I’ll admit I have a soft spot for their 2001 “comeback” album God Hates Us All as that was the first album that was new when I was interested in them. Also I love their 1990s hardcore punk covers album because it introduced me to so many of my first hardcore bands on their recommendation.
Their other 90s onwards output I have maybe heard 1 time if that
Seasons in the Abyss
Reign in Blood
South of Heaven
Show No Mercy Hell Awaits
Divine Intervention
Repentless Undisputed Attitude
World Painted Blood Christ Illusion
Diabolus in musica
God Hates Us All
or something like that for me
MercuryTurn your back on the pay-you-back last callProfile St. Louis
I’ll admit I have a soft spot for their 2001 “comeback” album God Hates Us All as that was the first album that was new when I was interested in them. Also I love their 1990s hardcore punk covers album because it introduced me to so many of my first hardcore bands on their recommendation.
Their other 90s onwards output I have maybe heard 1 time if that
Seasons in the Abyss
Reign in Blood
South of Heaven
Show No Mercy Hell Awaits
Divine Intervention
Repentless Undisputed Attitude
World Painted Blood Christ Illusion
Diabolus in musica
God Hates Us All
or something like that for me
I like it. And maybe with a revisit after literally 20 years, I will feel simikarly about God Hates Us All. When I was 13 and into Mudvayne and Slipknot and first discovered this OLD band, I remember being blown away by how fucking kick ass they were. Those were the days.
I also love that style of ranking. Quite aesthetically pleasing and I remember that was very popular around these parts in like 2015 or so but I never posted rankings that way. _________________ -Ryan
Hell yeah. Like a death metal sequel to Show No Mercy.l? That’s a great pitch. I have not heard that album - one of the many classic OSDM classics i never got around to when I was exploring that turf a year or 2 ago. It is firmly on my To Do list. _________________ -Ryan
I also love that style of ranking. Quite aesthetically pleasing and I remember that was very popular around these parts in like 2015 or so but I never posted rankings that way.
It's something I stole from when I was in the Harmonix forums. We used to do rankings like that all the time in the music discussion subforum. Miss those guys a lot.
Hell yeah. Like a death metal sequel to Show No Mercy.l? That’s a great pitch. I have not heard that album - one of the many classic OSDM classics i never got around to when I was exploring that turf a year or 2 ago. It is firmly on my To Do list.
Yes! Exactly that! 😈
Let me know what u think whenever u listen to it!
Now I'm gonna have to try and rank those Slayer albums! Hell Awaits has always been my #1!
mickilennialThe Most Trusted Name in NewsProfile Detroit
I am of 2 minds on this, neither is super duper positive. On one hand I find this album strangely boring and uninspiring. I mean Conflict are legends and much of the power and greatness that they are known for is on full display here. Yet, this album manages to drag and lose my interest. That is probably a Me Thing. There is a ton of variety (for a hardcore punk record) here, starting with the kinda surf rock instrumental opening track. There are gobs and gobs of precise, brash hardcore punk bangers here. The thing that maybe gets me down is the attitude of the band. Not much humour, not much real vitriol and vinegar here. This whole album is a big dose of “righteous anger”. That’s cool. But I’m not totally buying it as presented here.
I mentioned “two minds” and that second mind is kinda what I’m thinking now as I listen again: this is a damn capably done, raging showcase of some sick hardcore punk aggression with just enough creativity and uniqueness and willingness to explore to distinguish it from most of the punk rock fare of the day. The vocalist is perhaps a bit familiar and not particularly interesting. The guitar TONE here isn’t anything to write home about. The production work manages to make this whole album sound a bit standard. But if I look past those less impressive aspects, there are moments of real kickass, angry, A-tier punk rock here. The bass work at times is cool and that drummer has some chops and when he shows ‘em off a bit I can’t help but smile a bit.
I just discovered that the version of this album on Apple Music is utterly and completely different than what I’m seeing on RYM or Wiki or Discogs… and each version those sites say is correct tracklisting is different from each other AND FROM THE LISTING I HAVE ON APPLE MUSIC. This annoys the shit out of me. It’s not even the same start and stop points track-wise, they are all jumbled together. I wanna hear their debut album as they released it in March 1983. The album on Apple music is 41 minutes and 21 tracks. And anyway, I’m annoyed. Let me sort this out and listen to this in the correct sequence before talking about the sequencing or flow of the LP.
Okay, I’m back, for you a second later, for me a few hours onward after spending time looking for the original tracklisting. I decided to just listen to whatever this abomination on Apple Music is. Lol. It’s not an abomination exactly, just confusing because for some utterly silly reason they mix and match the songs.
