Saturday, August 30, 2008

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.

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

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


Tuesday, August 19, 2008

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.

Monday, August 18, 2008

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.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

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