BAND OF MERCY - "Vulgar Display of Vegan Power" Pantera rip-off shirt

Front

Back to the present although they pause at the moment. Band of Mercy also have a Carnivore rip-off shirt but this "Vulgar Display of Power" homage is still the winner.

For the first releases Band of Mercy was mainly a duo with Daniel from Die Young being the driving force. They deliver a mixture of Portland and fast Swedish d-beat combined with where Die Young left off.  Besides being quite dead serious concerning veganism they add a lot of humour and side blows which is quite rare - even today. Their demos are available as free downloads via Headfirst! I might post them in the future including all artwork.

STATEMENT - "prepare for battle" bootleg shirt

It's been a while and I am starting with a shirt (again for all the political correct ones): nice screenprinted bootleg shirt with the cover of the second Statement 7" (first one was the split with the Apostles1 (one of the first queer punk bands as far as I can remember)).
I still quarrel with myself since flaunting a huge hardline logo in 2007 might not be the most clever thing to do, but on the other hand: who really remembers hardline? And: Statement wasn't a hardline band - a Wikipedia entry states:

"[...]had a one-man studio project called Statement which initially was aligned with Hardline; however, he discarded the label over a disagreement over the issue of homosexuality."

The shirt is currently available, has a great printing and cotton quality and is a fine thing to antagonise the hippies in town.


1 I am going to post the split 7" and split LP in the near (far) future.

WARCRY - system under anguish (MCD) Precedent Records #01 1994

Just to complete the Warcry roster: only half a year later they recorded a MCD that was supposed to be on a German label1 but it never happened, so they did it on their own. They also rerecorded two songs from the 7" here and the whole thing sounds a bit better than on the first release - think of melodic mosh like Encounter or the Louisville bands, early Chokehold or even Integrity. They also changed concerning ideology, while the lyrics are quite in the same direction the whole thing seems more moderate and also with a wink, for example the whole band biography has a nonserious undertone2 and the CD label is a beer mat from Munich ("...ein Prost aus München"), which might be a reaction towards the critics of the first release. Today I just realized that Warcry were from the same city like Militant Records; I am an inattentive nerd. I don't know what happened to them later.

WARCRY - system under anguish (MCD) Precedent Records #01 1994

1. configuration four
2. insolitude
3. until darkness
4. ritual
5. demand for retraction
6. awakening
7. witness
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]


1 I daresay who.

2 the copyright information says:

" if you reproduce this without permission, you will be kicked out of the scene, with no 7"s, shows, backpacks, or e-mail, for two weeks."

WARCRY – until darkness... (7”) Militant Records & Vegan Earth Order #01 1994

Here is another request by a reader: the first release by Vegan Earth Order & Militant Records. Many people say that it is the worst release of the label; might be true, but if you have an affinity for 90ies vegan mosh, you might like it. Warcry sound a bit like a mosh version of Outspoken and were still part of the first wave - those recordings are from 1993.
The band got criticized very much - not for their lyrics (straight edge1 and earth defence) or their support of AIM but for the drawing on the label of the flip side done by Guav (a Syracuse hardcore legend). In a Heartattack review someone stated that it was Eurocentrism but that’s a bit out of the blue. It’s just the old “firestorm” scheme: a straight edge boy with a hooded sweater and x’d fists is pointing a gun at someone’s head - the person has rastas and is smoking. I think it doesn’t need any further remarks it’s just dumb, although the drawing is poorly looking anyway.



(flip side label)


WARCRY – until darkness... (7”) Militant Records & Vegan Earth Order #01 1994

side a:
1. until darkness
2. witness

side b:
1. suppress
[OGG Vorbis, 256k, password: antithesis]


Update: found the review in the old Heartattack issue.


1 "until darkness falls the edge will remain"