Short Sharp Shocks

The post title refers as much to the music on display as the Reader's Digest-style reviews. Truth is, I'm getting burnt out writing mini-essays nearly every day, so y'all can fill in the blanks for yourselves. So expect little more than some bad analogies/metaphors etc. Oh, and the goodies are in the comments as usual.

VARIOUS - RUSSIA BOMBS FINLAND

Legendary Finnish Hardcore compilation from 1982 released on Propaganda Records. Only the Japanese rivaled the Finns in the "let's sculpt some white noise into subversive punk fury" sweepstakes. Slipshod tempos, anti-war/anti cops rants and guitars so distorted they resemble a blanket fulla static thrown over a bucket of pissed off hornets.

Tracks:

01. Bastards - Vapaus
02. Bastards - Lahdataan Ne
03. Bastards - Ei Tulevaisuutta
04. Bastards - Univormukonnat
05. Bastards - Sodan Uhka
06. Antikeho - R.A.Y.
07. Antikeho - Peace & Love
08. Antikeho - Suomi 83
09. Antikeho - Uhoan
10. Kaaos - Politiikka
11. Kaaos - Ei Enää Koskaan
12. Kaaos - Ei Luovuteta
13. NATO - Natsi
14. NATO - Presidenttipeli
15. NATO - Helsingin Yöt
16. NATO - Villi Ja Vapaa
17. Terveet Kädet - Mä Haluan Paljon Rahaa
18. Terveet Kädet - N.Y.T.
19. Riistetyt - Älä Luota Systeemiin
20. Riistetyt - Painu Helvettiin Natsiäpärä
21. Riistetyt - Sä Maksat
22. Riistetyt - Rajoitukset
23. Riistetyt - Mä En Jaksa Elää
24. 013 - En Jaksa Enää
25. 013 - Työnvälittäjä
26. 013 - Takaisin Todellisuuteen
27. Maho Neitsyt - Aku Ankka Raskaana
28. Maho Neitsyt - Mikä Mun Päässä Nykii
29. Appendix - Sinä Ja Minä
30. Appendix - Tää Maailma on Meidän
31. Sekunda - Suomi Vapaaksi
32. Sekunda - Lepakon Hämyt
33. Sekunda - Poseerajat
34. Dachau - Elukat
35. Dachau - Huomenna Haudassa

GLOOM - Vokusatsu Seisin Hatansha

So I'm told that these guys are "crasher-crust" which I'm assuming means any band that sounds like a revving chainsaw tossed into a wood chipper while someone kicks around trashcans and another person whose regular garb is a straight-jacket shrieks indecipherable mantras through a bullhorn could be conveniently stuffed into this "genre." Personally, I've never been particularly comfortable with the term "crust," let alone a sub-genre of it. Twas always hardcore to me, and I often wonder who bothers sitting around pigeonholing styles of music with such subtle differences into entirely different categories. Is it the *gasp* Illuminati? Whatever the case, this is blisteringly fast punk fucking rock from the Land of the Rising Sun much like Gauze with a bit o' Deathside and (early) S.O.B. thrown in. 23 tracks in 29 minutes-- contains the majority of their discography.

SACRIFICE - Forward to Termination (1987)

So beloved by the denim & leather-adorned denizens of the frozen tundra that is my homeland were Toronto's Sacrifice that a track from this LP ("Re-Animation") was used as the theme/intro music for Canada's equivalent to "Headbanger's Ball," ("The Power Hour") on our version of MTV (MuchMusic). Though crude almost by definition, these Canuck thrashers had learned to temper their bombastic primitivism with tight musicianship and cohesive songwriting on this, their sophomore offering. Which basically means they'd occasionally blow you a kiss before proceeding to tear your face off.

Looking back, it amazes me what an influential and fertile breeding ground thee Great White North was for killer thrash-- we had these guys, Razor (whose vocalist, Stace "Sheepdog" McLaren I went to high school with) and of course, the incomparable Slaughter (search the blog for their "Surrender or Die" demo)-- not to mention many, many others I'll be featuring here in the future. Time has been very kind to this album-- because the production is so unpolished, it still sounds extreme two decades after the fact... well that, and it's every bit as good, if not better than any of Slayer's early work.