And anyway, my opinions didn’t majorly change. This is a relatively impressive debut album from a band that would put out much more classic material later on in the 1980s. They hadn’t yet put it all together. But many of the elements that would be there for The Ungovernable Force can be heard here. A fine and very message-heavy anarcho-punk release. If you like this style and scene, I recommend this.
VERDICT: All annoyance at no set track order aside, this is a very high energy, fast and message-heavy anarcho-punk album that doesn’t really do anything super well and also does nothing poorly. Just doesn’t distinguish itself for me after several listens.
I wanted to revisit this album now that I have been listening to so many peers of Sonic Youth. I probably won’t be covering every noise rock classic by them going forward, but then again, maybe I will.
On one hand it was cool coming back to this and seeing how wildly unique Sonic Youth were even within the indie underground noise rock of the time. The array of sounds they were able to coax out of their instruments and specifically their guitars is mind blowing. There are some noisy feedback explosions here, but there are many more examples of weird crunching chords and weird bell or chime sounds and creeping, weirdly tuned little noodly licks that play in the background. It’s quite awesome! That New York No Wave scene really gave us some iconic artists, like Swans and SY and the Contortions and Glenn Branca, but as of now my favorite group to come from that artsy explosion is SY.
On the less favorable side, I think this album is a lot unfocused. And maybe that is what they are going for. The individual tracks are mostly awesome and fascinating, especially in side 1, but the way the pieces fit together is less cohesive than I’d like it to be. And depending on the album and depending on my mood, the vocals can be kind of fun in the way they grate and go against the music and hold no melodic value or they can annoy and repulse me while listening. This listen was more the latter. Both Moore and Gordon are guilty of annoying me at times on this album, but especially Kim Gordon. In some later albums I adore her vocals to my core. Here, for some reason, not so much. Although her rendition of I Wanna Be Your Dog is fantastic.
Anyway, cool album, brilliant at times, with some of the wildest and most boundary-pushing and creative guitar work maybe of all time (that applies to their whole discog of the 80s-90s, really). I mostly love this. If I recall correctly from when I listened to all their 80s LPs, they tighten their sound more and more and make each successive LP more coherent and imo better from this to the dark almost gothic horror show Bad Moon Rising to their 3 classics to close out the 80s, Evol, Sister, Daydream Nation. Anyway, that’s all I’ll say for now.
VERDICT: Essential for fans of the Noisier and more Experimental and Weird side of rock music. Mostly great, even if it sometimes grates.
Oh and included on this version of Confusion Is Sex is the 1983 EP they released in October (about 6 months after the LP) called Kill Yr. Idols. I think it works great as a companion piece to the same year’s LP. The rocking fiery title track is a particular standout. Also the second track called “Brother James” is fantastic - love the swirling guitar build there. Track 3 “Early American” is a bit TOO slow building and minimal for my tastes. Overall a very good development in their style and a kickass little EP.
This is a 9-minute slab of super upbeat, in-your-face, forceful, energetic Minor Threat worship. I recommend it very highly. Because, well, Minor Threat were the best to ever do it as far as I’m concerned and these NYers assimilated the essence of what made those early Minor Threat EPs so fantastic while mixing a bit of updated New York style hardcore to it.
The whole EP is a blitz of savage and fast drum work, brash guitar riffs, snotty and youthful vocals and a fat, front-and-center bass assault that gels the whole sound.
The delivery of the vocals is very, VERY similar to Ian McKaye, as far as intonation and rhythm and some little McKayeian tics. Not as powerful or furious or nearly as iconic and GREAT as McKaye, but very solid nonetheless. There is a similar clear-eyed, almost naïve, not yet broken or beaten down sound to the vocals which is refreshing after hearing so many vocalist that slide more fully into hatred, pain, anguish and desperation.
The band, particularly the bassist, kill it here. The production accentuates the thick, fast and quite cool and FUN bass lines and licks. The way the drumming comes across is blunt and forceful, never showy or particularly artful, but always intense and attacking. The riffs are classic early HC 2-3 chords pushed to overdrive, and they sound great.
Not the most innovative record, especially considering all the weird and wild directions the genre and the underground were going at the time this EP was dropped. Yet, I love it when a band fully embraces their sound and culture and delivers the goods and sound like they are having the time of their lives whilst doing it.
VERDICT: Spot on, balls-to-the-wall EP, featuring the undeniable fiery passion of teenagers playing their hearts out. Essential listening for those interested in Hardcore Punk and the still, as of then, developing New York Hardcore scene that would become so important in the years that followed ’83.
