Big changes for x43x

My friend Chip and I have decided to join forces, and we're going to be doing a blog zine based on 90s hardcore over at Stuck In The Past (http://xstuckinthepastx.blogspot.com/). We're arranging interviews with numerous participants from that era of hardcore, and our goal is to make Stuck In The Past just as awesome as the webzine over at Double Cross is. I'll try to make sure that all of the links to mp3s on this blog are kept current, but all new posts will be made over at http://xstuckinthepastx.blogspot.com/. A huge thanks goes out to everyone that has been a follower of this blog. I love keeping these old hardcore gems alive, and I plan to do so for a long time to come with along Chip.

Burn It Down

Burn It Down formed sometime in the mid 1990s, and came to an end in 2001. They were fronted by Ryan Downey who previously sang for Hardball and Warpath. He also spent some time editing and publishing Vanguard, the Hardline zine, after founder Sean Muttaqi decided to take some time away from it. I never got to see Burn It Down, because they broke up just before they were supposed to play Portland with Shadows Fall and In Flames, but I always heard that they put on a great live show. A majority of Burn It Down's discography is still in print (the Eat Sleep Mate Defend 10" is incredible!), but here is the out of print, self titled 7" that came out on Uprising Records in 1997.

Burn It Down - self titled
Uprising Records [1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?tzonjme4nyz

Restrain

Restrain were a straight edge band from Lee's Summit, Missouri, a suburb just outside of Kansas City. I've never gotten a full grip on if they were a vegan band or not, but judging from some of the lyrics, they were vegetarian at the least. From the cover art to the lyrics, one gets a real sense of straight edge militancy from Restrain on this 7", but one thing that you might not guess from that statement is that the singer of Restrain was Sean Ingram. Yes, that Sean Ingram. The one that fashioned a new reputation for himself by talking endless shit about straight edge in his next band, Coalesce. Released in 1993 on Chapter Records, this 7" is a good representation of what one would think of when they hear the term "90's vegan straight edge".

Restrain - Armageddon
Chapter Records [1993]
http://www.mediafire.com/?mxtnjgkmddw

78 Days After Death

78 Days After Death were a metalcore band from Salt Lake City in the early 2000's. They arose from the ashes of a band called Deadfall, and played a style of metalcore tinged with black metal. I feel fortunate to have been able to play a handful of shows with them both in Utah and Oregon (although they had to cancel on a couple of Portland and Boise shows). As far as I'm concerned, 78 Days After Death can be placed among some of the other legendary SLC bands like Insight, Clear, Lifeless and Triphammer.

The first 78 Days After Death recording appeared as a track on the Ascend From The Darkness comp on Dark Vision Records. I can't remember who ran that short lived label, but I'm inclined to say it was the drummer from Beneath The Ashes. A follow up release by 78 Days After Death was supposed to come out on this label as well, but it never materialized.

78 Days After Death - Skyfalls
Dark Vision Records [2000]
http://www.mediafire.com/?ejnnjiqzjon

Sometime in 2001 saw the Time Is Forgotten cd being self released by the band. Containing 8 tracks, it would end up being the largest output from 78 Days After Death. It was while they did a west coast tour in support of this cd that they first hooked up with my band, The Dead Unknown, for a show in Portland. Hardcore in Portland was at an all time low at this point in time, and turnout for the show was beyond dismal, but we all went out for some food after the show, and got to become fast friends.

78 Days After Death - Too Much Is Forgotten...
Self Released [2001]
http://www.mediafire.com/?ryjngz2hezm

A few months after playing a show together in Portland, I received an email from Billy 78 wanting to do a split 7" with The Dead Unknown. Both of our bands were adamantly against religion, and their idea was for our two bands to team up for an anti-religion themed 7". It's with this recording that I think The Dead Unknown finally started coming into our own, and the 78 Days After Death track also showed a much more intense direction. Billy and Clint were having a few setbacks with the covers, so the first 50 copies that came to me in Portland got their own limited PDX covers:
The Dead Unknown then packed 9 of us into a Suburban and made the 16 hour drive to SLC for the 7" release show. Salt Lake was going through another one of their venue lulls at the time, and the one place that would do shows charged a fortune, so we knew from the get go that we wouldn't be getting paid, but fuck it, we were young and just loved to get out of town. Like all of our shows in SLC, it was a lot of fun, and well worth the crazy drive for no pay. The drive home to Portland from that show is still infamous, because in the middle of nowhere, we decided to pull into a Denny's for some food and sleep, and at some point very early in the morning while we were all crammed into the Suburban, JD woke up and started freaking out; "Where are we? Why are we here? We should be on the road. We should be driving right now!" He then proceeded to attempt to get out of the Suburban, and in doing so, he farted right in Teddy's mouth. Holy shit, what a drive home.
Upon checking, there are still a few copies of this 7" available at
Very Distro
I ripped these mp3s from the master cd of the 7" a few years ago when Clint brought it to me on a Cherem tour. It was scratched to shit, but I got a clean rip off of it. After moving a few times, I can no longer find that cd, so here's the old 192kb rip, as opposed to a V0 rip.

