Thursday, June 29, 2017

Arkham - The Wrath CD

I've done posts for Neglect and Cleanser in the past, and today's post is about another one of guitarist Derek Schilling's bands and projects, Arkham. I first became aware of Arkham when German label Gain Ground released their 'Born With Scars' 7" in 1997, which quickly showed up in all distro's at all the shows over here. Soon after that 7" Arkham's first album, called 'The Wrath', got released, on Acrid Production Records, also based in Germany, in 1998. Solid metallic hardcore that doesn't really sound like other bands. Maybe a bit like Cleanser, but with gruffer more burly vocals, with occasional hints of the thrashier, more metallic style of later Arkham records. It took a number of years, till the mid 00s, before they released a few more albums, this time under the name Arkham 13. In any case, you can't really go wrong with Derek and his music, the guy just knows how to write some solid tunes! So enjoy!

Arkham - The Wrath CD

Saturday, June 3, 2017

Save You compilation 7"

Here is one of many benefit compilations that were released in the 90s. Released in 1997 by the Mountain Collective and Fallout Records (altho on my copy there's a small Mountain sticker covering the Fallout name and address), this was a suicide awareness benefit, with proceeds going to suicide prevention centers around the NY & NJ states (where both labels as well as the bands were from). Speaking of the bands, this comp features a song each by So I Had To Shoot Him, C.R., Devoid Of Faith and The Judas Iscariot. If you're familiar with the bands, you know what to expect: short, fast and frantic bursts of harsh grinding hardcore/punk. At barely 6 and a half minutes long, this comp is over before you know. All bands are well worth checking out, and aside from Devoid Of Faith's contribution I believe these tracks only appear on this comp (and C.R.'s discography CD, duh). In typical 90s fashion, the insert has some additional writing on the subject, as well as a reflective 'mirror' with 'You are unique, unprecedented and unrepeatable' printed underneath it. It may come off as corny nowadays, but they really don't make em like this anymore. Hell, there's even a small note apologizing for a fuck up in the insert's layout. Yep, people were actually polite in the 90s! Enjoy!

Save You compilation 7"