Confuse - Nuclear Addicts E.P. (reissue)

Artist: Confuse
Title: Nuclear Addicts E.P. (reissue)
Release: 1996
Label: Anarchy Centre Recordings

Track List:
1. Indignation
2. People Are Nuclear Poisoning
3. Rebel & War
4. Hate (Is It War?)
5. No Victor
6. Disaster
7. The End...

This was originally released in 1984 by Blue Jug Records.

Download: Confuse - Nuclear Addicts E.P. (reissue) (LAME 3.98r V0)

Order of the Kite Volumes One and Two

Artist: Various
Title: Order of the Kite - Volume One
Release: 2001
Label: Bootleg

Track List:
1. Anti-Septic - Visions of Power
2. Anti-Septic - War Game
3. Anti-Septic - Dice with Death
4. Anti-Septic - Death or Glory
5. Crime - Suicide
6. Crime - Best to Death
7. Crime - Nucler Blood
8. Crime - Inside Out
9. Z - Violence Action
10. Z - Go to Kill
11. Z - Go Ahead
12. Z - Peace of Hiroshima
13. Disarray - Social Victim
14. Disarray - Sadist
15. Disarray - Slay
16. Disarray - Balder Dash
17. Disarray - Bad Blood
18. Disarray - Cry Murder
19. Disarray - The Place of Horror
20. The Sexual - Anarchy & Destruction
21. The Sexual - Crime of Sexual
22. The Sexual - War Cry
23. The Sexual - The Last Days
24. The Sexual - Scatter the Hatred
25. The Sexual - Devil Reversion
26. The Sexual - The End Approaches
27. M78 - M78

Tracks 1-4 from "First-Last" 7" (1986, Hold Up Records)
Tracks 5-7 from "Nuclear Blood" 7" flexi (1985, Uma Oi Records)
Track 8 from "I'll Gather Up" 8" compilation (1989, Musical Friends)
Tracks 9-12 from "Violence Action" 7" flexi (1988, Z Records)
Tracks 13-19 from "Disarray" 7" flexi (1984, ADK Records)
Tracks 20-24 from "The Last Days" 7" flexi (1985, Kochi Records)
Tracsk 25-27 from "Jisatu" 8" compilation (1985)

Download: Order of the Kite - Volume One (LAME 3.98r V0)


Artist: Various
Title: Order of the Kite - Volume Two
Release: 2001
Label: Bootleg

Track List:
1. The Clay - The Demilitarized Neutrality
2. The Clay - Fight for Your Rights
3. The Clay - The Middle East Combat Area
4. The Clay - Future Terror
5. The Clay - Militia
6. The Clay - Freeze Bomb / Distraction Symbols / The War to End War / War Crimes / Black Flag
7. Bitousha - Giseisha to Shiteno Kyouraku
8. Bitousha - Batou Kansha
9. Bitousha - Kyouja To Shiteno Koufuku
10. Dead Person - No Marcy Surviving
11. Dead Person - M.D.I.
12. Dead Person - Charge in Trap
13. Dead Person - Shout
14. Dead Person - No Money
15 LSD - Zouaku Sensou / LSD
16. LSD - Warst Time
17. LSD - Kill You / LSD (Instrumental)
18. Final Count - Imitate a Human
19. Final Count - Silence
20. Final Count - Will Full Life
21. Final Count - No Follow the Fashion
22. Final Count - Double Faced Person
23. Final Count - Organization
24. The Execute - Criminal Flowers Part 1 & 2
25. The Execute - Slash
26. The Execute - Moron
27. The Execute - The Voice
28. The Execute - Sag

Tracks 1-3 from "Middle East Combat Area" 7" (1986, Hold Up Records)
Tracks 4-5 from "Great Punk Hits" compilation (1983, Japan Records)
Track 6 from "Hold Up Omnibus" 8" compilation (Hold Up Records, 1984)
Tracks 7-9 from "Hiromi's Party Part 1" 7" flexi (1984, ACS Records)
Tracks 10-14 from "Dead Person" 7" flexi (1987, Stomping Records)
Tracks 15-17 from "Destroy" 7" flexi (1984, ADK Records)
Tracks 18-22 from "Final Count" 7" flexi (1988, Final Records)
Track 23 from "Enjoy Your Youth" compilation (1998, Adventure Family)
Tracks 24-26 from "Criminal Flowers" 7" (1984, Hit Parade)
Tracks 27-28 from "Great Punk Hits" compilation (1983, Japan Records)

