S.F.A. / D.M.B. - 'Live In Europe 91' 7"

Here's a lesser-known S.F.A. record, a live split 7" with German band D.M.B. It was recorded on October 6 1991 on their joint European tour at The Fabrik in Potsdam, Germany, and released on Lund Castle Core Records. It actually says 'East Germoney' on the 7" even though West- and East-Germany had reunited a year prior, but no doubt the differences between the 2 parts of Germany were still vast. Peter, the guy behind Lund Castle Core Records, was also the driver on this tour btw. S.F.A. was ofcourse an awesome hate-core band from NYC, whose first 2 albums are classics in my book, although their later output (the 'Solace' album) doesn't come close. I know very little about D.M.B., a hardcore band from Leipzig, East-Germany. They released a self-titled 7" in 1992 and appeared on a few compilations. Lund Castle Core Records did a few more records, including a Majority Of One/Intricate live split 7". As mentioned in one of the inserts, the label was planning a few more splits with bands including Yuppicide and Upfront but those never happened as far as I know.

Here's a part of the history of S.F.A. as written down by Brendan on their myspace, regarding the European tour and D.M.B.'s manager at the time:

Our first European tour was a lot of fun - booze, brawls, broads and barbiturates. We were drunk and happy every day and played every night like we were on fire. We had a support band from Leipzig called DMB on the road with us. Their manager Imad and his wife Rita came along for the whole tour. We found out several years later that Imad was a command-ranking officer in Stassi (the East German secret police.) He had been running agents who were reporting on and arresting subversives, many of whom had roots in the anti-government East German punk scene. Stassi was still active in Germany when we were on tour. Stassi didn't collapse until several years after the reunification and many of the agents weren't uncovered for years because of the billions (literally) pages of documents that had to be sifted through. That's how Imad was exposed. What I think is kind of cool is that somewhere in the tons of pages of Stassi documents is a report about S.F.A. Even if there were nothing bad about us, he would have had to mention us if just to explain where he was for so long. So you could find S.F.A. at Tower Records in some local fanzine and somewhere in a pile in the basement of Stassi headquarters. That rocks.

I unfortunately did not see (or even know) S.F.A. in 1991, I did see them however on their 1996 Euro tour with Cause For Alarm, good times, I still have an S.F.A. shirt from that tour. Anyways, I ripped the S.F.A. side of this split 7" as one track, because of the talking inbetween songs and 'I Want To Be Alone' and 'Purge' blending into each other. Enjoy!

S.F.A. / D.M.B. - 'Live In Europe 91' 7"
S.F.A. myspace

At Any Cost (Rhode Island)

At one point, I bought Back Ta Basics 7"s pretty much without thinking about it. Most of the ones I had I was into, so I figured any new ones would be the same. So I scooped up Rhode Island's At Any Cost 'Power Of Mind' 7" from 1996 thinking just that... It turned out to be fairly decent NYHC with a heavy mid-tempo metallic edge. At the time I didn't get into it too much for whatever reason tho, and as a consequence, I probably gave it a listen maybe half a dozen times, if that. Listening to it now, it's much better than I remembered it to be, even if it's nothing too exceptional, it's still well done. Anyway, I kinda forgot about the band for a long time, thinking they'd called it quits some time after the 7"...

Fast forward to a few years ago. At the Independent Outlet in Amsterdam, a skate-store/record-shop, I saw an At Any Cost 'Seen Through Shattered Eyes' CD for next to nothing. Remembering the 7", I checked the booklet and it was indeed the same band so I figured what the hell, and I got it... and absolutely loved the CD. Awesome vocals, powerful songs with cool riffs and drum-parts and enough twists and turns that make it stand out for me. Anyways, recorded in 1998, the CD was released on Lost Disciple Records in 1999. I still play the CD from time to time and it still rules hard. Definitely more than just a step up from the 7".

Unfortunately I was never able to find any sort of info em them, so if anybody can shed some light on this band and/or other releases and such, please leave a comment!

At Any Cost - Power Of The Mind 7"
At Any Cost - Seen Through Shattered Eyes CD

Tomorrows Gone 7"

Tomorrows Gone was a melodic hardcore band from Las Vegas, NV with a slight raw emotional edge. I normally am not really into this style, but this band does it right. Pretty good stuff. Even though they were around for 4 years they went slightly under the radar and didn't do a lot of records. Apart from a couple of demo's and several contributions to compilations, they did only one release of their own, this self-titled 7", which was released on Element Records in 1997. It includes a Dag Nasty cover, 'One To Two', which doesn't sound out of place here, so that should give you an idea of this bands' general sound. Empathy comes to mind as well, also cuz of the vocals. The band would break up in 1997 after which some members started a new band called Faded Grey and do several releases under that name, including a 7" on Element Records in 1999.

