Okay, initially back in early December I had 13 albums ready to end all my pre-Kill em All stuff. Then I hit a major MAJOR rut and now here I am. I removed lots of stuff that interested me at the time. Albums by Acid, by The F.U.’s, etc etc. And that’s a bummer. But honestly I heard bits of each and nothing since early December drew me back…
Hell… this whole project is boring me at the moment. Maybe the inspiration will hit again. Maybe not. Either way I did it! I copvered almost 100 releases leading up to that fateful July day when the first full-on Thrash LP was released. I’ll take my win there. And maybe I will continue with this or maybe I will explore 2023 music and look back on stuff I missed in 2022. Or maybe something completely different. Who knows.
Either way, apologies for my long absence. Hope you enjoyed following along as I listened to shit tons of “extreme” for it’s time punk and metal these last like 6 months.
Hell yeah, brother! Great job too!!! Almost impossible NOT to get burned out at some point. Bask in having done it!!! 👏
Okay, initially back in early December I had 13 albums ready to end all my pre-Kill em All stuff. Then I hit a major MAJOR rut and now here I am. I removed lots of stuff that interested me at the time. Albums by Acid, by The F.U.’s, etc etc. And that’s a bummer. But honestly I heard bits of each and nothing since early December drew me back…
Hell… this whole project is boring me at the moment. Maybe the inspiration will hit again. Maybe not. Either way I did it! I copvered almost 100 releases leading up to that fateful July day when the first full-on Thrash LP was released. I’ll take my win there. And maybe I will continue with this or maybe I will explore 2023 music and look back on stuff I missed in 2022. Or maybe something completely different. Who knows.
Either way, apologies for my long absence. Hope you enjoyed following along as I listened to shit tons of “extreme” for it’s time punk and metal these last like 6 months.
Hell yeah, brother! Great job too!!! Almost impossible NOT to get burned out at some point. Bask in having done it!!! =D>
hey man thanks for the validation!
Repo wrote:
AND, if you ever want your nipples fully erect again, just check out this band's release come Feb 17th.
A wee little something to whet your appetite, brother! Long live live early 80s hardcore...
"You can leave, BUT you can't go" - says, ME! :twisted:
As for this, you've certainly piqued my interest! Old school punk with some crusty sounds perhaps from the little I heard... I have it earmarked now. _________________ -Ryan
Okay, just for closure on everything I covered so far for this project, I wanted to rank and break into TIERS the 107 or so albums or EPs.
The ones at the bottom that don't have a ranking I honestly can't remember or I believe I was just not in the right state of mind to give 'em a fair shot fully earlier. So they will be spared being ranked. The numbered ones (most of 'em) are clear in my mind.
Recently some of the rankings and ratings may have dropped considerably (Mercyful Fate EP for example which was top 12 and now isn't but I still love it) or they may have raised considerably (Rudimentary Peni's projects).
Enough preamble.
(note initially I was gonna give each tier a name, but it's so annoying so instead here are the tiers represented by the space between lol. The absolute laziest fucking thing ever enjoy!