78 Days After Death/The Dead Unknown split 7"
Shattered Silence Records [2002]
http://www.mediafire.com/?e40iyjmcnwt

The final recording from 78 Days After Death came in the form of 2 songs on the From The Mean Streets - Salt Lake City Hardcore comp. They had added a keyboard player at this point, but they used the keyboard in good taste, and at no point in time does the keyboard overpower any of the other intstruments. I never got to see them play at this stage of their time together, but I wish I had, because the song Wasted Flesh contains an awesome breakdown with the sweet lyrics of "You're just another junkie!".

78 Days After Death - Wasted Flesh & Untitled
xResolvex Records [2003]
http://www.mediafire.com/?j0kgmg32jny

78 Days After Death suffered from the same symptom that many bands do, seeing a revolving door of 2nd guitar players. Not too long after the songs for the aforementioned comp were recorded, the band broke up. Various reunion talks have floated around, but things seemed to get a little weird between the singer and the rest of the band. They almost did a reunion using the singer from Pushing Up Daisies, and even practiced with him once or twice. Billy and I also talked a few times about myself doing vocals for a reformed version of 78 Days After Death, but nothing ever materialized.
Billy also sang for Cherem and played guitar for Up River
Jake went onto play drums for Up River and Tamerlane

Grimlock

Let's go ahead and get this out up front, I love Grimlock! Over the years, I've noticed that people either seem to love or hate this band, and I reside on the love side of the coin. I never particularly took them too seriously, and I think that's what made me love their lyrics as well. Grimlock only played Portland once (in '97 if I remember correctly), and it was quite a show. The singer was spotted doing some pushups before the set, which can seem to be an odd sight. If you've never seen Grimlock, their singer John, was a small, but beefed up dude (see below)

Their set started off mild enough, but somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd song, John ripped his shirt off, and then proceeded to pick up my friend's little brother and throw him onto the crowd (I think the female singer of Berzerk took the brunt of the landing). Now the rage that seemed prevalent in their cd was at the forefront of the live show.
As far as I know, both of the labels that released Grimlock material are no longer functioning, so I'm going to present what I think is a complete Grimlock discography.

I don't really have any info about Grimlock's demo, but I acquired this recording from someone of the the message board on the SA Mob website. It has 3 songs, and is encoded at 320kb.
Grimlock - Demo 1995
http://www.mediafire.com/?hnjemny43ad

Next came the Thirst For Immortality 7" in 1995 on Pin Drop Records. The 7" contains these 3 tracks:
Feed My Rage Mountain of Power Bring The Pain
I decided to not rip the 7", because all 3 songs are contained in the hidden track on the Songs of Self cd.


1997 brought the Songs of Self cd on Pin Drop Records as well. This is where Grimlock really started to come into their own. It includes such tracks as 24, about the hockey player Bobby Probert, and My Sins, which contains some of the most volatile lyrics I can really recall hearing, i.e. "break the bottle over your face. lay there and bleed bitch." and "I'll kill you...I'll kill you...you fucking cunt."
On a sidenote, let's take a look at the picture on the inside of the cd insert:
Who is that guy near the bottom left of the picture, and why on Earth did they turn him into a cyclops?I've always figured that their must be a backstory containing some major b33f.

Grimlock - Songs of Self Pin Drop Records [1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?0yzkdkjztzk

Crusades of Reality was Grimlock's first release on Life Sentence Records (based out of Salt Lake at the time). The monologue throught the song The Pain Game is of particular awesomeness. This EP contains 6 more songs of exceptionally heavy hardcore, although I always thought the production value wasn't as great as the previous record.
Grimlock - Crusades of Reality Life Sentence Records [1998]
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmqxrnz1ytn

Shortly after the release of Crusades of Reality, a split 7" with Rebirth came out on the SIH label from Japan. The only Grimlock track on the 7" though is Lamentation, which can already be found on Crusades of Reality. In 1999, after touring on behalf of the EP for Life Sentence, Grimlock broke up.

In 2003, Grimlock got back together, and recorded another EP for Life Sentence Records. Once again, they recorded 6 tracks, but the production on this record is great. This EP sounds heavy as can be, and John's vocals really got stepped up.
Grimlock - Crusher
Life Sentence Records [2003]
http://www.mediafire.com/?mzwxjz2zjym

The Crusher cd was also an enhanced cd, which contained pictures, desktop wallpapers and a couple of quicktime videos. I extracted those files, and uploaded them here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?znj2nmyfloy

In 2005, Grimlock disbanded once again. I was really hoping they'd make their way to the Northwest one more time, but my dreams were squashed by their breakup. Life Sentence Records also seemed to disappear again around 2005/2006. The label's owner, Dan Gump, seemed to drop off the face of the Earth yet again (the same thing happened around 2000 when he then surfaced in, I think, Milwaukee). Numerous rumors have circled around Dan for many years, but I've heard that he actually sold out this time, which is too bad, because Excessive Force ruled! He was also a pretty nice guy the few times I met him while touring through SLC.

xReflectx - The Hourglass End

I first heard Reflect sometime in 2007 when someone directed me to their myspace page. Having some contact with their singer, Mike, via various message boards, I acquired a copy of their demo. The 3 songs on the demo were really good, but suffered from a poor recording. Fast forward to December 2008, and Reflect now have a full length out on the newly formed Skinned Elbow Records out of Salt Lake City. [On a sidenote: I love SLC hardcore. My old band, The Dead Unknown played Utah more than any other state outside of the Pacific Northwest, and I've developed some great friendships with members of some of the bands to come out of that scene.] Paypal isn't used by Skinned Elbow, so I got to put some well concealed cash into an envelope just like the good old days of mailorder hardcore. "The Hourglass End" showed up in my mailbox yesterday, and I absolutely love this new recording. Take 1 part 108, 2 parts Mean Season, a few eerie riffs reminiscent of Starkweather and a dash of Eyelid, and you should have a decent picture of what Reflect sound like. I can safely say that this is the most excited I've been about a newer band since the days of Make Move. What I'm getting at is that you should head over to www.myspace.com/xreflectx to check out some of their new songs, and then head over to www.myspace.com/skinnedelbowrecords to get all the info you need to order a copy.