Download: Order of the Kite - Volume Two (LAME 3.98r V0)


Both of these compilations are bootlegs from sources unknown (to me and apparently google as well). I'm normally not too keen on bootlegs since they tend to be of dubious quality and I don't really like the idea of people putting out a bands music without their consent. But, I suppose after enough time has passed and no official repress or discography collection is released then bootlegging can serve a valid purpose in that it can keep hard to find music from fading into obscurity. My understanding of "Order of the Kite" volumes one and two is that they collect records that, with a few exceptions, are neigh on impossible to find for anything resembling a reasonable price.

I won't spend much time describing each band contained in the compilations as reviews can easily be found elsewhere. But, I will say that if you like hardcore, especially the kind that is distinctly Japanese hardcore, then you'd be a damned fool to not download this.

City of Caterpillar - Demo + Live Recording

Artist: City of Caterpillar
Title: Demo + Live Recording
Release: 2002
Label: Level Plane Records

Track List:
1. A Heart Filled Reaction to Dissatisfaction (Demo)
2. Shadows of Ghosts Passing on City Streets (Demo)
3. Demo Track 3
4. Demo Track 4
5. Demo Track 5
6. When Was the Last Time We Painted over the Blood on the Walls? (Live)
7. An Innocent Face (Live)
8. Shadows of Ghosts Passing on City Streets (Live)
9. A Little Change Could Go a Long Ways (Live)

While no means what I would consider a "hardcore" band City of Caterpillar nevertheless deserves some attention here. Active back in the days when screamo was for the most part not yet a dirty word City of Caterpillar played what I think is best described as a fusion between their contemporaries and Post-Rock. At times they lean so heavily towards the sort of beautiful and eerie sounds typically associated with bands like Mogwai that it can be pretty jarring when they suddenly shift into the harsh noise and screaming.

Somewhere around 7 years ago I left their self-titled album in my car's CD player when my mom asked to borrow it. Later that day when she returned it to me she made the comment that whatever was in my CD player sounded really pretty until it started to get really ugly. That's a pretty accurate description I'd say.

This particular recording is a little more on the ugly (in a good way!) side of things than their self-titled release but it's just as great of a listen. Rather than type out my own description, from the insert:

Songs 1-5 were recorded at Signal to Noise Studios by Duncan & Jay in the April of 2000 in Richmond, VA. These songs were originally released on demo tapes & CDRs. Song 3 also appeared on a split 7" with System 2600 which was released by the Sea of Dead Pirates record label.

Lineup... Brandon, Ryan, Adam, Jeff.

Songs 6-9 were recorded live on WNYU by Steve Roche in Manhattan, NY in the December of 2000. Songs 6 & 8 were released on a one sided tour edition 7" which was pressed by the Level Plane record label.

Lineup... Brandon, Ryan, Kevin, Jeff.

This release is intended to make these songs available at a reasonable price. There should be no need to pay ridiculous prices for these recordings on out of print records.

...Endless thanks go to...
Planes Mistaken for Stars, System 2600, Level Plane, pg 99, Lilac Sky, Adagio 830, Fil "Mako", our friends & families, and everyone who has supported us.

It's kind of funny now since this record can go for a good amount of money on eBay. I was fortunate enough to get my first copy on black vinyl for normal retail price. I won't say how much I paid for my second copy on clear vinyl, but it was as Brandon said, ridiculous.

I'm kind of in the process of organizing my mp3 library right now. Since I don't actually own a CD copy of this record I was curious to see if it is even available for sale anymore and sadly it appears it isn't. The only downloads I could find through Google find were low bit rate and probably done poorly. Fortunately, even though I don't have the actual CD I do have a FLAC rip with an EAC log that says it's damn near perfect. So for your convenience here it is in V0 mp3.

