DISSOLVE "s/t" 7"

If you liked the Dissolve tracks on the “Over the Edge” CD compilation I posted a few weeks back look no further as I have more treats for you. This Poughkeepsie, NY band made some pretty interesting music. The music had weird elements, influences, and time signatures not unlike Deadguy / Kiss It Goodbye mixed with some Bloodlet and at times they even remind me of a more metallic Econochrist for some weird reason... but the vocal delivery was totally different than those bands. (I know people are going to hate those comparisons). It would be an understatement to say that the raw passion and emotion that singer Paul Thorstenson puts forth was intense. I liked the songs on the “Over the Edge” comp so much that right after I got that CD I sought out their 2 song 7” that was also released on Endless Fight Records around 1994. The mp3s are a little rough sounding but both songs have some amazing parts to them that make me want to smash through my desk and stand up just giving the middle finger to any person walking past my window. Listen to the lyrics on “Sandcastle”, they’re right up my alley.

Dissolve started in 1991 and never really officially broke up. According to their myspace bio they recorded an album entitled “Caveman of the Future” scheduled to be released on MIA records. If any of you were around at that time you’ll remember that the same label featured Candiria, Darkest Hour, and Disassociate and that the label abruptly folded and ceased all operations, leaving all of the bands hanging out to dry. The Dissolve album was sadly never released. (Man I’d love to get my hands on that!). “As fate would have it, this never happened. Day jobs, distance, and side projects began to take precedence resulting in a hiatus from touring for Dissolve. While the band never broke up, gigs tailed off and performing stopped. The band went into a kind of hibernation.” They did play a show in 2004 & another one in 2005.

Nevertheless check out their 1994 7” and enjoy it. I feel that their sound has stood the test of time and if they would have had the right label support and proper releases throughout their existence plenty of more people would know their name.

DISSOLVE 7" on Endless Fight Records
https://www.mediafire.com/?mo9wl7uw7drxrdz
1. Sandblaster
2. Gabriel's Wrench

DISSOLVE on Myspace also check out their video for "Graverobber" live in Massachusetts in 2000. Click here for the video.

ONE KING DOWN "Absolve" CDep

One King Down was well known for their "Bloodlust Revenge" CD released on Equal Vision Records in 1997 but before that CD was the hard to find "Absolve" EP. No strangers to different line ups this CD features their 1st of 3 singers featured on recordings. Absolve kicks in hard with their signature "ONE KING DOWN!!!" sing along & set opener.

Many people will remember OKD more so for their touring and performances with Rob Fusco on vocals but this EP is still a great listen. However Bill Brown still had a strong presence on this CD giving One King Down an even harder, tough edge to their sound. It's a nice mix of contemporaries of the time like Victory Records all stars Snapcase & Earth Crisis mixed with a good amount of influences from the Albany / Troy hardcore scene for instance local heroes Stigmata.

The core of the band, brothers Bill & Michael Scoville on guitar and bass, Derrick VanWie on drums and Matt Wood on 2nd guitar were all highly proficient players of their instruments. I loved that OKD weren't afraid to slow things down and have the songs kind of plod along in a heavy rocked out fashion. I'm a sucker for mid tempo songs. Listen to some of those guitar riffs and transitions. Not too bad considering how young they were at the time.

I'm not really sure why vocalist Bill Brown left after this EP but they definitely went on to do a lot more down the road. In 1997 One King Down & Brother's Keeper did a full US tour together and I got to know them pretty well. We definitely had a good time on the road together even if we did hide cups full of human feces inside their van only to awaken the next day to shit smeared all over our front window, windshield wipers, and underneath the door handles. It was gnarly... Unfortunately at one point in the tour I had to fly home due to a death in the family. Mike from OKD was nice enough to learn 7 BK songs on bass in one night and filled in for a few dates until I flew back out and caught up with the guys.

It was a 5 week full US tour and I remember after our last show which was in Pittsburgh, PA, OKD were going to come back to Erie and crash at my apartment before heading back to Albany. Once we arrived home I quickly realized that my place had been broken into while we were on tour and it had been burglarized. OKD rolled up and saw me outside with the police and we're just kind of like "What the fuck happened?" The bastards stole my original nintendo but didn't take the power adapter, idiots! Oh well, such is life.

