Hey, Hey and welcome back to 11:34 - Noise from the Darkside. O.K., things have been kinda' slow of late at the Darkside headquarters, for a couple of reasons, which I'm not going to bore you with, but house moving, tour ending, has held back the reality process. BUT, we're back and have been listening to a bunch of noise in its many forms and here's my recommendations, so--read on...



TALK IS POISON- Straight to hell CDEP. (Prank)
From Berkeley, California we have TALK IS POISON who continue in the vein of early, early NEUROSIS, ECONOCHRIST, etc delivering 11 songs of frustration and anger all wrapped up in a nasty old style H.C. package - sing-a-long and jump around your room to the bleakness. So if that old Bay area sound is your thing get this and rejoice. This release is also available as a full 7" and a split 7" with "deathreat",cd has two bonus tracks.

KILARA/HELL CHILD - The Kutna Hora split CD. (Rhetoric)
Kilara deliver 3 tracks of their own brand of heavy stonerdom including one acoustic song, all good and heavy with feedback squealing and vocals snarling- good stuff. Hell Child from Japan do the death metal/grind thing, and do it well, my fave being the VENON chestnut "Witching Hour" which they do to good effect, only one complaint, which is that this CD is only 22 minutes long- more, we want more!

CANVAS/HARD TO SWALLOW- split CD. (Contrition)
The boys from Leeds 666- CANVAS, have not disappointed me yet with either their live shows or their recorded output and this CD sees a continuation of the same standards. Heavy, metallic new school H.C. easily up with the yankee bands of the same style, add a dash of noise and we're away - classic. Hard to Swallow pummel away with their brand of crazy, screamed hectic, spazzed out H.C.- not ones to disappoint either, buy this and give the neighbours the fear. Two honest, hardworking no bullshit bands to be supported.

VICTORY STYLE III- sampler CD. (Victory)
Victory continue on with the sampler CD series that they put out a while back, and as with all sampler products they give you an idea of who does what and how, whilst also tempting you to part with your hard earned. I guess if you're not familiar with Victory then this is a good way to get an idea, and its cheap, this has a variety of styles of H.C. in all of its many disguises, from pap punk. to garage to new school chugga, chugga. Highlights for me were Hi Fi and the Road Burners, Blood for Blood and the mighty Electric Frankenstein, so I'll leave it up to you to decide.

BREAKDOWN- Plus minus CD. (Century Media)
New York City's BREAKDOWN return from exile with the release of this new CD on CENTURY MEDIA, and its pretty much what you would expect from an old NYHC band (they initially formed in 1986). Metallic influenced hardcore in the New York style, nothing amazingly ground breaking but good with it none the less. I have a soft spot for this kind of stuff, I guess it reminds me of when I was younger, so it gets my seal of approval. Good production and the bonus of some tracks from a live E.P. complete the package, the live tracks complementing this release fully, brilliant sound too.

SICK OF IT ALL- Call to Arms LP (Fat Wreck Chords)
After being dropped by the major label they were on, SICK OF IT ALL return with a great batch of tunes, probably the best they've done for a while in my opinion, sing a long choruses, catchy song writing and a tinge of OI! add up to a great SOlA H.C. LP, comes out feeling fresh and "fuck you" in attitude! Top stuff!

BURNING WITCH- Towers LP. (Slap-A-Ham)
Aah, back to the down tuned slo-mo core, what can be said of BURNING WITCH?, OK they're slow, doomy metal with 4 songs on this LP, awesome for those valium moments. Produced by the legendary Steve Albini so you know its gotta be good, let that be the seal of approval!.

CAPITALIST CASUALTIES - Subdivisions in ruin LP. (Six Weeks)
The kings of fastcore return with a full length 12" that plays on 45rpm, and its fast, it's hardcore and it's clever, the longest song being 1min 22 secs long so you know what to expect. Get this and see why hardcore lives, for strung out speed freaks everywhere- recommended.

SPACEBOY- Getting warm on the trail of heat LP. (Frenetic)
Ex BLAST singer Clifford smokes insane pot, listens to Black Sabbath and forms a band, get the gist?. This LP is a little different from the earlier SPACEBOY 7"ers in that its more brutal and a little less psychedelic and pounds your head like a bad hangover. A roller coaster ride into pot induced psychosis buy this and return to cannabis island.

GRINCH/LOST GOAT - Split LP. (Misanthropic)
Now I've been a GRINCH fan for a long time so was well chuffed when I got hold of this, GRINCH have a style all their own- dismal but melodic, emotive yet heavy a unique band indeed. Their side of this is top notch GRINCH, with the trademark guiotarguitar sound that they have driving everything along. Similar in style to the songs off the EDEN 1p they did some years ago, but sounding a little rawer, which doesn't do them any harm at all - brilliant. I was mighty impressed by the recent LOST GOAT LP, and this is more of the same- heavy, slowish, rock/metal with a nasty edge and dark as all hell, even claustrophobic, topped off by Erica's vocals, highly recommended for those dark moods that creep up occasionally.

BOTCH- American Nervoso LP. (Hydra Head)
Botch come from the new school of metal influenced H.C. playing music that's progressive and technical yet still remains heavy and brutal, this makes me think of VOIVOD for some reason and that's no mean feat. The production is spot on without being too polished, and the packaging is up to the usual HYDRA HEAD quality ie. excellent, so if you're looking for something new, yet a little off the (well) beaten path go for this.

SKINLAB- Eyesore EP. (Century Media)
Think MACHINE HEAD, think PANTERA, and that to me is where these guys are coming from. If you're into said bands then I guess this will be for you, but I like my metal to be a little original and not something that has been pioneered before and only fairly recently at that. Having said that though this ep is o.k., for what it is, although they do a pretty bang on version of Raza Odiada by BRUJERIA.



Label Addresses:

CENTURY MEDIA - 9 Thorpe Close, London, W10 5XL, U.K
CONTRITION RECORDS- P.O. Box 187,Leeds,LS6 1LH, U.K.
FAT WRECK CHORDS- P.O. Box 193690,San Francisco, CA 94119-3690, U.S.A.
FRENETIC- P.O. Box 640434, San Francisco, CA 94164-0434, U.S.A.
HYDRA HEAD - PO Box 990248, Boston, MA 02199, U.S.A.
MISANTHROPIC- 20792 Colima LN, Huntington Beach, CA 92646g U.S.A.
RHETORIC- P.O. Box 82, Madison,WI 53701, U.S.A.
PRANK- P.O. Box 410892, San Francisco, CA 94141-0892,U.S.A.
SIX WEEKS- 225 Lincoln Avenue, Cotati, CA 94931, U.S.A.
SLAP-A-HAM RECORDS- P.O. Box 420843, San Francisco, CA 94142-0843, U.S.A.
VICTORY- P.O. Box 146546, Chicago, IL 60614, U.S.A.

Well that's the lot for this month, as usua1 if you want anything reviewing send it on in, I won't promise anything, but if the crew give it a blast you will get our honest opinion (for what that's worth!). Send all stuff to:
BRI HOLMES, P.O. BOX 187, LEEDS, LS6 1LH, U.K.

Cheers and beers

Peace
Bri