Zouo - The Final Agony (CD from Box Set)

Artist: Zouo
Title: The Final Agony
Release: 2012
Label: Black Lodge

1. Sons of Satan
2. Making Love with Devil
3. No Power
4. Bloody Master
5. Frustration
6. You Like It That Way
7. Survivor
8. No Power
9. Making Love with Devil
10. Bloody Master
11. You Like It That Way
12. Violent Age
13. Frustration
14. System Fuck Off
15. Change Your Life
16. Out of Order
17. Dance
18. Sons of Satan

Holy crap guys, it's Zouo.

For the longest time I always thought I'd only ever have poorly ripped mp3s of the one EP Zouo put out in 1984 and the two songs on "Hardcore Unlawful Assembly". While they're not quite as popular as some of the bigger similar bands of the era (G.I.S.M., etc.) just about everyone I know that is aware of who they are loves "The Final Agony". Well, like a year ago or so it seems that someone over in Japan realized that people actually want to have a chance to hear their music or something because there's been a slew of reissues and an LP with songs that were only recorded live.

This CD is from an awesome box set that came out earlier this summer. It's also the first time any of these songs have been on CD. It also came with a live set DVD. The CD itself combines all of the recent reissue material.

Tracks 1-4 from "The Final Agony" 7" (1984, AA Records)
Tracks 5-6 from "Frustration" 7" (2011, Crust War Records)
Tracks 7-18 recorded live at Duck Studio in Osaka 1984/9/7

If you can read Japanese you can find more information about the box set over at Black Lodge's website. It doesn't say if this is sold out. But I'm gonna go ahead and assume it probably is.

NO POWER!

Download: Zouo - The Final Agony (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Forward - Burn Down the Corrupted Justice

Artist: Forward
Title: Burn Down the Corrupted Justice
Release: 2004
Label: H.G.Fact

1. Fuck Bush!!
2. Choice
3. 無限
4. Coerce
5. The Basis
6. 望叶給
7. 幻
8. ブチコメ!!
9. In the Fight
10. Welcome to the Underground
11/ Isolation

So Ishiya walks up to my friend Uriel, who is wearing a Death Side shirt, and points and just says "Bootleg!" and then laughs. Called ouuuuuuut.

Download: Forward - Burn Down the Corrupted Justice (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Forward - Fucked Up!!

Artist: Forward
Title: Fucked Up!!
Release: 2002
Label: H.G.Fact

1. Simple True
2. I Save Me
3. Never Lost Your Self
4. What?
5. Freedom?
6. Fucked Up!!
7. Failure
8. Change

Fucked up public opinion!

Download: Forward - Fucked Up!! (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Forward - While You Alive

Artist: Forward
Title: While You Alive
Release: 1998
Label: H.G.Fact

1. Melt to the Other Side
2. Penetration
3. Absolutely
4. Fight Against
5. Over the Matter of Course
6. Vomit All / Change

I've finally stopped aching from Choas in Tejas. If you've never been, it's like Christmas only way more punk.

This year's personal highlight was without a doubt Forward. I missed them the last time they came through the US in 2006 so I made it a point to see them three times. It's a good thing I have a real job this year, because at past Chaos in Tejas' I've had to make hard decisions about what bands I want to support. This year I was able to get a copy of every CD/record Forward had with them. So here's the first of the CDs, "While You Alive" from 1998. I think "Absolutely" might be my favorite Forward song.

I'll post the rest of the Forward stuff, plus some other things I picked up during Chaos in Tejas, over the next few days. This CD can still be purchased, but be prepared to pay a lot more than the standard $10!.

Here's some video's from their show in Denton a few days before Chaos in Tejas.






The last one is Forward covering G.I.S.M.'s "Endless Blockades of the Pussyfooter". Too bad it doesn't keep going, because right after that they covered "Nih Nightmare".

Download: Forward - While You Alive (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

On a kind of related note, Sugi, artist and bass player for Warhead is finally putting out an artbook through Bloodsucker Records. I had the immense honor of meeting Sugi for the first time in Denton and had several delightful conversations with him during Choas in Tejas. When he mentioned his artbook I have to admit I got a little giddy. I kind of collect things with his art on it, so an actual book with his stuff is something I've dreamed of for a long time. If you were smart you'd send Guy an email at diskshopmisery@gmail.com and order a copy.

Fuckheads - 2011 Summer Tour Tape

Artist: Fuckheads
Title: 2011 Summer Tour Tape
Release: 2011
Label: self released

1. Lion
2. Sit Around
3. Grinder
4. Traitor
5. Choke
6. Empty

This has been sitting in my tape player for a while now. I just never got around to ripping it until recently.