Download: City of Caterpillar - Demo + Live Recording (LAME 3.98r V0)

Kuro - Who the Helpless + 10 Tracks

Artist: Kuro
Title: Who the Helpless + 10 Tracks
Release: 2005
Label: SS Recordings

Track List:
1. X / 絶望 (Zetsubou, Despair)
2. Human Gas
3. Body
4. Who the Helpless
5. Selfish Cow
6. お前だ (Omaeda, You) / OiMaeda
7. No More No
8. A.N.P.R
9. Lightning Breaks
10. Furniture Fire
11. Dead Heat 10000V
12. Hey! Hey! Hey!
13. Midnight Baby
14. Jag Out
15. Top Less Go
16. Jag Out (1983 Gig)
17. Top Less Go (1983 Gig)

Kuro (whose name simply means "black" but is written with 白 (shiro), the kanji for "white" for reasons I don't know) played a type of very fast bass heavy hardcore that is now pretty distinctly Japanese. That isn't to say bands elsewhere around the world haven't done things in the same way, it's just that Kuro really helped get it all started and as such it's no wonder that sound is so heavily associated with what one thinks of when discussing Japanese hardcore.

This CD is a collection of all (to my knowledge) of kuro's records that they put out in their relatively short lifetime (1983 to 1986, I think). The only bad part about it is that it isn't any longer. Even including the live songs it's barely 36 minutes.

Speaking of the live songs, I have a very strong suspicion that Kuro's recorded output doesn't do their live show justice. When I first heard the last couple of tracks I thought the screams were added in into the recording but since watching some of their videos on youtube I'm not so sure anymore.



This encode I did myself from a beautiful FLAC rip of the CD that I was able to find (you probably can too if you can use google). I didn't think reposting the FLAC rip itself was necessary since V0 mp3 is pretty much just as good. Major kudos to the dude who remastered this though, since that's where the real bottleneck for sound quality lies, especially with hardcore from the 80's. I dunno if he worked with the master recordings (I doubt it) or if it was remastered from the vinyl but it sounds as good as one would expect from a punk band during that time.

I did manage to find the official site of the record label that put this out. If you've got ￥2,940 (about $32.33) lying around you might want to see if you can get them to ship internationally. It looks like they do mail order only so good luck.

I couldn't find album art larger than a small thumbnail for this so I just used the best I could find for the original "Who the Helpless" record.

Tracks 1-7 from "Who the Helpless" 8" flexi (1984, Blue Jug Records)
Tracks 8-11 from "Fire" 7" EP (1986, KPP Records)
Tracks 12-13 from "Pinch & Ouch!" compilation (1985, KPP Records)
Tracks 14-15 from "Kuro" 7" flexi (1983, Blue Jug Records)
Tracks 16-17 from "1983 Gig" 7" flexi (1986, KPP Records)

All tracks digitally remastered by Kotaro Kojima at Flair.

Download: Kuro - Who the Helpless + 10 Tracks (LAME 3.98r V0)

Lie and Wait - 2 Song Tour Demo

Artist: Lie and Wait
Title: 2 Song Tour Demo
Release: 2007
Label: Self Released

Track List:
1. King for a Day
2. Apostasy

I've posted Lie and Wait before. As this release's title suggests this is a two song demo Lie and Wait handed out during a tour some time in 2007. I don't really remember which tour at this point, but I do know I got this from them at The Way it Is fest which they played.

The first track "King for a Day" is pretty par for the course with Lie and Wait. For the most part mid paced with plenty of distortion on the guitars. Tyler is pissed at something and I'm pretty certain it's either society or religion or both.

"Apostasy" is a little bit faster at times but slows down just before a pretty awesome build up about half way through. This song reminds me of earlier No Warning more than anything else Lie and Wait did.

I seem to recall this coming out after their last album "Led Astray", but that may just be because I might not have seen them in the months immediately before its release. I got my copy after the album was out. The fact that a far more polished version of "Apostasy" appears on the album I'm inclined to believe this is from before it. "King for a Day" doesn't appear on anything else so maybe it just didn't make the cut. Next time I see any of them I'll ask.

