5 posts tagged “hardcore”

It has been awhile since I posted anything here.  I've been busy with transitions, such as adjusting to living in a new place, adjusting to being single again, and working hard at completing my school work so I can get my teaching credentials.  Getting teaching credentials will mean yet another transition.  When I do a thing, I do it in spades.  In this case, nearly every aspect of my life is getting a good shaking. 

It's at times like this that I find myself doing the most soul searching.  I'm sure I'm not alone in this.  We are the sum total of our lives; bound to the past even though we're tied to the present.  My past has slowly been leaking out onto the pages of this blog, and even though the focus here is narrow - dealing mainly with music - I'm still finding it of use.  Music is, after all, a big part of my life. 

What follows is another interview originally slated for the ill-fated Divided Allegiance 'zine.  It's the last one I have in my archives, although I think somewhere there may be audio versions of interviews with SNFU and The Melvins, recorded at Gilman St. sometime during the late eighties.  Wayne might have them, or others I've forgotten.

This interview was done with the UK band, Feed Your Head, almost exactly two decades ago.  The band released a split 7" with another equally obscure band called Hex, and later, with a different singer, a 7" called "Realm of the Gods".  I don't think they released everything after that, and I don't know if the band members were involved with any later projects.  Their music was melodic punk, with the first singer having a really interesting voice - a sort of laid-back, melodic growl, comparable to the vocals on the early Capitol Punishment records.  In both cases, I think main appeal was the seeming effortlessness with which such guttural sounds were produced by the human larynx.

Anyway, here's the interview.  It was done through the mail.  Kids these days have it so easy.

DA:  Okay, first, how about a brief history and reasons for becoming a band.

FYH:  I'll try and make this as short as possible!  The reason is easy - for enjoyment.  We're in a band because we enjoy what we do and whenever we get sick of traveling and playing it will be time to pack it in.  A brief history? - we've been together for over 3 years now, gone through 2 singers, 1 drummer, and 50 guitar strings!  We've also been lucky enough to play all over the UK and to take a trip to Germany, which we hope to repeat next year if we can make it through the customs and find a car that will stay in one piece, unlike last time!  Two E.P.'s have been put out, four demo tapes, and we feature on two compilation L.P.'s, and that's about as short as I can make it!

DA:   What does Feed Your Head mean?

FYH:  It means whatever you yourself get out of it really!  To me it means listening, learning, and educating yourself, so you can make up your own opinions on issues and not just rhyme off some band's lyrics.  Being able to argue what you believe in yourself is one of the many things you need in life... along with a sense of humour!

DA:  What are some of your musical influences?

FYH:  This is so wide that I could fill a page if I listed all the sounds that make music to our ears and bring smiles to our faces - here's a variety of what we listen to and you'll see what I mean!  Moving Targets, Celibate Rifles, Toxic Reasons, Govt. Issue, Stranglers, Ruts, Hawkwind, Blue Oyster Cult, 9 Below Zero, 10 Years After, Husker Du, - I think that's enough!

DA:  What sort of things do you write about and why?

FYH:  Whatever inspires us at the time really - it can be politics, a personal experience, a point we want to put across, or sometimes just a story or a moment from history!  Whatever we write about, we try and put it across in a different way so we don't just repeat what other bands have said 100 times before.

DA:  What do you think about labels and stereotypes?  Do they have any redeeming qualities?

FYH:  Labels and stereotypes do little for positive effect.  If you label people then you take away whatever qualities make them that individual as everyone's different in their own way!  Labels for everyday things people need however are useful - for instance, if you went into a store and toothbrushes were beside the dog biscuits and not toothpaste y ou would probably spend all day trying to find them!  Stereotyping in the music scene is especially silly as it just splits music into different factions i.e. - metal, punk, hardcore, indie, alternative, oi, and the list goes on and on - why bother?  Music is music and people should stick together instead of splitting up and as so often happens - fighting each other.

DA:  What has the band released so far and are there any imminent future releases?

FYH:  I've covered this in question one really but I'll quickly list them again in case anyone missed question one out!  WE've had a split 4 track E.P. out in '87 and we put out our own 4 track E.P. earlier this year, two further tracks have gone on comp. L.P.'s and we've done 3 demos on top of that lot!  Future releases will be in '89 now as we'll have sold all the E.P.'s by then so we'll be able to put the money towards another release.  We plan to record again in Jan. '89 and if we don't have enough money to do an L.P., which is what we hope to do, we'll do another 4 track E.P.

