Thursday, January 28, 2010

Crom

This was requested by one of my favorite people in the world, Anthony aka "Chubby," Hickey's original bassist and all around wonderful dude. Crom are oft associated with the Southern California Power Violence scene but this album is so much more than the herky jerky blasting barky PCP-core you might expect. The Cocaine Years is an amazing pastiche of various badass cultural nostalgia, heavy metal zeitgeist, and snarky in jokes. It is a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the grandiosity and pomp of metal, the sort some might find patronizing, but I think it comes from a genuine place of reverence. This record astounded me when I first heard it in 2001 and it is still a fun and funny listen. See if you can figure out all the references this record makes. Thanks, Chubby, for reminding me about this.

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44 comments:

  1. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 1:19 AM

    WE ALL COME TOGETHER TO FIGHT TIL DEATH!

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  2. AnthonyJanuary 28, 2010 at 1:41 AM

    Yes!!! Thyanks for this ace!!

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  3. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 3:03 AM

    thanx!

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  4. UnknownJanuary 28, 2010 at 4:03 AM

    This album is soooo f****'n great!
    The only question that I have is, how much of the music is actually Crom, and how much is found/sampled stuff? Soundtrack snippets aside, I mean? In the final analysis, it doesn't matter, anyway.

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  5. ChairmakerJanuary 28, 2010 at 5:21 AM

    Crom is genius--like sniffing poorly crushed rocks of pure metal in sleazy disco full of tweaked barbarians.

    Hot Sumerian Nights (from 2006?) is also brilliant.

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  6. DiNoJanuary 28, 2010 at 7:05 AM

    I got 'em both on vinyl, the sleeves are hilarious too!

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  7. TMMJanuary 28, 2010 at 7:25 AM

    Is this on Life is Abuse?

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  8. Shelby CobrasJanuary 28, 2010 at 7:27 AM

    A lost and forgotten classic. Fuck yes, thank you.

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  9. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 7:44 AM

    swell. swollen. swole.

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  10. DanielJanuary 28, 2010 at 8:32 AM

    Whether you have short hair,long hair,mustache or beard. Noooo matter. Ha,ha,ha,ha.

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  11. eric jJanuary 28, 2010 at 8:42 AM

    I definitely know a few folks who find this patronizing but you know what? Crom couldn't be slingin' these riffs and makin' these jokes if they didn't own and love all those cheesy metal records. And sometimes, actually very often, metal is about loving something that's dumb as shit but awesome as hell. So bring me the foot of Cole Ford.

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  12. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 10:21 AM

    this records kicks all the asses in the world man!!

    yeah!

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  13. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 10:24 AM

    funny you post this today cuz i just picked up a copy of Hot Sumerian Nights last yesterday. not as awesome as this one fo sho but still good.

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  14. AesopJanuary 28, 2010 at 11:16 AM

    This was released by Pessimizer

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  15. Twin Uzis in HyruleJanuary 28, 2010 at 11:35 AM

    What a great live act these guys are.

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  16. mikeJanuary 28, 2010 at 12:59 PM

    One of the best albums released in the 2000's,plays like a demented mixtape.

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  17. prunalogsusanJanuary 28, 2010 at 1:50 PM

    feel good stuff. conan the barbarian cool!

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  18. Roger CamdenJanuary 28, 2010 at 2:02 PM

    this is one of those records where the listener has to bring his/her nerd up to the band's own nerd to fully appreciate it

    this is a metal nerd record

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  19. BradethQJanuary 28, 2010 at 2:39 PM

    Yeah! I was just spinning this with my two-year-old yesterday afternoon. What is best in life?

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  20. AnonymousJanuary 28, 2010 at 3:48 PM

    Love this! What are all the references this record makes? Samples from Conan the Barbarian, "Jesus Saves," "Changes," and what i'm pretty sure is Cronos stage banter are as far as I've gotten.

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  21. TelJanuary 29, 2010 at 3:54 AM

    After hearing a ton of hype about these guys, I picked up Hot Sumerian Nights with high expectations. Those expectations left me sorely disappointed by what, on first listen, felt like a short 7" padded with a shitton of samples and filler. Luckily, I gave it a few more chances, and came to love it... but I never did track down this one, despite always wanting to. So, thanks for the upload; I'm sure I'll hate this one on first listen too but I'm equally sure I'll come to love it.

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  22. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2010 at 7:39 AM

    I have it on good authority that all of the artwork was done by one of the members dad. Seriously....

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  23. AnonymousJanuary 29, 2010 at 2:59 PM

    I think the references are much better than their OK music.

    I love that they play the end of a robin trower song at one point. Pretty rad and makes me like it much more than if it were just a humorless band attempting to do "power violence".

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  24. Herr SchindlerJanuary 29, 2010 at 8:52 PM

    I particularly enjoyed the ode to ZZ Top...

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  25. L.January 29, 2010 at 9:04 PM

    We have a Crom snowglobe in our bathroom... seriously.

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  26. AnonymousJanuary 30, 2010 at 2:33 AM

    You should scan and post the back cover for this too. Hillarious. It would allways make me laugh when working at Revolver.

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  27. CarlJanuary 30, 2010 at 12:17 PM

    This record rules! Some of these dudes were also in Doomsday 1999, who were fucking slayed the one time I saw them live. Aesop, if you've never heard their second record 'Racist Unicorn', let me know and I'll send you a DL link of a rip.

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  28. AesopJanuary 30, 2010 at 12:41 PM

    Of course I am interested in an album called "Racist Unicorn"

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  29. CarlJanuary 30, 2010 at 2:21 PM

    Check yr email.

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  30. morelightthanheatJanuary 30, 2010 at 5:14 PM

    in the one conversation i ever had with eric wood, he told me to check these guys out. i obeyed, and happen to be quite glad i did.

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  31. AnonymousJanuary 31, 2010 at 10:35 AM

    The leeway intro seems the most out of place, but still rad.

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  32. PhilJanuary 31, 2010 at 1:52 PM

    I can't believe I've lived in a world where this was not a part of my life!

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  33. big carlJanuary 31, 2010 at 7:49 PM

    i'm always proud of my old college buddies, an happy when people "get it"

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  34. big carlJanuary 31, 2010 at 7:51 PM

    yeah - phil vera's dad did the killer covers for both albums

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  35. RagnarRJanuary 31, 2010 at 9:10 PM

    Yeah more people should worship at the altar of Crom. Saw them twice in on weekend in '06 with my friends 16 Bitch Pile Up. Fuckin' awesome riffs and the did a lot of the samples live-no laptop or tape.


    Subotai: "I AM evil!"
    Conan: "Yerr a slOtt!"

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  36. gooniestormJanuary 31, 2010 at 11:27 PM

    this record fucking rules, but my favorite crom moment has to be the opening of the second album where they recreate the loop at the beginning of pink floyd's "money" but instead of cash register noises, it's the chopping and snorting of a fat rail. pure retarded genius.

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  37. Gonad the BarbarianFebruary 1, 2010 at 4:35 PM

    Conan meets Spinal Tap! Rock out with your cock out!

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  38. AnonymousFebruary 2, 2010 at 1:31 PM

    Here is some of the references/samples/riffs from Crom.

    Kraftwerk, Slayer, Edgar Winter, The Doobie Brothers, Dirty Rotten Imbeciles, Cheech & Chong, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Conan the Barbarian, Ennio Morricone, Blue Oyster Cult

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  39. big carlFebruary 3, 2010 at 10:14 AM

    don't forget one of the best riffs Kreator ever wrote and also L.A. band, Van Halen ! ! !

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  40. AnonymousFebruary 11, 2010 at 9:14 AM

    I got a bunch of old powerviolence records I'm trying to hustle to make rent. shoot me an email at roachmill43@yahoo.com

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  41. AnonymousMay 10, 2010 at 10:03 PM

    Brilliant band, and cool as hell people. The guitarist Scott conspire a murder a man in a dress with me!

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  42. kramer820July 25, 2010 at 8:16 AM

    Thanks, i already got this one on vinyl, but an extra digital copy is never wrong. This is one clever album, but i think the majority of the metal-fans would dismiss this as a silly parody of their so beloved cliches and values. I was part of the metal-scene for over ten years and i know that self-deprecation humor is not a thing of most fans (but you can always grow up...)

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  43. UnknownNovember 24, 2010 at 7:56 AM

    niiiice

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  44. solidturdAugust 23, 2011 at 8:23 AM

    i have never heard this.
    and i have played in powerviolence bands.
    :hangs head:

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