As Sahar

The Singapore Black Metal scene is a fascinating one. There are many bands to check out, but let's start with one of the oldest and coldest. As Sahar are a rather orthodox Black Metal from the region who tumbled from the vagina of the goat sometime around 1993. Their seventeen year commitment to no-fucking-around Black Metal has earned them the respect as one of Southeast Asia's most feral hordes. The band formed out of the smoldering nuclear ash of the legendary Singapura Satanic death/thrash act, Ethos. As Sahar have a staggering discography, and I imagine that most of this stuff isn't exactly available at Best Buy between Arsis and Atreyu, so if you are sitting on anything by As Sahar then you should share it. I will start it off by sharing the Casus Luciferi ep, which is really just a 1997 reissue of their first demo Primitively Eastern Winds from '93. In 1993 Black Metal was still pretty new, and probably even newer to Singapore, as a result As Sahar, at this point, still seem to have some more thrash and even '80s hardcore elements to their proto-Black Metal. Bow before the might of As Sahar!!!

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太陽の皇子

YBO² was a strange band from Tokyo whose personnel during their six year run reads like a veritable who's who of Japanese avant garde music, most notably members who went on to form Ruins, Zeni Geva, CCCC, Ghost...However the band was mainly the work of Matashi Kitamura who would go on to start Trans Records and later, SSE Communications. Here is YBO²'s 1986 ep Tayou No Ouiji. I am going to stop here, describing YBO² would be as easy as teaching someone how to get punched in the mind.

死んだ太陽の上昇

Adversary

Adversary, another Swedish death metal band rotting in obscurity. These morbid minors wallowed in the bullshit town of Sandviken, a town known for a steel mill and bandy, which is some kind of ice hockey thing. Remains of an Art Forgotten would be the band's last (of three) self-released demos. For this recording, Adversary called on their bro, Matti Karki (Carnage, Dismember) to lend his burly pipes. It's Swedish, it's death metal. You pretty much know what this is like already.

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It's a Trap!!!

Here's Japanese hardcore record that doesn't get much attention, Client's 1988 Trap ep. Client give you all the trappings of ripping far eastern fastcore violence in these six songs; gruff vocals, metal tendencies, weird guitar solos, and breakneck speeds. Not as compelling as G.I.S.M. or Zouo but still worth a listen.

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The Revelation of Higher Mysteries

Deviser are a pretty odd, thrashy black metal band from Greece whose history can be traced back to 1988. This EP, The Revelation of Higher Mysteries was recorded and released in 1994. It has obvious production problems and a rickety performance, but still manages to capture a certain old school atmosphere and mystique that is nearly extinct in metal today. Deviser cram a lot into these three tracks, a scant nine and a half minutes, with secret rites, Lovecraftian horrors, gore, maggots, and a name drop to both Crowley and Manson. Excellent Hellenic kult weirdness.

Μυστήριος

INSANE!!!

You all seem to respond to the posts about these early FWOSHM (first wave of Swedish Heavy Metal) bands, so I am excited to share with you all one of my favorite of these obscure recordings, Insane's Games of the World demo from 1983. Insane hailed from the bullshit town of Oskarshamn, a town known for it's nuclear power plant. We have well established that these young Swedish metal bands all seem to share a natural, naive charm and a seemingly endless joy in playing no-frills Heavy Metal, Insane is no different really. Insane's songwriting craft was a step above the milieu, these songs will stick like peanut butter in your pubes (don't ask how it got there.) Lyrically they deal in the usual metal topics: evil, knights, swords...but then there is the track "Living and Loving (and Dying For You)" in which front dude, Freddy Kuk, woefully croons about finding out that his favorite flicka is, in fact, a lesbian. Tough break, Kuk. Games of The World is so insanely great that is should be filed under "if you don't love this you are a dick."