Derrick VanWie went on to play drums in The Promise for many years, Mike Scoville even got a chance to audition for the Foo Fighters at one point, Rob Fusco has been seen wearing scarves while playing chess at shows and can be found singing for Most Precious Blood these days, and some of the OKD crew have been working hard at Equal Vision Records for many years now.


ONE KING DOWN "Absolve" CD TRK 003
released on Trainwreck Records in 1995, recorded in Aug '94 @ Max Trax Studios.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/vk2e0rr3zza2vyd/oneknigdown_Absolve.zip

1. Nine Eyes
2. Bleeding
3. Reawakened
4. The Killing Fields


One King Down & Brother's Keeper in front of my apt in Erie, PA 1997.

LEEWAY "Kingpin" video

Old INTEGRITY photo

Small Break

Coregasm will most likely be a ghost town until March. I'm in the process of buying my first home and moving back to Erie, PA. So the rest of Jan & Feb will be occupied with all of that shizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.... stay tuned though and browse some of the older posts if you haven't all ready. Cheers. - EMS

DOG EAT DOG "funnel king"

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE. R.I.P. Two Thousand & Sick. Be safe and have fun. Here's a little song to end the year with. Shit is hard yo. - EMS


DOG EAT DOG - "FUNNEL KING"http://www.mediafire.com/download/nbbnoby334s9dl9/dogeatdog_funnelking.mp3
taken from their 1994 CD "All Boro Kings" on Roadrunner Records

Wake up Monday nothing new
Weekend has caught up with you
Lie in bed hold your head
Pray to god you ain't dead
Alarm clock rings out like a bell
Start this day a living hell
Take a breath and what's that smell?
Well it smells like shit... but you can't tell

Just like you - always there
Just like you - never care
Just like you - head's in a sling
Just like you - the Funnel King

Puke it out think its gone
But you're in for a marathon
Lips are blue eyes are gone
Grab the rim and just hold on
This is like a weekly thing
'Cause you are the Funnel King
OK now but you ain't done...
Just wait until next Monday comes
Knock knock knockin' at your door
Never ever gonna drink that filthy beer no more

v/a OVER THE EDGE volume 1

The value of a good compilation these days is pretty much non-existent. I don’t know if it’s just because every joker out there tried to put one out & oversaturated the scene with sub par bands, or the fact that labels can now afford to give away free samplers these days. Either way, you just don’t really see much focus on them like there was a decade ago. Compilations like “East Vs. West”, “Voice of the Voiceless”, “NYC The Way It Was”, “Only the Strong”, “Where the Wild Things Are”, “East Coast Assault”, “In Our Blood”, and so on and so forth… At the time when every kid on the corner didn’t have a record label, t-shirt company, webzine, or a band that went straight to releasing full length records; bands were struggling to be heard. Hardcore kids didn’t really have the kind of money they do now or the readily available resources there are present day. A good compilation was an amazing way to hear so many new bands. I would sit there and track down releases from just about every band on the comps. I’d order 7”s or demos, anything I could find. It was just a great resource for up and coming bands. Normally a few bands on a comp from that time would go on to do bigger and better things. It’s a shame such a great avenue for promoting new music has gone the wayside for myspace music players.

In 1993 a well known but troubled label called Endless Fight released a 14 song compilation with some of the groups that were playing frequently along the Northern East Coast of the US. You would have either seen their name in a zine or read it on a flyer at one time or another. Many releases from this label were pretty damn solid but I believe that it eventually folded in on itself for reasons that I can’t really remember. Regardless Vol 1 of this compilation turned me on to many great New England and other area new comers.

A few standout tracks would be; Shift who played a nice rock influenced brand of Quicksandy hardcore whose female drummer went on to play in Hole & Motley Crue I think. Their track is actually one of their heavier ones from their back catalog as it wasn’t too often you would hear them bust out a break down like in the middle of this track. Jasta 14 features a very young Jamey Hatebreed on vocals (or as you could have guess, Jamey Jasta). This was a great track and I’m regretting not being able to locate my Jasta 14 demo these days. Overcast as you know went on to turn a lot of heads with their early brand of metallic hardcore. Mayday as well was a great sample of a band ahead of their time. The Converge track is from early on and you can hear a big difference in their approach. Vocally Mr. Bannon seems to be going for a bit more of a Starkweather feel. Dive would round out this comp with more of their brutal take on music. All in all this compilation served its purpose by turning this young kid onto many new and exciting bands of this time.