#1 - Minor Threat by Minor Threat (compilation released June 1984, EPs released June 1981/August 1981)
#2 - Damaged by Black Flag (November 16th, 1981)
#3 - Farce (EP) by Rudimentary Peni (1982)
#4 - Group Sex by Circle Jerks (October 1st, 1980)
#5 - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing by Discharge (May 1982)
#6 - Thou Shalt Not Kill (EP) by Antidote (1983)
#7 - Death Church by Rudimentary Peni (June 1983)
#8 - GBG 1982 (EP) by The Shitlickers (1982)
#9 - Bad Brains by Bad Brains (February 5th, 1982)
#10 - Welcome To Hell by Venom (December 1981)
#11 - Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (September 2nd, 1980)
#12 - The First Four Years by Black Flag (released 1983, recorded between 1978 and 1981)
#13 - Is This My World? By Jerry’s Kids (1983)
#14 - Stained Class by Judas Priest (February 10th, 1978)
#15 - Ääretön joulu (EP) by Terveet Kädet (June 1982)
#16 - Black Metal by Venom (November 1982)
#17 - Static Age by The Misfits (Recorded Jan-Feb, 1978)
#18 - Mercyful Fate (EP) by Mercyful Fate (November 1982)
#19 - Screaming For Vengeance by Judas Priest (July 14th, 1982)
#20 - Lightning To The Nations by Diamond Head (October 3rd, 1980)
#21 - Rock laahausta vastaan (EP) by Terveet Kädet (1980)
#22 - Terveet Kädet II (EP) by Terveet Kädet (1981)
#23 - Pick Your King (EP) by Poison Idea (1983)
#24 - It’s Alive by Ramones (Recorded December 31st, 1977)
#25 - Rudimentary Peni (EP) by Rudimentary Peni (1981)
#26 - Why (EP) by Discharge (May 1981)
#27 - Get It Away (EP) by SS Decontrol (20 May 1983)
#28 - Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest (Recorded 10-15 February 1979)
#29 - Black Dots by Bad Brains (Recorded June 1979)
#30 - Koro EP by Koro (1983)
#31 - Denim and Leather by Saxon (October 5th, 1981)
#32 - Killers by Iron Maiden (February 2nd, 1981)
#33 - Raped Ass (EP) by Anti-Cimex (1983)
#34 - Deliver Us by Warlord (April 1983)
#35 - Plastic Surgery Disasters by The Dead Kennedys (November 1982)
#36 - Strong Arm of the Law by Saxon (November 14th, 1980)
#37 - Ace Of Spades by Motörhead (November 8th, 1980)
#38 - Sin After Sin by Judas Priest (April 8th, 1977)
#39 - Filth by Swans (27 May 1983)
#40 - Plastic Surgery Disasters by Dead Kennedys (November 1982)
#41 - The Number of The Beast by Iron Maiden (March 22nd, 1982)
#42 - Everything Falls Apart by Husker Du (January 1983)
#43 - Cows and Beer (EP) by Die Kreuzen (1982)
#44 - Rock For Light by Bad Brains (April 1983)
#45 - Queensrÿche (EP) by Queensrÿche (May 1983)
#46 - Information Overload Unit by System Planning Korporation (Released March 1981)
#47 - Damaging Noise (EP) by Gai (1983)
#48 - The Nightcomers by Holocaust (April 1981)
#49 - Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden (April 14th, 1980)
#50 - Overkill by Motörhead (April 24th, 1979)
#51 - No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith by Motörhead (Recorded 28 to 30 March, 1981)
#52 - Urban Waste (EP) by Urban Waste (1982)
#53 - The Faith/Void Split LP (September 1982)
#54 - Out of Vogue (EP) by The Middle Class (1978)
#55 - Hassibah Gets the Martian Brain Squeeze (EP) by Neos (1982)
#56 - Fight Back (EP) by Discharge/May 1980)
#57 - No Life ‘til Leather (EP) by Metallica (6 July 1982)
#58 - Out of Step by Minor Threat (April 1983)
#59 - Wheels of Steel by Saxon (April 1980)
#60 - Realities of War (EP) by Discharge/March 31st, 1980)
#61 - Satan’s Angels Demo by Holy Moses (1982)
#62 - Mushi by The Stalin (25 April 1983)
#63 - Swans (EP) by Swans (1982)
#64 - Slaughter In Hell by Antichrist (1983)
#65 - Vicious Circle by Zero Boys (1982)
#66 - Demolition War (EP) by Subhumans (1981)
#67 - Omega Sessions (EP) by Bad Brains (Recorded 1980, released 1997)
#68 - Holy Diver by Dio (25 May 1983)
