Eucharist - self titled LP (1996)

The one time I saw Richmond, VA's Eucharist, they blew me a way. An awesome brutal attack of hardcore and noise. Their singer had done my band a favor and booked a show for us in one of those art lofts that seemed to constantly spring up in Richmond. I wasn't really expecting much from these kids I didn't know. As the hometown crowd gathered while they were setting up, I began to think that they knew something I didn't. After their set, I bought the LP right then and there.

I think Jeff from the Mountain Collective probably said it as well as I can. "Eucharist is one of the most underrated bands of the '90's. Pure, skull-crushing hardcore that brings to mind both Econochrist and Rorschach with even more of a straightforward, thrashy assault. Heavy, dark breakdowns (the head bobbing kind not the kick-boxing kind) fill the gaps between blasts of all-out venomous thrash. The lyrics are negative, frustrated, misanthropic diatribes against the misery of other people and everyday life."

As far as I know they only released this LP and a few tracks on Nothing's Quiet on the Eastern Front, a great compilation of East Coast hardcore circa  mid-1990's.

Eucharist (1996)

Track List:
Plague
Born In A Mess
Exit
Promised Splintered
Spoon Fed
Fangs
Praying For Failure
Body And Blood
Frozen Minds
You've Been Had
Sensory Deprivation
Invincible
Fooled Again

By All Means

By All Means hailed (hails?) from Modena, Italy and were (are?) part of the La Scintilla squat. Their first LP Blind Side, was a mix of youth-crew style music and anarchist lyrics. Their sound got more crusty as they progressed, yet they somehow managed to not regurgitate the classic D-beat style. In 1999 they toured the U.S. with Avail, a band that has always had a firm foot in the DIY camp.

They are the nicest guys in the world and play a mean game of foosball too. The guitar player Gallo now plays bass in Headed Nowhere.

 

Blind Side (1993)

Fino a Qui (1998)

XXX - Some Ideas are Poisonous (1995)

First I have to apologize for the lack of posting lately. I went on vacation and pulled my back. It's been downright painful to sit down.

This is a compilation of straight-edge hardcore bands that didn't (and still don't) have the "typical" straight-edge moshcore or youth crew sound popularized by bands like Earth Crisis and Youth of Today. I remember hearing about this compilation and waiting desperately for its release. Being straight edge was never terribly important to me, but for some reason it was vital for me to know that being straight-edge didn't have to mean being a violent, hardline, jock.

The liner notes, written by Ebullition/HeartattaCk founder Kent McClard, talk similarly about straight-edge. It's not about belonging to a crew or regurgitating breakdowns, but rather it's a choice a person can make that will affect other choices in their life.

Musically, Some Ideas are Poisonous has some of the best bands of the day. Monster X, Portraits of Past, Policy of 3, Groundwork, Pogrom, Threadbare, Shatter The Myth, Endeavor, None Left Standing, Trees Without Leaves, Prozac Memory, Via, Well Away, and Frail.

 XXX - Some Ideas are Poisonous [83MB]