Confirmation Class

It's November 18th, around 9:30 am,and to borrow a line from an old childhood movie, it's colder than a witches' tittie outside. A perfect Vermont day to share some Finnish evil with you. Rippikoulu, Finnish for "Confirmation Class", were a punk band,I hear, once upon a time.By the time these recordings reared their heads, around '92 or '93, the only thing remotely punk about them was their Crusty looking logo. "Musta Seremonia",their 2nd demo, is part "funeral doom" not so different than their country mates Thergothon or Skepticism, mixed with some thrashy moments and a few mid paced riffs thrown in once in a while.
Back tracking a bit....around 2001, when I had decided to stick around Long Beach,CA for a while, people always were telling me to check out this record store in Downey, CA called "Dark Realm" that specialized in predominantly Black Metal and Death Metal. I took my time getting around to it and sure enough one morning woke up and decided I couldn't live without Bethlehem's "Dictius Te Necare" album. So off I went to the train towards Downey and made my way to Dark Realm. Now I have no idea if the place is still open but back then they had an amazing selection of demos to choose from, all cheaply priced. I, by total accident, picked up two gems that I still absolutely love today: Musta Seremonia and Thergothon's "Fhtagn Nagh Yog Sothoth" demo. While sometime soon, I will post everything I have by Thergothon, today I want you all to have these Rippikoulu demos.
Musta Seremonia is the one you all have to hear. On the other hand, Mutaation Aiheuttama Sisainen Mataneninem, while interesting to die hard fans, it probably won't come off as too charming to the rest of you.
So all you "Punks" that think you don't like metal but really have never given it a chance, today is the day to reconsider.

Musta Seremonia (1993)


M.A.S.M. Demo (1992)


and you know what.....Fuck It, since it is so fucking cold outside and some of you probably aren't gonna go brave it anyway, here is that Thergothon demo I spoke of earlier.

Thergothon Demo


If any of you enjoy this kind of thing, I recommend that you go ahead and visit Dumah. It's one hell of a resource and it is a great place to catch up on all the Metal you've been missing in life. The sheer mass of bands and albums here is a bit intimidating at first but when you weed through some of the crap, you'll be going back for more.......................................Troy

Going down to Jamaica Plain???

I just wanted to tell to all who this is relevant, our very own beloved Jonee Earthquake Band and Suburban Showdown have got some shows coming up that they would like to see all of your faces at.
Both are at the Midway Cafe in Jamaica Plain, MA. Jonee's is this coming Sunday and on the following Saturday, Suburban Showdown will be playing there as well. I can't tell you much about the other bands, but you can get a hold of Tino from S.S. and I'm sure he could tell you what he knows. Contact him through the Suburban Showdown link under the local band section over to the right..........

Like a Naked Nun

Today's guest In Green Mountain Hell is a bit of a mystery. First off, you don't really run into many people that have heard this band. Second, you meet even fewer who have heard of them,even the almighty and omniscient Google doesn't give you much to work with on this one. Personally, I ordered a tape by the Smartpils when I was 17 for the sole fact that I had heard that there was a relative Amebix connection going on. Turns out some of Amebix's former members were in Zygote with the Smartpils' bassist, Tim Crow(Who also was in the great band Bad Influence). That sounds about right to me?
Anyway, like I said, I was turned on to this band by chance but fell immediately in love with the songs on their most well known release,No Good No evil. It was arguably the best $2 bucks I've ever spent.
I searched in vain for years trying to get more stuff by them and I've heard they have another LP named "Open Mind Surgery" that was released on Bluurg records in the mid eighties, but I have come up empty every time. I was able to dig up a couple of demos, one from 1983 and another from the following year though any information on these has been beyond minimal and trying to find it has been pretty much a waste of time.
Smartpils are simply beautiful. There are two female vocalists,as far as I can tell, and their voices weave together in a most hypnotic way. Not to say that they aren't aggressive, they are just exactly what the music needs. The recording is one of my favorites from the time period and this is just one of those records that affects much more than your ears. I would change nothing about it.
So on top of wanting to share this with the unfortunate souls who haven't been introduced, this is certainly a selfish cry of my own for some light shone on this band. If anyone can hook me up with any recordings that aren't here or even some stories about the band, I will try like a fucker to return the favor your way. So leave a comment or email me: cagelearner@hotmail.com

No Good, No Evil

1983 Demo

1984 Demo

If you are a fan of Siouxsie and the Banshees' early stuff but with a much noisier and driving sound, you have to take a second to hear this, I recommend this as highly as anything you'll see on this blog................................................Troy

From the LBC.....

