Vicious Circle ‎– The Price Of Progress / Reflections (Power It Up)

Vicious Circle were formed in Melbourne in 1983, this band is a living legend of violent Hardcore Punk. And it's fucking great that Power It Up Records picked them up for “The History Of Australian 80's Punk”. This reissue looks amazing, gate fold, colored vinyl and a huge booklet with old photos, posters and tons of information. Vicious Circle was honored to start this historical Vol 1, which contains the first two albums from the VC discography, 28 songs in total. Note that all of these bullets are charged with raw aggression and protesting spirit. This double LP is a great present for all nostalgic punks! Let's go back in time to 1985 when The Price Of Progress was released. This debut album is a perfect example of the consequences of uncontrolled boiling blood, youth and protest. Thirty odd minutes of simple, fast paced, furious Hardcore Punk. Hoarse guitar sound, primitive tunes, riffs and ton of fun. This is how Punk is supposed to sound, just true energy, raw power and uncontrolled speed. This music is loud and catchy it greatly differs from modern Punk and I really like it. Reflections was released in 1986, and on this album Vicious Circle made some really noticable changes. This LP contains more Hardcore material, the riffs and sound are more punching. Most of the songs are short and sharp, even the vocals sound more savage. I can't say that this is album full of fun, I think this is much more serious work and it sounds appropriate. Rating: 8/10 Vicious Circle fb

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Power It Up titles for 2019!

Scapegoats - When The Bombs Drop 1982-86 Digi CD

Agathocles - Thanks for Your Hostility 2x LP

Inferno - Tod & Wahnsinn LP

Scapegoats - Pogo Lebt Immer Noch LP

M.A.F. – Hau Ab 2x LP

Arm The Insane - Virus/Remember/Ending Time 2x LP

more info at www.power-it-up.de 

More news from Power It Up records!

Uitschot / Agathocles

The stream of new splits from Agathocles doesn`t ever seem to run dry, and that is awesome. This time we have a split with Uitschot (old band of Koen AG). This piece has pretty nasty cover art… A vomiting person who`s feeding the birds. The perfect way describe both of these bands to those who've never heard about Mince and Grind, haha! Inside I found a nice insert that depicted old photos and lyrics, nothing special but it looks good. Uitschot are no longer active punks, so thematerial that you will hear was recorded more than 10 years ago. So you can call it a blast from the past, hehe. To be honest i don`t like how this noise sounds. All the songs have a dull sound, but that's how it's supposed to sound, that old diy punk recording tone. Simple riffs, goofy structures, bad mastering and the fire of passion in the music. Most songs sound similar, I guess that's why it started to be boring at the middle of Uitschot's side. Noise and madness that's how I can describe this A side. Mighty Agathocles is performing with 10 old punk-influenced dirty songs with lyrics about nihilism, toxic hell, society's bullshit and protest against the system. All the noise was recorded back in 2014 (so it`s not so fresh) but it sounds very alive. During the listening I realized that the vinyl version sounds more catchy (yes it’s dirty and lacks in frequencies but it doesn't like garbage) than the digital variant that I found on the Internet. Musically there is nothing new, Belgian veterans just playing their brand of Mincecore that is full of hate… So if you`re into this band you should definitely get this split in your collection because it worth of it! Rating: Uitschot 7/10 Agathocles: 7.5/10

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE! 

Scapegoats CDs will be released early next year!

Split Dead Friends / Erectile Dementia is out!

More info is at Backwoods Butcher Records!

More news from Power It Up records!

News from Power It Up records!

Perdition - Not Just Another Anthology

The good old label from the mainland Power It Up started to re-release some old and good punk rock releases a few years ago. I've reviewed some of these releases previously, but now I finally got my hands on their top notch release - The great collection of Australian punk. It's something like am audio encyclopedia with the title “Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask about dirtiest Australian punk”, haha! This is the second issue and it's dedicated to the band Perdition. These moldy old punks are still around, and they are still playing shows and they have not lost their energy. This edition stands out with great quality and design. Both vinyls have a piss yellow color, and the cover art was taken from debut album ‘How To Teach Your Budgie To Talk“ (you will find this album inside), with cute and lovely parrots are staring at you, (what can be better?). But the most adorable thing is hidden inside the sleeve; there is a book with tons of old Perdition photos, show posters, stories and many other info. That was nice and a very pleasant surprise for me. This “gold” release contains songs from the “How to Teach Your Budgie to Talk" lp, "A Positive Alternative To Torture" tape, "Intoxicated" 7" EP, "A Positive Alternative To torture" tape and split LP with Vicious Circle (Australian punk legends). Whatever you would expect from a Punk Rock album released in 1983 can probably be found in spades on this particular anthology, as it is musically one of the simplest and most unsophisticated releases ever made. However, it is also a very organic and live-sounding record. Right from the opening title track, rowdy chants of a menacing yet youthful following of the band literally take place of the guitars, drums, and bass work, until a chainsaw riff cuts through your ears as easily as a knife would through butter. This material doesn't have the best sound, but hey, what a hell do you expect from old noise that was recorded in the beginning of 80's? I'm not a big punk expert, but Perdition left a good impression, their song are so simple but freaking catchy! If you want a portion of great old atmosphere from golden punk era, than this double lp is for you! Rating: 8/10 Perdition fb

Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

Self Deconstruction / Speed!!Noise!!Hell!! (RSRec)