Hourglass & New Day Rising split

Here's another great release from the legendary Moo Cow Records. Hourglass and New Day Rising were two great bands from the 90s. Hourglass were from Buffaly, NY, and New Day Rising came out of Ontario, Canada. Both of them had a sound that ranged from the heavy, to moments of screaming punk rock abandon (NDR even throw in some emo elements). New Day Rising released what could only be called a plethora of material during their time together. A multitude of 7"s and splits, followed by a full length on Eulogy, and a discography cd on the same label. As far as I know, Hourglass only released this split and a 7" on Immigrant Sun prior to the split. I intend on ripping that Hourglass 7" sometime soon, because I always liked it even more than the songs on the CD. It's actually been quite some time since I've listened to this release, because it came in 7" size packaging, so it isn't filed away in the same manner that my other CDs are, but upon listening to it again, I remember why it used to get so much play on my stereo.

Hourglass & New Day Rising split
Moo Cow Records [1996]
http://www.mediafire.com/?nee1nenmhjy

Trial "Are These Our Lives?" 12" - Pre-Order

After years of being out of press, Trials "Are These Our Lives?" LP is available again on vinyl and mp3 download. Unlike the CD version, the 12" includes full artwork and LYRICS.
This 12" will be a limited press of 500.
250 on Brown Vinyl
250 on Maroon Vinyl

I highly suggest that everyone goes to pick up their copy of this re-press. When Trial reunited for 3 shows in 2005, EVR had the gall to do another press of this on CD, but without lyrics and full artwork. Can you imagine that? A Trial record without lyrics?!? Unless you can find a used copy with the full layout, skip buying the cd that EVR tried to capitalize on, and buy this 12" or digital download from Timm over at Panic Records.

Downcast

So much can be said of Downcast. They played a major role in the San Diego area scene along with bands like Amenity and Struggle. A lot has been made of them being the "P.C. police", and that they became anti-moshing at shows, but one thing can't be denied, and it's that Downcast wrote some great metallic hardcore songs. I tend to have a great love for bands that are heavily political, and Downcast fit into that quite nicely. They did a US tour with Born Against and Rorschach, and from what I've read, they played Portland, but that was a year or two before I really started going to shows.

The self titled 7" from Downcast was also the first release from Ebullition Records, and accompanied issues of the No Answers fanzine that was put out by Kent McClard, who later went onto do the HeartattaCk fanzine as well. After the first 3,000 issues, the 7" and zine were separated into their own autonomous products. In an interesting not about Ebullition #1, I pulled this from Wikipedia:
"Los Angeles hardcore band Inside Out was meant to record an LP as the first Ebullition release. However, Revelation Records asked them to release a 7" instead, and the band chose the more established label."

Downcast
self titled 7" [Ebullition Records 1990]
http://www.mediafire.com/?1wtotzyztmh

Downcast then released a full length on Ebullition as well, followed by a tour of Europe. This is the first version of the LP (Ebullition #3). After the first pressing (3,000 copies) the LP was re-mixed and re-mastered. The re-mixed and re-mastered version was released as Ebullition #6. If I come across a copy of the re-mixed version someday, I'll rip that and upload it as well.

Downcast
self titled LP [Ebullition Records 1991]
http://www.mediafire.com/?kkrdynwdgmi

After Downcast broke up, the various members went on to form Not For The Lack of Trying, Jara, and Born & Raised. Ebullition was touting the release of a Downcast discography around 2004/2005, but nothing has materialized as of yet.

Life's Blood

Life's Blood started circa 1987, and weren't really around for very long, but they had a great sound going with their mix of NYHC and some elements of Oi/street punk (not to mention their politics). Most notable is probably their song "Never Make a Change", which was supposedly a major calling out of Youth of Today. Adam Nathanson, and Neil Burke also went on to form the legendary (and in my top 10 bands of all time) Born Against.
Even though there were 2,144 of them pressed in 1996, I rarely see Life's Blood's discography cd for sale, but a few years ago, I happened across a copy in a used dollar bin. The only catch was that it didn't have the original case, or the layout. Since I never see these up for sale, and I always loved my copy of the 7", I snatched it up. This discography cd contains the demo, the Defiance 7", numerous comp tracks and some live stuff. Life's Blood were a true classic of NYHC, so download this and enjoy!

Life's Blood - Discography
Vermiform Records [1996]
http://www.mediafire.com/?tizfou4nmmw

Fault

I don't have much information about Fault at all, except that they were from New Hampshire, and that this 7" is really good. This record came out in 1997 on Words of War Records (who have been back up and running for a couple of years now), and has 4 tracks of heavy hardcore that could musically be compared to the likes of Unconquered. If anyone has more info about this band, or knows of any other releases they put out, please get in touch, because I would love to get educated.