#69 - Valley Of The Yakes by JFA (1983)
#70 - Land Speed Record by Husker Du (January 1982)
#71 - Piece Of Mind by Iron Maiden (16 May 1983)
#72 - (GI) by The Germs (October 1979)
#73 - Sessions 1981-83 by Void (Recorded between Nov. 1981 and June 1982)
#74 - In God We Trust, Inc (EP) by Dead Kennedys (November 1981)
#75 - Dirty Rotten (EP) by D.R.I. (March 1983)
#76 - We Are The Dead (EP) by Artillery (December 1982)
#77 - How Could Hardcore Be Any Worse by Asocial (Recorded as Demo in 1982)
#78 - All My Friends Are Dead by The Consumers (1977)
#79 - Leather, Bristles, Studs and Acne (EP) by Charged G.B.H. (September 12th, 1981)
#80 - Who’s The Enemy? (EP) by Amebix (28 August 1982)
#81 - Breaker by Accept (March 16th, 1981)
#82 - T.S.O.L. EP by T.S.O.L. (1981)
#83 - United Blood (EP) by Agnostic Front (1983)
#84 - The Varukers (EP) by The Varukers (1981)
#85 - Deep Wound EP by Deep Wound (1983)
#86 - Terveet Kädet by Terveet Kädet (1983)
#87 - Dehumanization by Crucifix (1983)
#88 - Troops of Tomorrow by The Exploited (May 1982)
#89 - Angel Witch by Angel Witch (December 1980)
#90 - 1982 Demo by Exodus (1982)
#91 - Filth Hounds of Hades by Tank (March 5th, 1982)
#92 - Dance With Me by T.S.O.L. (June 1981)
#93 - Witching Metal Demo by Sodom (1982)
#94 - Wild Cat by Tygers of Pan Tang (August 23rd, 1980)
#95 - City Baby Attacked by Rats by Charged G.B.H (July 1982)
The following are the albums I took off the rankings because I honestly don't remember having a distinct reaction or viewpoint on them... like I don't want to over or under rank 'em so I just will leave em numberless:
Restless and Wild by Accept (October 4th, 1982)
New Hope for the Wretched by Plasmatics (March 1980)
St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (EP) by MotorheadGirlSchool (February 1981)
Fire Down Under by Riot (February 9th, 1981)
Power Metal BOOTLEG by Metallica (April 1982)
The Day The Country Died by Subhumans (January 1983)
Blood & Thunder by More (May 1982)
Death Fiend by Hellhammer (June 1983)
Nekrofilie by 666 (1983)
Condensed Flesh (EP) by Void (Recorded 1981, released in 1992)
Fire In The Brain by Oz (1983)
Heavy Metal Maniac by Exciter (1983)
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Now the top 5 bands in this period that I covered...
#1 - Minor Threat
#2 - Rudimentary Peni
#3 - Black Flag
#4 - Discharge
#5 - Venom
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Okay and with this I will close the door on this period and I have decided to continue on with the project but change a few aspects of it and how many i will do and how fast. I don't like numerical grades I have newly decided. So I will avoid that. I was actually thinking of completely moving off of this then I listened to the next album/EP (Butthole Surfers debut EP) was so re-invigorated and floored by how amazing that album is, I decided I shall continue!!!
Next LP or release is Kill Em All, which did indeed set off a whole new era in metal - one of the TRULY epochal releases in metal history, so will for sure write a few words about it after a few revisits.
Otherwise, I'd like to thank all of you who have read and commented on this little diary since about IDK 6 months ago. Much Appreciated. _________________ -Ryan
You've got Plastic Surgery Disasters in there twice (at 35 and 40), but I'm not really complaining because I actually think it deserves to be in there at least twice.
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
You've got Plastic Surgery Disasters in there twice (at 35 and 40), but I'm not really complaining because I actually think it deserves to be in there at least twice.
Shit! Good catch. Was going to rectify that but then realized I’d have to re-number everything after and so decided nevermind.
