Exist - 1996 demo

Exist were a short-lived hardcore band from a small town in Bavaria, Germany (near Munich). I think they only did this one demo, and they also appeared on a couple of German compilations. This demo was recorded in the summer of '96 and the band plays a mix between faster hardcore and more 90s style hardcore. The band, also because of the vocals, sound like they were still quite young at this point and trying to figure out their style. At times I am a bit reminded of early Refused (This Is The New Deal period). As mentioned on the insert, this demo was recording in their rehearsal space, so that explains why this sounds pretty rough (altho I've heard much worse!). It's not bad but also really not that great, it reminds me a lot of going to random small shows and seeing young, local bands as the opening band. I'm fairly certain I never saw Exist tho, I'm guessing I must've picked it up from someone selling their demo collection. Anyways, members moved on to bands like Empire, The Blackout Argument and GWLT. Enjoy!

And just to make sure, this is not the same Exist I wrote about a few years ago here.

Exist - 1996 demo

Compression - s/t CD

And another request, hehe... This time Compression's self-titled album from 1997. Compression was an alternative metal band from Maryland, who came from the hardcore scene but their sound doesn't really reflect this anymore on this CD. Their style is hard to define as it takes so many influences and melts them into one. You can hear hints of bands like Helmet, Soundgarden, Quicksand, Black Sabbath and many many more. But at the same time Compression never comes off as a copycat, it is more that they simply didn't limit themselves and played whatever the hell they wanted. I'm not gonna lie, I am not a fan of the entire album, some songs don't do anything for me, while others are great. This album was first released on Tolerance Records out of the Netherlands in 1997, and then was re-released the next year on Chord Recordings in the US. Chord was run by the people behind the well-known Chord fanzine, Too Damn Hype Records and the band Dare To Defy btw. I only have the version on Chord (despite being Dutch myself, hah), I am not sure the hidden track that is on this version was also present on the original CD, which is also my fave track on this album, I don't know why it's not a regular track. The band reunited a few years ago and even released a new album, which I've not heard it yet. In any case, give Compression a chance, they're certainly an interesting band.

I also wanted to rip their split 7" with War Prayer from 1995 for this post, but unfortunately I couldn't find it, I must've misplaced it. I'll rip it when I stumble across it, which is probably next time I'll be searching for a competely unrelated 7", hahaha...

Compression - s/t CD