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Catatonics

The Catatonics were probably the best thing about Flipside's Vinyl Fanzine 2, and yet this 1984 EP remains relatively unknown. These speed-obsessed punks called Syracuse home but don't let that fill your head with images of privileged, thick-necked, sweatshirt-clad mosh monkey assholes, The Catatonics were the real deal, hardcore when that meant something.

Hunted

Bulbous Creation

Here's some rather maudlin psych/hard blues rock goodness from a little known Missouri band called Bulbous Creation. This album, You Won't Remember Dying, was recorded in 1971 but didn't see a proper release until 1994 when the good folks at Rockadelic Records saved it from obscurity. There is a basement charm to this album that reminds me a bit of some of the Zambian treasures featured here on the Hearse, especially on the track "Satan." Sometimes albums like this can cause a mild panic in me, like how many balding insurance salesmen across the U.S. had amazing psych bands when they were in college that recorded something, but never got that deal they hoped for? What if we never hear that shit?

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Amon Sul

Ready for some Black Metal weirdness from France? This is Amon Sul, a bizarre trio from Calais. They seem to be going for an Immortal sound on this 1995 tape, Goat Mit Uns, but are foiled by an obvious drum machine, fuzzy guitars, and odd keyboard flourishes. The results are mesmerizing. Things got confusing when the member 'Apostle of Despair' left Amon Sul and formed Vucub Came, who also released a demo called Goat Mit Uns with some of this same material on it. Amon Sul is supposedly active, but haven't recorded in over fifteen years. Shame really, with a run time of fourteen minutes Goat Mit Uns leaves me wanting more.

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Cast Iron Canaries

The Cast Iron Canaries were an exceptional band from Santa Cruz (and later San Francisco.) They sounded a lot like The Damned, had a charismatic frontman named Tony, were great guys and super fun to hang out with. Sometime around 1992ish they managed to record this fantastic 4 song demo. If it would have fell into the right mits I am certain these guys would have gotten rich and famous and done a lot of choice blow with famous assholes.

One night I was drunk and ambling through the tenderloin and I saw Tony and Jim waiting in line to see the Jesus Lizard. They asked if I was going to the show and I replied that I was way too drunk and broke to go. Tony insisted I see The Jesus Lizard and bought me a ticket. It was really nice of him to do and I think I repaid the gesture by getting even drunker and getting kicked out after throwing up on some girl's hair. She had nice hair.

Anyways, Tony, Jim, and/or Dave, if you should stumble upon this post, I love you guys, and hope you are all well, and safe, and happy.

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The Day of Wrath

How is it that you love Bathory's first album so much, but you seem wholly indifferent to Bulldozer's debut The Day of Wrath? Is it because they're Italian? Is it because you haven't been bombarded with pictures of people in Bulldozer shirts? Is it because bands seldom cover their songs? Is it because "AC Wild" is not as mysteriously cool a moniker as "Quorthon?" Is it because their logo is pink? I just don't fucking get you, man.

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Attack!!!

Arguably the most important and influential artifact of Swedish Hardcore is this EP by Mob 47. Mob 47 hailed from the very no bullshit town of Stockholm, they wanted to play faster than anyone else at the time, and they may have done just that. This was released in the extremely punk year of 1984.

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Befouled

If you went nutters for the oddball paranormally obsessed Black Metal fumblings of Ahulabrum you would do wise to check out this tape by Befouled By Flies, a side project of Ahulabrum's extremely mysterious members. The band's moniker is apt, this sounds like a pestilential swarm of buzzing insects. Nightmarish white noise black metal filth. Essential!!!!

Befouled

The New Manson Family

One of my favorite bands, Mighty Sphincter, released their first LP, The New Manson Family in 1986, and despite what the liner notes say, Alice Cooper did not produce this album. Weird that one of America's most compelling goth bands in the '80s would hail from Phoenix, Arizona, but all that heat and bad blotter acid permeates every Sphincter release, and only adds to the nauseating, whirling confusion of their sound. This band was wholly ignored and dismissed in their day, but now this style is all the rage, so maybe they can finally get receive the praise they deserved. I believe mainman Doug Clark has resurrected the Mighty Sphincter, maybe a new album? Fuck, I hope so.