Fault - self titled
Words of War Records [1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?czwvwtw1whz

Trial

It has now been confirmed that Trial will be playing a show in Chicago in April of '09, and that is news that makes me very happy. There's going to be a book coming out called Burning Fight, that is all about 90s hardcore, and a show is being organized to coincide with its release. Disembodied, and Unbroken had already confirmed, with Undertow apparently being close to confirming as well, and then the news of Trial confirming came along to knock me on my ass. Suffice to say, these knees that have been disagreeing with me for years will be dragged out onto the floor one more time, and will see some epic stage diving time as well. I don't want to sit here for an hour, and expound upon what Trial has meant to my life as a band, so if you'd like, you can go read this blog that I wrote on myspace shortly after the reunion shows of 2005.

Now onto some of the more rare Trial recordings. First up is the Trial demo tape from early 1995. They recorded this in January of '95, and then broke up for a brief period of time, got back together a couple of months later, and realized that kids were into the demo. The recording isn't as tight as Trial came to be known for, but the raw emotion in the songs is still very present.
I'm not sure how many were made, but here's the cover of the demo tape version:

The demo was also released later as a one sided 12" in Europe by Hipster Records, and was limited to 300 copies.

Trial - Demo [1995]
http://www.mediafire.com/?o2zjzgzmyen


And now onto the "I'm Still Screaming" live 7" that was put out by Division Recordings out of Tacoma, WA. Division Recordings was one of the labels done by Ross from Last Man Standing and Stay Gold. He was always a rad dude, and he put out some great records for some NWHC bands that otherwise might not have been heard outside our little corner of the nation. It's not listed in the liner notes, but this 7" was recorded at the RCKCNDY in Seattle if I remember correctly. It features the OG Trial lineup, which leads me to believe that it must have been recorded in 1998, although the record itself didn't come out until 1999. Technically, this 7" is Division Recordings #4, but since this is Trial we're talking about here, it's really Division #4.3

The record itself came out on 3 colors:
black (?), blue (243), clear (300)

There was also a "Martin Audio Can Suck It" press that came out due to a problem at the cover printing plant (Ross also had an issue with the printing shop for the covers of the Left With Nothing 7"), and was limited to 75 copies.


Trial - I'm Still Screaming [live]
http://www.mediafire.com/?xi4o2ygmqzt

Timm re-released Through The Darkest Days and Foundation onto one cd a couple years ago, and is now repressing Are These Our Lives? on vinyl, so head over to Panic Records, and order them!

Definitely Not The Majors

Definitely Not The Majors was one more in the long line of incredible compilation cds that came out in the 90s. This comp showcases some of the best heavy bands that hardcore had to offer in that era. At the time that this came out, all of the songs were reputed to be unreleased.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/vvy1tv

Overcast

Someone was reading my mind when they suggested that I post some Overcast in honor of their new record that just came out. Overcast only played Portland once, but the tour package was incredible, and it still sits as one of my all time favorite shows
Forming in 1991, Overcast were one of the true innovators of 90s hardcore/metal, or as they preferred to call themselves, Devilcore. They first released a 7" called Bleed Into One, which I still don't have a copy of, but it was re-released as the bonus tracks on the re-released version of Expectational Dilution (which originally came out on Endless Fight in 1994) that was put out by Edison Recordings in 1997.
Then came a 7" called Stirring The Killer on Inner Rage Records from France in 1992. It features two songs that would later be re-recorded a couple of times, but they still sound excellent on this early release

http://www.mediafire.com/?51aqyeuxkmd

1996 saw the release of two more 7"s from Overcast. First was the split 7" with Arise on Moo Cow Records. In all seriousness, Moo Cow deserves legendary status. Jim put out so many awesome records in the 90s, and I bought up just about every single one. If you're unfamiliar, got check out the labels discography here: http://moocowrecords.com/releases.htm

http://www.mediafire.com/?vzchfaowaet

After that split 7" came the Begging For Indifference 7" on Edison Recordings. This record featured two of their best and heaviest songs to date.

http://www.mediafire.com/?v96keisemfg

In 1998, Overcast released the Fight Ambition To Kill full length on Edison, and mounted a full US tour. I still have the tour shirt that I bought when they played Portland, and I'm holding out hope that I'll be able to see them again sometime. They just released a cd called Reborn To Kill Again on Century Media, and it features 12 re-recorded classics, and two previously unrecorded tracks. Some of those old songs sound heavier than ever on this new release, but it also completely maintains the integrity of their old sound. I highly suggest picking it up when you can. The damn thing still hasn't left my car cd player in over a week and a half.
You can still purchase both Expectational Dilution, and Fight Ambition To Kill from Very Distro. While we're on the subject, I'd just like to mention that Very Distro is by far my favorite of all distros. I've been purchasing from them since the print catalog days of the mid 90s when I was still in high school, and they have always been super fast with filling their orders, super easy to deal with, and they always seem to send me all kinds of awesome extras with my order. I still make large orders from them about once a year, and they still pull through just as well as they did 10-15 years ago, before internet ordering. Not only that, but they also get huge bonus points for putting out some of the heaviest bands of the 90s via their label Edison Recordings: Overcast, Disembodied, Starkweather and Acme.