Okay, so here we are. We made it. I made it. It’s all led up to this. When I started talking about punk and metal albums from 1977 to 1983 way, way back it was to get here. From here, the original plan was to focus on the few dozen classic or revered and famous thrash albums from 1983 – the first such album being this classic here – up to about 1991 or so when Thrash was out of it’s peak years. But… as the months have rolled on I have expanded the project and purpose and my interests, always flighty, have flown off to other contemporary (with Thrash and it’s development) and relatively extreme musical movements. Noise and Power Electronics. Japanese Hardcore and Powerviolence. Heady and intense Post-Hardcore. Proto-Black Metal or First Wave BM (most of which were in the thrash movement). Y’know… stuff like that. That is now the broader plan going forward.
But, still, even after expanding out, there is no denying how monumental and influential this first proper Thrash LP was and is. I mean jeepers, when I listened to this again recently I was struck by how fucking fresh this sounds in comparison to what I have been listening to in recent months. I can only imagine how invigorating it must have been to be a metal fan at the time and get this LP and push play on “Hit The Lights” for the first time. The youthful, rough yet precise, garagy aggression and electrifying energy of these Cali Boys still blows me away! This album crackles with some sort of power. I haven’t really put my finger on what that special sauce is. When I hear this album I almost mythologize it. Metallica must have gotten some inspiration from a higher force or just tapped into some deep, lost well of purified metal brash Greatness or something.
If I move away from broader romanticized impressions of what I love about this album and I start looking at the individual parts…well, something is lost. Describing the core elements can never get across the form. At least not in my hands is this achievable. The lyrics are mostly quite juvenile if fun. The riffs and songs are about half groundbreaking and chugging and heavy as shit and half firmly NWOBHM worshipping, speed metal sharpness. These 2 sides work well, but I think it’s the classic of classic influential thrash tunes on this album that stick out the most. Don’t get me wrong the Motorhead vibes and the more classic heavy metal songs like “Motorbreath” and “Jump In The Fire” are great and I love em. But the songs here that blow me away the most are the ones that seem to draw a line in the sand and indicate the beginning of a whole new sound and genre called Thrash. Namely, “Whiplash” and “The Four Horsemen” and “Seek and Destroy” and of course “Hit The Lights”. These songs are such all time “wtf is THIS?!?” moments in history and to this day they get me feeling young and “rebellious” when I hear them.
The band is great already despite being like 20-21 year old kids as I see them now. The drums are actually cool! The drums along with the rapid rhythm guitar intro to “Whiplash” is just perfectly done. The bass work is not accentuated even on early metallica despite them having a world class bassist. I mean in the mix they don’t accentuate the bass enough for my liking but when you do hear it or hone in on what Cliff is doing, its awesome. Cliff was a badass. The solos are zesty throughout the album and there is something about the guitar solos here that I love. They aren’t as beautifully composed as on later Metallica albums and sometimes they seem almost thrown in because, well, this is a metal album from 1983 and, thus, there MUST be at LEAST one solo in every song. But even these sort of tacked on solos have a hungry, adrenalized power to them that makes me smile every time.
I personally feel like the Bass Solo is that makes up most of “Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)” is a little bit of a hiccup in the of the album and sticks out like a slightly sore thumb. Also, the solo Isn’t that great and certainly my least fave moment here. It still does show a certain weird willingness to venture off to other stuff and that is commendable for a band of youngsters on their debut. But that track really only kicks ass in the second half or so when the drums are going crazy alongside the (by that time) absolutely ripping, evil, badass bass work.
Other than “Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)” while there are songs that in isolation are kind of ho-hum, due to not being super differentiated, the songs all kick ass at the very least. The stand outs I’ve already mentioned are, for me, those 4 tracks. Also “Jump In The Fire” (especially that solo at the end always blew my mind as a young lad and still does.) I love.