v/a OVER THE EDGE volume 1
Released 1993 by Endless Fight Records EFR 001 CD
http://www.mediafire.com/download/wmk02wwumozbh32/Over_The_Edge_Compilation.zip

Tracks:
1. Shift - No Avail
2. Jasta 14 - Broken Records
3. Overcast - As a Whole
4. Mayday - Arcane Eye
5. Time's Expired - Total Awareness
6. Malachi Krunch - I'm De Kat
7. Dissolve – Wire
8. Dissolve – Ambition
9. Frostbite – Traditions
10. Alert – Penance (That Song)
11. Converge – Divinity
12. Age of Reason – Portrait
13. In-Line – I Survive
14. Dive – Now They Run / The Water Drove Her Crazy

YOUTH OF TODAY "no more" VIDEO

NYHC on Donahue in 1986

SHELTER & 108 flyer

05-15-1993

This was the last show at the Reading, PA location of the Unisound which was pretty much the end of an era for me as I'm sure many others. I got to see so many amazing shows at that venue. Krishna Consciousness was very present at this show with the usual drum circle before Shelter. Every band was awesome that night including the very energetic and young Prema. Note that Forethought is misspelled on the flyer. Kinda funny since they played the Unisound quite frequently. No Drugs... No Alcohol... No Prejudice.

BURST OF SILENCE "Thicker Than Blood" 7"

BURST OF SILENCE were a straight edge hardcore band from Ontario, Canada. Their songs covered pretty much the standard fare for the time. On this album it was; 1. "Hold True" - staying true to the edge, 2. "Thicker Than Blood" - unity, 3. "I Refuse" - smoking stinks, and 4. "Senseless" - vegetarianism / animal rights. Musically this is a lot like their peers of the time - Chokehold, Earth Crisis, & Integrity. Not too shabby.


BURST OF SILENCE "Thicker Than Blood" 7"
Released on Stability Records (SR #001) and was recorded in Fall of 1993
http://www.mediafire.com/download/smjui09j4km33ki/burstofsilence_7inch.zip
1. Hold True
2. Thicker Than Blood
3. I Refuse
4. Senseless

KILLING TIME writeup in Puszone

In the late 1980s artist extraordinaire Pushead had his own column in Thrasher magazine. Puszone covered a good bit of NYHC over it's existence. I used to read about all of these bands very intently and I would even cut out every picture of them and hang them on my wall. Well, somehow I have managed to hold on to some of my clippings for a good 15+ years and here's a small sample of what has been sitting in my "vault". This is a brief write up about one of the many legendary albums to come out of the NYHC scene during this era. The band was KILLING TIME and the album was "Brightside" which was released on In Effect Records around 1989.





Half page advertisement featured in the same issue:

NO ESCAPE "Just Accept It" CD

I first heard NO ESCAPE on their split 7" w/ TURNING POINT. I immediately feel in love with both bands. NO ESCAPE were a great band from the historic early 90s hardcore scene of New Jersey. No Escape had a cool slowed down vibe to them as opposed to many of the bands playing circle pit anthems of that time frame. Vocalist Tim Singer later went on to front the slightly more chaotic group known as Kiss It Goodbye. I believe that guitarist Steve Crudello also did his time in Turning Point. This CD was released on the now defunct Overkill Records from Seattle WA. It was recorded in March of 1993 at Why Me? Studios. The bonus demo tracks are from 1990.



NO ESCAPE "Just Accept It" CD + bonus demo tracks
http://www.mediafire.com/download/olxziqz8i08zl9j/NoEscape_justacceptit.zip

1. Falling
2. Just Accept It
3. Bed of Nails
4. Left Hanging
5. No Question
6. Time Bomb
7. Downtime
8. Framework
9. Guilty
10. No
***BONUS - Demo 1990***
11. Falling
12. Thread
13. Blind
14. Search
15. Guilty

-----------------------------------------------------
UPDATE: xYosefx requested that I put up scans of the full Gatekeeper Demo that was posted last April. So here you go man... hope they are good enough.
Insert side 1 - Insert side 2

ARMS LENGTH "s/t" 7"

The Cleveland, Ohio hardcore scene has spawned many heavy and dark hardcore bands through out its history. One not too heard of is Arms Length who hold their own with the scenes past. Arms Length have more of a fast old school feel to it along the lines of Confront more so than the metallic leanings of Integrity. However I'm sure they all shared the stage at one time or a nother.