Hard Stance

Zack De La Rocha was never straight edge, right? So, he must have never actually played lead guitar for Hard Stance, right? Riiiiiiiiight. Before he sang for Inside Out, and long before the commercially viable days of Rage Against The Machine, Zack played guitar for Hard Stance. In the late 80s, Hard Stance were a great straight edge band that shared the stage with the likes of Insted, No For An Answer, Chain of Strength, Uniform Choice and many more.
This cd compiles the two 7"s that Hard Stance put out. I'm not sure what they had as far as a demo, or any possible comp tracks, so I can't say for sure if this is a complete discography or not. However, I'm guessing they didn't do any remixing, or remastering for this cd, because the tracks sound pretty much exactly the same as they do on the two 7"s that I own.

Hard Stance
s/t [Conversion Records, 1994]
http://www.mediafire.com/?cktzvz4l7gm

I've now added a Cbox over there to the side of the page. Feel free to use it to make requests, and to let me know if a file needs to be re-uploaded. I get a lot of emails while I'm at work, and that makes it all too easy for me to forget about them. With requests sitting right there on the side of the page, I think it will be much easier for me to keep on top of things to the best of my abilities.

Method

What can I say? I LOVE mid 90s metalcore! Method reigned from Milwaukee, WI, and were creating some pretty wicked riffs for the era. Living on the West Coast, I never really gathered a ton of information on these guys, but my friend Parker helped fill in a few holes when I saw him a couple of years ago here in Portland. Apparently one of Method's guitar players had a nickname of Survivor, which he gained by riding a bike across state lines to attend a hardline gathering. The same guitar player also served briefly as an original member of Killtheslavemaster.

I got Method's 5 song cdep from my friend Sam, who ran a straight edge distro (both music and shirts) out of Spokane in the mid 90s.
Self Titled cdep
self released 1996
http://www.mediafire.com/?ddygubp4enl

It seemed as though their follow up 7" really flew under the radar even more than their cdep did. However, I ordered this through the Initial Records catalog in 1997. I really miss the Initial print catalog. I used to order just about anything from that catalog that had a pentagram next to the record title. This 7" has two songs.
Self Titled 7"
self released 1997
http://www.mediafire.com/?ljkbwcl8xyr

From what I've been told, this is all that Method released, aside from a poor sounding demo that I still haven't managed to ever get my hands on.

Undertow

Edge of Quarrel cd
Lost and Found Records

This cd contains all of the material that Undertow recorded with Joel on vocals, as well as 3 tracks with John on vocals, and then a very peculiar final track. Here's how it breaks down in the liner notes:
Tracks 1 & 2 - Undertow/Resolution split 7"
Tracks 3-6 - Demo '91
Track 7 - Words To Live By comp 7"
Track 8 - previously unreleased (from the same recording session as track 7)
Tracks 9 & 10 - no info

http://www.mediafire.com/?j3uutjcujib

long time, no post

I've had a handful of things going on lately, which includes: working hard on the Unrestrained 7" that should be out sometime in August, playing some wicked slowpitch softball games and installing a new OS onto my computer. Things should probably be back to normal in a week or so, and the uploads will start flowing again.

National Guard

A big name from my early teenage years is going to be doing a reunion show in less than two weeks, and in honor of that, I've decided to dedicate a post to them...National Guard! From 1994 - 1996, National Guard played hardcore punk in the Portland area. They received some airplay on Punk Uprisings, and also had a centerfold interview in MRR once. Members from NG went on to form Backside Disaster, which can be downloaded from a few posts prior.

I don't have cover scans for the demo tapes, but here they are:

Demo 1994 (or possibly early 1995. Matt was unsure.)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=Y733BKB0

Green Berets: War Heroes, Hard Asses [demo 1995]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=M2APZL2K

Star Spangled Losers! 7"
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=NMX7EV02

One Big Happy Slam Pit [2 tracks]
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=OGMI2DAP

Redrafted [unreleased full length from 1996]
http://www.distrorecords.com/nationalguard/00%20ALL%20SONGS.zip
This link will only last until June 14th. This was the last National Guard recording from 1996, and features 20 songs. They released it in mp3 format in preparation for the reunion show. The only bummer is the abysmal 96kb rate that it was ripped at.

From '94 - '96, National Guard shows were always so much fun. Circle pits like a mother fucker!

Chain Of Strength

Maybe it's just me, but the Chain Of Strength remix/re-issue fell short in a few regards. It wasn't necessarily the overall sound, but it had more to do with all of the instrument parts that they cut out, or altered. I decided to go ahead and rip my 7"s that I have.

True Till Death
This rip comes from my green vinyl copy from the first press.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=LFCMFKK6

What Holds Us Apart
I have two copies of this 7". One is on First Strike Records out of Europe, and one is on Mindpower Records. I ripped the Mindpower Records version, which is technically just the 2nd press of the Foundation Records version.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3Y6Z4QXI

Most of you probably already have the One Thing That Still Holds True cd that Revelation put out back in like 96 or 97. Listen to these tracks, and then listen to the re-issue cd, and you'll be able to hear plenty of differences.

No For An Answer / Carry Nation

Love him, or hate him, there's no denying that Dan O'Mahony has created quite a legacy for himself in hardcore over the years. Along with the material he released with 411, these are two of his more legendary releases.

