straw dogs - we are not amused

more rock than thrash, this shit still hits the spot... despite the singer's dorky vocal delivery. formerly the f.u.'s.

straw dogs - we are not amused

mx machine - manic panic

i had no idea about these old school ragers back in 1988 when they put out this masterpiece on restless. it took a posthumous flyer i spied in the early 90's to pique my interest in these so-cal retro-thrashers. as with many forgotten gems, i unearthed this artifact at ace's records during my 6 month tenure in florida in the late 90s.

mx machine - manic panic

snake nation

so i remember being completely on the fence over this c.o.c. related release when it first saw the light of day during the eve o' the eighties. now i'm wishing old man weatherman and company followed this path over their unfortunate lapse into lame sourthern rock that has since steered their career trajectory. i blame pepper keenan.

snake nation - self-titled

corruption of peace - confusion

first caught these fools on a kickass pusmort sampler 7 inch. wish i had a nostalgic tale of how i scored this gem but the sad truth is that i dropped 50+ clams for it on gemm.com. killer late eighties hardcore in the vein of attitude adjustment.

corruption of peace - confusion

let it bleat

so there's nothing remotely thrash-related about this great, great compilation but it's possibly one of the best (if only) vinyl documents of the DIY, seamy underbelly of hollywood's sunset strip scene. love it.

various artists - let it bleat

dirge - soulstorm

another band i first heard on the second installment of complete death, i unearthed this rare specimen at some nameless, forgotten record store on the far east side of columbus. guitarist jim hogan went on to play with stoner rockers solarized.

dirge - soulstorm

eastern front 2: live at ruthie's inn

back in the days before the interweb, there was really only one way to sample new music: trust your gut and hope that whatever record you picked out was as good as its cover art promised to be. sometimes you came away with a new classic, sometimes you paid the price. before long you discovered this thing called a compilation that made pulling the trigger on new music a little bit easier. i believe my first comp was speed kills, but it wasn't long before i amassed quite an impressive collection of speed metal compilations. this one here i remember as being one of my faves, but upon more recent inspection it's mediocre at best. disc one is perhaps the shittiest recorded live album ever pressed to vinyl. perhaps this is what sparked my lifelong aversion to live recordings. disc two, however, is where the real magic happens with some pretty awesome demo offerings from bay area obscuriosos like sacrilege b.c., chronic plague, death angel, anti-momb, blind illusion and more.

disc one
disc two