Neck

Neck was a band from NYC/Long Island which was formed in 1995. They played a metal/hardcore hybrid somewhat similar to a more straight-forward Candiria, although they didn't really have the jazz & hiphop influences that Candiria did. Either way, Neck had the talent to pull it off, but somehow never really got the recognition they deserved, including by yours truly. I knew Neck from a compilation my old band Disdain was on that also had Neck on it and their tracks didn't do much for me at the time, so I dismissed them. Fast forward to a few years ago where I checked out some more Neck tunes and it totally hit me. This band was awesome. After that moment I managed to get my hands on their first 2 albums which I ripped and uploaded here.

Their self-titled debut album was released in 1998 on Striving For Togetherness Records. In 1999 their second album, 'Should My Fist Eye', was released, this time on Cho'Sin Records. The final track on this album, 'Cinder', was recorded & performed by Drillpress, a band that drummer Larry Hundertmark was in before joining Neck, and they had never managed to release these recordings before. The full discography of Neck includes a 1996 demo, a 7" released in 1997 on Bittersweet Records, a self-released EP called 'Crawl Away' from 1999 and another album called 'Smart Bomb And The Swarm', which was self-released on their own label Lifeless Records in 2005. All of these seem pretty hard to find, so I don't have any of those unfortunately, sorry, but if anybody's willing to part with their copies, hit me up! They also appeared on a bunch of compilations, including the 'Fear No Evil' compilation, on Last Word Records, with among others my own band, Disdain, the 'Over The Edge vol. 3' compilation which I posted here and the 'Disintegrated - A Cure Tribute' compilation on Too Damn Hype. Neck's drummer now goes by the name Razor Tongue as the singer of Nassau Chainsaw, while other members went on to bands such as Car Bomb and Paiste Junkies.

Update: as Mark commented on this post, he has some Neck merch pics. Personally I hadn't seen any Neck merch (possibly because I live in Europe, hah), so my interest was piqued. And for those who are also interested:

Update June 2020: A guy called Hunter Krueger started a blog on Car Bomb which also includes information, photos and downloads of Neck! Awesome stuff, so do check it out if you want: Secrets Within aka Car Bomb Museum.

Neck - self-titled CD
Neck - Should My Fist Eye CD
Neck myspace