Fuckheads are from Boston and play crazy distorted noise in the same vein as D-Clone. Their longest song is a minute and 13 seconds so they never even come close to breaking the two minute rule. You'll either love this or think it shouldn't even be considered music.

Download: Fuckheads - 2011 Summer Tour Tape (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Cluster Bomb Unit - You Can Not Kill a Master at Night

Artist: Cluster Bomb Unit
Title: You Can Not Kill a Master at Night
Release: 2005
Label: Life on the Edge Records

Track List:
1. Without A Warning
2. Germans Go Home
3. Too Punk To Act
4. End The War Now
5. Kill Your Scene
6. Our World
7. Parents
8. Fear Of The Future
9. Krank
10. Jagd
11. Messias Komplex
12. Abgrund
13. Opfer
14. Detonation
15. Grundlos
16. VKP
17. Falsche Welt
18. Vebaute Zukunft
19. Egal
20. Ratten
21. War In Your Living Room
22. Wirrkopf
23. Betrug
24. Wut
25. Schweigen
26. Draussen
27. VKP II
28. Überdosis
29. Realität
30. Krawattencharly
31. Ertappt
32. Drückeberger
33. Punkgestapo
34. Nervous Corps (G.I.S.M.)
35. Abgrund (Live)
36. Verbaute Zukunft (Live)
37. Wut (Live)

Tracks 1-3 from split 7" flexi with Resist (1993, Consensus Reality Records)
Tracks 4-8 From "End the War Now" 7" (1994, Thought Crime Records)
Tracks 9-11 from split 7" with Disclose (1994, MCR Company)
Tracks 12-15 from "Opfer" 7" (1995 DIY Records)
Tracks 16-27 from "Fotografieren Verboten" 10" (1996, Thought Crime Records)
Tracks 28-32 from "Realität" 7" (1996, Wiggy Records)
Tracks 33-37 from "Greetings From U.S.A." 7" (1997, self released)

Back in 2005 Cluster Bomb Unit did a tour of Asia. donotconsume Records of Malaysia put out this partial discography CD for them to sell on the tour. Life on the Edge Records repressed 150 copies it at some point. I've seen this floating around elsewhere, but the rips were of dubious quality. I found a copy on Velted Regnub Distribution for a very reasonable price so I figured I'd rip it and throw it up here.

Download: Cluster Bomb Unit - You Can Not Kill a Master at Night (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Cluster Bomb Unit - You Can Not Kill a Master at Night (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Chest Pain/Naw Dude - split

Artist: Chest Pain/Naw Dude
Title: split
Release: 2009
Label: Depleted Resource Records

Track List:
1. Chest Pain - Sexfear
2. Chest Pain - Brave New Bullshit
3. Chest Pain - Murderers
4. Chest Pain - Carcinogen
5. Chest Pain - Mass Produced Death
6. Naw Dude - Displacer Beast
7. Naw Dude - Failure Pile
8. Naw Dude - Posi Creep
9. Naw Dude - Violent Pizza

Since I've already posted Chest Pain's discography tape I'm mostly posting this for the Naw Dude side. I was kinda surprised that someone else hasn't posted this elsewhere (at least if someone has Google ain't finding it). If you've been here before the Chest Pain side of this split should be pretty familiar. Super fast, super pissed, super tight hardcore. The Naw Dude side is similar, but not so much so that you can't tell the difference between the two.


Download: Chest Pain/Naw Dude - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Chest Pain/Naw Dude - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Profound - Integrity

Artist: Profound
Title: Integrity
Release: 1989
Label: Anti-Schelski Records

Track List:
1. Push to Start
2. Face the Fight
3. Suffer for My Choice
4. Bow for the Bucks
5. X's for Respect
6. Woflpack (D.Y.S.)

Profound is a decent enough West German ripoff of Judge and Slapshot. The D.Y.S. cover is actually pretty cool. Anti-Schelski records latter became known as Crucial Response records so all subsequent represses were on that label.

Download: Profound - Integrity (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Profound - Integrity (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Bread and Water/Reason of Insanity - split

Artist: Bread and Water/Reason of Insanity
Title: split
Release: 2011
Label: Burrito Records

Track List:
1. Bread and Water - Keep Walking
2. Bread and Water - One Day
3. Bread and Water – Entertainment
4. Reason of Insanity – Expendable
5. Reason of Insanity – No Good Intentions
6. Reason of Insanity – Battle Hymn
7. Reason of Insanity – L.P.P.D.
8. Reason of Insanity – Clouded Judgment
9. Reason of Insanity - Outro

Bread and Water was a bit before my time, which is a shame, because they're one of the better hardcore bands to come out of Dallas in the last 10 or 15 years. I know absolutely nothing about Reason of Insanity except that their mailing address is Lafeyette, LA so I guess that's where they're from.

