THE NOTORIOUS LOVE AFFAIR - rough mix (Tape) self released 1996

Two years ago I did a The Notorious Love Affair posting and now another member contacted me about the unreleased song - acutally there are two unreleased songs!!! Old-timer Markus Haas from Per Koro1 has sent me a huge box with old demo tapes, rough mixes etc.. Among those was the cassette I was longing for: the rough mix of their recordings including two songs which did not make it onto the 7" record. As good as the four songs on the vinyl just the mix of all songs is still a bit weaker and less powerful than on the actual release.

Nice start to reactivated the blog again. Two years after the mentioned posting, one year after the last posting. Next one is in about ten years... ah, and sorry, I didn't see Total Abuse on Berlin's streets but it's a comical story anyway.

THE NOTORIOUS LOVE AFFAIR - rough mix (Tape) self released 1996

side a:
1. Autist
2. Blutlicht/ Erntedank
3. Panic
4. Wundenlecken
5. I am the song my enemy sings
6. T.G.A.
[OGG Vorbis, maximum quality, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Links
The Notorious Love Affair @ Indiepedia.de


1 how's the shithole?

THE MEN OF HELL aka ZORN - the return of the gods (LP) Maximum Voice Production #666 1998

I will post one of the simple black and white posters that got Zorn blacklisted and banned from clubs later, before: their last sign of life. And it blew me away.
They already changed their name and just the vinyl etching states: "The Men Of Hell aka Zorn". 6 killer tracks in about 26 minutes and the best they have done - driven and mean.

All the people who shit talked about Zorn them being metal heads etc. since their beginning got their possibility to set themselves up now. Brilliant!

Nice full colour Marvel cover and the inside is printed in black:



This was also released on CD and one of the last things Maximum Voice did; there were some stories about the label being a rip off (the vinyl etchings for the Maximum Voice releases already stated "rip off #[..]" as catalogue numbers before, maybe as a reaction towards the accusations), which is funny since I can remember some mailorder lists by the owner who blamed other distributions etc. for not paying him etc.. But I am not into this shit, although a band I really love was affected. Within the world of hardcore and punk you'll find the same business tactics like everywhere.

Shake your manes!!!!

THE MEN OF HELL aka ZORN - the return of the gods (LP) Maximum Voice Production #666 1998

side a:
1. welcome to violence
2. pure fuckin' madness
3. man of hell
4. the god of emptiness

side b:
1. the hatemachine
2. morphin
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

ZORN - ... denn alle Lust will Ewigkeit (LP) Maximum Voice Production #07 1996

This record was a shock to the hardcore and emo crowd, but I loved it and I still do. That's what happens when hardcore punk "kids" grew up with Amebix, early Black Metal, Winter, Candlemass, The Obsessed, Neurosis or Carnage and try to create something on their own. And Zorn's attempt is light-years away from all those metalcore bands who repeat the same Slayer (US, Belgium...) or Bolt Thrower (Germany) riff over and over again. I really wish that Zorn would be a band that is named for a definition of metalcore but you can't always want to have one's cake and eat it.

Some vocal/ singing parts here remind me of Ulver and the lyrics are really, really metal including all the - intended - pathos.

The artwork also reflects the love for sado-masochism of the owner of Maximum Voice Production, but I do not know if it was his wish or a coincidence.

Funny sidenote: "Im Nirgendwo" was covered by the German vegan straight edge semi-legend Megatonin.

ZORN - ... denn alle Lust will Ewigkeit (LP) Maximum Voice Production #07 1996

side a:
1. Zeremonie des Abschieds
2. Magma
3. Hinter der Sonne
4. Erebos II
5. Dornen

side b:
1. Im Nirgendwo
2. VII
3. Durch Schmerz, in Stein
4. Die tödliche Sünde
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

ZORN/ ZELOT - split (7") Spring Records #?? 1995

I try to keep it in the chronological order - sorry Pat! - and so here is Zorn's split with Zelot. These are the only Zelot recordings I know besides the Plot compilation track. "Fuck the haters!" might be one thing Zorn thought after the reactions they got. The thankslist is one of the best in the 90ies - together with Failure Face: "Tiefste Verachtung für Euch alle!" (= "Our deepest contempt to all of you!").
Their tracks got more and more "Doom-y" and better concerning musicianship. I really love the bass guitar runs here.
Zelot have a really bad production which is sad since they are doing the typical kraut thing: combining chugga chugga/ mosh with Bremer Schule and early Ebullition; could be compared to Groundwork for example but with - sadly - less power.