This album is pretty fascinating. First off, genre-wise, it’s anarcho crust punk. It’s a long album by punk standards of it’s time, clocking in at 41 minutes. Stylistically and artistically this thing is pretty rich. There are interludes and droning parts and piano outros and just all kinds of stuff. Antisect threw the kitchen sink at this record to attempt to really flesh out the atmosphere and make this a full-meal-album rather than the more common 20 minute blast of aggression that Discharge and their ilk were mostly doing.
The songs, when they come fully formed and packed with some heavy ass shit riff and raging vocal, are top notch. The vocalist has a satisfying grunting scream. The guitars are thick and heavy and properly gnarly to convey the dark, chaotic atmosphere.
Within Crust Punk, this was and is a landmark album. This alongside No Sanctuary by Amebix which released at almost the same time heralded the distinct emergence of this style. Not metal by any means, but with a gritty, heavy guitar sound that was reminiscent of the more metal side of things. Not fully hardcore punk either, due to it’s metallic guitars and it’s dark, ruminative aesthetic. This comes across as a more varied and adventurous Discharge mixed with some Venom nastiness, some Crass-esque art punk leanings peaking through… that is how I’d describe it.
Now as far as how much I personally vibe with this whole album as a distinct album, I do really like it and even more so I respect it for what Antisect were attempting. Some of the extended passages of artiness and pianos and spoken word don’t land and are a bit sleepy and don’t feel fully fleshed out. When the band transitions into a fully-belted crust song and lean into their heavy as hell riffs and screaming vocals, it’s almost always incredible. And without a doubt this must be some of the best punk rock of this year. I just feel it’s a bit overloaded with detours and that can cause the flow of the album to stray a bit too much. There is also the issue that I have with other punk or indie rock albums that reach for bigger and more layered artistic statements, and that issue is that their talent or musical capability falls short of their aspirations. To some degree I feel that applies here. The transitions are a bit awkward/sloppy, the musicianship is perhaps too sloppy or rudimentary to truly convey the HUGE ideas they want to put across. In the best case scenario, you get a band that is gritty and powerful and retain enough of that DIY, unpolished punk rock vibe who yet are capable and talented enough artists and musicians that they can express their huge epics, paradoxically, in a polished and professional way without sacrificing the whole “Not rock stars” thing. Examples of that? I am thinking Wire did it with Pink Flag and Chairs Missing and 154. I think Neurosis did it with their brilliant run of albums in 1990s through early 2000s. And I use thopse examples too much and they really are so different genre-wise, I feel I need to give more examples… let’s see… Okay, how about within Indie rock an album like Slanted and Enchanted. Pavement weren’t world-class musicians and yet they had some pretty epic ideas and managed to string these ideas together without losing that punk vitality nor sounding too snooty. Within the hardcore punk realm, Rudimentary Peni are an example of a band that manage to convey huge end of days sounds and ideas and do weird stuff musically without the chops of Yes or King Crimson. Hell, I think Amebix did it with No Sanctuary – with a couple hiccups which makes that release no equal to Pink Flag or Through Silver In Blood or Death Church, etc, etc. That is just a thought I had just now when I was trying to put my finger on what was stopping me from dubbing this a classic or masterpiece exactly. Okay, this thought and paragraph has gone on too long. Moving on…
This is a majorly essential album for those interested in the development of crust and British underground hardcore more broadly. Antisect were attempting levels of conceptual, thematic LP making that you just didn’t yet see much in punk at that time. Amebix were doing similar things and better, and outside of them… I can’t think of anyone else who was.
VERDICT: Essential, and very ambitious album which, at it’s best, is a towering BEAST of heavy, wailing, desperate guitars, gritty vocals and lyrics and serviceable and crushing rhythm work. Despite being boundary-pushing and, no doubt, influential, this isn’t quite the classic it coulda been.
Maximum rock n roll! Spittinspittinspittin chunkadunkadonkadonka! HEY HEY! Chcuckckckckckcjds!!!!!
I was gonna leave my comment there. Changed mind.
This is sick. A majorly underrated and relatively forgotten Hardcore powerhouse of an LP. The F.U.’s were BEEEAAAASTS! You can feel the power and the energy as you listen to this gem. It’s an all-out old school punk rock assault delivered with maximum attitude.
Look, this is simply a straight up Boston Hardcore LP. I hear in the drum patterns and movement some Circle Jerks-ish elements. I hear in the sporadic, almost uncontained speed and oomph all over this album a somewhat D.R.I. or Jerry’s Kids thing going on. This fits nicely in the tradition of American manic punk. Heir to the throne of MC5 or something. There are only so many things I can say here.