DA:  Tell us about Crucial Climate records.

FYH:  Crucial Climate Records was the idea of my flatmate really as he decided to go on a diet and so had some extra cash to spend!!  For the second E.P. we put up half the money and he put of half the money, so the label is a joint effort really.  He plans to release a compilation LP sometime next year and whatever releases we have will be on this label, you're resstricted by money, as we don't have any!

DA:  Okay, it's word association time.  What is the first thing that comes to your mind after reading each of the following words? (words listed in answer)

FYH:  Ah, I'm going to enjoy this one, looks like good fun!

Environment - rain forests.

Ethnocentrism - limited outlook.

Religion - Norse mythology (well you did say the first thing that comes to mind!).

Destiny - soul and rebirth.

Hardcore - positive attitude.

Trend - students.

Change - Killing Joke (an old song they used to do).

Straight edge - orange juice.

Grey - sky in Manchester.

Fear - war, killing.

DA:  Any final comments, words of wisdom, gripes, messages, advertisements, etc.?

FYH:  First of all, a bad joke!  What do you get when you cross a pen with Barry Manilow?  A nosey parker!  I did say it was bad!  Thanks for reading this far aand if anyone can help sell any records in their area then please get in touch as we'd appreciate it.  Each E.P. is $3 aas are all 3 demos (as we put them all on one tape) and for anyone with some idle cash lying around we've cool T-shirts which go for  $7 and whatever you do, remember to keep smiling...

It's been awhile since I posted the old Amebix interview.  Since then, things have been cooking in the Amebix camp, with their new DVD release nearing completion, and their early recordings being remastered and released through Alternative Tentacles.  I can't be more pleased with these developments.  Other rumors abound as well, but more on that as things develop.

Another UK band whom I did a mail interview with was Generic.  I first heard them through their split lp with Electro Hippies, and followed them (not literally!  I'm not that creepy!) through their relatively brief recording career.  All told, they released a couple of split lps (the second with Mortal Terror) and a handful of 7"s (the last one even featured some Chumbawamba members).  Their sound was abrasive, angry, and sincere, with a bit of melody creeping in towards the end.  It's a shame they didn't get more notice than they did.  Here's hoping for an eventual re-release of all their material.  A double discography cd would be nice.

This interview was done through the mail in '88 or '89, and like all mail interviews, there's no organic follow-up to interesting points raised in the answers, making for a choppy flow from one idea to the next.  I guess these days people could do instant-message interviews.  Hmmm.  Back then though, we had to put stamps on things and hand them over to the semi-reliable postal service.  There was usually a turnaround of about two weeks.

The answers to my questions were thoughtful and in-depth.  It's a shame that, after Wizz taking so much time to answer the questions, I never got off my butt and published the interview.  Sometimes I think that's the story of my life.  I start off strong, but fail to finish.  Perhaps tying up loose ends like this one will remedy things for me.  After all, it's too late for Generic.  They haven't been a band in years.  You can still sometimes find their records though, so if this interests you, seek them out.  They're well worth your time.

Divided Allegiance:  What is the band's present line-up?

Generic:  The band's line-up doesn't matter really.  I don't think people reading interviews are interested in the names of the members and what they play.  I know I'm not anyway.  Just for the record though we have a new member called Mel who joined after Nat had left due to not having as much fun as he used to with the band.  We don't know how long this line-up will last but who cares as long as Generic keep on going.

DA:  What brought about your recent break-up and reformation?

G:  The break-up was something that had been brewing for quite some time and amongst other things the main reasons were - getting all our equipment stolen from our rehearsal room, so we couldn't practice - a few bad gigs and the atmosphere within the band became steadily worse so we decided to call it a day.  The main reason we got back together again was really out of boredom and the fact that we just really wanted to be in a band.  In the short time we have been back together we have achieved much more than we ever have and now feel more positive about the band's future.

DA:  Where have you played besides England?  Do you have a favorite and/or least favorite place to play?  For what reasons?

G:  Besides playing in England we have visited Europe 3 times up to now, playing in Norway, Holland, and Belgium.  It is really easy for British bands to visit Europe as it is only a short ferry journey away.  There are loads of British bands that have played in Europe in the past couple of years since people realized  that it was not as hard as it sounded.  We don't have a favourite or least favourite place to play.  Some gigs are good and some are bad.  Regarding our best gigs, well they have to be in Oslo (Norway) and Groningen (Holland).