Quite easy to find in your record collection.

ZORN/ ZELOT - split (7") Spring Reords #?? 1995

side a:
Zorn
1. brandmal
2. stumm
3. gekreuzigt

side b:
Zelot
1. smoke like a man
2. riccardo
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

V/A - Andersen (7") Stigma #01 1996

Nice and interesting compilation that came out 10 years ago. Kimusawea - their singer is now in Bolz'n - had a good 7" on Maximum Voice Production and a LP1 on Nabate - quite challenging and diverse, combining punk rock, Nausea, Neurosis, emo core and yes: Zorn. The Ambush track is from the "Pigs" album on Common Cause.
And while Zorn broach the issue of Auschwitz in their lyrics the last artist is Hitler having a analogical booklet page but I can't remember any discussions about this release back then, maybe it was overlooked?! Hitler had a very strange but good humor2 comparable to Chaplin or Brooks and it was actually an Ambush side project in the footsteps of Delta Blues and Bluegrass, unplugged with guitar and a mandoline. I think they also had a demo tape, if you know some details, please let me know.
The title and the cover is a reference to H.C. Andersen.

V/A - Andersen (7") Stigma #01 1996

side a:
Kimusawea
1. ich-panzerung
Ambush
2. one day in december

side b:
Zorn
1. sintflut
Hitler
2. she's fine
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]


1 review from an old Profane Existence issue:

"KIMUSAWEA Kurze Abhandlung Vom Menschen Und Seinem Glück LP

This is amazing. Complex, layered music, with a driving beat and powerful female vocals that are full of emotion, melody, and intensity. The music sometimes reminds me of NEUROSIS, sometimes ACME, but mostly of something completely unique. Really unique packaging as well with great use of printing techniques, imagery and color. Lyrics are all in German, so I can't comment on that. Musically though, this will draw you in and take you on an emotional rollercoaster ride. Great stuff. (Jon)"

2 maybe someone knows their 7" and especially the cover on the label of the ABC Diabolo dudes: Rex Rotari. The booklet page here has Bruno Rey's name as contact with an adress in Buenos Aires.

V/A - Plot compilation & fanzine (LP) Plot #00 & X-Mist 1994

This compilation was released together with the first issue of the Plot fanzine - one of the best 'zines in the 90ies out of Germany associated with a lot of controversy since the editors were shooting in every direction of what was once called hardcore and punk (I was consistent with every target!). Among the writers were Armin and Ute from X-Mist, KHS (a fanzine 'legend'), Zenker from Luzifers Mob, Markus from Toys Move Fanzine, Flo from Zelot, Lee from Spermbirds/2Bad and many others. Anyway the compilation was intended to support the Plot fanzine financially and this institution lasted more than 21 issues.

The compilation itself left me more satisfied than the Illiterate LP on Ebullition and nearly every band from this LP will be featured here soon, among them Golgatha, Ambush, Acme, Ego-Trip, Cwill, Systral, Stack (ex-Abolition), Wounded Knee, Mine (ex-Armicide/Monument, pre-Cataract), Corrosive, Zelot and Dawnbreed (pre-Monochrome). The last track here is an early Bohren & Der Club Of Gore (ex-7 Inch Boots: 1 & 2) track under the name Bohren and it's from their '93 demo tape.