Good luck finding this anywhere else.

Download: Lie and Wait - 2 Song Tour Demo (LAME 3.98r V0)

Breaking Power the Prisoner - Break Way

Artist: Breaking Power the Prisoner
Title: Break Way
Release: 1985
Label: Idol Life

Track List:
1. Break Way
2. What Do You See
3. Burning Body

More excellent 80's Japanese hardcore. This one was a bit of a bitch to be find which is why I'm posting it here. Sorry for the complete lack of album art. Update: Looks like someone who actually owns this got around to putting the album art on discogs.com. The awesome keyboard (or guitar part that sounds like a keyboard to me) interlude in "Burning Body" should make up for that.

Download: Breaking Power The Prisoner - Break Way (LAME 3.97 V2)

Exhale/Skitkids - split

Artist: Exhale/Skitkids
Title: split
Release: 2004
Label: Putrid Filth Conspiracy

Track List:
1. Exhale - 制裁 (Seisai, Punishment)
2. Exhale - Instinct Again
3. Skitkids - Du Har Inget Värde
4. Skitkids - Vidrigt Käk Utan Kök
5. Skitkids - Lyckans Sång

This is a killer split between Japan's Exhale (apparently there are multiple bands with that name) and Sweden's Skitkids.

I couldn't add the files to a normal zip archive because of some of the characters in the file names so this upload is in a 7-Zip archive. You can download 7-Zip for free from here.

Download: Exhale/Skitkids - split (LAME 3.93 192 kbps)

Crow - Death of Nuclear Arms

Artist: Crow
Title: Death of Nuclear Arms
Release: 1998
Label: Crow Records

Track List:
1. 混沌神 ~Death of Nuclear Arms~ (Konton Kami, God of Chaos)
2. At Last Coming
3. Into the Void

I was pretty stoked to find a fantastically done rip of this gem from Crow. You should be too since it was hard to find and it sounds perfect.

Download: Crow - Death of Nuclear Arms (LAME 3.95 V0)

Summertime Compilation

Artist: Various
Title: Summertime Compilation
Release Date: 2000
Label: Kordova Milk Bar Records

Track List:
01. Ache - Falling from the Sky to Our Heads
02. Five Stars For Failure - Fired
03. Joshua Fit for Battle - Detication
04. Knives and Greenwater - On Horsell Common
05. Landed - ---
06. Lycosa - Lycobra
07. Numbers Are Neutral - Fedaykin
08. Off Minor - Visible Distance (Live on WNYU, on 5-11-00 by Steve Roche, Orig. by UOoA)
09. Neil Perry - September 15th, City Lights and The Clouds That Suck Them Dry (Live on WNYU, on Winter 99)
10. pg. 99 - Mary Get Your Knife
11. Racebannon - The Boy in the Bathtub
12. The Assistant - f.Orever a.Ngry at m.Y I.Nner l.Ove For y.Ou
13. The Awakened - Put on Ice
14. The Cable Car Theory - Second Guessing
15. Keyboard Masters - Is That a Bichon Frise, Young Man
16. The Scarlet Letter - I'm Just a Lonely Bumblebee and That's the Way I Like It
17. The Vida Blue - ...So the Pirate Says
18. Thursday - This Side of Brightness
19. To Dream of Autumn - The Pill Versus the Springhill Mine Disaster
20. Usurp Synapse - More than Meets the Eye

This is a bit of a change of pace considering my recent posts, but I figure since this is such a rarity I just had to post it. All I know about this little compilation is from the liner notes that are in the booklet it came with. It seems two high school kids in Rhode Island put this out sometime in 2000 after March and only 1000 of these were made. My copy is hand numbered 12/148. I'm not certain if that means the particular packaging I have is limited to 148 or what. The money from this compilation went to help underprivileged kids go to summer camp. Hence the name I suppose.