Overall I don’t have much else to say and nothing unique at all that hasn’t been said before. I love this album. I put it behind Master of Puppets and Ride The Lightning and, on a majority of days, I place it behind …And Justice For All. There are no songs here on their debut that truly take my breathe away like a "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Orion", "One", "Creeping Death" etc. (Where this album comparatively lacks in songwriting brilliance, it does have an advantage over all Metallica albums in sheer frenetic energy, however). There is no denying this is a TOTAL classic which along with those other early Metallica albums represent one of the greatest runs of LP releases by any band that I have ever heard (before Bob Rock came and fucked everything up lol). This is also an album I worship for what it represents or what it brought about in metal and music in the years that followed. If this were an album I didn’t enjoy, I’d still appreciate that it kickstarted so much of what I love. Thankfully, along with being a 10/10 in terms of influence and significance, it’s also a top tier metal album that shows the way for many, many more classics and innovations from later Metallica albums and other bands and even whole genres that sprouted from Thrash. Incredible album.
VERDICT: AS ESSENTIAL AS ESSENTIAL GETS. ON THE ALL-1980S TEAM/CHART.
Okay, now that I have talked about the greatness of this album, we have officially entered the next phase of this project. The post-Kill Em All ripples won’t really be felt cause-and-effect-wise until a few months later when other young bands have had time to hear and be inspired by it. So 1984 onward is really when the effects of this album (and Slayer’s debut) can be seen fully. But still henceforth we will be listening to albums that exist in a world alongside my first love, music-wise.
So, let’s move on now to a couple other albums released in July 1983. Nice little batch this. I am going to TRY to keep these groupings a little smaller so I don’t burn out by shoving 5-10 albums into a massive post that I put off for weeks and sometimes months.
This was a fun revisit. Somehow I had remembered this being much more Thrashy and Metallic. But I think I was thinking of their later 1988 and 1990 albums which are the only others I have heard by this classic band. This debut is FIRMLY in the So Call Hardcore vein with their main innovations or most unique traits being their sick lead guitarist who does indeed bring a certain heavy metal aesthetic at times, and their heavier and punchier sound than most so cal of this era. But yeah looking at the release date it makes sense that so-called Crossover Thrash hadn’t uet developed like it would late 1984 and onwards as Thrash really wasn’t yet a thing.
But it’s clear even early on this band was onto something and had they stayed firmly in the hardcore camp instead of moving like many, many bands did toward the Thrash stuff, they’d be an all time great Hardcore Punk Band. The songs here are angry and gritty and the vocals are real and raw in the best way. The leads as already mentioned are fiery. The band generally is tight and unstoppable. The lyrics nail the whole teenage, rebel without a cause vibe – that sort of confused and pissed off random thrashing about in search of what is missing and what is wrong.
I dig this a lot. I do admit that by this time mid 1983 the hardcore scene was less vibrant and exciting and for me personally I didn’t love this nearly as much as their classic Crossover Thrash albums of 1988 and 1990… still this is undoubtedly some of the crunchiest and best hardcore of this era and closer to the top tier than bottom of Hardcore albums to listen to.
VERDICT: ESSENTIAL LISTENING FOR FANS OF HARDCORE/GOOD TO GREAT ALBUM
“THERE’S A TIME TO LIVE AND A TIME DIE. I SMOKE ELVIS PRESLEY’S TOENAILS WHEN I WANNA GET HIGH!”
“They shot the pope… They Shot HIS ASS!
“I wet my bed last night. I woke up sad.
“They shot the pope, they shot his ass!”
“I calypso”
“I’m gonna peel off your toenails like they were…cupcakes. Like they were…twinkies!”
This was actually the record I listened to first. Before revisiting Kill Em All or anything else here. I felt drawn to it. This was the only album of this little bunch that was firmly outside of the metal and hardcore punk fields and this band has always fascinated me. So, I jumped in here with their debut EP.
On first listen that Saturday afternoon I was in love. This brand of psychotic, violent, unrepressed insanity just felt right. Perhaps this is a concerning thing – that I “felt seen” by such an unhinged blast of noisy, aggressive, unserious rage/psychosis in music form. But whatever, it is what it is.
