Polyglot - Industrial Strength Child Killer MCD

I wrote about Polyglot from Maine very briefly in my post on Fall From Grace, cuz they did a split 7" with them. I was more into the FFG side of the split, so didn't really keep up with Polyglot. That doesn't mean that the split 7" was all they did. Here's a 4-song MCD they did on Bull Moose Music, which was the label of a Portland, ME record store of the same name that Polyglot's singer worked at. This MCD is actually pretty decent, and I prefer it over their side of the FFG split 7". Pretty hard & rough hardcore, similar to bands such as Hatebreed, Holdstrong and such. They were quite big in their homestate of Maine but I guess they didn't tour/play much outside of the Northeast, they didn't seem to get much attention elsewhere. I don't even know what else they did besides that split 7" and this MCD... At least one member of Polyglot would eventually do some time in Blood For Blood. Also, after the last song there's some silence and then there's a cover of The Cars' 'Just What I Needed'. Enjoy!

Polyglot - Industrial Strength Child Killer MCD

Morality Crisis

Morality Crisis from Minnesota/Wisconsin was a band I had never heard of till recently. One of its members, Christ, contacted me about his band, and label Minnesconsin Records (Minnesota, Wisconsin, get it?). Morality Crisis just released a new 4-song EP called 'North'. And it is pretty damn good! Morality Crisis mixes various styles into a great blend, ranging from post-rock to sludge to metal to hardcore. Good stuff, great riffs, with a heavy & full sound all around. And the vocals are awesome as well, nice range in styles, without sounding forced at any point. As I said, I had never heard of this band before, but they've been around since 2003, released an EP in 2005, broke up in 2006, and are now back together. Their new EP is streaming at their bandcamp, where it can also be bought as a digital download. Their old EP can be downloaded for free from there as well, it is also quite good. Physical copies of the new EP should be available sometime soon as well. Definitely give this band a listen.

Disbelief demo

Disbelief was a hardcore band from from Bowie, Maryland, here's a demo of theirs. I don't know if this demo originally came with an insert, mine just has the cover with the track-listing, and contact information on the tape labels. It doesn't even have a date or year on it, but I guess this one's from 1995/1996, as their first 7" was released in 1996. I picked up this demo at a random record store over here in Rotterdam in the Netherlands actually, of all places. Must have been 2000/2001 cuz I was working at a place near that record store at the time. I think I got another demo that time as well, but can't remember which one right now, oh well...

Anyways, the first time I came across Disbelief was when I got their split 7" with Outcome, on Moo Cow Records/FistHeldHigh Records. I got that split 7" cuz of Outcome, who did an amazing 7" on Surprise Attack Records. Unfortunately for Disbelief, the Outcome side on that split 7" ruled hard as well, so I didn't play the Disbelief side nearly as often as I should have. While they're not Outcome, nor sound anywhere near them, they were definitely a good band. This is a really solid demo with fairly straight-forward hardcore, with some metallic influences and a 'hard' edge. The last song is a cover of Killing Time's 'Backtrack'. Besides this demo and the aforementioned split 7" and some appearances on compilations, I know they also did a self-titled 7" and a split 7" with Emerge, neither of which I own unfortunately. I guess they were into ice hockey, as both this demo and their side of the cover of the split 7" with Outcome feature a picture of fighting ice hockey players. Enjoy!

Disbelief demo

Medicine Man - Céad Míle Fáilte 7"

Here's a 7" of a band I know very little about, Medicine Man. This 7" was released in 1993 on Thrashing Mad Records, and besides a demo which I don't have this is their only release it seems. They also appear on the 'Revive Us Again' compilation 7" on Machination Records out of Belgium from 1993. The weird title of the 7", 'Céad Míle Fáilte', means something like 'a hundred thousand welcomes', it's a traditional Irish greeting apparently. To keep the Irish connection going, while Medicine Man were from New York, their bass-player Anthony Champa apparently now lives, or has lived, in Belfast, Ireland. He also played in Puzzlehead and GO! before Medicine Man, and GO! played in Ireland on their '91 European tour, so maybe that explains the title of this 7" and his current whereabouts. Anyways, this is decent hardcore that alternates between rocking mid-tempo hardcore and short fast bursts of hardcore. Oh, and the abrupt end of 'For The Love Of God' is the way it ends on my 7", but it sure does sound like a screw up by the pressing plant (or whoever cut the lacquer I guess).

Medicine Man - Céad Míle Fáilte 7"

A post about ACTA

I never had the intention of turning this blog into a political soapbox, but ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) does deserve some attention, also in light of the recent SOPA/PIPA media frenzy... While SOPA & PIPA made headlines all over the Internet not too long ago, and deservedly so in my opinion, ACTA has been making the rounds in government offices all over the globe quite a while now, mostly behind closed doors (in the interest of 'national security', if you can believe it) and with as little media attention/exposure as possible. ACTA has just as potentially damaging consequences as SOPA/PIPA, and from what I can tell is quite broad in scope. Unfortunately it has already been signed by governments all over the world including the US, Australia and the majority of the EU countries. But in the case of the European Union, it is still not too late to act and turn the tide, as the European Parliament still needs to vote on it. Anyways, as I am not a lawyer nor do I feel I am the right person to explain the inner workings and potential consequences of ACTA, here are some links (with varying points of view and backgrounds) you can check out, which I urge you to do. Decide for yourself.

ACTA full text pdf
Thought SOPA Was Bad? 10 Reasons to Oppose ACTA
What's wrong with ACTA Week
How to act against ACTA
Counter-Arguments Against ACTA
As Anonymous protests, Internet drowns in inaccurate anti-ACTA arguments
Impeach Obama for bribery? Anti-ACTA spin reaches new lows

And a video by Anonymous (which does take a worst case scenario stance, but why not?!):