No For An Answer - A Though Crusade
http://www.mediafire.com/?tudkr4ozugy

Carry Nation - Face The Nation

http://www.mediafire.com/?zujys29l99x

The Best of Nemesis Live

The Best Of Nemesis Live
I was about to rip my No Control At The Country Club 7", when I remembered that I had this cd in my collection downstairs. This cd compiles the 3 live comp 7"s that came out on Nemesis in 89/90, and has some of my all time favorite bands on it.

http://www.mediafire.com/?jxzy3y9yomb

Chalkline

Chalkline - In The Present Tense

As request by a few people, here's the Chalkline full length that came out in 1998 on Shandle Records.
http://www.mediafire.com/?mmwzrf2j9d4

Torn Apart

Torn Apart were another one of the truly great, heavy hardcore bands of the 90's. They hailed from Baltimore, and never made it to Portland, but I always heard great things about their live show.

Extermination 7"
There's no recording dates provided within this 7", but if memory serves me right, it came out sometime in 1995 on Life Sentence Records. I'm not sure as to what they had as far as a demo is concerned, but this was the first release from Torn Apart that I had ever heard about, even though it took me years and years to finally get my hands on a copy. This record sounds a bit on the unpolished side, but the 4 songs on this 7" are still pretty damn good.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zpve2ynmxmq

Nothing Is Permanent...
This full length (9 songs) came out on Life Sentence Records in late 1996, and you can definitely hear a major progression in Torn Apart's song writing and playing abilities. They work more melodies into the songs, and the singer's vocals are just nutty. His low vocal parts were some of the most evil that I was hearing come out of hardcore in the 90s.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2gz7otbutzm

I wont' be posting their 59th Session EP that came out on Ferret, because it's still in print and you can order it from Ferret, or any of the major distros for pretty cheap. However, I do highly suggest that you pick up that record, or have a friend burn it for you, because it's fucking intense, and should be heard by everyone! Torn Apart then broke up, but got together a year or so later to record the Ten Songs For the Bleeding Hearts full length. I wasn't as into that record.

Dawn Of Orion

Dawn Of Orion were from Georgia, and played late 90s metalcore, with a heavy emphasis on the metal, not unlike Day Of Suffering and Undying. Here are the only two releases from them that I was ever aware of.

On Broken Wings 7"
1998 - Undecided Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?vgx0oinlgyi

For The Lust Of Prophecies Undone
1999 - Immigrant Sun Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?vni7jiiymff

On a side note, I used to buy records off of Dawn Of Orion's guitar player, Erik, quite a bit during 98/99. After a good year of an excellent transaction record, he decided to take my 50 bucks, and not send me a handful of records (which I later saw turn up on ebay). If you happen to ever see that douchebag, feel free to punch him in the throat for me.

Chalkline

The midwest had numerous, great "emo-core" bands in the 90s. Back then, the bands represented exactly what that kind of label should entail, and that's simply, emotional hardcore. Amidst the bigger emo-core bands of the 90s like Split Lip and Falling Forward, I always thought that Chalkline went a little underrated.

Chalkline / Figurehead split
This split came out on Shandle Records in June of 96, and features two songs from each band. Although this post focuses on Chalkline, don't underestimate Figurehead, as they were an awesome band in their own respects.
http://www.mediafire.com/?hwij9ybbjzx

Self Titled 7"
This record also came out in 1996, but on Toothless Records out of Louisville, KY. Chalkline do 4 songs on here that are similar in nature to the ones on the split with Figurehead. Each one ranges from the melodic, to the heavy.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zmffmkxn9ie

Although I wasn't quite as into their full length cd, I do still have it, and if anyone wants, I can rip it and throw it up here sometime later this week.

The Ourselves Compilation

The Ourselves Compilation
This great live comp came out on Omega in 1997. I don't really have a whole lot of info on this comp, nor do I know how many were pressed. The cover, however, is hand made from a priority mail box, and that's something that I always enjoy. There's nothing better than knowing that someone spent the time to make sure that their release is unique in some way. This comp has a lot of great bands, and a lot of great songs from those bands. Enjoy!
http://www.sendspace.com/file/mql8pp

Disembodied

The 1990's produced some of the heaviest bands to ever hit hardcore, such as Overcast and Fortheloveof, but none were heavier than Disembodied. If someone tries to tell you that a band is or was heavier than Disembodied, call them a liar and punch them in the face. I find it horribly appalling that a good majority of their discography is now out of print. In this post, I'm going to post some of the more rare stuff from their time together.

Existence In Suicide
As far as I've ever been able to tell, this was Disembodied's first release. The "Demo '91" that has been floating around Soulseek for more than a few years now, is clearly just a demo from one of the 3 death metal bands in the US that were also named Disembodied. This CD/EP came out on Furface Records in early 1995, and was supposedly limited to 500 copies.
http://www.mediafire.com/?djzyxjdybr1

The Confession
These songs were recorded in September of 1995, but didn't come out until early 1996 on the legendary Moo Cow Records. I'd say it's with this release that Disembodied were really starting to set the new standard for the term "heavy" in hardcore.
http://www.mediafire.com/?tlkqydglzrz

Two Unreleased Studio Tracks from 1997 (Bootleg)
The rumor I had always heard, was that Disembodied actually put out this bootleg themselves. Two tracks are contained on this slab of vinyl, but neither of them are given titles. If I remember correctly though, one of these songs ended up on a comp. These two songs were recorded at the same time as the Diablerie full length that came out on Ferret Records. One of the copies on green mix vinyl has eluded me all of these years, but one of my two copies on mix color vinyl came with this alternate cover

http://www.mediafire.com/?2f2wb2xtnmj

And while we're on the subject, I've noticed a large influx of bands lately that are tuning their guitars down to B, or something similar. Please do us all a favor, and break up now. Disembodied knew how to do it correctly, but you just sound like a sad mush of bad chug mosh.

