In the early 80s, the UK had the beginnings of crust with all of the usual bands you know (DISCHARGE, DISORDER, CHAOS UK, etc.) and these bands were huge despite living in squalor. By about 1985, Japan began kicking out band after classic band that took these UK sounds one step beyond into a noisy, hellish, treble-based distortion inferno. In the new millenium there was a new breed of bands from various parts of the U.S. that took the Japanese bands up as their mentors and attempted to up the dose. Bands like FEAST OR FAMINE, ATROCIOUS MADNESS, and BLOOD SPIT NIGHTS took up the flag, wearing their influences on their sleeves and often in their band names (the UK's D.I.R.T., Japan's CONFUSE, and Japan's THE SWANKYS all selected band names via record titles and/or songs). These bands melded the distortion and mayhem with more of the raw D beat sound in most instances, and a hard stance against the poseurs, sellouts, and other stuff like war, etc. Unfortunately, in their wake they left a sea of the same poseurs, and that led to a sea of third-rate bands without the level of understanding attained through years of record collecting and paying attention to the "Old Gods".

Often theatrical in their approach, wearing face paint, gas masks, and studded / spiked to the max, these bands were a breath of ironically fresh air. I say that in a state of confusion since most of these outfits coulda used a good shower. Anyways, they made their mark and were more important than a lot of bands that got passed off as important to hardcore punk at the time. BLOOD SPIT NIGHTS were a great band and this anthology gives the people who missed 'em a chance to hear why. Sometimes it's a bit redundant, but so were the RAMONES you chump. There are touches of Swedish/Finnish (BLACK UNIFORMS, MODERAT LIKVIDATION, MOB 47) influence in there, and the songs are about the same old stuff minus a few ironic pisstakes that showed these guys knew better than to take themselves so seriously. Hardcore Holocaust is quickly becoming one of my favorite labels for the more crusty side of things and they have excellent taste in foreign bands to boot. Each time I hear something from them it's familiar yet still fresh, and that's about all you could ask for in a hardcore punk label.

Bottom line, if you can't get enough crazed wailing guitar, d beat drums, and insane vokills this is one to buy. Beyond distort till deafness and into total "bring on the nuclear holocaust" Mad Max mayhem that suits me just fine. If you care about intricate riff structures don't even think about it but if you want a good kick in the face this will do the job.

- Two Tub Tony

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Reaper

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