DA:  In general, do you think the new crop of UK hardcore bands have something new (fresh energy and/or ideas) to offer or is there a lot of rehashing of older styles and outlooks?

G:  Well, basically the last time any new ideas came out of the UK, through my eyes anyway, was about 5 years ago.  The new crop of hardcore bands (well not really new, most of the bands around now have been around for a few years) don't really have anything to offer by the way of new ideas.  There is a lot of energy but I feel that there are no fresh ideas.  Most people involved seem to be less bothered about the political aspects of punk/H.C. and more bothered about trying to create an American image, or a metal type image.  There are a lot of good bands in the UK at the moment but none are trying to really to anything more than doing gigs and making records.  Political awareness in most of the H.C. bands in the UK seems to be decreasing at a serious rate.  This is obviously because new fashions are creeping in along with new attitudes.  And at the moment it seems as though the caring attitude of a few years ago is not "hip" anymore.  I'm really pissed off to see bands taking in the whole metal attitude type thing.  Bands that once included really nice people now have the "fuck you, we're better" attitude.  Let's hope that more people will become aware of this in the near future and stamp it out.  Metal attitudes suck.

DA:  What are the main ideas/beliefs behind the band?  Do you think your audience is receptive to these ideas?

G:  Well, the main ideas and beliefs behind the band are to make others aware of the problems within the world, within ourselves and within everyday life as a whole.  We are not an anarchist band, but have certain beliefs that are on par with anarchist ideology; it would be great to live in a free world with every living thing having equal rights but obviously at this time in our evolution that is impossible.  We must change ourselves before we can have any hope of changing things around us.  Yes, I feel that our audience at gigs, or quite a few of them, are very receptive to our ideas and beliefs.  We are really pleased at this and the fact that the majority of people that we play to are aware of what we are about and question what we are saying through our music and lyrics.  That is one of the things that makes being in Generic very worthwhile.

DA:  Can we expect a full LP in the near future?

G:  Yes you sure can.  We will be doing a full LP for Manic Ears in the summer of this year.  We are really looking forward to that.  First though, we have just recorded a split LP with another band from Newcastle called Mortal Terror.  We are really pleased and excited about this as it is by far the best thing we have done so far.  That should be out by May/June on Meantime Records.

DA:  Is greed instinctive or is it something we are taught?  Voice your opinions...

G:  In my view greed is something that we have been taught from a very early age.  We are told that to lead a good life we must have all these belongings that will make us more acceptable and look more successful.  Without them we are told that life is hardly worth living.  Status symbols are a big part of many people's lives, personal belongings, expensive cars, large houses, expensive clothes, etc., etc., etc.  These are all forced down our throats from a very early age and are made to look like essentials for a good life.  People will do anything and go to any length to get more and more and more money to get more and more and more belongings to make their lives better.  Greed stinks but we are all guilty of it.

DA:  How does the new EP differ from previous material?

G:  The new EP differs from previous material mainly because it was the first thing we have done in over a year.  We feel that the EP is more representative of what we are doing at the moment, or what we were doing in '87 when it was recorded.  Even since then we feel that we have progressed a great deal.  The new split LP though, we feel is a greater representations of Generic since we reformed.  Basically our newer stuff is geared more towards personal politics than world politics like our older stuff, even though we are still as aware of the problems in the world as we have ever been.  But again - we must change ourselves before we can hope to achieve any change around us.

DA:  What are your views on religion?  Do you think the fact that there are so many conflicting religions is a major dividing force in the world today?

G:  Religion stinks!  How's that?  Religion is just a money making ploy.  It must be the most successful business ever, with the biggest profits ever.  I can see why people need religion and something to believe in and really the original idea of religion as I see it, to unite people and make a more caring world, was great and unfortunately the total opposite has happened.  As you say, with so many conflicting religions the original idea has created even greater division than anyone could imagine.  How many wars have there been connected to religious beliefs?  How many have been slaughtered because of their religious beliefs?  How many have been slaughtered fighting for other's religious beliefs?  Was the Bible written to be a successful novel?  If so, it has the most successful book ever.  How many millions are taken off innocent people every day to be put into other's pockets in the name of God?  If there is a God - YOU FUCKING STINK!

DA:  What are your views on nationalism?

