Monday, May 24, 2010

Eleventh Hour - Sifting Through The Ashes 7"

Eleventh Hour was a hardcore band from Texas, and was around from 1993 to 1997. Here's the 1994 vinyl re-release of their 1993 demo. Good straight-forward hardcore with some slower and more metallic parts and pissed off vocals. Lyrically it deals with issues such as vivisection and the destruction of the rain-forest, and besides the lyrics in the booklet there's also an explanation of the lyrics for each song, which is always a cool thing. Besides this demo/7" the band also appeared on a couple of compilations. Check out their myspace for more information.

Eleventh Hour - Sifting Through The Ashes 7"
Eleventh Hour myspace

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Third Age - s/t MCD

Third Age was a rocking, emotive & metallic hardcore band from Rhode Island in the first half of the '90s. After a demo they released 'The Furthest West' 7" in 1993, a self-titled 7" in 1994 and a full-length called 'Super Natural' which was recorded in 1995 but wasn't released until a couple of years later, around the time they split up, in 1997. I managed to get copies of the 7"s on one of my trips to Amherst, MA. I got em at the Mystery Train record store with a bunch of other records in the 2nd hand section. I also ended up spending way too much money at the Newbury Comics in Amherst on those trips... Oh well. Anyways... I enjoyed the EP's and got the CD version of the 2nd 7" soon thereafter, which compiles both 7"s. I got the CD here in the Netherlands oddly enough, tho I don't think too many people over here know this band really. I ripped the CD but also included scans of the 7"s with the download. I was never really into the instrumental track, 'The Time It Takes', but the other tracks are great emotive & rocking hardcore with a metallic edge and with good sung vocals (in that '90s vein, not the current shitty clean vocals that are so popular), especially 'Natural Law' is awesome. Bands like Standpoint and Cross-Section come to mind. Unfortunately I never managed to get my hands on the full-length, so if anybody has a copy they want to get rid of, lemme know.

Third Age - s/t MCD
Third Age myspace

Thursday, May 13, 2010

With One Intent

Back in the '90s when I was still active on the alt.music.hardcore newsgroup, one guy who would promote his band on there was Andy Cambria. He played guitar in With One Intent from Massachussetts, and eventually ended up sending me the 'Mass. Hardcore' demo of his band sometime in early 1997 cuz of being on the newsgroup. I enjoyed the demo quite a bit. Raw and tough hardcore, good stuff. With One Intent were around for about 3 years and did 2 demo's, a mini-CD and a split 7" with Reach The Sky (which was originally going to be a split 7" with Blood For Blood). I included all of these here. They also appeared on several compilations, including a compilation called 'Fear No Evil' (Last Word Records) that my old band Disdain was on as well, but since that track was also on their MCD I didn't include it. Anyways, check it out, With One Intent were a good band that didn't get the recognition they deserved in my opinion.

Here's a biography I found online:
WITH ONE INTENT formed in November of 1996. After only one month of rehearsals, the band went into the studio and recorded their first demo, entitled 'Mass. Hardcore'. This was quickly followed up with a new recording in the Summer of 1997, entitled 'Complete failure'. The 'Complete failure' demo earned the band the recognition they have come to enjoy to date. This demo showed the band as a force to be reckoned with on the hardcore scene and received praise from the US, Europe and Japan. The four songs on the demo showed a progression to a much heavier style. After the release of 'Complete failure', With One Intent began to play more shows in New England and the surrounding States including New York and Pennsylvania. In January of 1998, the band returned to the studio to record 'Leaving it all behind', their debut EP on RPP. This effort contains 6 new recordings and promises to catapult the band to the next level of notoriety in the hardcore community. The band is also featured on a split 7" on Back Ta Basics Records (run by Rick Ta Life) with Boston's REACH THE SKY and compilations on Last Word Records from Syracuse, NY with Faction Zero, Cipher, Neck and others and on Lost Disciple Record's upcoming Boston hardcore compilation.
LineUp (1998) : Seamus Foy : vocals - Andy Cambria : guitas - Rudy Dormitzer : bass - Mark Sarno : drums
With One Intent - Mass. Hardcore demo
With One Intent - Complete Failure demo
With One Intent - Leaving It All Behind MCD
With One Intent / Reach The Sky split 7"

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Atlas Shrugged - 1992 demo

After posting an Atlas Shrugged 7" on xStuck In The Pastx, I figured it was time to post their 1992 demo as well. So here it is, showcasing Atlas Shrugged in its earliest form. It's an awesome & raw sounding demo, and definitely already shows the genius this band would portray in their future music. The band would re-record all of these songs for their first proper release, the 'The Last Season' LP, which was released in 1993 on singer Chris Weinblad's own label, Trip Machine Laboratories. Hopefully there will be an Atlas Shrugged discography on Trip Machine Laboratories sooner rather than later.

Atlas Shrugged - 1992 demo
Atlas Shrugged myspace

Monday, May 3, 2010

Thoughts Of Ionesco - s/t 7"

Yesterday, I finally watched the 'For An End' documentary DVD that comes with the 'The Scar Is Our Watermark' CD by Detroit maniacs Thoughts Of Ionesco. Amazing documentary about an awesome band, intense & insane does not even begin to describe this band. Fucking art. I've been into this band since the late '90s when I first heard them on their '...And Then There Was Motion' LP. One of the most self-destructive, pained and intense bands of the '90s. I'm not gonna write much more about them or their music, but I'll just quote part of a biography of theirs that says it all:
The trio, whose collective mental stability was often called into question by even those close to them, was most often compared to My War-era Black Flag, mixing hatred and aggression with super-heavy riffs, free jazz exploration, a brutal live show, and hefty doses of nihilism, self-loathing, and pure masochistic rage to produce a sound wholly challenging and frequently misunderstood. Thoughts of Ionesco were in a class of their own; their performances were notoriously destructive -- instruments were smashed in minutes, walls were kicked in, blood was shed, bottles were thrown -- as the bandmembers showed absolutely no regard for themselves or the "fans" they couldn't be bothered to care about. For them, only the music mattered.
Here is their 1st 7", from 1996, released on Cascade Records.

Edit: The 7" is still available from Cascade Records. Get it here.

Thoughts Of Ionesco - s/t 7"
Thoughts Of Ionesco myspace