This has always been a band that I was aware of and yet never really jumped into. Perhaps my mood wasn’t in the right place until these fucked up days. But yeah the ugly, disgusting and disconcerting album covers and names, the whole vibe of this group mostly put me off. I wish I had jumped onto this EP earlier because almost every track even on first listen felt special.
The vocals are iconic, screeching, deranged and beautiful. The lyrics are violent, nonsensical and brilliant, the guitars are tuneful when they need to be and absolutely mammoth and noisy when needed as well and the rhythm section is also capable of free form insanity such as on “The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave” and also clearly capable of more tuneful, y’know, songs like in “Something” and “Hey”. The horns on “Something” and other tracks make this record have another layer of strangeness that I love. The variety of the few tracks here is impressive and I love that this EP is bookended by the 2 most nutcase insane tracks with the more tuneful (still out of their ever-loving minds and weird as shit) tracks betwixt the real freaks.
I love how ahead of its time this thing is. I mean Birthday Party were doing wild noise rock at this time and they had for a couple years and there were a few (very few) examples of truly wild noisy stuff happening, but this brand of weirdo, insane, unhinged, freakish carnival show abrasive attack attack attack everything and everyone – yeah this must have been a revolution at the time. These Texas freaks seem to have taken some aspects of the most controversial and forward-thinking indie underground rock of the time, added them in (hardcore intensity, Black Flag grunts at times as well as that overtly offensive at any cost thing that Circle Jerks and Black Flag had going, birthday party unrelentingness in noise department) and then they added lots and lots of their own style in and bam! You have this defining early American noisy underground classic. This weirdo underground rock beautifully laid the groundwork for what I always thought of as a distinctly 1990s thing. Mr. Bungle and Ween and all these weird bands from the 1990s I feel took a lot of their vibe from Butthole Surfers. Or at the very least Butthole Surfers laid the groundwork for them to succeed and be more easily accepted.
On further listens I will say that the initial almost eye-watering love I felt for this nutty album dissipated slightly. I loved it every time, but with each listen I will say my enthusiasm diminished. Based off first listen I found it probable that I’d give this the highest of possible praise. I will still give it mondo praise (as you can see) but I will say some of the shock value wears off understandably and I am left only loving this, not wanting to listen to ONLY this and collect all their albums and buy band merch etc etc – you know the usual obsessive actions that one may do if they really fall in love with a band or artist.
As a perfect representation of the wild and wide-open possibilities that the American Underground had at the time, as a brilliant jumping off from Hardcore Punk into something new and fresh, as the introduction of one of the greatest bands and front men of the era and going forward, I will say this is super essential listening and a beautiful breathe of fresh air for me.
I am super excited to delve into their Live EP and Debut album when I get to late 1984 (in many months most likely). Because, seeing as I jumped ahead and listened to those next 2 Butthole Surfers records, I already know I am going to have some praise for them.
VERDICT: ESSENTIAL/DECADE CHART CONSIDERATION
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Oh and I like the following format and I miss using it so I am bringing it back. (I am copy/pasting the names of the tiers … but they will evolve)
This will be added to as I go even though albums by Butthole Surfers, Metallica and later some Noise acts etc etc really aren’t all that comparable. I am doing it because for some reason I get pleasure out of this system of listening and adding albums into an ever-expanding list with tiers. It makes my brain go “weeeee!”. So here are the first 3 albums in this next phase placed upon a tier list thing:
Tier List/Ranking for a NEW AGE OF MADNESS:
MASTERFUL, PERFECT, ALL TIME GREAT, FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAME, AMEN
. . .
Spans from NEAR-PERFECT, ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL LISTENING to GREAT AND ESSENTIAL AS HELL:
1. Butthole Surfers EP by Butthole Surfers (July 1983) – exemplary track, “Bar-B-Q Pope”
2. Kill “Em All by Metallica (25 June 1983) – exemplary track, “Whiplash”
JUST FUDGIN’ GREAT
3. Suicidal Tendencies by Suicidal Tendencies (5 July 1983) – exemplary track, “Institutionalized”
VERY GOOD with HINTS of GREATNESS
. . .
these are…GOOD… I LIKE ‘EM AND THEY BROUGHT ME AURAL PLEASURE… DON’T KILL ME.