G:  Nationalism  to me is just another form of religion.  There is a great nationalistic problem here in the UK and obviously the problem is in every country in the world.  I can see the need for people to keep their roots and culture but to be ignorant enough to actually claim to hate others because of their race or colour is pathetic.  These idiots feel threatened by the presence of others from other countries.  They feel that their jobs/lives and whole existence is threatened so they try to do something about it.  If these ignorant bastards don't realize that these people they are fighting against are also human beings with feelings, things will never change.  It is very hard to explain things to people with only 2 brain cells.  Fascists - fuck off and die.  The world is ours.  The world is everyone's.  Proud to be British - FUCK OFF.

DA:  Tell us about what you think about major label "punk" bands like D.R.I., etc. etc.

G:  D.R.I. are a great example of the regression of punk/H.C.  They used to be one of my favourite bands and seemed to be really aware with a great attitude, songs such as "Money stinks" etc. showed that this band really cared at one time.  But now "Money stinks" has changed to "We Love Money".  Sell out money grabbing rock stars.  Why can't people see through the lies that bands like this come out with.  Thankfully a great deal of people in the UK are aware of bands in the same vein as D.R.I., M.D.C., Circle Jerks, Gang Green, etc. and boycotted their gigs while in the UK.  There is no place for bands like these in today's scene.  D.I.Y. not D.R.I.

DA:  Anything to add?  Final comments?  Words of wisdom?

G:  Anything else to add.  Yes - communicate.  Communication is important.  The most important thing in the scene these days.  If you don't like something, do something about it, don't just sit there and let it pass.  And in the words of the Spermbirds:  "get on the stage" - voice your opinions.  Lastly, thanks to  you John for giving us your time and space.  Good luck.  Communicate with us.  But one sentence letters asking for info on the band will be binned.  Cheers.

This concludes another punk nostalgia moment.  Reading through this now, so many years later, I can see that a lot of the ideas mentioned here still continue to shape my life.  Food for thought.

Generic's old label, Flat Earth Records, has a Myspace page, of course.   Generic themselves don't seem to.

My first concert, back in 1979, was Ted Nugent and the Scorpions at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.  My dad took me and a friend, and I remember him being shocked at the blatant drug use, and I remember him not letting us move up close to the stage, probably for fear of losing us in the crowd.  The Scorpions were great, probably because at that time they still played songs off their earlier albums.  I remember them playing We'll Burn the Sky, Steamrock Fever, and at least one other old song.  Too bad I didn't get to see them when Uli was still in the band, but this was the next best thing.  Ted Nugent, who was touring for the "Scream Dream" album, came swinging, Tarzan style, down onto stage wearing nothing but a loincloth, which in retrospect, is a visual approximation of his politics.  I don't remember a whole lot else about the show...

Fast forward to the Spring of 2008.  Last Friday, I took my two oldest (step)children, with a friend, to see their first proper concert.  I'd told them about Gilman St awhile back, and it had gotten them interested enough to want to go see a show there.  Gilman St. continues to be an all-ages venue, with no alcohol or other drugs allowed.  Add that to the community center feel and the overt social activism of the place, and you've got a great place to take kids to a first concert.

That said, I wasn't quite sure that Extreme Noise Terror was the best band for them to start with, but I'd had their records since the late eighties and had never gotten a chance to see them on stage, so I figured what the heck. 

It was kind of cute the way the kids got all prepared to go, spraying their hair with some purple substance and applying eyeliner (of all things).  Their friend C even rustled up a ripped Ramones shirt and a spiked bracelet. 

We got to the club in the middle of Pillager's set.  Our first stop was at the club's "stoar" to get earplugs for the kids, and by the time we got out into the main space, the band was playing their last song.  It's just as well, because they weren't very good - they played generic thrash metal, with (probably thankfully) unintelligable lyrics.  The kids took it all in stride, but stuck close to me.  Nate would later claim that Pillager was his favorite.

The next band, Trap Them, was a little better, sounding more like an early Earache Records grindcore band, complete with requisite blastbeats and throat-tearing vocals.  To my ears, the unchanging vocal style got a little annoying after awhile, probably due to the fact that the singer favored shrieking over growling.  The kids jumped up and down and shook their fists in the air.

