Let's go ahead and get this out up front, I love Grimlock! Over the years, I've noticed that people either seem to love or hate this band, and I reside on the love side of the coin. I never particularly took them too seriously, and I think that's what made me love their lyrics as well. Grimlock only played Portland once (in '97 if I remember correctly), and it was quite a show. The singer was spotted doing some pushups before the set, which can seem to be an odd sight. If you've never seen Grimlock, their singer John, was a small, but beefed up dude (see below)
Their set started off mild enough, but somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd song, John ripped his shirt off, and then proceeded to pick up my friend's little brother and throw him onto the crowd (I think the female singer of Berzerk took the brunt of the landing). Now the rage that seemed prevalent in their cd was at the forefront of the live show.
As far as I know, both of the labels that released Grimlock material are no longer functioning, so I'm going to present what I think is a complete Grimlock discography.
I don't really have any info about Grimlock's demo, but I acquired this recording from someone of the the message board on the SA Mob website. It has 3 songs, and is encoded at 320kb.
Grimlock - Demo 1995
http://www.mediafire.com/?hnjemny43ad
Next came the Thirst For Immortality 7" in 1995 on Pin Drop Records. The 7" contains these 3 tracks:
Feed My Rage Mountain of Power Bring The Pain
I decided to not rip the 7", because all 3 songs are contained in the hidden track on the Songs of Self cd.
1997 brought the Songs of Self cd on Pin Drop Records as well. This is where Grimlock really started to come into their own. It includes such tracks as 24, about the hockey player Bobby Probert, and My Sins, which contains some of the most volatile lyrics I can really recall hearing, i.e. "break the bottle over your face. lay there and bleed bitch." and "I'll kill you...I'll kill you...you fucking cunt."
On a sidenote, let's take a look at the picture on the inside of the cd insert:
Who is that guy near the bottom left of the picture, and why on Earth did they turn him into a cyclops?
I've always figured that their must be a backstory containing some major b33f.
Grimlock - Songs of Self Pin Drop Records [1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?0yzkdkjztzk
Crusades of Reality was Grimlock's first release on Life Sentence Records (based out of Salt Lake at the time). The monologue throught the song The Pain Game is of particular awesomeness. This EP contains 6 more songs of exceptionally heavy hardcore, although I always thought the production value wasn't as great as the previous record.
Grimlock - Crusades of Reality Life Sentence Records [1998]
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmqxrnz1ytn
Shortly after the release of Crusades of Reality, a split 7" with Rebirth came out on the SIH label from Japan. The only Grimlock track on the 7" though is Lamentation, which can already be found on Crusades of Reality. In 1999, after touring on behalf of the EP for Life Sentence, Grimlock broke up.
In 2003, Grimlock got back together, and recorded another EP for Life Sentence Records. Once again, they recorded 6 tracks, but the production on this record is great. This EP sounds heavy as can be, and John's vocals really got stepped up.
Grimlock - Crusher
Life Sentence Records [2003]
http://www.mediafire.com/?sg3ddgdymfnsi1j
The Crusher cd was also an enhanced cd, which contained pictures, desktop wallpapers and a couple of quicktime videos. I extracted those files, and uploaded them here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?znj2nmyfloy
In 2005, Grimlock disbanded once again. I was really hoping they'd make their way to the Northwest one more time, but my dreams were squashed by their breakup. Life Sentence Records also seemed to disappear again around 2005/2006. The label's owner, Dan Gump, seemed to drop off the face of the Earth yet again (the same thing happened around 2000 when he then surfaced in, I think, Milwaukee). Numerous rumors have circled around Dan for many years, but he was also a pretty nice guy the few times I met him while touring through SLC.
Their set started off mild enough, but somewhere around the 2nd or 3rd song, John ripped his shirt off, and then proceeded to pick up my friend's little brother and throw him onto the crowd (I think the female singer of Berzerk took the brunt of the landing). Now the rage that seemed prevalent in their cd was at the forefront of the live show.As far as I know, both of the labels that released Grimlock material are no longer functioning, so I'm going to present what I think is a complete Grimlock discography.
I don't really have any info about Grimlock's demo, but I acquired this recording from someone of the the message board on the SA Mob website. It has 3 songs, and is encoded at 320kb.
Grimlock - Demo 1995
http://www.mediafire.com/?hnjemny43ad
Next came the Thirst For Immortality 7" in 1995 on Pin Drop Records. The 7" contains these 3 tracks:Feed My Rage Mountain of Power Bring The Pain
I decided to not rip the 7", because all 3 songs are contained in the hidden track on the Songs of Self cd.
1997 brought the Songs of Self cd on Pin Drop Records as well. This is where Grimlock really started to come into their own. It includes such tracks as 24, about the hockey player Bobby Probert, and My Sins, which contains some of the most volatile lyrics I can really recall hearing, i.e. "break the bottle over your face. lay there and bleed bitch." and "I'll kill you...I'll kill you...you fucking cunt."On a sidenote, let's take a look at the picture on the inside of the cd insert:
Who is that guy near the bottom left of the picture, and why on Earth did they turn him into a cyclops?