Southern California,late 1980's was the time,and Crust was on the rise. Bands like Apocalypse,Glycine Max,Confrontation,and A//Solution were all going strong and producing some of the best stuff around.Though they weren't quite as heralded as their U.K. counterparts like Hell Bastard,Deviated Instinct,and Bolt Thrower or even New York's Nausea,in my opinion, these bands carry the same air of desolation and impending doom while capturing what I imagine it felt like to live in Orange county in the late eighties. Hard to say though,as I regretfully missed out on one of my favorite era's of punk/hardcore. I was lucky enough to meet a few of the guys that were in these bands when I live in Long Beach years ago. I stayed at a house on Elm St. in Long Beach for 4 or 5 months and had the chance to pick the brains of Raygunn(Glycine Max,Scarred for Life,Dogma Mundista) and Todd(Confrontation,Dystopia,Mange) and both of them were very generous with their music collections. I spent hours and hours poring over their records, making tape after tape and discovering tons of stuff I still love today. Raygunn used to share tales with me of backyard shows where he used to play with A//Solution. I had an old Apocalypse demo that had some songs on the end that were faster and heavier than the rest and always just assumed they were the last things they had recorded before they split up. I never put 2 and 2 together but they were actually the Butterfly ep,one of the best records there is. They also recorded an album dubbed "Things to Come" that is a departure from the speed and fury of their ep. I actually like to think of it as the SoCal answer to Zygote's Wind of Knives Lp. So, from me to you,some of the best songs to come out of Orange County, I give you A//Solution................

Butterfly Ep

Things to Come

I just got back from seeing the Hostiles in West Rutland and they were as fun as ever. They were forced to play on the stage and whoever did the sound couldn't manage to get it right despite thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Kind of a young crowd,and you never want to sit through a Christian band but they seemed to have fun and Steve knows how to get them all going with his cool white boy rapping. What a vulgar little whelp he's become..............Troy

Legacy Document LIVES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have to tell you about a new blog that hits the web as of today.It has been planned on for a while now and Aesop finally found the time to take the first step. There will be no music here as Cosmic Hearse takes care of that quite nicely, it will be more of an odds and ends type thing. so take a second and check it out when you can and tell him I sent you.

Legacy Document

If you haven't already done so, download Aesop's band Ludicra's album I posted. I know I've said it twice already,but really,it rules and you can get their first album "Hollow Psalms" on Cosmic Hearse.

Seriously, only three people have downloaded it so far, so what's your fucking problem?

It's a Slow Day!!!!

Good morning everyone. I trust Conga Fury kept some of you busy for a minute. Back after taking a day off, I cater to the rainy day all you New Englanders are facing. Here is a great listen for you to spend some time with......Noothgrush. Those of you who downloaded the radio show I posted are in the know now but if you missed that,you can get it here. For all the others who might not be familiar with this legend,I give you 3 of their releases,"Erode the Person","Failing Early,Failing Often",and their split with Japan's Corrupted. These three will give you a phenomenal look into the collective brain of this band, though there are some other songs to seek out if you wish.

Erode the Person

Failing Early, Failing Often

Split with Corrupted

I was lucky enough to catch these guys in all their stripped down beauty at the old PCH show space in Long Beach/Wilmington, California. I saw them play with Gasp and a few other bands and that is what sticks with me as far as this is concerned. These albums rule but their greatness is best witnessed for yourself . So, here are some videos I found on Youtube that I think will do the trick.

#1 #2 #3

Watch their drummer Chiyo Nukaga, she is one of my favorite drummers I've seen live. She never needs to be flashy,she just fucking gets it done......................Troy

Think About Death!!!!!!!!

After a day off,have some more great Japanese punk rock. Not really the Black denim clad variety like Crow,but much more intense and manic,Conga Fury are my new standard for thrash. Aggressive and discordant and just tuneful enough when they want to be,they are so tight that the chaos they produce really is uncanny.
Three quarters of the stuff I am posting here today,I got from this great blog I want to link for you.
It's called Stay Female Fronted and they post bands that contain at least one female member.You get your Black Metal bands with only a female singer. You get your all-female Brazilian hardcore bands,your Girl School knock offs and so much more. You also can pick up the other Ludicra albums I haven't posted,if you so choose.
Now back to Conga Fury. There are 9 records here and they are all great in their own right. I believe it's everything they have released,besides Compilation tracks, but if that ain't right,please correct me. Here in no particular order:

Bullshit Disaster

Chaotic Noise

Dear Friends

Love Noise

Never Die

Split with Chainsaw and Voetsek

Split with Crunky Kids

Split with Godfree Ho

World Peace

......and seriously if you aren't sold on the idea of 9 free records from a great fucking band,check out these videos first, the look in singer Hanao's eyes says it all.