Helter Skelter

Cursed

If you were shrewd enough to buy the first vinyl run of From Enslavement to Obliteration back in 1988, you already have this rare EP called The Curse. The rest of you grinders-come-lately will have to settle for this hypothetical digitized version on this trendy hipster blog.

Curses!

Aaargh!

Scraps were from France, they only cared about playing fast and fucking up your system. They were so fucking French and nihilist they had a song called "I hate memories." The aptly titled Aargh! EP was released in 1987 on Aaltrack Records. This is the band's second EP, but they did manage to eke out three EPs, two LPs and a tape during their ten year run. I struggle to imagine anything more punk than this record, and that includes Rancid. Oh, and if you want one of these, Amoeba in San Francisco has it for $100.

Aaargh!

Unholy Gate To The Dark Abyss

Kvell's brilliant Damned Journey for the Unholy War demo was featured way back in the Hearse's infancy when I posted a spotlight on the bizarre world of Korean Black Metal. The hallmark of these Korean kults is the presence of a caustic surface hiss that coats these demos in an arcane filth, like an old photograph or a favorite tape that has been played too many times. Kvell is no exception, and while the intro and outro pieces on Unholy Gate to the Dark Abyss, with fumbling surfy guitars are the most compelling moments on this album, the "regular" Black Metal tracks are so washed out and confusing it's hard not to love it. Kvell is almost more of a power electronics/drone band, whether this was their intent is unknown but it works incredibly well. Anything you can find on the Nerbilous label out of Korea is worth whatever you might pay for it. Seriously.

암흑

For This Is Past

Seems there are so many buried treasures of Synth Wave to be unearthed and propped up here on the Hearse. This time we examine the work of the Dutch Ensemble Pittoresque, mainly their 1983 debut For This Is Past. Much like all these great bands, Ensemble Pittoresque play robotic dance music, however the addition of guitars makes this a bit more "conventional." The vocals and lyrics make this like a Synth Wave band you'd see in an '80s movie, the sort wearing vinyl and wrap around shades, but there is a calm, subdued quality to the songs. It's not as cold as some of the French bands, but often twice as cool, if that makes sense. Enjoy.

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Death Warrant

Here's another weird one-off release by another ultra-obscure '80s Heavy Metal outfit. This time it's seedy Germans, Death Warrant. The cover art alone is enough to win me over, but the Death Warrant's punk/new wave approach to NWOBHM style hard rock is pretty charming as well, kind of like a less-polished Accept fronted by a more polished Johnny Rotten. Oh, and the ESL lyrics about poon, rocking the stage, love, and drugs only sweeten the deal. On the opener "Ecstasy" nasal-voiced front-perv, Wolfgang Marquardt, sings what sounds like "If you suck my cock, I'll drive your clitoris." Death Warrant believed only in using single entendre apparently. Despite all this goofiness, the songs are catchy. This EP just fucking rules, but don't take my word for it.

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Miss Brukarna

Swedish punkers Missbrukarna's clever snark transcends the language barrier and this tape from 1983 gives you seventeen great, to-the-point songs in just over eighteen minutes. In my opinion, Krigets Gentleman is one of the finest Swedish hardcore releases. Kind of a shame this hasn't seen a proper release. Missbrukarna hailed from the bullshit town of Hudiksvall, a sleepy burg whose main attraction is the Stormbergmasten, a really tall television antennae, but if we've learned anything about Sweden from this blog, young folk from these boring towns produced some of the most compelling music ever made. Not sure I understand the presence of the odd pop song out, "Vi Blev Radd" but it can't hinder the power of this little pink tape. Some of you still may think that Swedish hardcore is the sound of punk to come, but it is not. Swedish hardcore is war.

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