Chokehold - Final Show

Final Show [New Bedford, MA 3/23/96]
This recording came straight from the soundboard at Chokehold's final show, which was at a fest (which I forget the name of) in New Bedord, MA. Frankly, the quality of this recording, sounds better than half of Chokehold's studio recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?zdtctzcd9dr

Today, I get married!

That's why updates have been slow this week, and will continue to be non-existent until we get back from our honeymoon on the 10th. So, everyone have a great day, because I sure know I will be.

Backside Disaster

I have so many great memories tied to Backside Disaster. These were the guys that I used to hang out with on a near daily basis. Fife-0-3 Crew in full effect! There was a hardcore punk band here in Portland called National Guard (I'm sure I'll be making a post about them in the coming months), and on New Year's Eve of 1996/97, the new lineup of National Guard played their first show as Backside Disaster. They sounded more reminiscent of Strife in the very beginning, but over time, they took on much more of an Earth Crisis (but with more melody) influence. They recorded a demo in early 1997, that featured some great songs they had been playing live, such as Payback and Nutrition, but they never released it. Matt (who now plays in Nora) had the old reel just sitting in the closet of their house, but ever since he moved to NJ, I have no idea what's become of it, and that's a bummer, because I'd still love to hear it. It's with the birth of Backside Disaster in 1997, that Portland finally started getting "new school" hardcore shows. It's a shame that they so rarely ventured outside of the Northwest, because they really had a lot of potential. Only a tiny handful of us from those days are still involved in hardcore, and even fewer are still straight edge, but those were some of the best times of my life.
The Coming Of Iad Urorobos [Demo 1997]
I also have a copy of this that was burned from the master disc, but PC CDR drives were still in their infancy, and so it's plagued with various pop sounds throughout the recording, so I dug out my old demo tape, and even after who knows how many hundreds of listens, it still sounds great. Only about 25 or 30 demos came with the handmade lyrics book pictured above.
http://www.mediafire.com/?octx0b9mfjh

Demo 1998
This demo was primarily sent only to labels, with a handful of cassette tapes given to friends, and roughly 25 CDRs sold at a couple shows.
http://www.mediafire.com/?45m4n0lyqbx

Self Titled EP
This was Backside Disaster's final release. They had a few new songs written, but they never got recorded before a member change happened. They changed their name to Dying Anthem, but never actually played a show. Then Matt moved to NJ, and it's all history now.
http://www.mediafire.com/?j3eel1i9mdl

This was their final show on April 1st, 2000And as an added bonus, if you're from Portland, or even the Northwest, you can use the picture below to play a cool game of "count the hardcore dropouts" (why I'm wearing a wifebeater [front and center] is anybody's guess. It was the 90s, cut me some damn slack!). If you're like me, you'll lose count rather quickly.

Unrestrained

Demo 2007

Here's the portion of the blog where I blatantly promote my own band. We recorded this demo in August of '07, after only a couple of practices as a full band. We've been writing a bunch of new material lately, and it's definitely taking on a heavy Undertow/Strain feel. Keep your eyes on myspace.com/unrestrainedpdx for any and all updates on shows and future recordings.
http://www.mediafire.com/?avjw1oyzlzo

AC/DC

Can I Sit On Your Face Girl...You Can Sit On Mine
I picked this bootleg up a couple of years ago, and from what I've been able to dig up, it's limited to 500 copies on green vinyl. Although the back of the cover claims that the recording was done at Apollo Stadium in Adelaide, Australia on 12/04/76, reliable sources say that it's actually from the Haymarket Fest in Sydney, Australia on 1/30/77.
http://www.mediafire.com/?epwn0fd3bbj

Long live Bon!

Let's all take a moment of silence

for a true rock 'n' roller...

Raid

Above The Law

I always thought that hardline was stupid on so many levels, and yet, I always loved so many of the bands. Raid were one of the originals, and this cd has spent a good amount of time in my cd player over the years. The early material (which is towards the end of the cd) have more of a straight up hardcore sound, whereas the songs recorded specifically for Above The Law definitely took on a more metal influenced sound.
http://www.mediafire.com/?2mmly0ztncp

Sleepless Nights cover comp

I've had this comp for quite a few years now, but have never really known much information about it. I've been told that Issa from Good Clean Fun recorded these songs at his studio in Atlanta during the mid 90s, and put out this cd. It seems as though at least a few bands weren't too stoked on him using these songs for this cd.

Here's the tracklist:

And here's the cd:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/449if7

The Swarm aka Knee Deep In The Dead

Seriously, The Swarm fucking ruled so hard! The real bummer here is that they played Portland once in 99 in a basement, but I didn't even know about it until after it happened, because basement punks around here never used to flyer for shows outside of their little cliques. For those that don't know, the laundry list of others bands these guys have been in is a mile long, but just a few of those bands include: Left For Dead, Haymaker, Cursed, Grade, Ruination, Burst Of Silence and many more.