. . .
Not A Fan/Didn’t Enjoy
. . .
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Okay and that is all for today. Loved these 3. Loved how varied they are. Kept me happy this month as I listened.
Just so you can follow along or if you want to wager on what I will love or hate in future, I will let you know what I will be covering over the next weeks and months. We have Hellhammer’s second demo, we have Satan’s LP Court In The Act, as well as Discharge’s last punk EP before fully embracing glam metal or whatever that was, we have a couple Husker Du releases, and we have some Verbal Abuse on Slayer’s recommendation mind you. Then further down the line we get to the latter days of 1983 and classics like Melissa and Show No Mercy and Satanic Rites …oh my!
Until next time, have a good life, all ye readers. _________________ -Ryan
I really quite enjoyed this. I listened to it a couple times while doing some cleaning and chores and played the more menial tasks of skyrim a few days ago and it was a tuneful, melodic, intense, epic ride that livened up these otherwise quite mundane tasks.
If this was just a few months ago I feel I may have bounced off the more traditional heavy metal aspects here. But due to delving bit by bit into this style more and more I have actually come to enjoy some of the aspects that I once avoided.
The sound here is just the right mix of NWOBHM grit with some awesome melodic exploration, some more overarching thematic stuff like the grand opening instrumental. It’s a well rounded band on display here and the whole album flows really well. And its at times fast as shit!
Now the star of the show here I think (just what sticks out as being the thing that made me outh “wow” the most) is the lead guitar work. Can’t tell based off just looking at the band roster on Wiki and RYM who the main lead guitarist is… probably it’s a couple people taking turns shredding as was common in this genre and era. So, Russ Tippins and Steve Ramsay, I salute thee!
Not much to say other than that. I liked this quite a bit. It was a nice contrasting sound to the Verbal Abuse and Discharge which I took turns listening to alongside it. While I wouldn’t say it broke into that rare, upper tier of more traditional heavy metal/NWOBHM/Power Metal(I know this isn’t power metal) that I love despite my own punk/extreme biases, but it was certainly one of the cooler metal albums I’ve heard in awhile.
VERDICT: REALLY, REALLY GOOD/NO SURE HOW ESSENTIAL IT IS WITHIN THE GENRES IT WORKS IN
Warning: Her Majesty's Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health EP by Discharge/Released 1 October 1983
This is actually quite fun. Not a bad last hurrah of this early era of Discharge, even if it’s a pretty massive drop in quality from their boundary-pushing first 3 EPs and LP.
This is a short, 4-song, 9-minute EP that features considerably slower and much less abrasive and extreme songs than what I am used to from the Godfathers of D-Beat. There are several straight up melodic, heavy metal-ish sounding guitar solos, and the messages are still political but much more anthemic and bright – with big choruses you can bark along to. The bass lines absolutely kill here and the way they are produced makes for excellent low end grooves. The first of these four tracks is probably the closest to the raging legend of earlier material. After track 1, especially on the closer “Anger Burning”, the band much more clearly takes influence from the scuzzier, punkier heavy metal of the time – Venom, Hellhammer (if they were aware of that as of them very underground group), Motorhead, etc.
Again, if I were a numerical rating man I would give this a solid 6/10. If I didn’t have the foreknowledge of who these guys were and what they revolutionized and represented just 12 months before the release of this EP, I may even give it a solid 6.5-7. However, without a doubt, when I heard this I WAS thinking of the Why EP and their 1982 LP. In comparison to those unadulterated, untouchable classics and masterpieces of the most harrowing and hardcore extreme punk ever made (up to that point), this does leave me with a strangely disappointed or even (in my weaker moments) betrayed feeling.
