Cloud Rat - self titled LP

As you may know the fifth issue of the mighty Mountza fanzine released some days ago, and i was eager to start reading it. I have to say that i tend to be a fanatic of mr. George Skafidas majestic writing (ακόμα και αν είναι άλλος ένας αλήτης-ρουφιάνος-δημοσιογράφος) and the newest mountza is the perfect representation of Skafman's abilities. Beside his big text our Gogo hero did some interviews. Even if i love his writing i can't say that we share the same taste when it comes to da music. Considering his tight pants, or the algerian face with the big glasses, his love for political charged british hip-hop, screamo and emo tunes of the 90's etc i was keen on overtake his interviews.

So, as i was overtaking the pages i saw a shitty artwork of a band called Cloud Rat. I saw the name of interviewer G.S and thought "another some shitty pop-punk or garage or screamo band they'll propably be". But i started to read their interview and guess what, this one of the best interviews i've read recently, and way better than the stupid answers Midnight gave to Panos Asthma. Cloud Rat seems to be a band with a strong political background and that's always a big plus on my book. This record has great hardcore riffs and tones of blast beats and you can call it grindcore. This is maybe one of the best records i listened to recently and i challenge you to buy the mountza zine and read their answers while you listening their blasting tunes. And yep, the singer is female and she's nail it. Huge thanx to mr. G.Skaf....

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Kingterror & Agathocles - split 10'' (2010)

Days go by so fucking fast like tornados, music lately sucks (in all forms) and i stucked with some "emo" desert tunes lately that helps me bite my insomnia. But every now and then some terrific new band comes from the ultimate dark to catch up with my numbness and make me wanna start run in the night, wearing hooters and sport clothes. Dear ladies and gentlemen, Return to Your Seats and Fasten your Seatbelts, here we have Kingterror.

four bald guys, dropdead and negative approach shirts. sweet

So, i'll skip Agathocles 'coz the belgians mince-core founders wants no introduction. Just meat and potatoes style grind. We love them anyway. a band with good political lyrics.

Now, Kingterror! You may remember a band called Rubbish heap. And you may remember that i love rubbish heap. So, a guy called Kim have contacted me and told me that he used to play for rubbish heap and if i'm interested i can check out his new band called Kingterror. Musically the band offers a great blend of old-school hardcore with some fast as hell blastbeats who will fucking nail you. They have great riffs and vocals so fucking check them. Not forgot to mention, this band have some very familiar and also close to me, thoughts about mixing music with politics, read it carefully :

"we are four individuals with somehow common backgrounds and interests. we were in other bands, we have mutual ‘friends’, we have jobs. some of us have children. we are not saints. but we ain’t sinners either. we try to make something here for ourselves within this out-of-hand capitalist system. some of us drink, some of us smoke, some of us just breathe. some of us are creative outside of music. some of us prefer not doing anything at all. we want to have our say. we are not pointing fingers but if you feel offended by anything we say or anything we write... we think maybe there’s something wrong with you or your views. reconsider them first. if somehow you still think we are full of crap, we prefer animated conversations above so not-done barfights. violence and ‘i’m gonna get you’ grudges are not our thing.

we also prefer bands, venues, distro’s and labels that have something to stand for other than how cool their shit is. this is hardcorepunk. if you think it’s boring to hear all that leftist shit at shows and start complaining about biting the hand that feeds and not being able to change a thing, just fuck off.

hardcorepunk without content is totally useless. like beer without alcohol. we want to share information and frustration. say what we think needs to be said. we’re not talking about destroying the system and burning police cars (though that could be nice too). HELL, it’s not like we are throwing molotovs at every demonstration. it’s about awareness and small-scale action. the state will not be overthrown by some hardcorepunk kids, but we can claim a place for ourselves and for criticism. for free thinking and discussion. for squats and other small initiatives. for creativity. for non-capitalist entertainment. a space free of corporate sponsoring and advertisement. creating a bulb of chaos and mayhem. a fucking moment of freedom. where we can talk, dance, smile, cry, love, fight or crash down on the floor."

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Quattro Stagioni - Self Titled LP 2010

Here we have Quatro stagioni from Trier / Germany. The band existed from 1998 to 2008 and this Lp released some months ago from 625 Trash records and RSR records. As i clearly enjoy 625 releases i didn't lose any time and pick this Lp up, first sight. So, these pizza-makers (yep, Quatro stagioni is a type of pizza) do it the right way. Groovy style hardcore mixed up with low-tuned old-school grindcore and the usual power-violence assaults to make the whole thing packed (δενει το γλυκο που λεμε). The only shitty thing is that the lp carries no lyrics. Who needs lyrics in grindcore, you may say but i think lyrics is equal to the music.