V/A - Plot compilation (LP) Plot #00 & X-mist 1994

side a:
Graue Zellen
1. voice your opinion
Cwill
2. ashamed
Ambush
3. locuste
Ego-Trip
4. here & now
Golgatha
5. c.a.c.
Slumlords
6. rainship
Zorn
7. kranke frucht
Acme
8. "new song"
Systral
9. pretending judiciousness
Luzifers Mob
10. 9-15 (und der böse blick)

side b:
Stack
1. armistice
Time To Suffer Power
2. animal
Wounded Knee
3. wake up!
Mine
4. xxx
Corrosive
5. rausch des irrens
Zelot
6. lotzeyn
Dawnbreed
7. menschmotorik
Bohren
8. luder, samba & tavernen
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]




PLOT issue #0 november 1994
PDF, 48 pages

I excluded the fanzine from the .zip file since there might be many here who are only in it for the muuuusic.1


1 best are the downloading obsessed MP3mos who are asking for the password of the .zip files. Ha ha ha ha ha...

ZORN - heftig aufflammender unwille (7") Equality Records #08 1994

(regular cover)



(limited version with paintings)


You know it was coming: Zorn.

Please do not confuse them with the bad black metal band.

If I have to name the 10 best bands from this era among Acme, Age, Dawnbreed and Kurt I will throw in their name. Hailing from the area between Mannheim and Heidelberg those dudes from Baden-Wuerttemberg were polarising right from the beginning. Besides some grind and noise core bands (and ABC Diabolo) in Germany they were the first having black and death metal influenced layouts and lyrics. Labeled as "metal" by the hardcore in-crowd and later blacklisted and banned from clubs by p.c. dudes due to tour posters with a Pushead like artwork.

Their first vinyl release on Ludwigshafen based Equality Records (Profax, Stack, Abolition, Age, Malva, Hypocritical Society etc.) was a 100% progression after their demo tape but still a bit behind the split 7" and LP, like an unpolished rough diamond. Quite lovely when the undistorted guitars lead into the moshy part while the scraping, emo like German singing never sounds annoying.
The nice looking booklet - included in the .zip file - also has essays/ thoughts by friends of the band among them for example Marianne from Profax/ Sundowner/ Ape Must Not Kill Ape Records.



(live picture in the booklet)

Their drummer is doing finest robot music now: T.Raumschmiere and also the famous Shitkatapult label.

ZORN - heftig aufflammender unwille (7") Equality Records #08 1994

side a:
1. flucht
2. schwarzer frühling
3. hirnvergifter

side b:
1. mord an einer seele
2. messer
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]

I will rerip this, since I took a sloppy copy I own with a more used vinyl.
Okay, did this one from a better copy again, seems like the pressing quality isn't that good; a 12" version - like planned - would have been fine.


Discography:
demo (Tape) DIY 1993
heftig aufflammender unwille (7") Equality Records #08 1994
about 10 EP testpressings (12") Equality Records #08 1994
track on "Plot" compilation (LP) Plot #0/ X-Mist 1994
track on "andersen" compilation (7") Stigma Records #01 1995
split with Zelot (7") Spring Records #0? 1995
... denn alle lust will ewigkeit (LP) Maximum Voice Production #07 1996
unreleased demo (Tape) DIY 199?
The Men Of Hell aka Zorn - self titled (LP/CD) Maximum Voice Production #666 1998
Into the Pandemonium of Bunker Nimmerland (Tape) Antithesis 2000


Links:
T.Raumschmiere
Shitkatapult


Some people are also demanding a reunion by them or at least a nice discography CD:

STAGNATION'S END - shirt

The only Stagnation’s End shirt known to me, printed when their LP came out. Very nice and kind people, a great live band and quite overlooked back then (okay, I can understand this if you have just heard their first 7”). Make sure that you get your hands on the LP and the split LP with their follower Paranoia Keeps Crawling, yes, also very kind ‘cause the same people, also great live and make sure you pick up their full length. Oh wait, I will post their stuff soon.

