Rainer Maria - Hell and High Water

Artist: Rainer Maria
Title: Hell and High Water
Release: 2000
Label: Polyvinyl Record Company

Track List:
1. Hell and High Water
2. Paper Sack

If you've heard of Rainer Maria I bet you haven't thought of them in a few years. If you've never heard of Rainer Maria, they were an emo band from Wisconsin featuring male and female vocals. Pretty good, but nothing exceptional.

This is still for sale over at Polyvinyl. As usual if you like it you should buy it since it's still in stock.

The second track was recorded live so that probably accounts for the slightly inferior sound quality.

Download: Rainer Maria - Hell and High Water (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Rainer Maria - Hell and High Water (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Iron Age - Demo

Artist: Iron Age
Title: Demo
Release: 2005
Label: Next Level Records

Track List:
1. Intro
2. Forked Tongue
3. Brainwreck
4. Comin' Down
5. My Level

You've no doubt heard Iron Age's debut "Constant Struggle" and 2009's magnificent album "The Sleeping Eye". But, unless you own a copy of their demo I suspect you've probably never heard it as I couldn't find a digital version of it out there. Fortunately I have a copy and have taken to trying to rip my cassette collection.

I picked up my copy of the demo in early 2005 at a Terror show. I think it was actually Terror that was selling the demo which is kinda weird since they're from LA and all. If I had to guess they probably got a few copies to distro when they hit up Austin. I hadn't heard of Iron Age at the time and whoever was working the Terror merch table insisted I spend my leftover 2 bucks on the Iron Age demo. I'm really glad I took that dude's word for it. They may not have been at the time of the demo but Iron Age is without a doubt one of the best bands in Texas. I'd even go as far as to say one of the best in the country but I'm probably a little biased towards anyone from my home state.

This tape is a piece of crossover greatness in the rough. Nowadays Iron Age is pretty much straight up metal with only occasional forays into what is still obviously hardcore. This demo is sort of the opposite, hardcore with just enough metal to make it really stand out, especially back in 2005. Were this released in 2011 one could probably be excused for calling it generic or riding on a wave of similar sounding bands. But I like to think Iron Age is largely (at the very least partially) responsible for the popularity of more crossover-type bands we've seen in American hardcore the last few years.

Download: Iron Age - Demo (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Iron Age - Demo (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Chest Pain - Discography Tape 2010

Artist: Chest Pain
Title: Discography Tape 2010
Release: 2010
Label: Kills You Records

Track List:
1. North Coast Wizard Violence
2. S.O.B. Story
3. Wasted Effort
4. Wage Assist the Machine
5. Gandhi 2
6. Behold the Infinite Meaninglessness
7. Nihilgasm
8. Embrace Despair
9. Biscuit's Blues
10. Getting Old
11. Red River Waste Water
12. Real Talk
13. Sex Fear
14. Murderers
15. Brave New Bullshit
16. Carcinogen
17. Mass Produced Death
18. Yellow Noose
19. False Self
20. Murderers
21. Shop til You Drop
22. Reverse Baptism
23. A Lifetime of Spit and Swearing
24. Live Set at The Phoenix Project (Dallas, Texas August 14th 2010)

I've posted Chest Pain before. Now here's everything they did up until the last time I saw them, which was in October of last year. They've probably done ungodly amounts of writing and recording since then (or will do so in the near future) so this is by no means a current discography. Merely it is a snapshot of everything up until these tapes were made.

What you've got here is slightly over 22 minutes of raging non-stop angry hardcore. And as a bonus a short set from when they played at The Phoenix Project here in Dallas. I really can't recommend this enough.

I had to make some decisions myself about when one track ends and the other begins as some of the songs kinda blur together with only short bits of feedback giving any indication that a transition is occurring. I advise you to listen to it all at once and in order. Just a warning though, you'll probably be physically exhausted by the end of it.

Download: Chest Pain - Discography Tape 2010 (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Chest Pain - Discography Tape 2010 (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire