The masters of anarcho-punk are back with their first record in six years. If you don’t know who Oi Polloi is, they are a punk band that was started in 1981 in Scotland. They have been through about 50 different members but the lead singer Deek Allen has been the stalwart after all these years.  Oi Polloi has always been one of my favorites and I can honestly say that I have never heard anything that they put out that wasn’t fucking punk as fuck and on the spot as far as song writing goes.  This record does not disappoint. Actually I am blown away by diversity of the songs on the album. If you prefer the more Oi! sounding Oi Polloi or the more metal crusty side of their releases they have you covered on Duisg!  It’s like a little something off every release comes through in each song and makes you excited about what the next song is going to be. This record is pretty melodic at times but cuts in with some heavy driving jams espescially on side two with the song Cyklopen about an autonomous space burnt to the ground in Stockholm by Neo-Nazis. Dion’s Cuidich and the blazing Ionnsaigh Adhair on the first side drive it home for me. As you may have guessed the entire album is sang in Gaelic which just makes it that much more important. Important as in you should buy this and sink your teeth deep into it. This release just really blows my socks off. You here one song and think damn that was a cool tune just to be kicked in the teeth by the next solid jam.  At first I wasn’t sure about the melodic side of this release but then that become what made me love this record. The only complaint is the lack of album cover art but they make up for it with a 20 page booklet that goes in depth and translates every song. The booklet is filled with all kinds of cool things to read and look at including Oi Polloi cut out action figures. This one won’t leave my turntable for a while! (Attucks)

www.oipolloi.org

www.plasticbombrecords.de

Here I am on the eve of the official release of the new Black Sabbath album.  I’ve been spinning it since Saturday and…

Let’s address two things before we dive in:

1.  There is no Bill Ward.  I followed that story pretty closely as it unfolded and I do believe the truth is somewhere in the middle.  I also think they legitimately wanted him on board.  He wanted to be paid for benefit gigs, maybe he wanted more or too much money overall.  Maybe he deserves a substantial pay increase…I don’t know.  But let’s face the fact that he was not in good enough shape to play out a couple of different times the band got together.  Does he still have the chops?  Maybe not.  The fact is he is not on the album.  Live with it.  If you are boycotting the album because of this misfortune you are a fool and you are missing out.
2. The cover art just plain sucks.  You would think that with the 35 or so years they’ve had they could come up with some better art work for fucks sake.

Haters will hate and they will die alone and miserable having missed out on one of the greatest albums in the BLACK SABBATH catalog.  Negativity is easy, the human psyche gets easily sucked up in the negative, jumping on the bandwagon and bashing whatever victim is the object of their hate.  To take a positive stance often means to take a risk and make oneself vulnerable.

With that said I will declare that all haters can piss off!  This album is fucking awesome!!!  I could get all super descriptive but I am too busy rocking so again I will just simply state something along the line of “this kicks fucking ass!”

I can see Rick Rubin bringing the Sabs together and while making them listen to those first 6 albums picking out the coolest parts of each album and ordering them to write a new song around each idea.  I say that because it’s all here.  ‘13’ is so fucking classic, I mean you get that the first time you listen to it.  I’m on probably my 20^th or so listen and I still get goose bumps.  They pull out all the stops from classic Ozzy “oh yeahs” to the 70’s guitar tones to the ‘Planet Caravan’ tripped out jam of ‘Zeitgeist’ and the harmonica.  Yeah that’s right!…Ozzy gets busy on the ol’ harmonica again and it sounds so perfect.

Everyone turns in the performance of (arguably) their careers.  Iommi comes out the winner with some mind blowing guitar work that just blows my fucking mind!  Damn!  How does he do that?  Geezer is probably the busiest bass player ever, the man is a maniacal genius.  Ozzy’s voice is remarkably strong and fits in these epic jams so perfectly.  Is there a little auto tuning going on in there?  Maybe…probably…If so Rubin did a great job of keeping it real and making the Ozman sound human, not robotic.  I was scared of what Ozzy would sound like but damn!  He sounds great and like I said earlier, turns in his best performance since maybe ‘No Rest for the Wicked’.  Oh…and the drummer just plain kills it!  He does a great Bill Ward impersonation keeping it true to the SABBATH sound if just a little more aggressive.

Lyrically I get the feeling that through many of the songs they are exploring their own mortality and questioning what lies beyond.  Listen to and read the lyrics and I think you’ll pick up what I am laying down here.  It’s inevitable right?  With Dio having passed a few years ago and Iommi’s own battle with cancer I think it’s safe to say Ozzy and company know that the Reaper is watching them closely at this point.  “I don’t want to live forever, but I don’t want to die.”

Every song is stand out track.  It’s really hard to pick a favorite but it seems like the album gets better as it progresses.  ‘God is Dead’ was the first single and although it had some great parts I wasn’t that sold at first.  But I have to say the song is growing on me.  For reference I will name a couple of my faves and that would be ‘Loser’ and ‘Damaged Soul’.  Fucking epic!

On a side note I’m pretty sure the Sab dudes were getting high as fuck while writing and recording this masterpiece.  You just get that vibe…If ya’ know what I mean.

I declare album of the year…I don’t know how this could possibly be passed up by anyone else.  As a lifelong fan I am ecstatic that they were able to capture the spirit again and be able to do something like this not just for the fans but more importantly, for themselves.  They are certainly going out on a “high” note.

BLACK SABBATH RULES!  \m/

I really wanted to include a clip of ‘Damaged Soul’ but couldn’t find a good one…here’s ‘Loser’ though…Dig it.

We’re back!  Dude…I have been sick, I’m still sick but doing much better.  Every couple of years it creeps up on me and fucks me up in a big way.  It’s brutal and I lose all motivation, it’s all I can do to just get the simple things done.  I’ll spare you the gruesome details, actually I’m working on something that will most likely go up on Profane Existence.

Oh…And FINAL CONFLICT is back too!  And I am going to see them.  Just two weeks ago I didn’t think I’d be able to pull this trip off due to health, even now its still going to be sketchy but I am committed.

Last year at Chaos in Tejas I had the pleasure of meeting Ron Martinez and gushed upon him my adoration for FINAL CONFLICT that goes back to the 80′s.  I proudly called off all the FINAL CONFLICT releases I had and he informed me that I was missing a European tour 7″ (which he hooked me up with!).  In that conversation he let me know that this year’s Chaos In Tejas would see him front the band again alongside the mighty Jeff Harp.  Un-fucking-real!!!!  Nothing is going to stop me, not even my fucked up guts…

Here is an interview I did a couple of years ago on ThrashHead with Jeff Harp….Check it out.

http://thrashhead.com/final-conflict.html

COLDSTEEL – America Idle CD

Being an avid collector of any old thrash record I can get ahold of, I was surprised that I had never come across COLDSTEEL. With a couple demos and only 1 album to their name I guess that would explain why I might have missed them. Its always interesting to see how these reunion albums go, sometimes you get a total kick ass album or sometimes you end up with a confused attempt at some tough sounding riffs and over all poppy feel. I’d say COLDSTEEL has done a pretty good job with creating some new thrashers on ‘America Idle’ without sounding like they are forcing anything.  The overall sound here is actually quite diverse. It starts with a catchy raging riff on the title track and never really lets up. Lots of bay area style mosh moments mixed with small dashes of that east coast technical speed metal sound reminiscent of REALM or TOXIK. The vocals are equally diverse ranging from the James Hetfield ‘yeeah’ style to more ‘Ritual’ era Chuck Billy groove oriented phrases and there are plenty of shouted gang vocals that have more of a hardcore feel rather than your usual 80s backing shouts. I have found this album growing on me with every listen. I can’t help but start banging my head a few times while doing the dishes or folding laundry. COLDSTEEL definitely have something going for them and I look forward to a full length. (Joe)

https://www.facebook.com/coldsteelny

HELLBASTARD / DRESDEN split LP

I really didn’t know what to expect from HELLBASTARD.  The band is really just Scruff and whatever hired guns he has and their last few releases were so triggered and polished I had a hard time digesting them.  There would be times that I wasn’t sure if I was listening the legendary HELLBASTARD or some recent trigger happy,  pro-tools, cookie cutter BS from MORBID ANGEL or some other bland shit.  Even though Scruff goes through band members like I go through toilet paper he is the keystone to this band and he still has his chops.  He can still whip some crusty metal jams with the best of them writing some of the sickest riffs that side of the pond.  This is a headbanging, crusty, denim vest thrash-a-thon.  Even if the track ‘Sons of Bitches’ has that goofy “Shut the fuck up” part that reminds me of that radio rock band BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION, the songs are still solid and will kick your unwashed ass.  The 4 songs on their side of this record all have infectious hooks and incredibly well crafted.  Again, Scruff is a riff genius and can still rip out some world class, killer, fuckin’ songs! But alas, the triggered drums are not completely removed, they are still there but thankfully they are not as overbearing as what I mentioned earlier.  For the most part I can really get into this but I can see where some of my friends might be challenged by the trigger happy drums.  The same is true with RESISTANT CULTURE, I can live with the triggers (maybe because I listen to lots of Metal?) but some of my friends who really are heels dug into more traditional crust and hardcore can’t deal with it.  Off the top of my head I know two dudes who really want to like RC but they can’t get past the triggers.  These same dudes really didn’t spend any time with the last couple of HELLBASTARD releases either.  I am really upset by this as their tunes are so righteous, I really want to celebrate the virtues of their side of this split but I am not able to sing my praise for this from the mountain tops because of the restraints I feel imposed upon me by the technical aspects of this record.  GodDamnit!  Why? Why?  Just get rid of the triggers and let the crust flow from the speakers!   With the pleas to the band I plea to the punx, crusties and thrashers…Please! Please!…Please give HELLBASTARD a chance here and look past the Pete Sandoval drums and recognize the wonderful compositions Scruff and company have prepared for us…

Before I even put this on I wondered if DRESDEN was going to hold up in sound versus what I expected to be a pretty slick and “professional” mix on the HELLBASTARD side.  This record could easily feel really lopsided, that was a risk that seemed obvious as soon as I heard this project even existed.  It’s not 2 seconds into the record and it’s easy to identify that DRESDEN is more than prepared for this pairing.  They turn in a terrific display of metallic crust with enough twists and turns that no song can be labeled as predictable or uninspired or whatever bland terms MRR and RAZORCAKE have been throwing at the crust reviews over the last few months.  DRESDEN shows that there is still a lot of fun to be had in this genre as they infuse thrash metal guitar riffs with rapid fire hardcore drumming and creative songwriting.  Bitty’s gruff shout is backed with the brutal deep grunts of Jimmy and Bones.  It’s a tried and true formula that really works for them well.  You can sing along with Bitty and get gnarly when the guitar players start spitting out the back-ups.  As I started to mention at the beginning the mix and production values of the DRESDEN side are fuckin’ aces.  It’s as thick as the crust on the pizza in those new Caesar’s commercials (what shit pizza by the way) and as powerful as the stink from my cat pan (I need to change that…tonight!).   Basically folks this is the exactly what I am all about.  Do you want a good record review from me?  Turn in some thoughtful, powerful, interesting metallic crust with rad riffs, memorable songs and a production that sounds like you give a shit.  It’s that simple really.  I can’t say anything bad about this (why would I want to?)and the only real constructive criticism I have is “rock harder”.  There is always room to rock harder.  (JoshMosh)

www.beercity.com

HERÄTYS – Näen Punalsta EP -

FUCK YEAH!   HERÄTYS always delivers!  The 12” from 2010 was a total killer but this EP is absolutely blistering!  The songs, as always, are frantic and crazy and feel like a car careening out of control down a scandinavian mountain pass, but always keeping it somehow on the road.  I think at least the guitarist, is from the legendary SKITKIDS and you can instantly hear it in this.  These guys all are from Sweden but all these songs are in Finnish which gives it a kinda different texture to the vocals, more snarling and vicious somehow.  Sadly, this is supposedly their swansong, since i’ve heard they broke up after this was recorded.   I was super bummed that they didn’t make it to play Chaos in Tejas last year.  Get this now cause HERÄTYS will go down as a classic band and this is their best.

(val)

La Familia

https://www.havocrecords.com/heratys/naen-punaista

This is a different record but gives you some idea…

HEAVY NUKES – Ultra Mega Raw 7”

File this under “could be a lost relic”.  This is no nonsense early Swedish hardcore punk that draws an obvious comparison to SHITLICKERS and ANTI-CIMEX, and done spot on.  In fact it sounds so raw and stripped down that it would be easy to convince someone that this was a lost or unreleased recording from that time and place.  Absolutely over the top reverb drenched vocals that sound like they were recorded while sitting in a metal trash can.  Raw and chaotic guitars and uber fast drums but its the no-bullshit approach to the recording and production that makes this so great.  It sounds great, but only because it was played great.  With fury.  Now some things certainly benefit from a bigger sound but this sounds like a trip thru time.  Like you just found a lost tribe in the forest doing their thing despite having the academics say they were long dead.  I think these guys may be from Germany but I can’t tell from this release.  All the songs are in english with the exception of a perfectly suited cover song.  KILLER!

(val)

Static Age Records

https://www.havocrecords.com/heavy-nukes/ultra-mega-raw

One day something else happened to me. I think, really, it was a culmination of events that lead to me smelling this particular offensive redolence. This fart was an insult to me, aimed at me and delivered with grace and poise. This was meant as a sucker punch by a vindictive old lady. It had to be, that is the only scenario my mind can except as truth.

I had just smoked a lot of hash, hey I’m from Colorado lay off, and was wandering around the aisles of Costco. Costco is a mega whole sale store that threatens to eat everything around it. I had given a buddy a lift there so he could buy snacks for his poker games. As he shopped I roamed about, aimlessly. I think I was staring into Deep Space located securely in a pile of cheap jeans when out of the corner of my right eye came a smear of black and red that stopped on the other side of the table littered trousers from me. This instantly pulled me out of my time traveling ways. This little old gal locked eyes with me in an epic stare down for the ages.

When I first meet people I don’t like to stare them in the eye for extended periods of time, if I am shaking your hand or talking to you I will meet eyes but I do not stare long. I find it uncomfortable to stare in strangers eyes for more than 10 seconds at a time. I have been given shit for this time to time like at new job or what not. Hey I keep to myself and I’m polite so I don’t see what the problem is. Recently I had started a new job and as I became friendly with my coworkers one of them said that same thing to me. Armed with the recognition of that fact, I realized this moment in Time would be perfect to work on my social awkwardness. So I decided to visually eviscerate this stranger. I gazed deep into those nearly cataract eyes as long as my soul would allow her act of terror to hold me in its clutches.

Five seconds, ten seconds, I could hear the sweat pushing through my pores, to look away became the only option my reeling mind could handle. 15 seconds… Oh fuck, this lady is creeping me the fuck out. 20 SECONDS!!! Oh shit!!! The big blink came, I broke first. I had too. I could no longer stare at this old woman’s erroneous pencil tipped eyes. I lost that impromptu stare down, I looked away for less than a billionth of a nanosecond but I was all too late.  When my eyes returned to her Manson Lamps It was over, she stared at me for about two seconds more then made a strange face and walked away.

Instantly a wave of shame washed over me, I am a looser, I cannot even win a simple stare down but then something else then washed over me. It was fart! A plain and simple, good old fart. Then it hit me, I just got farted on by a little old lady, on purpose! When she departed ways with me she left very scornfully with a scowl on her face.  I called out to my buddy who was just walking up on the scene if he had farted. No was the reply that lead me to conclude that I had just been assaulted by a flatulent old bag! She just napalm raided me like any good imperialist does.

I don’t believe she just came over and just happened to fart on accident. For one thing she left the way she came and didn’t take any of the pants that seemed to be the focal point of our meeting. Maybe she is a stare down expert who travels around expelling flatus on anyone who loses in her unofficial contests. I think not. I believe she came over to stare at my soul and judge me in good Christian fashion then fart on the Devil. It’s a little different then shouting at the Devil I suppose.

Why do I jump to this conclusion? Because this sort of thing happens to me, fuck it happens to any rocker. I happen to usually wear one color and that color is black. Christians associate that color with Satan worship and I was covered in it, I even had black socks on. I have had people start yelling at me all over Denver about Jesus. They always look me up and down then make their judgments; if they are unsure then some will come flat out and ask if I worship the Dark Father. If I am feeling peppy I will usually turn the tables and rant like a southern preacher about anti-theism, and how my way is full of love and the way of Jesus is full of hate. I think I will blame the victim here a little. When I became a punk I knew I was going to make myself a minority. Fuck, I wanted to. That was the purpose, to show I rejected everything the majority of Americans held important. I wanted for most people to look at me and cringe. I fully accept the reaction that my attitude it invokes. You hope to open minds but usually you just become a target. Granted I am not some young green mohawked ne’er-do-well flipping off the general public. I feel I am pretty reserved in my middle age. I do still wear a studded vest with a rad Extinction of Mankind back patch, have a few piercings and occasionally die my hair but I am not the traffic sign I use to be. Even if I dress nice it seems I can’t drop it, I am this way no matter what I wear or what my surroundings are now.

I went to a cabaret show with a friend named Anna. I was dressed in a god damned suit with my hair combed, I was looking sharp, sharp enough the waitress even hit on me. We were seated in the middle of the room behind a couple bachorlette parties and a few people on their first dates. The emcee came out and started to tell some jokes and get the crowd warmed up before introducing the different acts. In between one of these acts he came out and said in his fake but well- rehearsed Spanish accent “We have a lot of beautiful women in the crowd tonight.” He pointed over to an attractive lady and the spotlight followed his cue. Then he said “and here is another beautiful woman.” And the spotlight once again followed his finger and lit up another middle aged gal and everyone applauded. The he yelled out “and look at this foxy gem” and the spot light goes onto a woman in her 80’s. The crowd laughed riotously and you wonder what could happen next to possible top that. Well, let me tell you. That is when he uttered “and look at this beautif….ohhh!?!” just as the spotlight bathed me in its glorious postulance.  The whole crowd vigorously slammed their palms together and laughed at what was paradoxical of a handsome woman, me.

Okay, okay that’s great but it happened again a few months later but instead of thirty people pointing and laughing at me it was over a thousand. Me and Anna went and saw Cirque du Soleil, Quidam and it was awesome. I have never seen anything like that. We were seated front row for this spectacular event. We could not believe our luck as to our seating and with great anticipation we sat down as the nights festivities began.  After many amazing performances an old time clown mime hybrid appeared and he started to silently act out the same gag that had happened at the cabaret show.

The mime would point at a pretty girl in the crowd, make big boob hands and the spotlight would come down and highlight a young lady in the crowd squirming in discomfort and the audience would go into hysterics. I as soon as I saw this I knew it, I knew to a tee what was going to unfold by the end of this escapade. As the mime made his way through the different stages of the gag, all I could think was poor Anna has to be plopped down next to the freakish mutation that apparently sits polar opposite of attractive on the beauty scale.

When I glanced to my left and saw that big spotlight land on another unsuspecting grandmother out with her family for a night of fun. I just closed my eyes, tried to shrivel lower in my seat and let my head sag a little. As I sat there trying my Zartan hardest not be noticed the mime went right on with his stupid act. Suddenly bright oranges laced with brilliant reds and purples lit up the back of my eye lids. Once again I was in the spotlight living out my role in this lame joke. I opened my eyes smiled and politely nodded to the idiot on the stage. There was an attractive female squeezed into her designer clothes seated next to me so the mime grabbed her and brought her up on stage.

What are the chances I would get to be part of the same gag within a couple of months of each other? I just attract it.  Do not think I am crying about it. Sometimes it gets old, being the scapegoat with Up Yours scrawled across his shirt that is so well illustrated on that old poster that adorns the walls of probation officer’s, principal’s, and social counselor’s rooms around the country. The classic punching bag. What’s funny is I love it, I am here on purpose. As I ride my bike downtown I know I would cleanse myself in a thousand old women ass bombs over and over again rather than except any of this system as legitimate.  I love it when some dick wipe driving down the street in his S.U.V. yells faggot at me.  It surprises me that I can elicit that sort of brain damaged response just by my outward appearance.  There is no way I cannot be a punk and I don’t even know what that is anymore.  But it is in everything I do from how I take a shit to how I shop for groceries. It is better to keep your mouth closed and have people think you are an idiot than it is to open it and prove them right. (Attucks)

KILLING JOKE: Exclusive Track Premiere Hosted By Decibel Magazine

North American Tour To Commence Next Month

In celebration of their soon-to-be-released three-disc anthology and long anticipated North American tour, Decibel Magazine is offering up a rare stream of KILLING JOKE’s “Timewave” demo! Previously unreleased, the track was recorded during the Absolute Dissent studio sessions and comes by way of

The Singles Collection 1979-2012.

Capturing KILLING JOKE’s enormous ever-evolving story with a series of dark, apocalyptic songs that have successfully combined disco, funk and shamanic wisdom with the dark side of the punk rock fall-out, The Singles Collection 1979-2012 offers up thirty-three career-spanning singles over two CDs with an additional third disc of rarities, including previously unreleased studio tracks. The three-CD version will be limited in number, reverting to two CDs containing the singles tracks. The Singles Collection 1979-2012 is set for release via Spinefarm/Universal on May 14, 2013 with the digital version dropping two weeks prior on April 30th.

Check out “Timewave” courtesy of Decibel Magazine at THIS LOCATION. For the full track listing, point your browser HERE.

As a precursor to the release, KILLING JOKE will embark on a North American run of live dates set to commence April 19 in New York City. The special tour will coast through ten more cities before coming to a close on May 5th in Los Angeles. See the updated itinerary below.

KILLING JOKE The Singles Tour 2013:
4/19/2013 Irving Plaza – New York, NY
4/20/2013 Paradise – Boston, MA
4/21/2013 Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
4/23/2013 Cafe Campus – Montreal, QC
4/24/2013 Lee’s Palace – Toronto, ON
4/26/2013 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
4/27/2013 Empty Bottle – Chicago, IL
4/30/2013 Neumos – Seattle, WA

5/01/2013 Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver, BC

5/03/2013 Fillmore – San Francisco, CA
5/04/2013 Brick By Brick – San Diego, CA
5/05/2013 Henry Fonda – Los Angeles, CA

With a fierce intelligence combined with a thirst for esoteric knowledge that matches a sound that is visceral and almost spiritual in its primal spirit, KILLING JOKEare like no other.  This is a group spawned from punk rock that set out on one of the most remarkable and idiosyncratic journeys ever. Their influence has been enormous, with an unlikely roll-call of musicians taking their cues from the KJ catalog, from Nirvana to most modern American metal to many DJs and dance music mavericks. With their original line-up of Jaz Coleman, Geordie, Youth and Big Paul continuing to hold firm, KILLING JOKE have something sulphurous and strong that few bands have come close to matching the band’s innate power. Details on a new full-length to be announced in the coming months. Stay tuned.

http://www.killingjoke.com

http://www.facebook.com/killingjokeofficial
http://spinefarmrecords.com/usa

http://www.facebook.com/SpinefarmRecordsUS

Reblogged from :

In Episode 3 we talk about controversial events where if you were one of the early people speaking about this you were labeled a nut job, conspiracy theorist. These types of things have happened throughout history and we start with the more recent and move back in time. Items discussed include, the government mass bullet buy, drones over America, the war on drugs, the privatized prison system, the assignation of Martin Luther King and more.

Read more… 12 more words