Here's two 7"s from The Swarm. Both of them have been on the internet for a few years now, but the rips out there sound like garbage, and completely blown out. Download these and circle pit in your room!

Old Blue Eyes Is Dead
http://www.sendspace.com/file/8tl4gs

Split w/ Force Fed Glass
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ce7l0r

Amenity

Forward, Into The Past (discography)
There was some great hardcore coming out of Souther California in the early 90s, and Amenity were definitely one of the best. Along with the likes of Downcast, and Struggle, they were really pushing a lot of politics to the forefront. One of the great mysteries of Amenity, for me, is why the bass player was also in the original lineup of Vegan Reich...bummer.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/kzfwtg

Canon - the interview

As a follow up to yesterday's Canon post, here's the interview that I mentioned (just click on the image to see a larger version).

And, here's the the Chapter Records ad that mentions bonus tracks that were supposed to come out on the cd version of the 7"

Canon

The Solution 7"
My pal EMS ripped this about a year ago and put it up on his blog, Coregasm (which you should definitely go check out), but I'm not sure if the download link still works or not, and I got a request for this, so I went ahead and just ripped my 7". If I didn't know any better, I would have sworn that these guys were from Syracuse, just based upon their sound, but instead, they were from Holland, PA. In an interview from Still Standing zine in '93, these guys mention that this record was going to be coming out on Overkill Records, but obviously that never happened. Also, in an ad for Chapter Records (which this eventually came out on) they claim that the cd version would have extra tracks. Yes, that's right, extra tracks plural. The cd version never came out, and that's a real bummer, because I would seriously love to hear those extra tracks. One can only hope that a master tape still exists out there somewhere. Canon also featured another memorable logo created by Guav, who seemed to be all over the place creating great logos for the mid 90s xvx bands.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/6yocya

Focal Point

Neglected 7"
It's no small secret that I don't like anything about "Christian hardcore" whatsoever, and yet, I loved Focal Point. Before they dropped that great record on Solid State/Tooth and Nail, this 7" came out on Life Sentence in 1996. Good ol heavy 90s hardcore is well represented by the music these guys wrote. It's sad that they went onto such awful bands like Training For Utopia and Demonhunter.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/h7jqfo

Unbroken

Live In Dagenham 7"
I really think/hope that these guys don't need any kind of introduction. The word I always heard about this bootleg was that Rob, Unbroken's bass player, was the one that actually put this out. The 3 tracks on here clearly come from a soundboard recording, and I would love to be able to hear the rest of it.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/lt5pbd

Motive

A Doctrine Of Scripted Torture 7"
These guys reunited last year, and played a show, but unfortunately I couldn't make it out to it. Motive hailed from Long Island, and impressed me heavily with this first 7". This came out on Exit Records in 1997, and I'd say that Exit was a great label at the time, releasing the likes of Indecision, Sons Of Abraham, Milhouse, Motive and more. Definitely give these mp3s a good spin, because I damn near wore out this record listening to it so much over the years.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/jguu3f

Absone / Decontaminate

Absone / Decontaminate 7"
I got a request for this one. Absone play the late 90s style of Euro vegan metalcore, and they do it quite well. I never managed to pick up any of their other stuff, so if you happen to have their mcd in mp3 format, please hit me up! Decontaminate were Dan Gump's band after Excessive Force, but don't expect tons of chug and gang vocals here.
http://www.mediafire.com/?1mthu2mmnmi

Chokehold - the demos

This Whole World Is An Addiction [demo '91]
This really seems to be the holy grail of Chokehold recordings. I've been after this thing for well 12 years, and in that time, I've only seen two copies. Recently though, I was finally able to acquire one with some money and some old Dead Unknown merch that I had sitting in my basement. This is Chokehold at their earliest, and it's a great listen 17 years later. And in case you don't know, you can simply click on any of these cover images on my blog in order to see/save them at the bigger size that I upload them at.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/46cs7o

More Than Ever [demo '92]
Sure, these tracks appear on the Prison Of Hope cd that Conquer The World put out, but here they are straight from the demo tape source. This definitely marked a much heavier and angrier turn for Chokehold.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/44se8d

Soulstice

Dark Hour 7"

Syracuse, NY sure was a hotbed of vegan straight edge bands in the mid 90s. This 7" from Soulstice easily sits up there with the likes of Earth Crisis, Green Rage and Canon. You know what the 90s had lots of, and that I really miss a lot? Divebombs...yes, FUCKING DIVEBOMBS!!! For the love of everything I hold sacred, someone please bring back divebombs! These guys also put out a full length that I'll probably get around to ripping sometime soon, but in the meantime, enjoy these 3 songs of xvx chug.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ct3zzv

Chokehold - early 7 inches

Some of Chokehold's earliest output:

Life Goes On
Arm's Reach Records
http://www.sendspace.com/file/gdhnpl

Split 7" w/Crisis Of Faith
Grinding Edge Records
http://www.mediafire.com/?om4wdijrmyi

The Cold War comp

The Cold War comp 7"
Just one of the many, many great comps that came out of the 90s. This one has the following 4 songs:
None Left Standing - Just Another War
Everlast - Crutch
Mean Season - Sea Of Shame (live)
Within A Lie - Him
http://www.sendspace.com/file/7bky4m