This is a fantastic comp with bands you should probably already be familiar with and a few you've probably never heard before. It's got a slew of awesome screamo bands in their prime all in one place. But what I think I like most about this is that it was put out by a couple of 10th graders who just wanted to get involved in their local punk/hardcore scene and put something out for people to enjoy and help a good cause at the same time. That's the kind of DIY ethic that makes all of this such an awesome and fun thing to be a part of.

I'm including the entire booklet scanned at 600 DPI (lol overkill) because it's got a pretty neat layout and it has information and lyrics that might be of interest. Just a warning though, it's a good 281 MB. I could have scanned it in at a lower resolution but I wanted to make certain it was all readable.

Download: Various Artists - Summertime Compilation (LAME 3.98r V0)

Download: Various Artists - Summertime Compilation booklet

Nightmare - Early Years

Artist: Nightmare
Title: Early Years
Release: 2005
Label: Hardcore Kitchen Records

Track List:
1. Black Window
2. Dick
3. Annihilation
4. Nothing
5. Euthanasia
6. Self Defence Power
7. Dark Side
8. Tumbling Down
9. Lost Anger
10. Acutuality
11. Positive Fact
12. お前 (Omae, You)
13. Keys to Mind
14. Give the Low to You
15. Annihilation
16. Find Your Way
17. Tragedy

Here we have a collection of earlier material from Nightmare. 17 tracks of fast Burning Spirits Japanese hardcore. This is a rager from start to finish.

I'd like to take a moment with this post and say that records like this one are exactly why I started this blog. Not only would this make my list of "required listening" for anyone who considers themselves a fan of hardcore punk but even with google and the myriad of websites dedicated to music and all that awesome stuff we have instant access to in 2010 it is still relatively difficult to find comprehensive information about this release in one place. That's sort of my goal here, to post gems like this and not only provide them for others to listen to, but to make sure that as much relevant information is included.

For example: it took me a good while to find the actual name of track 12 as everywhere save one website simply had it listed as "japanese title". Maybe I'm just exceptionally neurotic about that sort of stuff but I like to think I'm not the only one who likes to keep their digital music collection as neatly organized as their actual record collection.

Tracks 1-10 from "Give Notice of Nightmare.." (1990, Selfish Records)
Tracks 11-24 from "Eye of the Thrash Guerilla" compilation (1998, Selfish Records)
Tracks 15-17 from the split with Concrete Sox (1991, MCR Company)

Download: Nightmare - Early Years (LAME 3.92 V2)

Crow - Neurotic Organization

Artist: Crow
Title: Neurotic Organization
Release: 2001
Label: Prank Records

Track List:
1. Children Lost The Bright Future
2. Dark, Grief, Anger ... And Dark
3. Sanctuary/No Gods No Masters (Amebix)
4. Disorganization

More Crow. Track 3 is an Amebix cover.

Download: Crow - Neurotic Organization (FhG 192 kbps)

Crow - 破滅ノ羽音 (Hametsu no Haoto, The Beating of the Wings of Destruction)

Artist: Crow
Title: 破滅ノ羽音 (Hametsu no Haoto, The Beating of the Wings of Destruction)
Release: 2007
Label: Crow Records

Track List:
1. 破滅ノ羽音 (Hametsu no Haoto, The Beating of the Wings of Destruction)
2. 弔イノ鐘 (Tomurai no Kane, Funeral Bell)
3. 祈リ呪イ (Inori Noroi, Malediction)
4. 囁ク鏡 (Sasayaku Kagami, Whispering Mirror)
5. LAST CHAOS

This is one awesome LP. I was fortunate enough to pick up a copy at Chaos in Tejas last week. It's a picture disc with some of the most bitchin' artwork I've seen in a while. From what I was told 1000 were pressed, 150 of them were given special silk screened Chaos in Tejas 2010 edition covers. I'm not certain if the ones with the Chaos in Tejas covers were from the original batch of 1000 made in 2007 or if they were part of a repress.

This copy is from the vinyl release. Side A is just one song. Side B is the next 4 songs all in one file since it all sort of runs together.

In the future whenever I post something from Japan I'm going to try and post any titles that are in kanji/kana in both romaji and in as accurate of English as I can muster.