If this EP - which is certainly still, say, 75% Hardcore punk with a 25% Heavy metal crossover - makes me feel a bit betrayed, I can only imagine how the true believers of the Anarcho/Crust/D Beat Punk rock scene of the time must have felt just a few years later when Discharge went FULL heavy glam metal on their asses out of almost nowhere. To be fair, I have only heard bits and pieces and a song or 2 from their widely-hated second LP. But from what I have heard it is truly astounding how wholly different Discharge were by the time 1986 rolled around.
Anyway, this is fun and the leads are pretty cool and really once you listen to this in a vacuum and embrace this new direction, this is actually quite cool for you Venom fans which this sounds a bit like (not nearly as great and genuine, mind you).
This is a hardcore punk “L”P. This band were from Texas and formed in 1980 and were one of the early, founding hardcore punk bands. When I have no overriding opinion I start listing facts.
Overall, big picture and simply put, I really enjoy this album. It’s just good old school hardcore. If Verbal Abuse had put this out a bit sooner, like early 1982, late 1981, I think it would be (more so) hailed as an early HC classic alongside their peers’ best releases. There are certainly a lot of Black Flag/Circle Jerks influences in the delivery and lyrics and vocals. And the tone of the guitars and the tempo changes and so forth certainly do indicate Verbal Abuse were expanding ever so slightly out of the most fundamental sounds of hardcore. The production is great and when the band isn’t going breakneck and they slow it down a bit and let a groove form they sound pretty awesome.
What initially turned me onto this band was Slayer. In the 1990s Slayer released a hardcore punk covers album called Undisputed Attitude. It was a revelation to me because as a laddie hearing that for the first time, it helped connect the dots more obviously between my favorite metal and my favorite punk. But the band that was covered the most on that album with 4(!) songs was Verbal Abuse. I dabbled in Verbal Abuse shortly thereafter. I can’t remember what I thought of them 15+ years ago. But coming back now is great. It’s like a thing I can check off on my checklist of things to explore lol. I am actually happy Slayer called attention to Verbal Abuse because I feel they have fallen into relative obscurity compared to their peers such Negative Approach, Jerry’s Kids, other bands across the country that laid the groundwork for the Indie Rock underground scene of the 1980s.
Anyway, yeah, this is pummeling, intense, snotty hardcore punk. It’s fucking solid as hell and recommended.
VERDICT: ESSENTIAL TO THE STORY OF HARDCORE. ALSO, REALLY, REALLY GOOD.
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Tier List/Ranking for a NEW AGE OF MADNESS:
MASTERFUL, PERFECT, ALL TIME GREAT, FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAME, AMEN
. . .
Spans from NEAR-PERFECT, ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL LISTENING to GREAT AND ESSENTIAL AS HELL:
1. Butthole Surfers EP by Butthole Surfers (July 1983) – exemplary track, “Bar-B-Q Pope”
2. Kill “Em All by Metallica (25 June 1983) – exemplary track, “Whiplash”
JUST FUDGIN’ GREAT
3. Suicidal Tendencies by Suicidal Tendencies (5 July 1983) – exemplary track, “Institutionalized”
VERY GOOD with HINTS of GREATNESS
4. Court In The Act by Satan (1983) – exemplary track, “Trial By Fire”
5. Just an American Band by Verbal Abuse (1983) – exemplary track, “I Hate You”
Some version of Good – not quite great, or even bordering on great to these ears of mine.
6. Warning: Her Majesty’s Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health EP by Discharge (1 October 1983) – exemplary track, “Anger Burning”
Not A Fan/Didn’t Enjoy
. . .
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Okay and with that this post is done. Moving on. Oh and you were thinking you’d see the second Hellhammer demo here, sorry. I have moved that back and will cover all 3 of the 1983 Hellhammer demo albums together when we get to Satanic Rites soon. The reason I lumped ‘em is they have some of the same songs across all 3 and while the band, production, skill etc all get better with each release, it’s not individual enough for me to really separate these 3 demos in my noggin.
Until next time, have a great life. _________________ -Ryan
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