I've always figured that their must be a backstory containing some major b33f.Grimlock - Songs of Self Pin Drop Records [1997]
http://www.mediafire.com/?0yzkdkjztzk
Crusades of Reality was Grimlock's first release on Life Sentence Records (based out of Salt Lake at the time). The monologue throught the song The Pain Game is of particular awesomeness. This EP contains 6 more songs of exceptionally heavy hardcore, although I always thought the production value wasn't as great as the previous record.Grimlock - Crusades of Reality Life Sentence Records [1998]
http://www.mediafire.com/?lmqxrnz1ytn
Shortly after the release of Crusades of Reality, a split 7" with Rebirth came out on the SIH label from Japan. The only Grimlock track on the 7" though is Lamentation, which can already be found on Crusades of Reality. In 1999, after touring on behalf of the EP for Life Sentence, Grimlock broke up.
In 2003, Grimlock got back together, and recorded another EP for Life Sentence Records. Once again, they recorded 6 tracks, but the production on this record is great. This EP sounds heavy as can be, and John's vocals really got stepped up.Grimlock - Crusher
Life Sentence Records [2003]
http://www.mediafire.com/?sg3ddgdymfnsi1j
The Crusher cd was also an enhanced cd, which contained pictures, desktop wallpapers and a couple of quicktime videos. I extracted those files, and uploaded them here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?znj2nmyfloy
In 2005, Grimlock disbanded once again. I was really hoping they'd make their way to the Northwest one more time, but my dreams were squashed by their breakup. Life Sentence Records also seemed to disappear again around 2005/2006. The label's owner, Dan Gump, seemed to drop off the face of the Earth yet again (the same thing happened around 2000 when he then surfaced in, I think, Milwaukee). Numerous rumors have circled around Dan for many years, but he was also a pretty nice guy the few times I met him while touring through SLC.
![Mayday - Victim [demo 1993]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNu1BD8eki-O6k8I4pN5KD6E73RK9aq7z4l4BQs8qSGNa6AB4OhbO-u9ACy-gWD_cwSmLJUqY_l8FtIzl0dYgpxhNH_55rrU5fDoHK9ggKrl4rw_j0Xk4-wMmszw-wokfmB9b1xnOqcB74A_9P2gmv1isDkT0J4jPFGnCnPnVMrVW2MpjPRsPWnMkgORk/s72-c/cover.jpg)
8 comments:
there are pictures from the SLC show in the songs of self insert... you can see a young once vegan josh straight edge
nice ill have to look at those pictures haha. i think i actually have 2 copies of that cd ill have to look if anyone is interested. but im glad you posted this i've been trying to get my hands on those demo tracks for a while. i saw that post on samob a while ago and didn't have a comp to download it too at the time. thanks man.
-mike/reflect
Awesome, thanks for this. I was just thinking about this band a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't find my copy of the "Songs of Self" CD to revisit. For some reason I never had "Crusades of Reality". Go figure.
A lot of this material sounds better to me now than it did in the late-90's. Hell, even "Crusher" sounds better to me these days. I guess that just goes to show how bad most new music of this nature really is, ha...
This rules - I remember seeing them at the Cocodrie in SF with Disembodied with about maybe a hundred people there. That was a great trip. Dan Gump put out some great records over the years. The best is when Torn Apart fucks with em on their full length on the hidden track!!!!
Is there any way you could scan the lyrics? I can't find them online anywhere. That would be awesome man. Let me know! Thanks!
I saw these guys play in St. Louis around '97. I went into the bathroom to piss and the singer was in there shaving his chest. That was also a weird thing to see at a hardcore show. Their set was pretty good. Lots of energy. About 3-4 songs in the singer laid down on a table and then threw it across the room. Pissed a lot of people off. They played with Holdstrong.
Always loves the lyrics of the song "The Pain Game". Aggressive, but so good!
Grimlock : The Pain Game
I have no line. You´ve learned to play the pain game very well, you are an expert. You´ve compensated your imperfections and basic looks by developing an attitude, which is very attractive.
You have the power to control a weak mind but you´re a slave to this power for even if i had everything you wanted and it was laid out in front of you to grab hold.
You couldn´t.
Your slavery to the game wont let you.
You love it! You´re fucked! You fucked yourself!, You will not hurt me. You will not fuck me.
Everybody has a line of tolerance that these people try to cross. They see just how far they can cross over that line. I have no line. By talking to me you are already crossing it. I have no tolerance for people like this, their power is in mind games.
My power is my lack of tolerance. When these processed materialistic fucks give me their act on how they ´re better than me or anyone else. They do not realize. How lucky they are to be alive. They are lucky I didn´t smash their pretty faces and dissect their perfect bodies.
If you confront me with this power, I will show you mine. I’ll show you my physical power and beat the living shit out of you. Do you know why, because i have no line.
I too can play the pain game.
The singer John from Grimlock has a blog/page whatever you want to call it here: http://hero-envy.blogspot.de/2011/06/in-search-of-holy-grail-of-hulk.html where he mentions his life and the band and the incredible stretch Hulk toys.
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