Crowpath/Drown In Frustration - split 7"

Here's a 7" from 1999 featuring 2 quite different bands from Sweden and Germany. It was released on Pateline Industries, a label from Germany. I believe this was one of its final releases before the label folded.

Crowpath was a technical death metal/hardcore band from Sweden with a number of releases under their belt. This was their first release after they did a couple of demo's. The 2 songs here are some of their more straightforward material, relatively speaking that is. They since incorporated more death metal and grindcore influences into their songs and also became more technical, and ended up putting out records on labels such as Earache and Willowtip. Crowpath split up in 2009 or so but some of the members have a new band called Tellusian.

Drown In Frustration were more of a melodic rocking hardcore band with an emocore edge to them. Definitely good stuff as well, and it's cool the label put 2 quite different bands on this split. DIF had already done a 7" of their own, also on Pateline Industries, before this split 7" and would also release stuff afterwards. DIF went through some line-up changes and long periods of inactivity and eventually the remaining members changed the name to/started a new band called Man The Change and are still active under that name. Do check out Man The Change, it's good stuff.

The Crowpath side of this split would end up on the 'Old Cuts And Blunt Knives' CD from 2004 which collected their early vinyl output onto CD. I've ripped the original 7" tho.

Crowpath/Drown In Frustration - split 7"
Crowpath myspace
Drown In Frustration myspace

V/A - Straight Edge As Fuck part I and II

As Chip wrote a few times on this blog (here and here for instance) Umeå, Sweden was the hometown of some awesome bands in the '90s. Desperate Fight, the label run by Jose Saxlund of Abhinanda, released a series of compilations called 'Straight Edge As Fuck' documenting the Umeå hardcore scene, 3 in total. The first 2, released in 1994 and 1995 respectively, would be released as a single compilation on Desperate Fight America (Victory Records), in 1996. I ripped, scanned and uploaded that version here. It provides a nice overview of the Umeå hardcore scene of the mid '90s. It includes bands such as the Doughnuts, Abhinanda, Purusam and ofcourse Refused. The last track on this CD, and the last track of the 1st compilation, is an early, slower, version of Refused's 'Everlasting', the title track of their EP. Tacked onto the end of that track is a short and unlisted Final Exit song called 'Mutilated Scumbag'. Final Exit being various members of Refused mixing up their instruments and just having fun playing fast old school hardcore. Anyways, enjoy!

Straight Edge As Fuck part I and II compilation

Refused - This Is The New Deal MCD

Here is the first release (after 2 demo's) by Swedish hardcore 'legends' Refused. Hailing from Umeå, Sweden, they began in 1991 and played their final show in 1998. I'm not going to write down a biography or anything like that here, just check the Wikipedia page or google around. For me, their finest hour came with the 'Everlasting' EP (one of the best European hardcore records from the '90s IMHO), and not with the subsequent full-lengths, 'Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent' and 'The Shape Of Punk To Come', which are generally seen as their best records. Maybe I just prefer the more straight-forward and less pretentious Refused. Either way, it's hard to deny they had a huge impact on the Swedish hardcore scene, especially in their hometown Umeå, and to some extent outside of Sweden as well. I've seen them live several times, and they definitely rocked. But yeah, their later stuff just rubs me the wrong way. So to counter that, here's their first proper record, the 'This Is The New Deal' MCD. Recorded in 1993 on Burning Heart Records it features a far more old school Refused. Great fast hardcore with already fairly socially aware & politically motivated lyrics. Good stuff.

Refused - This Is The New Deal MCD

Sentinel 5 - 'First Blood' demo

A demo by a Swedish hardcore band from the '90s that Henrik hasn't put up on his awesome Bring Honor Or Walk Away blog, can it be true? Yes, it can.

I used to hang out on several IRC channels in the mid '90s and got to know this Swedish kid called Micke, nickname xgovx, that way. As it turned out he played bass in this vegan sXe hardcore band called Sentinel 5, and he eventually sent me their demo. Sentinel 5 from Boden in the north of Sweden started out as a vegan sXe hardcore band, but fairly quickly moved in a more rocking indie direction with no hardcore influences whatsoever, with at least some members dropping both veganism and straight edge. By that time Micke and I had also lost contact unfortunately. They ended up releasing a MCD on the now defunct Futon Records and shortly thereafter the band folded. I don't have that MCD, but from what I remember they had already strayed from their old hardcore roots by that time. This demo however, from sometime around 1996, still features the band as a vegan sXe hardcore outfit, akin to countless other vegan sXe bands at the time. Give it a chance.

Oh and btw, do check out Henrik's blog if you haven't already, it rocks hard. He needs to update it tho, for realzzz.

Sentinel 5 - First Blood demo