Part 1

Part 2

Enjoy this stuff and I'll be back tomorrow with a real classic.........................................Troy

Call off the Fucking Dogs!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Veterans Day everyone.Here's hoping we call off our Heroes soon.

.......and since you always need a theme song for this kind of occasion,I give you the perfect fit from perhaps the most pissed band you'll ever hear.

Jarhead Fertilizer by Dystopia

I'll post some more Japanese punkrock tomorrow,the absolutely raging

CONGA FURY!!!!!!!

Destroy the Twisted Justice...

From Tokyo hails Crow,maybe my favorite Japanese band sans Corrupted and Zeni Geva. Going strong for over 20 years now,they have released some of the best D-Beat crust punk you'll ever hear. I don't know much about them to tell you the truth save that they shared a drummer with the much more well known G.I.S.M. I contemplated posting only Japanese bands for the week but I knew better than to think I could go about it without neglecting bands that fully deserved to be recognized. On top of Crow,I was going to touch on The Comes,Gai,Confuse,Framtid,Lipcream,and that would leave out G.I.S.M., Coffins, Gallhammer, Corrupted,Muga,Conga Fury,etc. So, today you get 5 Crow records and some compilation tracks and for the near future you can expect a steady dose of Japanese bands littered throughout the rest of it. So in no particular order:

A Sacrifice for the Vicious Dominant and Bloodshed Justice

Bloody Tear LP

Death of Nuclear Arms EP

Neurotic Organization EP

The Beatings of the Wings of Destruction

Compilation tracks.....

If your running short on time and are gonna check one out before the rest,Neurotic Organization is a good place to start. It has a cover of "No Sanctuary"by Amebix and the first song"Children Lost the Bright Future" has perhaps one of the catchiest riffs you've ever heard.

Sunday Morning Radio

Sunday is here and I've got a couple of treats for you today in the form of two very well recorded radio shows.
There are two very different bands but both are absolute legends and beloved by many. The first is Rorschach who might be my favorite hardcore band ever depending on what month you catch me. They are from New Jersey and during the nineties, every fucking hardcore band in the world wanted to sound like them. Check out this live recording from 1990 on WFMU.

Rorschach live on WFMU

The other band is the crushing doom band Noothgrush. Hailing from the bay area,these guys along with Japan's Corrupted were THE sludge bands you wanted to see. They wrote kick ass riffs and never compromised,they just rocked. Their recording was from 1996 and took place on WSZU in Palo Alto,California. The sound is absolutely devastating so if you like your punk slow as molasses, download this now.

Noothgrush live on WSZU

As for studio albums by these bands,I have a couple things by Noothgrush I can post but I've lost my Rorschach discography cd along the way. If anyone has it and could get it to me somehow so I could share it here,well,that would be great. Rorschach has so many good songs not covered on this recording as it was taken before they wrote their 2nd Lp. Their first album was a classic but even though it pains me to say it,the 2nd blows it out of the water.

While we're on the subject of radio shows I wanted to turn you onto KMBT:Combat Music Radio. With shows by Joe Preston(Harvey Milk,Thrones,High on Fire,Melvins),Scott Kelly(Neurosis),and Ben Sizemore(Econochrist) among others, you know it fucking rocks. Seriously,you have to check out Joe Preston's show "F that S", it's the best on there. The guy has been involved with some of the best bands ever and this show is definitely on that level. Apparently,Aesop from Cosmic Hearse blog and the drummer for Ludicra and Agalloch will be getting his own show soon as he gets the time. I can't wait for that one.

Get to KMBT from here.

By the way,one more thing before I call it quits until tomorrow. I by no means want to force any of this music down your throats but there were a couple things I have posted that either only one person downloaded or nobody bothered to at all. The first is the Ludicra album on the Cosmic Hearse post I did. You are seriously missing out if you don't back track and check this out. Ludicra are better than 99.9% of bands that are out there today and I could point you to a lot of people who would back that up,it's not just my personal preference. The other glaring thing was how NOBODY downloaded the TerroRhythm Vol.3 Japanese Hardcore compilation. This has four of Japans most raging bands on it so do yourself a big favor and head back and get it. I've put new links up so click on Ludicra or TerroRhythm to get this stuff without searching back to find it.

And remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!....Comments are appreciated....................................................Troy