You can still buy a CD version of this album over at Hardcore Holocaust. If/when I scrape the money together to get the CD version I will replace this post with a proper rip from the CD.

Download: Crow - 破滅ノ羽音 (LAME 3.97 V2)

Crow - Flock of Beast

Artist: Crow
Title: Flock of Beast
Release: 2009
Label: Prank Records

Track List:
1. Flock of Beast I
2. Flock of Beast II

Another short but sweet rager from Crow.

I was gonna post a link to buy this but it appears to be out of stock everywhere.

Download: Crow - Flock of Beast (LAME 3.97 V2)

Crow - Bloody Tear

Artist: Crow
Title: Bloody Tear
Release: 2006
Label: Prank Records

Track List:
1. 闘争 -Anarchy Chaos Destruction II-
2. 絶叫
3. 滅亡
4. Give Up All Hope
5. 終焉の扉
6. 混沌神
7. The Death is Singing With Wind
8. 血涙
9. -No Justice I-
10. Slaughter of Nationally　-No Justice II-

More metallic punk from Crow.

You can (and should) buy this from the No Idea Records distro.

Update: 07-21-12: I've swapped out the previous download with a new one. Now, instead of something of questionable origin, I've posted a V0 transcode of the FLAC files that Zer was so gracious to post. I took the liberty of running the tracks through Audition and removing the pops and clicks and normalizing the volume. Thanks a ton to Zer for this!
Download: Crow - Bloody Tear (LAME 3.98r V0)

Crow - Anarchy Chaos Destruction

Artist: Crow
Title: Anarchy Chaos Destruction
Release 1997
Label: Crow Records

Track List:
1. Crow
2. Good-Bye Song
3. Last Chaos
4. Who Killed Dove?
5. Anarchy Chaos Destruction
6. War
7. Crow
8. No Violence
9. Give Up All Hope
10. The Day of Annihilation
11. Last Chaos
12. Storms of Despair
13. Is This Fiction?
14. Hiroshima Nagasaki
15. For Fucking State
16. Give Peace a Chance
17. Air Attack
18. Last Chaos
19. Disgust
20. Give Up All Hope
21. The Day of Annihilation
22. I'm Looking Out Over
23. Dance of Death
24. Bloody Earth
25. The End
26. Born to Die
27. Hiroshima Nagasaki
28. Storms of Despair
29. Is This Fiction?

Osaka's Crow should need no introduction, but just in case you're not familiar, they play a form of very raw metallic punk that one has come to expect from Japan, in no small part because of the influence of Crow. "Anarchy Chaos Destruction" is a compilation CD containing four of Crow's earlier releases collected together.

Tracks 1-4 from "Who Killed Dove?" (1986, Crow Records)
Tracks 5-18 from "Last Chaos" (1987, Crow Records)
Tracks 19-24 from "Eye of the Thrash Guerrilla" compilation (1988, Selfish Records)
Tracks 25-29 from "Last Tape Grind Crust"

Download: Crow - Anarchy Chaos Destruction (LAME 3.98r 320 kbps)

Bastard - No Hope In Here

Artist: Bastard
Title: No Hope In Here
Release 2002
Label: Bastard Records

Track List:
1. Misery
2. Flash Out
3. Never Change
4. Wind of Pain
5. To the Stumped Underdogs
6. Dear Cops
7. The Way To Survive
8. Truth
9. Tragic Insane
10. Spend Your Life
11. Defective Chain
12. Moment of Death
13. Cause of Civilization
14. Slick Plot
15. Lasting Power
16. 屍 (Shikabane, Corpse)

This is a CD re-issue of the legendary Bastard's "No Hope In Here". It compiles all of their releases in one disc.

Tracks 1-8 from "Wind of Pain" (1990, Bloodsucker Records/Bastard Records)
Tracks 9-14 from "Controlled in the Frame" (1989, Bastard Records)
Track 15 previously unreleased
Track 16 from "Triple Cross Counter" compilation (1989, Kagai Mousou)

Download: Bastard - No Hope In Here (LAME 3.97 V0)