Spit On Your Grave - 2006 Demo

Spit On Your Grave was a rather overlooked Baltimore band despite coming from a great lineage of bands such as Fighting Chance, Queen Anne's Revenge, Hell To Pay, etc. After the breakup of Fighting Chance, 4 of the remaining members formed Spit On Your Grave (or Suck Off Your Grandpa, or any other possible offensive name they could shoehorn into SOYG...). While much of Fighting Chance's music was skinhead oriented Oi!/streetrock with ever increasing punk/hardcore additions, Spit On Your Grave came out swinging with a full tilt hardcore sound with comparisons ranging everywhere from Warzone and early Madball to Crumbsuckers and Gut Instinct.

Though coming directly from a big name band can be beneficial, this also meant SOYG was forced to start over from the beginning, and in my opinion, never quite reached the attention grabbing status of Fighting Chance by the time they broke up, which is a shame. What's more is the band only managed 2 released demos and a shirt or two, severely limiting the evidence of their existence until some nerd comes along and digs them up 10 years from now ala such painfully overlooked bands as Show Of Force and Our Gang. According to bassist Tim, there is a large handful of unreleased high quality recorded tracks meant for a 7" or album sitting around, hopefully these will see the light of day very soon.

Download the 2006 demo

Harsh Truth - Life Is Perfect

This CD needs more listeners like a bum needs a job. With the current upswing of bands attempting to ape and capitalize off of ironic 90's worship, Harsh Truth walk the walk like no other because they were actually there. A very infrequently on and off project since about 1989, the band directly pulled from the then-current surge of heavier NY bands such as Killing Time and Inside Out, but as always giving the music a brutal Baltimore twist. Vocalist Richie was actually the original singer for Gut Instinct before Sebastian, so that should give you a good idea of how the vocals sound right off the bat. Throaty, grimy, and forceful. Musically, the 2000's era incarnation of the band benefited from guitarist Josh's doom and underground rock influence, 5150/Orange heads and all. Among the band's direct family tree is an endless list of great local names like Next Step Up, Hell To Pay, Initial Reaction, Fighting Chance, and many more. Put all those bands in a blender, and you've pretty much got Harsh Truth's uncompromising sound. A sorely overlooked band due to the usual misfortunes of the underground.

Harsh Truth released 2 songs on the Belly Of The Beast comp, which were rereleased in 2006 on A389 Records as a 7" with a long lost intro track. After a lineup shift the band recorded this CD, which includes live versions of the two 7" tracks, recorded at CBGB during the Gut Instinct reunion weekend tour. They played their last show in 2007 before falling victim to busy schedules and responsibilities beyond hardcore (yes, I know you're shocked, but they do exist).

Download the album
You can hear the 7" tracks on their Myspace

Curse Of Years - 1998 Demo

Curse Of Years was a very brief band in the Baltimore spotlight, but I always felt something better could have come of them. This was the band that my friend Josh was in immediately before (or around the time of) joining Stout. The overall sound is nothing surprising for a 90's Baltimore band, very distinct shades of Gut Instinct, Breakdown, and Outburst ooze through every crack. The real treat of all of this is Josh's RAW, gruesome vocals, which is what drew me to them in the first place before I even knew he was in the band. I first heard of this entire ordeal via a comp called Belly Of The Beast that Josh put out, which had a COY song on it called "Days In Black". I was blown away by the band, and frantically asked around wondering who was responsible for this, not knowing at all he could sing like that!

According to the bio on their Myspace, the band basically self imploded from musical differences and lineup/musical taste changes. Josh went on to Stout, a reformed version of Harsh Truth (who I will post very soon), and even an instrumental prog/doom project known as Chowder (highly worth tracking down here). Guitarist Greg Clark ended up doing a doom project known as King Valley. Before their demise, the band mustered out this demo, the two BOTB comp tracks, a rendition of "Skinhead Youth" for the famous Raybeez tribute comp, and various rare practice and live tracks.

Download the demo

Taken By Force - Trifecta split

Taken By Force was the band that eventually became the foundation of Treason, but had a pretty damn good career of their own in Baltimore beforehand. Started in late 2003, the original lineup included Chris Aleshire (ex Erase The Past and Carved In Stone) on vocals, Ed Lock (of the infamous Backhand) on bass, Chris "Whiskey Shits" on guitar, and Travis (Backhand, Divulsion) on drums. The name was taken from the Merauder song "Take By Force", and they set out to play NYHC inspired hardcore at a time when dumb jun-jun breakdowns were pretty much the prevailing artform. The first release they did was a demo, later released as an EP, called "Balticore", which I will up on here when I can find it.