Found an old patch by them:



Links:
Paranoia Keeps Crawling
Civilization Records
Per Koro Records

ABLAZE - self titled (7") Dropout Recordings #01 1996

Short lived band from Germany, supposed to be from the area where Upset were from. They did this 7" after their demo tape (also had some tracks on tape compilations ("Animal Peace" for example)) and then disappeared. I never saw them live or have any further informations.
This release doesn' t help either since there is no lyric sheet, contact informations etc. included. The 7" has a dire existence in every second hand record box all over the world, mostly for one buck. The dealers who do so have a point: it looks shitty, since the cover and back cover is totally grainy (looks like Paintbrush work with a very, very low resolution) and the 7" is brilliant in an absence of any production. The drums sound like a cassette tape recorder take in a rehearsal room, guitars sound tinny and just the screamed vocals stand out a bit. Really annoying, even the first version of the One Eyed God Prophecy 12" sounds much better. It' s a pity since this does no justice to the music: very much Uranus influenced emotional hardcore and a huge glance at the "Bremer School" especially Carol but also Assay etc.

This is all I found: a review in an old Heartattack. The writer seems to have the same opinion.

ABLAZE - self titled (7") Dropout Recordings #01 1996

side a:
1. living for the evolution
2. finally gone
3. intrusion

side b:
1. now I know, I can stand it
2. weep
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

SABETH - cobrajet (CD) Join The Team Player #05 1999 & compilation tracks

So I was sitting in front of the record player and thought about ripping the compilaton track from Sabeth on the 51 compilation LP but instead I pulled out the album first and it just knocked my socks off. I did not listen to it for about 5 years since I moved here and it is maybe one of the most underrated hardcore records from this time that I know. To complete my Sabeth postings I am including it along with the compilation tracks. The album was released on CD first and then with some delay on vinyl maybe that' s why the sect ignored it?!

No doubt, this is Sabeth' s best stuff including remixed versions of the "zwei" 7" songs. I really love the production which is very clean and not that bass glutted things you get normally while listening to this sound. And while a band like Zorn and later The Men Of Hell wrote overdrawn pathetic - although they were a bit poking fun at themselves - lyrics, those by Sabeth really approached me.

How could I forget... the resolving, drifty part in "caprice"... great. Even the new version of "ein versuch" is fine. Enjoy and get your hands on this record. Quick!

SABETH - cobrajet (CD) Join The Teamplayer #05 1999

1. abschied
2. cobrajet
3. caprice
4. der feind
5. trendkiller
6. herrenvolk
7. memento mori
8. zerstörer (& der versuch)
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Lyrics for "trendkiller":

Nimm mich mit, an die Orte, die ich nicht mag
ich zeige dir die Menschen, die ich nicht mehr sehen will
weil ihr Zeitgeistleben langweilt
ihr Handeln nur auf Wirkung fixiert
Banalität kennt keine Grenzen
sie ist übermächtig...
an jedem Ort.
Wir leben und sterben mit unseren Ansichten
eure sind nur noch sich selbst genügend
Äußerlichkeiten als Selbstdefinition
mir bleibt die traurige Erkenntnis
Dummheit kennt keine Grenzen
sie ist übermächtig...
an jedem Ort - zu jeder Zeit.
Diese Worte sind nicht neu, nur klarer, jetzt,
wenn ich euch sehe, klarer als je zuvor.
Die Freiheit zu fühlen ist meine Waffe in eurem Spiel,
mit der ich mich schütze, vor eurer Apathie.
Und jetzt, da ich begonnen habe, zu sagen was ich denke, wird klar
ich will euer Spiel nicht und ich werde kein Teil von euch sein.

track from "the 51 comp" (lp) Join The Team Player Records #01 1998

1. moment im mai
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

booklet page:








track from "can' t stop this train" compilation (cd) Join The Team Player Records #06 1999

1 . millenium baby
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

booklet part:



Links:
Myspace page (found this some minutes ago)
Review von Quebec Hardcore

SABETH - zwei (7") Join The Team Player Records #02 1998

Okay, here is the second Sabeth 7" which was the second release (first one was the 51 compilation lp, which is also worth a posting) from the small - back then - Join The Team Player label. The label is now defunct and the people involved are concentrating on tour booking. Together with Trans Solar they were the first to introduce a higher quality layout comparable to established US labels for their releases. The cover here is no exception if you think of Second Nature/ Edision, Initial, Doghouse etc. and compare it to what German labels were considering artwork (just think of some labels from Berlin or the Hannover area).