After I dug this out of my collection I was reading the liner notes and was surprised to see that the typesetting and layout was done by none other than John McKaig which I thought was pretty cool (although John there's a lot of typos in the lyrics haha j/k). The cover and band logo's font definitely do remind me of my old 11x17" Attack & Answer fanzine that McKaig did back then. Another Syracuse connection to this release is that it was put out on Shane Durgee's (singer Framework, Gatekeeper, etc...) label Reflection Records (not to be confused with the current Reflections Records from the Netherlands). The 7" was recorded back in 1992 and some liner notes mention that there were 10 tracks recorded in all and that the other 6 were available on a cassette directly from the band. That would have been cool to check out. I'm sure there's only a real limited amount of those around. Anyway, if you like the history and sound of the Cleveland hardcore scene over the past 20+ years hopefully you'll enjoy this as well.

"Roaming down the street. There's a corpse lying in front of me. A bullet in his head and blood dripping from his eyes. Self-inflicted death - a suicide. What justifies this action? Why did he have to die?" - Realm of Hatred


ARMS LENGTH "s/t" 7" recorded May of 1992 in Canton, OH.
Released on Reflection Records.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/axnpf85k0s6a749/ArmsLength.zip
1. Intro / Your Control
2. Blood From Stone
3. Realm of Hatred
4. Last Draw

SOULSTICE "Dark Hour" 7"

More syracuse vegan straight edge coming at you in coregasm. There seems to be no shortage of this stuff in my collection which some people will love and others will hate. This '90s hardcore band had everything going for them; they were from syracuse, had the same drummer that displayed his amazing skills in Green Rage, Guav the straight edge weapon did their logo, and Joel Jordan did their 7" layout. This 3 song 7" was recorded at Penguin Studios in January of 1994. I think it took forever to actually come out and somehow i scored one on red vinyl. Check out those freaking dive bombs in EVERY song! The band later went on to release a CD on Lifeforce records and you can still find it at Very Distro for only $4.99.


SOULSTICE "Dark Hour" 7"
Released on Scorched Earth (Stanton, NJ) in 1994
http://www.mediafire.com/download/ttb36a86eg19dac/Soulstice.zip
1. Turn Away
2. Blind
3. Dark Hour

BK / OKD / DOS flyer

BLUDGEON "Body Lure" 7"

It bums me out whenever I go to rip a 7" that I was in the mood to put up on here, and then as I'm listening to it, it starts skipping. Therefore ruining my chances of putting it into MP3 format. This happened twice tonight, first with the Falling Down 7" (Pre-Day of Suffering) and Chicago's Everlast 7" (not Whitey Ford the rapper). Oh well, life goes on...

So I decided to settle on this 2 songer. I normally can remember a lot about bands and when or why I bought their releases. This 7" is not the case thought. I think the only reason I mail-ordered this back in the day was for 2 reasons; 1. they were a straight edge band and 2. its from the same label that put out a pretty kick ass 7" comp with Integrity / Catharsis / Backlash / & Congress (which will eventually be on here) .

I believe that Bludgeon was a band from the Reno, NV area. They have that whole evil straight edge thing going on that was big for a few years around this time. I mean hell, they thank "Satan and... the Straight Edge!" The 7" is also complete with a Star Wars sample which will also show you the era it was from. For some reason Star Wars was huge with the Straight Edge scene and then so was Calvin and Hobes. Why? I have no fucking clue. Anyway these guys were definitely influenced by the likes of Integrity but pulled off more with the skills of Chokehold. The 7" says it's from a pressing of 200 (mine is stamped 092) and is on clear vinyl. So I don't know if that means there were only 200 pressed all together or if that only indicates the colored vinyl. Either way I wouldn't expect to find this anywhere soon so check out the mp3s and maybe you'll like it.


BLUDGEON "Body Lure" 7"
Released 1994 on Area 51 Records from Reno, NV.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/u1z172872422gbe/Bludgeon.zip
1. Body Lure
2. Darkside

HAPPY BIRTHDAY COREGASM!!!

