For The Glory of Zemial

Zemial are mystikal ancient kult band comprised of Eskarth the Dark One and Archon Vorskaath, the two hellenic hermanos that make up the amazing band Agatus. Zemial isn't as polished as Agatus, and opt for a more direct and simple approach to Black Metal. For The Glory of Ur was the duo's first full length and it was released in 1996. Ur was a great city in Sumer, it was also the home of Sin Nanna, the Sumerian moon god. Zemial pays its respects to this once great desert metropolis with seven typically Greek and understated tracks and a Bathory cover. Glorious.

Δόξαn

Red

Tallow was a San Francisco band operating in the early '90s. Among their ranks was Laurie Sue Shanaman who now is best know for her role in Ludicra. However, the band's only release, 1993's Red Disc of Proxima was recorded before she joined. Tallow come off like an uglier Melvins or a more filthy AmRep band. A bit dated now but unnerving and rocking all the same.

Red

Starstruck

The fuckin' party starts now, assholes, 1984. Starstruck is rollin' up on interstellar choppers, givin' the motherfucking middle finger salute to the whole fuckin' galaxy. You terrestrial squares don't know how to cut loose and have a good time, so once again Starstruck is summoned from deep space to put a bony foot in your tight ass. Starstruck actually hailed from the party town of Karisruhe Germany. Thru To You was their only album, and it is a cannon full of confetti and generic OTT rockers about, well, party things like chicks and cars and the very act of rocking hard. Okay, this doesn't really rock all that hard, more like AOR/Hard Rock, but if you are planning a party this summer, or in the '80s, this might come in handy, but keep your eye on Klaus, that rascal has plans on spiking the punch.

Ich möchte party

Bitterness

Asocial were one of Sweden's most brutal punk bands of all fucking time. They hated you, they hated your system, and the hated your fucking face. Fuck yourself.

Avsky

Dry Spell

Dry Spell is a particularly nasty Black Metal band from Tampa. Dry Spell's members also operated in the bands Natte Ulf and Sigil SS (if anyone has anything by these bands please share.) Under The Blackened Skys of War was the bands second demo, and last before founding member, Grond, hung himself in 2004. Dry Spell carried on and a 3-way split with Deathkrush and Whorde was released in 2008. As was seen in the last post, demos with typos in the titles always get special love from the Hearse, and this shit is sick, misanthropic noise from my home state. R.I.P. Grond, Long Live Dry Spell!!!

War!

Vacant Grave

Vacant Grave and their mustaches formed in 1986 in the bullshit fuck-all town of Manchester, Missouri. They wanted to outevil Slayer and came pretty close. This is a party, but one where no chicks show up and shit gets all weird when the beer runs out. Here's three demos bundled in one easy download because I love you.

Vacancy

Destroy Power

Here's a compilation EP released by Lost & Found in 1995. Uncurbed kick things off with their furious Swedish hardcore track "Riots In Blood" I am not sure where Taste of Fear hailed from but their contibution "Headstone" bears the early pummel of proto-grind and crust. Disgust are next, remember them? They were one of the more memorable groups in the sea of dis-clone band oversaturation at the time. Cold World were like Austria's answer to Siege, they really should have been better known. Finnish band Bastards sound a bit out of place here with their rather dated Finnish hardcore sound, I love them (even featured their amazing EP here) but they sound a bit wimpy sandwiched between Cold World and Dead Beat. Kaaos suffers the same affliction. Their track "Vaihtoehto" is one of their bests but has also appeared on numerous other more appropriate comps. Boston's legenday Disrupt grind and scrape through the 34 second "Same Old Shit." Sweden's No Security peel paint with their cut. Confrontation kinda suck but I am sure someone will tell me how they were really important and seminal and whatever. The whole affair is wrapped up by the two best known contributors, Siege and Heresy. Both kill of course. Not sure if this comp actually destroys power but it definitely destroys boredom for approximately fifteen minutes.

Destroy

The Niner!!!

Today is the utmost special day here at Hearse headquarters. It is Ezra's ninth birthday. To him it means presents, to his mother and me it means the halfway point. It is also your lucky day as Ezra has compiled his nine favorite songs for you dear readers. I'll let it be a surprise what songs he picked, but I assure you it is a quality mix. Happy Birthday, Little Beast. It has been a fun nine years.

Here

Cendres

Cendres is a mysterious French Black Metal band that released only one buzzing misanthropic tape titled Ungeziefer. Harsh, repetitive, black miasmas slathered in cobwebs and filth. For nighttime listening only.

Here

Shores

This band kind of trod the same path as Cosmic Hearse alumni Ashbury, Crowhaven, and Monarch. However, unlike those bands Shores of Evening were kinda lame. Yeah that cover suggests some ass-kicking biker metal band but this record is laughably bad. Even the promise of song titles like "Fist In The Air" and "Wreck This House Down" is totally watered down by pedestrian pub rock. You can almost hear the dulcet buzz of a Lowenbrau neon sign as the band slunks through another flaccid jam. Listen once and delete.