Really a good development within a short time from their first 7" to this one. Quite more moshy but not the generic and boring chuggachugga thing and a way more precise drumming. Does anyone remember Mine from Switzerland and Constance? The also had this total unique sound: mosh without being mosh and unpredictable and great changes within the songs.

Especially the lyrics here are taking a great new direction: a quite deep, less naive analysis and of course stricture of structures, behaviour etc. within the hardcore scene but also keeping associated mechanisms of projection while doing so in mind (I' ve been told that this is also a reason that led to the end of Sabeth). That was the moment when I really started to love Sabeth and I know that some people in the Stuttgart area weren' t very pleased with their lyrics which just makes me smile and say: yes!

Although the label doesn' t exist anymore in contrast to the first 7" you might find this one in mailorder lists, at Ebay or even record stores. Just try your luck.

SABETH - zwei (7") Join The Team Player Records #02 1998

side a:
1. der feind

side b:
1. trendkiller
[OGG Vorbis, 256 K, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]

Links:
Review on Quebec Hardcore

SABETH - 1st (7") diy 1996/ 1997

The last few weeks I got some e-mails how about me posting some German bands from the last decade since over the oceans people mainly just know the whole Bremen stuff, the Common Cause roster (this blog needs some Abc Diabolo & Ambush postings!) or Love Records things, since they were distributed quite well. Then I started pulling out singles, then I thought about having a series with 90ies emo stuff from all over the world (that' s how the Rights Reserved and The Trigger Quintet ended up here) and in the end about 200 singles were in front of my shelf giving this blog a new direction for the next weeks since there are many Reagan era, KBD whatever blogs or even faceless downloading blogs (horrible institutions) out there and only a few who constantly are posting things from the last decade which is a pity. I mean: fuck pomo and the standard dictum "it was all done before", I grew up with this shit, Seeing Zorn and Abc Diabolo live way before I owned a +Void+ split lp or even This Heat, Can, Terry Riley, Ornette Coleman or insert anything (hey dickheads even Teddie was thinking about his childhood and youth every fraggin minute... hahahahaha) so why should I lie: my heart is still into this crap.

I went through the singles again and stopped with: Sabeth! A band from the southern Stuttgart area featuring a former Dawnbreed (also coming!) member, having fine lyrics and just existing for about three years. They were also a great and powerful live band and I still have some soundboard recordings I' d like to "release" as tape (side note: Antithesis released many live tapes in the 90ies), so if anyone knows where the members are nowadays: please contact me. Maybe I will add one show soon.

I will post their stuff chronically starting with their first 7" now which came in a nice, self done packaging with high gloss cards of paintings and lyrics on the back (does anyone remember those funny Dawnbreed autograph cards in the Flatline fanzine?). In the US the whole heavy music thing (we degenerated Germans refer to this as "heavy mucke") was just emerging out of hardcore - think about Kiss It Goodbye, Bloodlet, Coalesce, Deadguy and so on - while bands like Sabeth managed to find their own sound, very unique but with a huge influence of emo core (it' s funny how unbiased I am while writing this word today), Bremen (Acme/Carol/Systral...), Helmet, AmRep and Touch & Go artists parallel to this development - at least those things come to my mind while listening to them. This was also the first time besides Dawnbreed I thought that German lyrics might not sound awkward since there were more than 15 years of embarrassment between Fehlfarben, Mittagspause, DAF, S.Y.P.H. (hell yeah!), Die Tödliche Doris, Palais Schaumburg (da bomb yo!), der Plan etc. and what is called "Hamburger Schule" or - like Sabeth - hardcore bands from Bremen or Southern Germany (did someone in the back scream "what about some Deutschpunk?"?; dude, come here and get some!).

By the way: all those bands pay tribute to Bernhard Hahn (Elch Studio) who produced all those records back then giving them this particular sound. Like Kuschelrockstudios did in Northern Germany helped to define the Teutonic sound (hahahahaha) of Acme, Carol etc..

SABETH - 1st (7") diy 1996/1997

side a:
1. Aller Wege Ziel
2. Selig

side b:
1. Umstand
2. Ein Versuch
[OGG Vorbis, 256 K, password: antithesis, mirror 1, mirror 2]