilst Aus has a great rich history of hardcore with bands like Depression, GASH,Civil Dissident and Death Sentence I always felt like they were kinda overlooked and only the most devoted of fans followed Aus HC for some reason it doesn't get the same slavish devotion as hardcore from far away lands like say Japanese Hardcore does despite the quality of the bands coming out of there over they decades. Massappeal are one of the bands that were criminally overlooked. Whilst they released 4 albums and a few EP's I'm only going to cover their early years here simply because whilst they did release music from 1986 to 1994 it's their 1st mini album and 7" that really hold a special place in my heart as after that they matured and went in a more melodic direction so i shall begin...

Massappeal burst out the gate with a raging 7 Track mini album "Nobody Likes A Thinker" in 1986 followed shortly thereafter by a single "The Bar Of Life" in 1987 I was lucky enough to hear these at the time through tape trading and eventually a friend bought them and we played those records to death at that time it was a case of the faster the better and Massappeal definitely fit the bill!

Fast forward a couple of decades and I managed to download some vinyl rips of those essential early records they weren't great quality so i barely listened to them and sent them to the hardcore folder for nostalgia purposes fast forward a few more years and I'm at band practice earlier this year and during a break our singer as he often does plugs his iPod into a speaker so we can listen to tunes and he says you must remember this? and i said is that Massappeal? and lo and behold it was! So we were having a discussion about how great they were and i said has this never been re-issued on CD to which our singer said it definitely had not. I was skeptical surely classic hardcore like this was NOT just languishing in the dust of HC history with only out of print records and shit quality MP3's as their legacy?So I went home that night went on the internet and discovered that not only had it been re-issued on CD in 2007 by Relapse they had also added the 7" a comp track and the entire first demo!!! I of course hit buy immediately and that brings us to this post!!

So how to describe Massappeal well take the speed of early Bad Brains (Rock For Light era) and D.R.I. (Dealing With It era) a ripping guitar sound and some great vocals with that kind of snotty punk belligerence that only the Australian's and Jerry A from Poison Idea can deliver! This is basically fast thrashing hardcore 80's style and if these guys had been from the USA they would be worshiped with the same reverence as bands from that period that they were easily the equal of like DRI, Excel, (early) Suicidal Tendencies, Verbal Abuse etc. What I think separates Massappeal from the pack is the awesome production sound of these early records the drums sound HUGE even when they are blazing at 1000mph the guitar is just gnarly and brilliant and loud and everything is mixed to perfection they sounded great on record on CD it's even more so!When i first got this CD I couldn't stop playing it for a week it was the same thrill i got from hearing it at 16 years old and it still slammed my Jaw to the floor and with track titles like "Rat In A Hole" and "Pissed On Life" you know exactly what you're getting this is raging stuff with a sense of humor a skateboard and a beer in hand and they came to rip your faces off!!!

So the CD reissue as I've said sounds great however the addition of their demo is a major bonus as I had never heard it whilst 7 of it's 9 songs later appear in much better sound and fury on the mini album and 7" it's a great glimpse into the early days of the band and it's  decent quality for a demo the CD contained an extract of a live set but i omitted that here due to repetition of the same tracks and didn't really think it was worth having and detracted from the greatness of the studio recordings.

So here you have it a retrospective of this amazing Australian hardcore thrash bands mid 80's (and best) music, if you are a fan of any of the bands or releases that I have mentioned in this write up and have not heard this it is definitely ESSENTIAL to your collection and you have missed out on some great stuff so you can remedy that now... click below and GOOOO MOSHHHH!!!!

Nobody Likes A Thinker - Mediafire

BENT CROSS & ANNOTATION

So this is a bit of a double header here as these bands are both from Germany and obviously good friends and also released a split EP together whilst Bent Cross have broken up now Annotation whilst still a band are kind of on hiatus at the moment but I am informed by the band that they have every intention of getting back together and continuing with Annotation. I also wanted to look at these 2 great German bands because both owe something to Black Flag in their sound but in completely different ways so let's begin....