The F.U.’s with this LP and their debut album, Kill For Christ, along with some of the best stuff released on the great compilation This Is Boston, Not LA, hammered out a distinguished position in the hierarchy of early 80s Hardcore. Every track and every second of this album bristles and burns and is full of intense vigor. For fans of HC Punk and for those who love finding somewhat underrated and lost gems, this is a must listen. I think the F.U.’s and this album should be mentioned in the same breathe as more widely-revered legends like Jerry’s Kids, Negative Approach, SSD, etc. Perhaps not quite of the caliber and importance of the A-Tier giants of American HC (Bad Brains, Minor Threat, DKs, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, etc).
VERDICT: A punk Gem! All the rabid, wild energy you could hope for in a hardcore punk album. One of the greatest to do it in ’83 and one of the best to emerge from the incredible Boston punk scene.
Destroy (EP) by L.S.D./Released 1983 or 1984 depending on the site I go to
I love this band. Like, I love em a lot. It’s sad they really have so little material. But this fast and furious 5 minute EP plus the even better and more fleshed out awesomeness of their 1986 EP Last Jast are enough for me to think this band is my favorite of the Japanese Hardcore bands I’ve explored thus far. There are a lot more to check out. But for now LSD are tops.
As for this record, well is hardcore punk but in a somewhat unique way. From the jump the thing that sticks out to me is the guitar tone – it is filthy and crunchy and really quite impressive. The second thing that sticks out is the vocalist. Love his harsh and super emotive and felt delivery.
Look this is really cool. Check it out. Check out all the limited work we have for L.S.D. as it’s all good. Nothing else to highlight here.
VERDICT: Perhaps not essential per se, but its 5 minutes of some top level hardcore. If you love the HC style/styles generally, I have no doubt you’ll love this.
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(I’ve removed the tier system for now because it was overly complicating my thought process on albums. Perhaps that system or something similar will return.)
Ranking:
1. Show No Mercy by Slayer (3 December 1983)
2. No Sanctuary (EP) by Amebix (26 November 1983)
3. Kill “Em All by Metallica (25 June 1983)
4. Metal Circus (EP) by Hüsker Dü (October 1983)
5. Butthole Surfers (EP) by Butthole Surfers (July 1983)
6. The Hand Of Glory (EP) by Ramleh (1983, recorded November 1983)
7. 12 Hits From Hell: The MSP Sessions by Misfits (Recorded 7 August 1980 and Released 2001)
8. My America by The F.U.’s (1983)
9. Suicidal Tendencies by Suicidal Tendencies (5 July 1983)
10. Earth A.D./Wolfs Blood by Misfits (12 December 1983)
11. Confusion Is Sex by Sonic Youth (April 1983) 12. Cause For Alarm (EP) by Cause For Alarm (1983)
13. Sortilège (EP) by Sortilège (September 1983)
14. No Side by The Comes (November 1983)
15. Tied Down by Negative Approach (31 October 1983)
16. Walk Among Us by Misfits (March 1982)
17. In Darkness, There Is No Choice by Antisect (1983)
18. Court In The Act by Satan (1983)
19. Just an American Band by Verbal Abuse (1983)
20. Destroy (EP) by L.S.D. (1983)
21. Melissa by Mercyful Fate (30 October 1983)
22. Warning: Her Majesty’s Government Can Seriously Damage Your Health (EP) by Discharge (1 October 1983)
23. Will by Hunting Lodge (1983)
24. It’s Time To See Who’s Who by Conflict (March 1983)
25. Power In Black (Demo EP) by Overkill (1983)
26. Too Many Humans by No Trend (Released November 1983)
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Okay and that’s all for this one.
As it is currently planned I only have 1 more post for 1983 releases! Can you believe it?!? Next time we will cover some goodies released December 1983. I snuck ahead and listened to some ahead of time and I think I’ll love a few of ‘em.
Then I think I may back track and listen to those early Killing Joke albums and give my thoughts. Then onto 1984 babay!!!!
As always, I am curious your thoughts on these albums as well. If I really fucked up on a comment or take, let me know. _________________ -Ryan
Kill Yr. Idols is a GOAT song. That early Sonic Youth phase is unfocused and inconsistent, true, but it's so charming and fun that I'm finding it hard to say anything bad about their 2nd and 3rd albums and the EPs. As a side note, Lydia Lunch is completely insane and I'm so glad we've got their collab. _________________ Overall chart Fake overall chart
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mickilennial
Mercury
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