Bread and Water is notable for the dual male/female vocals. That's not something you see often in hardcore. I might get flak for saying this but they remind me of a way more punk version of Circle Takes the Square, but really only for that reason.

On the other side, Reason of Insanity offers up five very short songs and one outro track. The music is pretty simple hardcore, heavy sounding, but nothing fancy. My guess is that they were probably much better live. That isn't to say their side is bad, but considering how good the Bread and Water side is it's hard to find much of a reason to flip the record over. I love the lyrics to L.P.P.D. though.

On a related note, my buddy Jason Warhammer has recently started his own label, Timekiller Records. His first offering is a DVD of Bread and Water's last show. I don't think he has a website or anything, but you can definitely contact him at jasonjamesdesign@yahoo.com to inquire about it. I believe it's $15 + postage.



Download: Bread and Water/Reason of Insanity - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Bread and Water/Reason of Insanity - split (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

The Gaia - No.1

Artist: The Gaia
Title: No.1
Release: 1994
Label: Six Weeks Records

Track List:
1. You Are No. 1
2. No Sleep. No Dream
3. Dream Machine
4. Why Not?
5. Boys (The Beatles)
6. なだれ

I can't say I know much about this band other than they were all female, from Tokyo, and are totally awesome. If you're familiar with Six Weeks Records and haven't heard The Gaia then you probably know what you're getting into anyways. Fast loud hardcore that verges on the edge of what some might call power violence. As far as this record goes it's definitely just straight up hardcore punk. Track 5 is cover of The Beatles.

Download: The Gaia - No.1 (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: The Gaia - No.1 (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Masakari - Sleep // Rot

Artist: Masakari
Title: Sleep // Rot
Release: 2011
Label: self released

Track List:
1. Sleep
2. Rot

I would have posted this sooner but I still use my parent's house as my mailing address. I've probably mentioned before that I love Masakari. If I haven't I'm saying it now. They're as bad ass live as they are recorded.

This record is sadly only one sided with a mere two songs. One very short, the other a little longer, but both awesome. The B side is blank with some cool art silk screened on it.

Download: Masakari - Sleep // Rot (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Masakari - Sleep // Rot (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

CTR - 狂い咲きサンダーロード!!

Artist: CTR
Title: 狂い咲きサンダーロード!!
Release: 2004
Label: H.G.Fact

Track List:
1. いきないインセイン
2. 小人とツイスト
3. あけてくれ



CTR isn't the band playing in this video, but it is where this 7"'s name comes from. It does it justice too.

Download: CTR - 狂い咲きサンダーロード!! (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: CTR - 狂い咲きサンダーロード!! (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

No Way I'm in Panic

Artist: Various
Title: No Way I'm in Panic
Release: 1998
Label: Mangrove Label

Track List:
1. Freaks - Faster
2. Flux Cored Wire - Keep
3. Assfort - Ejaculation Remix

This is a pretty awesome compilation featuring three Japanese bands (or is it a three way split?). Freaks and Flux Cored Wire are both fairly typical and fairly good Japanese hardcore. Assfort is too, but their track on this is some sort of weird lo-fi remix. Not a whole lot of replay value on that side. But the Freaks/Flux Cored Wire side is fantastic.

Download: Various - No Way I'm in Panic (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Various - No Way I'm in Panic (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Proclamation - Straight Edge Hardcore

Artist: Proclamation
Title: Straight Edge Hardcore
Release: 1998
Label: Bridge 9 Records

Track List:
1. Straight Edge Hardcore
2. What It Takes
3. ...In the Family
4. Glorify the Lies
5. You Should Pay
6. On the Rise
7. Torn Apart
8. You Gave In

This is really cheesy straight edge hardcore (obviously) from Boston in the mid-90's. I realize that at the time this band was forming that this style of hardcore with these kind of lyrics probably wasn't quite as cliched as it is now. But that doesn't do much to keep this EP from seeming like a parody. I'd be lying if I said I didn't like it, but I'd also be lying if I said it was good.

Here's some more info on Proclamation and this particular record. If you like this you can actually get it on CD as part of an early singles collection from Bridge 9 Records still. And for an extremely fair price of six dollars.

Download: Proclamation - Straight Edge Hardcore (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Proclamation - Straight Edge Hardcore (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

The Comes - No Side (reissue)

Artist: The Comes
Title: No Side (reissue)
Release: 2008 (originally 1983)
Label: Dogma Records

Track List:
1. No Side
2. Case
3. Public Cicle
4. Wa-Ka-Me
5. さらけだせ
6. 究極
7. バカコケ
8. 人間狩り
9. Panic
10. 工場
11. Medium
12. 金 (Live)
13. I Love You (Live)
14. Dead Body (Live)

Classic hardcore (punk) from Tokyo with female vocals. This is a reissue of their 1983 LP "No Side" with 3 additional live tracks.