BENT CROSS

Bent Cross were from Hamburg I have little info about who's in the band or really any info about them at all however as their music was so great i really wanted to share it with you guys... during their short existence they released an 6 track EP and 2 tracks on a split EP with Annotation however though the songs are short fast and loud they leave an impression. these guys play a really intense blend of early Dez Cadena era Black Flag with a slight nod to the more rocking end of something like BL'AST! with some metallic flourishes here and there which makes them a little more interesting than your straight up Flag worshiping stuff! However when you hear the vocalist screaming "This is MY WAR" during the song "This Is War" you can be in little doubt who they are influenced by!!! These guys were great but with only 8 songs to go on and the fact they have split up there's not a great deal more I can say except wonder what might have been if they had stayed together. however one member has gone on to another band Teenage Hate who are not a million miles from what Bent Cross were doing just a lot less Black Flag and a little more garage and melody in there you can download the Teenage Hate demo from 2014 here free at Bandcamp and you can download Bent Cross at the link below

Bent Cross - Mediafire

ANNOTATION

So onto Annotation from Ibbenbüren of the two bands these were definitely a personal favorite, these guys have been around since 2005 they have released some demos/tapes and a couple of EP's up to 2008 however i manged to get in contact with the band and while their early outings were more in a generic style of hardcore their self titled EP from 2011 and the split with Bent Cross from 2012 show a serious change in style and when i mentioned doing a post on them here they said i should really concentrate on these releases as that's where the band are and where they are going now. Their 5 track EP from 2011 is fantastic I absolutely love their sleazy mix of 70's Rock/punk/garage/hardcore and a hefty dose of 84 - 86 Black Flag! These guys have obviously been honing there chops since 2008 because this EP shows a marked progression in not only style but technique, The songs though mainly short have plenty going on in the structure and take you on enough twists and turns to make you feel like you are listening to a much longer song! This continues over the 2 tracks from the split W/ Bent Cross though i would say every one of the 7 songs total over the EP and split are great there's a definite progression again on the Split EP where they are playing even more leads and riffs than before and the 2 songs are both fucking SHREDDING without having to floor the speed pedal! These guys remind me a lot of bands like Blasting Concept (See My Post HERE ), Annihilation Time (On their 2nd and 3rd albums See My Post HERE), The Shrine etc and they are as good as any of them and live would fit on the bill nicely with any of these bands! I was seriously glad to hear they had not split up and cannot wait for someone to give these guys a deal for an album!

Annotation - Mediafire

Facebook Page - HERE

Though Bent Cross have split Annotation are still going and as they only have 408 likes on their facebook page which means NOT ENOUGH people are hearing these guys so check the music and go give them a like on Facebook if you like them share a link to this post on your page and spread the word as your encouragement for a great band like these could mean all the difference and there's nowhere near enough bands playing music as good and a s rocking as this! Enjoy.

LOOP (UPDATED)

*NOTE* once again I have updated and expanded a post for you awesome readers so if you have been to this post before scroll down to where it says "UPDATE JULY 2015" if you haven't been before as usual please... read on...


Some of the more discerning readers of this Blog will be aware of this Band but some of you younger pups may not. Loop were active originally in the mid 80's early 90's and play a style of Psychedelic/Garage rock that pre-dates the stuff that's coming out now by about 25 years!!! I guess you could say they were well ahead of their time but back when they first came along they were a truly original band. I was recently alerted to the fact that Loop are reforming and playing some gigs at the end of the year/beginning of next year so I decided that a Loop retrospective was highly appropriate.

So How to describe Loop??? shit! fuck knows if I can! Best way i can describe it to you is if The Stooges had hooked up with Suicide in the early 70's and decided to do a Velvet Underground influenced project band it may well have sounded like Loop! Now those 3 bands mentioned are certainly heavy names to live up to and whilst not sounding exactly like any of them I can tell you for sure whilst there's elements of all 3 in their sound this is more the feel of the music rather than just pure copyist tactics. So that's all I'm gonna say as far as describing their sound goes do some research look em up on that google thingy and you'll be sure to find plenty of info! However you may be interested to know if you didn't already Robert Hampson of Loop was 2nd Guitarist in Godflesh for a number of years in the 90's and has his own band the more experimental Main.

Right back in 2008 Loop had all 3 of their albums re-mastered, re-issued and expanded to double CD's and they are great packages however at around £13 - £16 pounds each I decided having bought them all once on vinyl i was entitled to a download! They weren't that hard to find but I couldn't get them all in one place and it took me a while to download them all as well so i decided due to so much "Link - Killing" going on I'd hook you them up all in one place so here's what you get.....