A.D.T. followed with a more traditional hardcore punk sound, eschewing metal in favor of straight-forward hardcore aggression.  Sometime during either Trap Them or A.D.T., Alex kept asking to be allowed to go closer to the stage.  I found myself in the role that my own father had played back in '79, except now there was a better reason for it - the Pit  (I've always hated the word "mosh", so I won't use it here... oops, I just did.  Sorry.).  When you've got a bunch of punks flailing around in a counterclockwise circle and slamming into the people jumping around at the front of the stage, it probably isn't a good idea to let your kids get too near.  I did, at one point, sit them down and explain the Pit to them - you know, things like how to keep your arms up in case somebody careens into you, and how standing near the pit is likely to result in having somebody careen into you, and how, despite the danger, it's a good place to stand because it has the best air circulation due to the constant movement of the dancers.  It was funny to have to explain all of this.  It was even funnier, later on, when Alex was looking at the little buttons for sale from one of the vendors (the same one who was on hand for the A.P.P.L.E. show from a few posts ago), and he turned to me and asked, "what does the "A" in the circle stand for?"  The guy selling the buttons thought that was pretty funny, and even ended up giving the kids some free anti-drug patches (Punk, not Junk).  Browsing the buttons at the same time as Alex was one of the singers for Extreme Noise Terror, who pointed out his favorite button to the kids - the one that stated, "I am not a pacifist!"

It was kind of fun to get to show all of this to the kids.  I think it's good that they're exposed to this kind of thing too, since subcultures and countercultures always run deeper than mainstream culture does.  Knowing about them gives you more of a complete picture, I think.

Next up was Stormcrow (named after the Deviated Instinct song?) and they sounded a bit like Deviated Instinct, or possibly Christdriver.  They played downtuned crust metal, with growled vocals and long, chugging songs, occasionally broken up with quieter passages.  One song sounded for all the world like Black Sabbath's Electric Funeral.  I wouldn't mind hearing more by them.

Extreme Noise Terror took the stage and ripped through a relatively short set, which included a few older songs (Show Us You Care and Bullshit Propaganda come to mind), as well as some more recent ones.  The newer songs had a bit more of a metal/grindcore influence than the older ones, but it all whipped by in a whirlwind of noise.  They still have two vocalists (although from reading their website, it seems that one left for awhile and then came back), which allows them to be even noisier.  It's refreshing to hear a band so unrelenting in their delivery, and sound like they really mean it.  At the time they formed, few bands took things to this extreme, and now, with the band members in their forties (I assume), they still hold their own against the much younger bands they share the genre with.  At one point, one of the vocalists said that the Gilman St. crowd reminded him of crowds the band played in front of back in the U.K. during the eighties.  I guess I wasn't the only forty-something being nostalgic that night.  The crowd was having a great time, bouncing and circling and doing all of the things that punks do.  You'd think that being punk, they'd mix it up every once in awhile - I know we used to back in the eighties, with leap-frog pits, big-wheel pits, and all manner of silliness that got Gilman St. branded the "romper room" of punk clubs.  It's a shame that the silliness is largely missing now. 

Of course, strangely enough, a couple of members of one of the bands most known for their silliness back in the early days of Gilman, Stikky, popped up the evening before playing for jazz/reggae band I've Never Been to Brisbane. Todd and Chris Wilder (drums and bass - Chris having switched from guitar to bass since his Stikky days) have joined forces with Andrew, who used to play in another silly band, Nasal Sex.  It was great to see the Wilder brothers again - I think it's been at least fifteen years since I'd seen them. And here they were playing in a place called the Sonoma Chicken Coop, with an enthusiastic toddler grooving away on the dance floor.  The music was nice, in a laid back sort of way, and it was a surreal treat to see them playing it, considering their musical past.  That said, they were jealous that I was going to Extreme Noise Terror.  Once a punk, always a punk, I guess.

As for the kids, who aren't actually punk, they had a grand old time shaking their fists in the air and whipping their heads around in time to the music at Gilman.  They all liked (or claimed to like) Extreme Noise Terror, but C said he liked Stormcrow best, and Nate, like I mentioned earlier, said he liked Pillager best.  Alex favored Extreme Noise Terror, as did I.  Stormcrow was a close second, though. 

I hardly saw anybody I knew.  Back in the eighties, when I was hanging out there every weekend, I knew more people than I didn't, but on Friday I only ran into one person I knew - Harold O., who used to play in Hellhound, and has most recently been doing time in D.R.I., and his new band Kill Kops.  He works security at Gilman. 