This release is part of a kind of obscure session they did with two other closely-knit Bmore bands (Nothing Fuckin Special and Scheduled Beating) that got called The Trifecta. As I recall, it was pretty much done in an afternoon. Each band did two originals and a cover (well, NFS did an extra kind of half cover, a rip on the breakdown from "Conceived Through An Act Of Violence" called "Show Us Your Thumb"). There is also a hidden rap track at the end, which is dreadful, but I will probably upload at some point. TBF laid down tracks for "Prayer For My Enemies", featuring JR Glass of Next Step Up, "Time Moves On" and a Madball cover in "Been There Done That". Lineup on this recording was the same as listed above, except with the addition of Tony Hare on guitars.

Download the tracks

Koro - s/t 7"

Koro is one of the hidden gems of 80's hardcore that seems to be constantly growing in popularity, which is good because this record has to be heard to be believed. Released in 1983 and bootlegged endlessly since, this slab of tunes at the time was the only official output from this band. Aside from the fact that it flat out smokes most contemporary hardcore (and most modern hardcore at that), the real story behind this band lies more with their bizarre name, painfully short lifespan, and location. According to my sources, "koro" is a mental disorder common among east Asian men, kinda similar to a midlife crisis. But instead of buying a shitty toupee and reforming your high school punk band, men with "koro" believe their penis is shrinking and disappearing, so they begin to obsessively cling to it and tie it to their legs so it won't go anywhere. I wish I could make shit like this up, but it's apparently real.

The band only existed for about a year or so, in Knoxville, TN of all places. Yet in that time they managed to conceive an air about them that makes them seem like 5 year professionals. The music is unbelievably fast and tight, and equally intense, and really does belie the fact that despite sounding like they were from a major hardcore hub, Koro would have probably been dismissed as redneck outsiders by their better known associates in LA and New York. Such a shame, but slowly and surely people are finding out about this.

My copy of this EP is 99.99% certainly a bootleg. It has a skull on the front instead of the logo you see pictured, and comes on impressively thick vinyl. I could seriously use it as a frisbee with no worries about damage. I also have tracked down the band's only other documented evidence of existence, a vinyl release (unsure if bootleg or officially sanctioned repress) of their 12" "Speed Kills", which was supposed to be an LP but apparently never got released. While solid in it's own right, there's just something special and immediate about the EP, hence me writing about it.

Download the EP

Animal Instinct - Stick Like Glue 7"

This EP is a sorely overlooked gem from Switzerland. Animal Instinct, by all outward appearances, seem to be a handful of jaded Swiss hardcore dudes attempting to pay respect to the music they grew up on, in much the same way Baltimore's own Harsh Truth did. Instant comparisons are pretty much every band off the famous New Breed tape comp, and the band readily admits it on their Myspace, along with dropping other comp references such as Where The Wild Things Are and The Way It Is, two perfect classics in their own right. Vocalist Andre's voice is so grimy and raw, it's quite possibly one of the best voices in all of modern hardcore, and I say that with no hyperbole. The break part at :55 of "Forced" is just pure visceral attitude. Shake your head, you must be dead if it don't make you fly. Someone needs to get these guys over to the States.

In another blog, they note that the band gave permission for them to post the full EP, which is what I am also doing. If anyone in the band or label objects, please drop me a line and let me know.

Download "Stick Like Glue"
Animal Instinct's Myspace page - look for video of a currently unreleased live song

PS - much thanks goes out to my sister in hardcore nerdery, Becky M, for tipping me off to these guys!

Disbelief - Making Progress 7"

I'm not sure I know enough about this band to make a fair entry, but I will put this up for now and edit it as info comes in.

Disbelief was a heavy-ish hardcore band from the Bowie/PG County area of MD in the late 90's. Shades of Snapcase and older bands like Outburst come through, and I find the overall energy and manic feel of the music compares to an overlooked favorite of mine, Inner Dam from Long Island, who were around at the same time, although I don't know at all if either band knew of each other. Oddly enough, singer Mike's voice is a dead ringer for Civ, but just slightly grittier, and it works for sure. Being that I'm too lazy to look right now, I can only talk about recalling that members of this band also spent time in Longshot, including I believe Steve who went on to 86 Mentality and a bunch of other awesome bands. A friend of mine recently gave me a shirt of theirs he found online, and it now resides in my collection, unused because it's too small for this gut.

I ripped this direct off the 7" into my computer, and accidentally let side B in as one file. Sorry. I'll do a better job next time. Enjoy, and if you have any more info about Disbelief, drop me a line.

Download the 7"