As of today Coregasm is officially 1 year old. It’s crazy to think that 365 ¼ days ago was my first post about Disembodied. We’ve accomplished a little bit in spotlighting some obscure gems (in my opinion) but I still have A LOT of ground to cover. I still have a stack of about seventy five 7”s sitting beside my turntable waiting to be put into mp3 form for your enjoyment. I have boxes of demo tapes that need to be dusted off and popped up on here (although my cassette deck just crapped out on me). So yeah, 1 year is over with but there is still so much good stuff to share and talk about. So here’s to the future! As a little token of appreciation I am going to give you guys all something that will hopefully amuse you…

At the end of the 80’s I had found myself immersed in the skate boarding scene and punk rock. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. In 1990 I started to have the notions of wanting to be in a band so me and a few buddies of mine all got instruments. I got a guitar (a canary yellow Vester), my friend Chad also bought a guitar, and his brother Jakie bought a bass. We all started taking guitar lessons. I started out by taking in music from the Misfits, DRI, Danzig, Suicidal Tendencies, Minor Threat, the Sex Pistols, & Agnostic Front for my instructor who was a long haired dude named Ray and taught us out of his basement. We didn’t know anyone who played drums so somehow we ended up all pitching in and buying a drum kit off of someone for $40. It didn’t even have a bass pedal so we just used the floor tom.

The McGinty brothers and I used to steal. I mean we stole a lot. You name it, we stole it. We decided to name our band after our little crew of bandits. The name of our thieving crew was The Guild of Thieves. Hell we even stole that name from an old Apple game of the same name… you know, when computer monitors only had one color screens that were all green dots… and there we had our first band.

The first song we ever all played together was “We Bite” by the misfits followed by “Some Kind of Hate”. We would all take turns playing different instruments. We only ever went on to write 2 more songs. One of which the lyrics were all taken from a verse from the Satanic Bible (which we stole the books of) called Das Tierdrama. The other song was called “Loser” (with me laying down some sick vocals) and was our own little anti-drug manifesto. The lyrics are quite humorous to hear now. We were so pumped on it that we ran up stairs and played it for their mother who responded saying that she appreciated the sentiments but didn’t really care for the language.

The “band” later broke up when one of the brothers picked a fight with me over reasons I can’t even remember (I think I was spending more time skateboarding instead of playing with the band). It was my first full blown fist fight and it happened in the morning when we got to school. We were bashing each other around between the lockers and a huge group of kids surrounded us cheering. We proceeded to pound each other pretty good. I had to get my hand x-rayed from the fight and landed some good hits but Jakie also managed to chip one of my teeth. Unfortunately we were never really friends again but the legacy of “Loser” by The Guild of Thieves lives on.


(my general appearance at this time)

The Guild of Thieves were on this song:
EMS – vocals, Jakie McGinty - drums, Chad McGinty – guitar.
It was recorded on a boom box in their basement in 1990.

Click here to listen to "Loser"

“LOSER” by The Guild of Thieves

You’re a fucking loser and you know it’s true.
You huff gas and you like to sniff glue.
You smoke dope ‘cus you think it’s cool,
But all you are is a motherfuckin’ fool.

You’d take it up the ass just to get another hit
‘Cus you’re addicted to that motherfuckin shit.
You spent a lot of money and you kissed a lot of ass
And all you got was a bag of fucking grass.

You stupid asshole.

NO ONES HERO "no ones hero" 3rd 7"

A few weeks ago I was at a friends house in Erie. I looked in his closet and he had a small stack of 7"s given to him from another friend to sell on ebay. I freaked out as I pulled this gem out of the pile. You might remember NO ONES HERO from an older Coregasm post that you can hear/read by clicking here. Well this is their 3rd 7" and I was more than excited to finally hear this. I can't believe it took me over 10 years to randomly find it in my friends closet.

Check it out as it's 3 more powerful songs from this great band. The vocals are even a little bit more frantic and the kick drum just cuts through to your chest. There's some sweet grooves that remind me of some older Turmoil parts here and there and the vocals sound somewhat like the singer of Starkweather only in a full blown hardcore band. Over all a good solid release by Motherbox Records & No Ones Hero in 1996.


NO ONES HERO "s/t" 7" on Motherbox Records(#17) 1996

http://www.mediafire.com/download/l64ism24smx221e/nooneshero_3rd7inch.zip
1. Roadside
2. Car 54
3. Crow

TRUE BLUE set list from 2001

TRUE BLUE were an awesome hardcore band from Europe with a great mix of The Icemen meets Bad Brains with a German vocal flair. I really enjoyed their stuff and was fortunate for my band to play with them in Europe. I also got to see them in the U.S. as well. This was their set list from one of our Euro shows together and their singer Patrick (who now runs Reaper Records out of Syracuse NY) signed it at the bottom as well as "signing" it for their drummer Rene (who is now in World Collapse).