"Heavens End" 1st album from 1987 and probably my favourite The Stooges/Suicide/Velvets influence is definitely felt here especially on album opener "Soundhead" plus there's 2 appearances for their cover of Suicides "Rocket USA" so that's pretty much an In-Your-Face what the influences are anyway as i said I'm not gonna blab about their sound heres the details, Disc 1 contains the full album remastered Disc 2 contains 3 alternative versions of album tracks and the 3 tracks from 1st John Peel session from 1987, not much bonus material on this one but well worth the having what there is.

"Fade Out" 2nd album from 1988 The sound is still in the same vein however it is a little less "Heavy" than it's predecessor and more akin to the sound they are best known for. Disc 1 contains the album remastered Disc 2 contains 4 demos & alternate versions of album tracks and their 2nd Peel session from 1988 and is rounded out with 5 "Guitar Loops" that were used on the album.

"A Gilded Eternity" 3rd album  from 1990 by this time Loop had been building quite a buzz and their sort of crazy psychedelic sound was becoming more and more popular and this album was their most successful and  is the most revered of the 3 released does it live up to the hype? Hell yeah! They really nailed their sound on this one it's less swirly and psychedelic than the first 2 albums and is a much more aggressive album without going for the "Heavier louder faster" thing, it's a really driving album and the songwriting shows they have really progressed and matured as a band and with utter classic tracks like the stunning "Afterglow" the buzz around them at the time was well deserved. The edition here contains the album remastered on Disc 1, Disc 2 contains 2 alternative versions of album tracks their 3rd and final Peel session from 1990 and a batch of 5 demo tracks recorded at "The House In The Woods" which was their home studio.

UPDATE JULY 2015

So in my original post I mentioned that I had posted the original 10 track version of the EP's & Extras comp "The World In Your Eyes" as i had a copy of the massively expanded 3 x CD version but it was in my malfunctioned external hard drive I feel i should never have mentioned this because in the original posts comments i was certainly bombarded by readers asking "have you had your hard drive fixed yet?" and "When will you be posting the 3CD version" and as Loop is one of the most downloaded bands on this blog (the albums have been downloaded from 900 - 1500 times) and because it was pissing me off personally as i didn't even have it to listen to myself i tried downloading the tracks and EP's that make up this compilation separately it was a partial success i manged to get all of the EP's etc downloaded but the quality was pretty poor so i bit the damn bullet and I've gone and bought it for my own pleasure and because i felt i owed it to the readers of this blog who have continually commented and kept coming back to the blog so £13 ($21) later and here you have it the full 3 CD expanded remastered "World In Your Eyes" ripped direct from CD at 320KBPS as per usual UTS style! It's a fantastic comp containing the "16 Dreams" , "Spinning" , "Collision" , "Black Sun" and "Arc Lite" EP's as well as some comp tracks a few live tracks some unreleased bits and their cover of "Like Rats" from their Clawfist records split 7" with Godflesh and as stated all remastered So there you go readers you can now stop asking when my hard drive is gonna be fixed hahahahaha

However... it does not end there as some of you may be aware Loop reformed in 2013/14 to play some gigs and most famously an appearance at Roadburn Festival however there was no mention of recording so imagine my surprise when i found that they had released a new 4 track EP called "Array 1" I wondered what if anything Loop could pull out of the bag some 25 years since their last recorded output, would it be any good? The answer is yes it is absolutely great the first 2 tracks are Loop business as usual swirling guitars ethereal vocals and really it is just like the last 25 years never happened and that loop had been sealed in ice since the early 90's only to be thawed out in 2015 and now there's a new Loop record out!! However the next 2 tracks to me sound like Robert Hampson is trying to sneak some serious influence from his project Main in there. "Coma" is a pleasant enough 7 minute drone nothing exciting just ok not offensive or anything however the 17 minute "Radial" is a combination of Main style drone building to a great Loop style rock out!! All in all I am pretty impressed with this EP and I am hoping that being titled "Array 1" that there may well be more to come!

So below you will find this post is now finally complete with links to all 3 remastered and expanded Loop albums plus the 3CD "The World In Your Eyes" plus the brand new EP "Array 1" Hope that makes some of you mad for Loop people happy as it does me!

OK so there ya go if you don't know this band go check them out if you like the sound of my description, if you're already a fan but haven't got the remastered & expanded editions of the albums here you go...

.....Tune in, Turn On and LOOP OUT!!!!!

Heavens' End - Mediafire

Fade Out - Mediafire

A Gilded Eternity - Mediafire

The World In Your Eyes (3 Disc) - Mediafire

Array 1 EP (2015) - Mediafire