I ripped the 7", even though I also have their discography CD, 'No Way to Make Time Stand Still 1993-1997', which was released on World On Fire Records in 2001. This discography CD is also out-of-print as far as I know but can still be bought from Faded Grey and CD Baby, so get it if you enjoy this 7", it's well worth it. Oh, and on both the 7" and the CD the band name is consistently spelled without an apostrophe, so I went along with it.

This song I sing is not for sale. These words I scream to you are real. No one can ever buy our lives. This music will survive.

Tomorrows Gone 7"

You, Who Are Innocent... compilation 7"

As requested in the comments section on my previous Tho Ko Losi post, here's the 'You, Who Are Innocent, What Have You Done Worthy Of Death?' compilation 7". Released in 1998 on Catchphraze Records, it's 'a benefit 7 inch for Vegan Outreach & Farm Sanctuary' as explained on the cover. There are 5 bands on here, Upset from Germany (metallic hardcore), Morning Again from Florida (metallic hardcore), Detestation from Oregon (crust/d-beat), the aforementioned Tho Ko Losi from Arizona (grindcore) and Capitali$t Casualties from California (power violence). An awesome benefit compilation with a thick & informative booklet. I coincidentally went vegan the same year this compilation was released in, and I still am. Go vegan!

You, Who Are Innocent, What Have You Done Worthy Of Death? compilation 7"

Tho Ko Losi - Not At Total War... Yet 7"

I'm not sure what was in the water in Arizona in the mid to late '90s, but it affected the AZ hardcore scene for sure. Bands like Unruh, Wellington, Suicide Nation and Uruk-Hai (pre-Unruh) are all about as harsh & raw as it gets. Another band that falls in line with this group of bands was Tho Ko Losi. Most of the members of Tho Ko Losi would move on Suicide Nation actually. Anyways, Tho Ko Losi played sludgy grindcore that resembles Assück in places (at least to my ears, I'm far from a grindcore expert). In 1997 their only proper record was released, the 'Not At Total War... Yet' 7" on Ben Johnson Records. Five tracks in the aforementioned Assück vein, with lyrics all about their anti-Christian sentiments, from start to finish. I admit I prefer their output as Suicide Nation but this 7" holds up pretty nicely either way. A live-version of 'The Laughing Christ' of this 7" would end up on the 'You, Who Are Innocent, What Have You Done Worthy Of Death?' compilation 7" wich among other bands also featured Capitali$t Casualties & Morning Again. I wholeheartedly recommend this compilation as well, and might post it at some point if there's an interest for it. Till then, enjoy this 7".

Tho Ko Losi - Not At Total War... Yet 7"

Structure Twentyfour - In Our Disposition tape

Structure Twentyfour was a short-lived straight edge hardcore band from Virginia in the first half of the '90s... Besides a demo from 1993 this is their only proper release, available only on tape. It was released in 1994 on $iege Records, also out of Virginia. It's actually a nice pro-printed tape, and the insert mentions that Structure Twentyfour was sponsored by Vans, haha. The band split up soon after this tape was released, according to their myspace they played exactly 1 show between the release of this tape and their demise. Auch... Anyways, this tape is pretty good stuff, even if it's fairly typical '90s mid-tempo metallic hardcore, with the intricate guitars making this band better than average, adding some Snapcase influences here and there. And songs like 'Underestimate' or 'Tear At The Mountain' are just plain awesome.

BTW, I know the demo and this tape can be downloaded from their Last.fm page. But I still felt like giving this band some attention so I ripped my tape and scanned in the insert regardless.

Structure Twentyfour - In Our Disposition tape
Structure Twentyfour myspace

Colombian Necktie

As much as I love '90s hardcore, I also love checking out new bands. It's good to know there are still bands popping up that keep me pumped and excited about hardcore. I recently got contacted by a band called Colombian Necktie, a new band out of Los Angeles, about their demo. They're definitely a band that excites me. Rather than taking the now-popular Terror-like and/or breakdown-heavy approach they're opting for a different approach (not that either of those styles are necessarily bad, just really popular right now). They're playing a mixture of dirty, thick & heavy metallic hardcore like Trap Them or Black Ships mixed with some melodic hardcore influences, most clear when they add subtle leads to their songs in various places. Together with the raw vocals, it's an awesome mix. There are 3 songs on this demo which are well-written and have some great lyrics as well. Any band that starts a song ('In Your Absence') with the lyrics 'Fuck your scene, fuck your look, fuck your originality, fuck you' is a keeper in my book. There's also an awesome build-up in 'Black Ash' that is garantueed to be a crowd-pleaser at their live-shows.

All in all, this is a great demo by a cool new band. So give it a shot and support a new band. The band is currently trying to get together & release a DIY split 7" with another great new band called They As In Them. I'm looking forward to this split and whatever else both bands will do in the future.

Colombian Necktie demo
Colombian Necktie myspace