 

Anxiety “Bleak” (Not Your Pawn, 2006)

 

Despite the fact that they got their start back in the eighties, this is Anxiety’s first cd release.  Their only other release, the 9-track demo, Instruments of the Passion, was a powerful punk blast, with better recording quality than the majority of other demos floating around at the time.  Fast forward 20 years, and the band reemerges with “Bleak”.  The only constant is Mark Tippin (guitar/vocals), this time joined by brothers Chris Wilder (bass/vocals) and Todd Wilder (drums/vocals).  Chris and Todd were originally in Stikky, with Todd doing time in Inka Inka and Chris being a member of M.D.C. (geez, everybody has a MySpace page now...) for awhile.  They are both currently members of jazz act Never Been to Brisbane. 

It must be noted that one of the main reasons this cd exists is the band’s disgust with George Bush.  Sprinkled throughout the recording are soundbytes of George digging his own grave with his mouth, in his inimitable good-old boy (read: “idiot”) fashion.  This is a man who, after all, once referred to Africa as a country, so it is only right and proper that his every move be parodied.  We must always question how the hell a person like this could possibly end up in the White House, but I digress…  We’re also treated to the band’s rendition of an old National Lampoon piece, “Monolithic Oil,” and even a snippet featuring Jello Biafra (the song featuring him, “Bedtime for Democracy,” shares its name with a Dead Kennedys record).  Also on hand is a welcome cover of Attitude Adjustment’s “Bombs.”  One might view including snippets of Jello and borrowing a title from the Dead Kennedys as a sign of laziness, but I think it’s almost like pulling together valid references for a report, or an alternative “state of the nation” address, if you will.  As for the original songs, the guitar tone is brooding and heavy, the songs are mostly mid-paced (with hints of high-speed Stikky-style drumming bursting through every once in awhile), the vocals are pissed off, and the lyrics cover the dot.com bust, U.S. abuse of Iraqi prisoners, and in general the maddening abuse of human rights, the environment… you get the idea.  The liner notes include explanations where needed, and a bunch of relevant web links.  The helpfully provided list of things that Anxiety believes in could just as well have been written by me:  Free speech, creative expression, getting involved, turning off the TV, all things in moderation, public libraries, access to education, accountability in government, dismantling racism/sexism/homophobia, clean water, organic foods, voting, getting out of debt, buying only what you need, recycling, sharing, personal accountability, life-long learning, experiencing other cultures, having a small environmental footprint, & the truth.  In other words, this is true DIY punk, but with a difference.  They aren’t a bunch of angry teenagers or twenty-somethings.  They are angry adults who have watched the world go to shit under the current administration, and aren’t afraid to shout (and do something) about it.    Hopefully it won’t be another 20 years before another Anxiety release comes to light (although it would be interesting to hear a punk cd recorded by a bunch of 60 year olds). 

You can go buy a copy of Bleak directly from the band, or over at CDbaby.  The band website hasn't been updated for awhile, but they're still very much there.

Maybe I'll be able to keep on top of things this year...  Of course, I write some variation of that sentiment at the beginning of every year.  Hasn't happened yet.

Anyway, the first cd I got this year was given to me by my old friend Devon Morf - his band's new cd, actually...

Conquest for Death "Beyond the Hidden Valley" cd (an admittedly biased mini-review)

I love that this sounds like European hardcore, circa 1985.  Truth to tell, I don't by a lot of punk cds anymore, but when I do get one, it always has more impact than it would have at the height of my punk consumption during the eighties and early nineties.  It sort of stands out amongst all of the non-punk I buy.  Anyway, this is fast hardcore with shouted vocals, good lyrics, and just the right kind of frantic energy.  Also, they're probably the most ambitious band I know when it comes to touring.  They just recently got back from a tour of Africa, and the Middle East looks to be next.  Devon even wants to play Antarctica.  Buy this so they can support their touring habit.

The first record of the year was...

Crow "Bloody Tear" lp

Since my nickname is Crow, I'd been wanting to check out these guys for awhile.  Good thing I actually like them.  This is Japanese crust/metal/punk, with heavy, grinding rhythms, growled/shouted vocals, and stark, black and white graphics featuring the usual genre staples of dead bodies, demons, guys with swords, etc.  One song even sounds like it has overtone singing thrown into the mix.  Hard to tell though.  Good for upsetting the neighbors and scaring the kids.