Vacation

I'm going on vacation so I won't be able to post anything for a week or so...  I suggest taking a peek at some of the blogs listed in the links section if you haven't already done so.

See you soon.

Manliftingbanner - We Will Not Rest (1995)

I don't know too much about Manliftingbanner honestly. Communist Straight-edge hardcore from the Netherlands. Features ex-members of Lärm. After their breakup in February 1994, members of Manliftingbanner went on to bands like Dead Stool Pigeon, Mainstrike, and Seein' Red.

We Will Not Rest re-issues their 10-inch and 7-inch releases with a few bonus tracks recorded during those sessions. It's solid stuff that will have you circle-pitting (is that a verb?) and finger-pointing in your bedroom.

1. Commitment
2. Never
3. Sister
4. Donkey Shot
5. Still Straight
6. Rage
7. Blow Your Brains Out
8. If
9. No Compromise
10. End the Fear
11. Willing
12. Balance the Books
13. Consume & Kill
14. The Other
15. New October
16. Empire
17. Blood
18. Spirit
19. One of Them
20. Myth of Freedom
21. Sister, Part 0
22. End the Fear, Part 2

http://www.divshare.com/download/1734761-b2a

Assfactor 4 - self titled LP (1995)

There was nothing quite like Assfactor 4. Formed from the ashes of 2 other Columbia, SC bands, Unherd and Tonka, Assfactor 4 were the fastest, most frantic band I'd ever heard at the time. They played a million miles an hour and the only way I could tell they were all playing the same song is that they stopped and started at the same time. Still, they made me shiver when I got to see them. They were that good.

What made Assfactor 4 stand apart from most of the screamo bands of the time was their straight-forward, catchy style and the amazing speed they played. The drummer would count off the song and play as fast as he could, start to finish. No quiet melodic parts, no calculators needed. No crying. Just fast and furious.

Here's a video I found on another blog:

 

Assfactor 4 is their first LP, after a slew of 7-inches, compilations and splits.

1. Hey Stinky
2. Life is Wacky
3. I Reckon
4. Mama Yongue
5. Fuck Hate Breeders
6. This Shit is for the Birds
7. #1 Main
8. Dear Grampa
9. Burger-Rock
10. Billy I Got Your #
11. Dorothy
12. To the Bowers That Be
13. Deliri-Loco
14. Can't Fight the Feeling
15. Nuked Up Dreams
16. Rosewood
17. Attempted Control
18. Assfactor 4

 

http://www.divshare.com/download/1669482-20a

Undying - This Day All Gods Die (1999)

Undying were from Raleigh, NC, vegan, straight-edge, and played a blend of metal and hardcore. Not like the tough-guy, vegan-moshcore bullshit that was going around at the time (and still is), but rather Undying pulled the best parts of metal (melodic guitar lines) and paired it with some of the most exciting parts of hardcore (political lyrics and some seriously brutal breakdowns). Recently a friend pointed out that not only was their sound a self described mix of Unbroken and My Dying Bride, but so was their name. It took me, what, 8 years to realize that?

When Undying played, they were explosive. I always wondered how the guitar players could jump around and play so perfectly at the same time. Undying were also into the writing of Daniel Quinn. So much so that they used shell imagery and put the Ishmael web-site on the original release of this CD. This contributed to what I saw as much needed freshness in the world of hardcore. It wasn’t about being cool, or being preachy. It was about good music, thought-out lyrics, and love of what they were doing.

This Day All Gods Die is their debut release from 1999. It was later re-released in 2001.

1. Intro
2. This Day All Gods Die
3. Lay This Life Down
4. Fire of Life
5. When the Heavens Shed Tears
6. For Liberation

http://www.mediafire.com/?b5tmdgm0twm

Welcome

Hi. This is yet another MP3 blog. I decided to do this after seeing/reading a lot of other MP3 blogs but none of them focusing on punk and hardcore from the 1990's.

For me, the 1990's were a revival of sorts. I got into punk in 1983 or so, but lost touch with current bands when I went away to college in 1988. I realize that's sort of backwards from what happens to most people. But I went to college in a small town in the mountains of North Carolina.

Anyway, around 1993 or 1994, my friends did two things that changed my life. They asked me to play drums in their band Blownapart Bastards. Their drummer was leaving for a year to go to school in Scotland. I said, “Yes.” I had seen them play a few times before we were friends. Blownapart Bastards were exciting, political, and most of all, sounded punk as fuck. After seeing Blownapart perform I realized that you didn’t have to be a band like the Descendents, 7 Seconds, or the Dead Kennedys to be punk, and made a conscious decision to make friends with them. 

The other thing they did was they started having punk shows at their house, aka Dick St. At Dick St. I got to see bands like Dillinger Four, Indian Summer, Deadguy, and Los Crudos. I would go to every show and buy records from band I liked. Then we went on tour! I bought more records, saw more bands, etc… Since then I’ve traveled the world, recorded and release records of my own, I even ran my own record label briefly. I’m so lucky that I found a way to do all that.