When you're guitarist plays with gloves (check the right hand) and a helmet, you can't go wrong. Check also here for previous releases : s/t 7'' and split with Iron lung.

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Decrepit - discography cd

Decrepit was a crust-core band from seattle, active from 1994 to 1999 (i think so). In their brief history they released a 12'' lp, a self titled 7'', and some split 7''s.

While i was reading Lo-res viscera blog i misunderstood his Decrypt post with Decrepit. Decrepit came like natural in my mind, so i thought this is a good way to say "have some nice vacations guys, 'coz i'll certainly have! starting tomorrow - see you in september". Sweeten things up, i added - again - a cool pic of the band.

As i have already wrote decrepit was from seattle including members of Whorehouse of representatives (a great band too), Whipped, Cease and desist. Later on the mighty Consume also. Jim plays bass on Deathraid nowadays (great guy).

So, if you wanna hear some crazy crust-meets-grind tornado, here's your new favorites. Decrepit is one of the most vicious, fast, catchy crust band of all time. Imagine a drummer that when he was a baby his mother instead of milk gave him galons of gas so now he destroys sidewalks with his sticks. Very impressing "players" when it comes to the "game" aka grindy-fucking-crust. they have some great lyrics dealing mostly with politics (call me : ageism, elitism, pacifism, militarism, homophobia, and the God myth). I can describe them as more extreme Disrupt-meets-Resist group.

Extra tip is that in the thanx list of this cd they  include Agrinio's punx. First time i read this, i was laughing to death, knowing that agrinio is a small city in the centre of greece, full of moody weather and active punks (not the all-day drinking type of think-or just back in the day). So, i had a conversation with one of the agrinio guys that arrange them and said me that Decrepit and Detestation were the best guys they have ever meet (from the amount of crust bands that have visit greece in the late '90s). They had stayed in agrinio for three days, drinking tsipouro in the old-school cafe of the city among dirty farmers (imagine 60 years old guys seeing some crusty dudes with patches etc...lol).

I know that the good friend batguano loves them and you can read some things about'em in his blog here.

And one friend of mine still ows me my Decrepit t-shirt, i "loaned" him - back in the day - with those gas-masks...aaaarrrrrgggghhhhhhh!!!!!!!!! (mmmm, and a disrupt cover, did i mention that?)

take it like a man.

A.P.D. - demo

Some time ago dany from torino has sent me some links for the hardcore punk band frammenti, and a couple days ago sent me a link to check out his old band from torino (turin). In his own words : APD (antisocial personality disorder) it's my old band. Shitty, downtuned, crust / grind. Our drummer was the same of Social Inseurity and Afterbirth at they start.
Luka used to live in scortland, and when he come back we started to play to support our friends Ratbull Bite, but they fast broke up and their gutarrist joined us on APD and we played for three-four years only in italy, in our anarcho/punk scene. Alex ,our bass player is living @ EL PASo, our oldest Squat.
4 guys with too many different priorities, work,  politics, stupidity etc... 4 years seems too much time for APD... (bob-voice, luka-drums, alex-bass, marco-guitar, dany-guitar)

Now, some guys from APD created the band Zeitgeist...
Here you get well played old-scholl grindcore with topics against state and gods (in general, including Gantzos religion) with crusty mid-tempo parts before blastbeat attacks. You may not get the new (!!!!) nasum album here but this band is very good for the type of music that plays (i have to admit : i'm not the biggest fan of grindcore)...
Hope you'll enjoy them... cheers daniel

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Hour of the chicken :
Never heard of A.P.D. before, and i guess i won't hear anything new since they have apparently dis-banned!

Actually, this isn't bad at all...indeed this isn't your new Nasum-like favorite band, but they definately have their moments...This is something between the older grindcore stuff (Napalm Death, Brutal Truth etc.) and the more modern tunes of bands like Nasum, Rotten Sound (fuck!!!) and Gadget.. Death like riffs, which are followed by some rocking crusty parts, with dual vocal trade-offs from deep gutteral grouwl to screaming scorcher.

Some tracks have a kind of a good production (the ones with the more mature structure and more powerfull riffs), while others don't follow expectations (the older ones i guess..more raw but in a bad way), but since this is a demo they are easily excused!

Not bad at all.

gbill