Strain - Demo #1 & Live on CITR

Strain's first demo from August of 1992, and a live radio set on Vancouver, BC radio station, CITR.

http://www.mediafire.com/?t26m2ca103txq3u

Review: Hands Upon Salvation - Entity CD

We at xStuck In The Pastx know that hardcore is a worldwide phenomenon, and that there are tons of great bands all over the globe. But you come don't across bands from Indonesia all that often. The first time I encountered Hands Upon Salvation was on a 4-way split CD called 'The Burden Reflects' they did with Canopus and Gates Of Hopeless from Japan and another Indonesian band called Nothing, which I got sometime in the late 00's. It's a solid split/compilation, and Hands Upon Salvation was mildly impressive with their blend of 90s metalcore mixed with death metal influences as well as taking cues from early 00s bands such as Endthisday.

Recently, HUS's singer Agus contacted me about their latest album 'Entity', and sent me a copy of it, as well as their previous MCD, 'Celebrate The Newborn'. The progression the band has made throughout the recordings is pretty clear. Their sound has become tighter and thicker, musically they've become a bit more technical and they have some pretty sick riffs in their songs. Agus has grown quite a bit as a singer, with a wider range from screams to grunts to spoken words. Bands like Liar, Endthisday and Day Of Suffering all come to mind at various points, with a heavy dose of death metal. Their 90s influences are quite clear while listening to the album, for instance 'A Thousand Crying Eyes' reminds me of Belgium's Arkangel quite a bit. They also have softer parts with spoken words which remind me of the 90s, as well as the occasional hardcore back-up vocals. They're using solo's even less than on their older material, which is a good decision to me, I personally don't care much for solo's. Instead they have added more variety to their songs and song-structures, making them better as a whole. They've also re-recorded some older songs, which sound much better now, including the aforementioned 'A Thousand Crying Eyes' which was originally recorded in 2003, and it sounds like some changes to the arrangements were done as well. There is the occasional use of those very metal 'galloping' rhythms, and they don't do much for me, but oh well, you can't have it all.

Because Hands Upon Salvation are from Indonesia, a country not exactly known for its hardcore/metalcore scene, and aren't able to tour much outside of it, most people will likely pass up on them, but do give them a chance. They're an above-average band with plenty to offer for anybody into any of the aforementioned bands.



Hands Upon Salvation facebook
Hands upon Salvation bandcamp
Hellavila Records facebook

Kiss It Goodbye - CBGB's [6/2/96]

Full set from Kiss It Goodbye at CBGB's on 6/2/96.  This was one of their last shows before moving from NY to Seattle.

Avail Interview - Manor Farm Zine #2 (1993-ish)

Came across this Avail interview from Manor Farm zine #2. No date is listed but judging by the other interviews, I'm going to say about 1993. I always felt bad for bands who toured with Avail because they almost always were blown off the stage. Avail live > most other bands. Enjoy!

Undertow - Redmond, WA [4/8/94]

This video comes straight from the vault of Ron Brotherhood, and is a nearly full set from Undertow at Magic Circle in Redmond, WA on 4/8/94.  Also of note, that was the same day that Kurt Cobain's dead body was discovered in Seattle.

Glasseater Basketball Jersey

For a hot minute, Glasseater was a pretty big deal. The band was all over the country touring and releasing records with different labels. They had a pretty consistent lineup and in my opinion, their early work is their best.

I'm having trouble remembering when this was printed up but I'm pretty sure it was between the release of their debut EP "Miles Ahead of Where We Left Off" and their solo Eulogy Recordings outing, "7 Years Bad Luck". This is being based on the bands logo which was changed after they moved to Fearless Records (and cleaned up previously for the Eulogy release). The "GE" circular logo was used on their Ides of March release as the disc art but never after that.

These were printed on a Champion jerseys (weren't they all?) and if memory serves also were printed on white. The band was a straight edge band for most of their existence as shown by the back print and their "sideproject" Glassuck. I guess you can call it a side project, they only recorded one song which was a hidden track on their debut EP. The lyrics for the song were "With this X on my hand, I stay clean (or free)".  Good times in South Florida...

Black N Blue Bowl 2013

Obviously, this was announced a couple of weeks ago but sometimes it take a little bit to get things posted...after all, we are stuck in the past (har har). Anyway, in case you missed it, Judge is reuniting to play both shows (Saturday and Sunday), May 18th and 19th. The great thing is that both days have different lineups and feature a good variety of bands, new and old including Madball, Indecision, Crown Of Thornz, Black Train Jack and Take Offense.

Looks like tickets are sold out online but they will be selling a limited number of tickets at the door. 

Counterweight "The Flames Of Victory"

I'll admit I didn't know who Counterweight was when they were around. They were a vegan (I'm going to assume also straight edge) band from Poland that released this record, "The Flames of Victory" in 1999 on Sanctuary Records. I picked this up maybe 3-4 years ago when our friend xYosefx decided to unload all of his old CDs (where are you man?). Musically, its a good mixture of the 90s Syracuse chug and late 90s European metal (Arkangel, Liar) with a little Day of Suffering thrown in there. The lyrics are in English but all of the liner notes are in Polish. Vocals kinda remind me of Dan Gump from Excessive Force. Good recording to boot...my scanner needs to be replaced so I'll try to get my wife to scan the layout tonight on hers. Until then, enjoy this. If anyone knows anymore about the band, let me know...I'd like to know more.

*EDIT:  I got my wife to do the scans last night. I had her scan the insert as well the traycard and made them a SEPARATE download which can be found below.

*NEW LINK*

Counterweight - The Flames Of Victory

Counterweight - The Flames Of Victory Layout

If you dig this, our friend Henrik posted their demo "Sculptured In Blood" on his blog "Bring Honour Or Walk Away". Unfortunately, he hasn't updated in a while but it's still got some killer demos posted, provided the links still work. Pick up the demo by clicking the link above to go to his blog. 

Lifetime Interview - Actionfigure Zine #1 1993

I was digging through my hard drive and trying to find an old interview to post when I came across this interview with "Lifetime's new female bassist" from Actionfigure zine in 1993. The bassist is never named in the interview but we can assume it's Linda Kay. The interview is pretty awkward as you'll see...the interviewer is really trying to pull answers out of her and not getting much.

As I was digging around to uncover a little more info, I came across this tidbit of news from Punknews.org regarding Linda...sure it's almost 7 years old but it's the first I'd heard about it. Creepy...

Groundwork - "Living in Fear" Shirt

To go along with the Spawn t-shirt post that Chip posted the other day, I've decided to post shirts from my own collection. First on the list is the Arizona straight edge band Groundwork.

I got this shirt through a trade a couple years back. The details of the deal escape me, but needless to say, I was very excited to add this shirt to my collection, seeing as how Groundwork merch is very few and far between. It's an extra large Hanes Beefy T shirt. This shirt was printed by the band to go along with a tour around the time that the Living in Fear 7" came out. The back features a picture of a protester being beaten by riot police. The ink on the front is crisp; nearly brand new looking. The back image is slightly faded, yet the condition is surprisingly great considering its age. Their label, Bloodlink Records, printed their own version of this, that featured a different logo on the front and the addition of the Bloodlink emblem on the back shortly after this shirt came out.

 

I'll leave you with a video of them from a house show in Arizona in 1993, playing the song "Hungry" that was featured on their LP, Today We Will Not Be Invisible Nor Silent.