I generally hate it when bands are described as being "female fronted". I think if the music is good then whether it's a dude or a girl singing is largely irrelevant. But given that The Comes are from the early 80's I can't help but imagine that having a female hardcore vocalist made them quite the exception. I mean, it would even today, but I just suspect more so back then. This isn't just boys fun, but you have to admit the gender ratio sure is pretty skewed.

I've read someone in this band went on be in Lip Cream. Not sure who though.

Download: The Comes - No Side (reissue) (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: The Comes - No Side (reissue) (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Hands of the Few - Hands of the Few

Artist: Hands of the Few
Title: Hands of the Few
Release: 2006
Label: self released

Track List:
1. Intro
2. This Is Oak Cliff
3. Take Your Life Back
4. For Your Sake
5. Living Nightmare
6. Another Day
7. Friday Night

Wow. This takes me back. Dallas hardcore circa 2004-5 to 2007-8. Before they were Hands of the Few they were Curbcheck and now they're Grounds of Decay. If you like Buried Alive you'll love this.

Please excuse the shitty artwork. I'm actually the person responsible for it. I've gotten much better at Photoshop since then.

Download: Hands of the Few - Hands of the Few (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Hands of the Few - Hands of the Few (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Formaldehyde Junkies - Are a Total Wreck

Artist: Formaldehyde Junkies
Title: Are a Total Wreck
Release: 2005
Label: Underestimated Records

Track List:
1. Road Hazard
2. Shitty Life
3. Poison Control
4. Total Wreck
5. Nuke the Frats
6. Repressed

Here's a much better band from Minneapolis. One whose name, I am ashamed to admit, prevented me from checking them out for the longest time. If you like simple and obnoxious hardcore from the 80's you'll love this. For fans of classics like The Necros or modern bands like Career Suicide, Government Warning, Brutal Knights, and Social Circkle.

Download: Formaldehyde Junkies - Are a Total Wreck (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Formaldehyde Junkies - Are a Total Wreck (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Path of Destruction - 1:00 A.M.

Artist: Path of Destruction
Title: 1:00 A.M.
Release: 2003
Label: Havoc Records

Track List:
1. 1 A.M.
2. Am I that Drunk
3. Mortality
4. Silence Is Golden
5. Path of Destruction

Crusty hardcore from Minneapolis. Pretty decent stuff, but the vocals could be better in my opinion.

Download: Path of Destruction - 1:00 A.M. (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Path of Destruction - 1:00 A.M. (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Ogreish Organism - 4th Pill

Artist: Ogreish Organism
Title: 4th Pill
Release: 1995
Label: H.G.Fact

Track List:
1. 4th Pill
2. 孤高の戦士

I'll be honest, when I bought this I had no idea what I was getting. At the time my knowledge of hardcore from outside the US was limited pretty much to just a few of the bigger bands from Europe. In retrospect this may have been one of the best scores I've ever made considering I got this for 99 cents plus 2 dollars shipping if my memory serves me correctly. All I knew when I placed the bid was that it was a cheap record from a label I'd heard a few people mention before.

Before I even mention who is in this band I want to make one thing 100% clear, the music holds its own regardless of the band's pedigree. The B side is definitely superior, but mostly because its extended intro is more to the point. The vocals might take some getting used to if you're not already a fan of the style. But, my God, the guitar riffs and the bass are over the top good.

Now for the part I would be remiss not to mention. Pill, the drummer and vocalist was the drummer for Lip Cream, G-Zet, Asylum, and High Rise, as well as the vocalist for G-Zet and キャ→ (Kyah→). Bass player Tomonori Iizawa was the bassist for Bastard and Judgement and guitar player for Buzzy大和町バンド (Buzzy Yamatocho Band). And Chelsea (RIP), it'd probably be easier to just list bands he wasn't in.

Download: Ogreish Organism - 4th Pill (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Ogreish Organism - 4th Pill (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire

Scarred for Life - Is This the Price of Freedom?

Artist: Scarred for Life
Title: Is This the Price of Freedom?
Release: 2003
Label: Despotic Records

Track List:
1. Powers that Be
2. Empty Promises
3. M.O.A.B.
4. Aftermath of War
5. Wage Slavery
6. Corporate Genocide
7. Grinding Us Down

This is fairly straightforward crusty hardcore with fairly cliched lyrics. I don't mean that in a bad way at all. Because this is actually pretty good. It's just that you've probably heard it all before. But as I've said before, if you have a problem with that you probably don't like punk anyways.

Download: Scarred for Life - Is This the Price of Freedom? (LAME 3.98r V0) Multiupload

Download: Scarred for Life - Is This the Price of Freedom? (LAME 3.98r V0) Mediafire