Saturday, January 24, 2009

A Way Of Life - 1997 demo

In the mid to late '90s I went to a lot of shows in Belgium. And often times Alain (Out For Blood) who ran R.P.P. Records would be there with his distro. Awesome guy, awesome label and awesome distro. He always had a large selection of demo's, typically of bands in the harder/tougher NYHC/NJHC style, what people now refer to as moshcore and beatdown. And if you're into that style, and I was/am, the demo's he carried would almost always be quality, only the good shit. So when I saw this demo at his distro at some fest in the summer of 1997, and I read they were part of the infamous K.D.S. crew from Rennes, France, I bought it instantly. K.D.S. stands for Karate Dance Style btw, the most well-known K.D.S. band was Stormcore.
After the first listen I was hooked on A Way Of Life, or A.W.O.L. for short. After the excellent and eerie intro, 'KDS In Action' shows what this band was all about, (very) metallic hardcore that alternates between up-tempo and mid-tempo parts and is extremely 'violent dance-able'. This was back when violent dancing was almost an art-form on the dance-floor around these parts, the pits were hard but people were also showing off moves. Good times! The few times I saw A.W.O.L. they did not disappoint, their guitarists especially were damn good musicians.

After this demo the band started to become more technical and more metal, but they still ruled and had their own sound. They released a 7" called 'Deep Thoughts About The End' on Braveheart Records and a split 7" with Headway (also from France) on MoshxBart Records and were on a couple of compilations. Their guitarist had plans to release an A.W.O.L. 12" but as far as I know, that unfortunately never happened. I guess the 7" and split 7" are near impossible to come by these days, so if anybody wants me to rip those, just leave a comment. In the mean time, enjoy this awesome demo. And remember: 'Religion is a lie... Move it!'.

A.W.O.L. - 1997 demo
A Way Of Life on Myspace

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

had the split 7" years ago, great stuff!

Anonymous said...

cool band and cool guys!!

Anonymous said...

Wow wow wow !! Nice to finally get my hands on their demo !!

Thanks a lot man, really appreciated !

I love the 2 songs they had on the Overcome Comp, furious metallic hardcore like no other.

Anonymous said...

Goddamn. I had this tape way back. I bought it at an AWOL show in BXL. Lost it, and now I find it again! You make my day! Thanks!

xVx said...

Hey Edwin !
thanks a lot for the AWOL demo + scans.
Could you rip the 7 inches please (scans would be awesome too). That would make my day.
(also I downloaded the Channel 7" on stillborn, do you think you can scan the cover and inlay).
Thank you !
take care... peace


JG

Anonymous said...

This band is so good, it is actually the band were I was into the most. I have the "Deep Toughts About The End" seveninch and the split.
Love this so much!!!

MiXX said...

Laughed @ the Alain/RPP part.

This guy was fucking awesome, one of nicest person i ever met.

I feel bad to have put one of his release on my blog.

yo said...

I want listen this,,,
please create a new link!

XhcnoirX said...

Re-upped. Enjoy!

yo said...

big thanks from japan

david said...

Could you possibly re-up this please ?

XhcnoirX said...

Re-upped.

david said...

Thank you so much !

Anonymous said...

Re up please. your blog rules!!

XhcnoirX said...

Thanxxx man! Re-upped.

Anonymous said...

Hi, can I ask re-up this and 7 inches? I love this band!

XhcnoirX said...

Re-upped!