Here

Liberty or Death

Here is a fantastic lo-fi tape compilation of Japanese Hardcore bands that were previously unknown to me. The tape is called Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death (not very Japanese, eh?) and the bands are Baroudeur, Saru, Zverg, and Deformed-C. Baroudeur and Deformed-C sound exemplary of what we have come to expect from Japanese Hardcore with their wild soloing and gruff vocals. Saru and Zverg sound like they could have been from anywhere. I think I like Deformed-C best.

自由

Ceremonies

Alastor are a one-man NSBM band from Greece. Its sole member, Saturno also operates the equally spiteful Agarthia and is also a member of Ravenbanner, a sort of all-star band of Hellenic haters. Repetitive crude blastbeats rumble under grainy guitars, the choppy screamed vocals are overblown and way too loud in the mix making this another bit of kvlt outsider Black Metal for you to chew on.

Here

Sealings

I'm back with a lazy post. This Sealings tape was by far my favorite thing I downloaded from Terminal Escape, which is perhaps the best blog on the interwebs. Here I will lazily cut and paste The Wizard's writing on this amazing, mysterious band from the UK...

"Here's some pretentious arty shit that some of you will hate. Of course, some of you will also love it. The first track, "My Boyfriend's Dead," is a dark synth-drenched dirge that reminds me of early SUICIDE with a modern COLD CAVE-esque touch, it's by far the best track on the tape. "Atomised" is more of a straight rock number, and serves primarily as a segueway into the second side which is more along the lines of the first track, but trade the COLD CAVE reference for early JESUS AND MARY CHAIN. Yeah, I know...I'm not punk at all. Oops."

Here

R.I.P. Garry Shider

Garry Shider aka "Star Child" aka "Diaper Man" of Parliament/Funkadelic has sadly lost his battle with cancer. May your journey on the Mothership be swift and painless. You were a badass.

Rollerball

Here's some more Italian action from 1983 for your earholes, and am I ever excited about this one. Rollerball's debut EP Outlast The Game has to be one of my favorite obscure metal treasures. Rollerball hailed from Florence and played NWOBHM-inspired metal, but what makes this record an undisputed gem is the performance of a feisty frontman named Maxx Bell. The little guy's voice drips with so much character, and then, when the mood strikes him, he goes into his evil persona (check it out on the first song at about 2:44.) This record is pure joy right from the opening track "Rollerball," which sounds like Raven meets the Bad Brains to end, but the standout track is the oddly titled "Do You Know Alan?" Outlast The Game closes with the hook-laden track "Escape," and before you know it it is over and you are left wanting more Rollerball. Seriously, if anyone out there has their Don't Push The Button album please contact me, I need to hear it.

Qui

Also, the blog will be down for about a week (I know, there's been a lot of that lately) while I go up to Portland to do some Agalloch work.

Wretched

Wretched were from Milan, Italy. They played sloppy, breakneck, political hardcore. They did a split with the fantastic Indigesti in 1982 and followed up with this EP in 1983 titled In Nome Del Loro Potere Tutto È Stato Fatto. They were fiercely active in Milan's anarchist scene residing in the Virus squat, hosting shows, and running their own Chaos Produzioni label. They embodied the DIY anarcho ethos in the '80s and made some noisy fucking music in the process. Non dimentichi mai Wretched.

Qui

Arianrhod

Arianrhod was a short lived raw Quebecois Black Metal band that self released one and only demo, 2001's La Reine Blanche. Despite the foofy cover and intro, Arianrhod rip into some hateful filthy scrape. Not unlike the uneasy French Canadian Black Metal of Malveillance and Akitsa that we have come to love.

Here

Burmese vs. Cadaver Eyes

The amazing Maxime at New Scream Industry was kind enough to send me a massive package of great swag, all wonderfully cruel releases, but the standout was this split. Cosmic Hearse favorites Burmese go toe to toe with their Israeli counterpart, Cadaver Eyes. Both bands were recorded live at WFMU. Both bands fucking hate you and vomit forth acidic vehemence from instruments on the verge of collapse. Both bands draw inspiration from harsh noise, powerviolence and grind. However, as fucked up as Cadaver Eyes is, Burmese's low end bully rape wins.

WAR!!!

The Mist

The Mist were a thrash band from Belo Horizonte Brazil. In 1991 they unleashed their second album The Hangman Tree, and it's really fucking good, and a vast improvement over their debut Phantasmagoria. Generally I don't go for this kind of slick thrash but The Hangman Tree is really fun in a sort of less accomplished Coroner way. At times it reminds me a bit of old Sepultura (guitarist Jairo Guedz was a founding member of Sepultura and played on Morbid Visions) and on occasion they channel classic Megadeth. Periodically The Mist ventured into some introspective cornball keyboard and acoustic guitar moments, but this keeps the album dynamic and interesting. The Mist were cool, but '91 seems a bit late for this type of thing. Oddly enough, if this came out last year I could see it getting some attention.

Here

Demonic

This record, Demon Priest, by a band called Syudan Jisatsu (Mass suicide,) was released in 1991 and has been the source of much conjecture amongst the collector set. First it was rumored that Sakevi of GISM sings on this (it does sound like him,) then it was said that this was a very thorough tribute to classic Japanese hardcore performed by a bunch of anonymous Finns. I don't know any more about this than anyone else. I do know that it kicks ass.

悪魔的