Mysterious Japan is the land with really weird and unique stuff. But we all love this country not only for Godzilla we also love it for its music. This land is reach with sick talents, which torn up side down usual to us things. Split LP Self Deconstruction / Speed!! Noise!! Hell!! Is one of these interesting, bright and fresh experiments in music. I want to start with Self Deconstruction. Their free style of grindcore is freaking harsh! The riffs are crazy chaotic and fast, same with song structures. The drumming is mind-blowing, the guitar grind and blaze with massive precision and the vocals are crazy as hell. Throw out the melody, and these elements combine to form a landscape that is fast and ultra-brutal. Just the way how grindcore should be. I caught few moments of free jazz here, that was strange but fits perfectly into this sound massacre. The end of this side was unexpected and positive for me... these freaks played a weird Motorhead cover (Iron Fist song) and ended with remarcable riffs from Iron Maiden, ha! Speed!! Noise!! Hell!! starts with slow, dirty and atmospheric intro which is good introduction into their fast and jaw-dropping punk! God damn, here is so much furious tunes and rhythms… each song sounds so aggressive and savage. This hardcore punk make headbang me a lot, hahaha! The string instruments sounds a bit messy, I mostly hear bass, drums and frantic screams, but that not a bad thing. Speed!! Noise!! Hell!! take your soul with it powerful energy! In most respects, this is a not standard, albeit solid piece of new wave grindcore and punknoise split. Rating: 8.5/10 Self Deconstruction fb Speed!! Noise!! Hell! bc


Remember guys,keep the underground music scene strong by supporting the artist/band/labels. Get your physical copy HERE!

Split Pulmonary Fibrosis / Chikara / Maggot Bath will be out very soon!

Split Agathocles / G.A.T.E.S is out now at Insane Society records!

Dethrone The Pigs - S/T

We all know Singapore like Grind City, band such as Wormrot, Magnicide and Demisore are a beautiful business card of this island country. But, what about Crust Punk? There aren’t many names are there? Today I want to showcase one interesting, but unknown band from that region. Dethrone The Pigs is a bunch of Punks who started this squad only a few years ago. This self-titled EP is their first record… and they’ve done well. These guys do not play something new and unique; they chose the classic way with society centered lyrics and aggressive music. However that does not mean that this is a boring release and you should skip it. On the contrary, this CD is worth listening to. It has nice art which shows us the greedy and false face of humanity, the absurd power of money and worthless lives of people, that’s what I found here. 

Amazing atmospheric intro with a story about humanities ends, that really touched me. The opening song “Wind chimes Burn” has lovely melodic tunes at the start, which slowly transforms into raw crust madness. All the songs are written in a similar style, but each of the songs has its own highlight (a riff or short screaming solo). I like that Dethrone The Pigs found a good balance between raw anger and melodic tunes, everything sounds fresh. Clanking and buzzing sound of the bass guitar is especially catchy here. And the combination of main and back vocals is works really well. The drums are a bit loud here, but that is not so bad. Also I have a feeling that these boys are huge fans of His Hero is Gone and Tragedy, just check out “Instrumental” and “Consume”, you will understand what I mean. 
I'm sure that this “dark horse” will be a good and positive surprise for crust fans.

Rating: 7.5/10   Dethrone The Pigs bc    Dethrone The Pigs fb

New songs from Cusser!

You can check the whole EP HERE!

Emils LP is ready for pre-order!

more info

Powerful news from Power It Up records!

Die hard edition of Infernos lp! You can pre-order this colored vinyl at www.power-it-up.de

Starvation - 5 Track Demo tape is out!

You can listen and buy this cassette HERE!

Big news from Power It Up records!

New noise from Forest Hum!

You can check "Privilege" ep right HERE!

Psycho / Horrible Earth

Last year started with a lot of great Grind/Noise/Gore and Crust releases. It seems 2018 may be heading in the same direction thanks to this split. The formula of this release is simple, there are two bands, 2 different kinds of noise, fucking awesome sound (I don't even remember such clear sounding vinyl) + good cover art and insert design and that's all. Well let's find out why this split is so great...

Founded nearly thirty years ago, eclectic collective Psycho has extensively reigned as one of the most iconic and strongest names in the US Noise underground. Starting out as more of a traditional Punk act, they eventually came to a more Grind sound. Their side with 4 songs is a fantastic example of harsh Punk. Everything has a moldy taste of the 80’s, but on the other hand you realize that these songs were recorded very recently (it's an interesting hybrid of tunes, sound and atmosphere). Strong bass sound, energetic guitar buzzing, classic Punk drumming and crazy vocals, that’s what you will hear on side A. Ah yes, along with 3 tracks of their own, they also have covered Ramones (Bop Til You Drop track).

To be honest I didn't hear anything about Horrible Earth until they released their first album “Typical Human Behavior”. Also it was interesting to find that Tim Morse is playing in this band. The new songs are almost the same as on the album, but I said ALMOST. These 5 songs have a bit of a schizophrenic structure, faster tempos, and also a tiny taste of Punk and Death Metal in the sound. It is a portion of twisted Grindcore with mighty power, and yes everything is done with old traditions. I can call this buzzing monster real old school Grindcore! If you loved the era of 80’s/90’s extreme music, then check this small split!

Rating: 8/10 Psycho Horrible Earth

You can get thit split directly thru the bands