BATMAN DC
PUSZONE
Frantic Scratchings: La Skull Batman by Joof Orbeta
Nah I'm bored. It's the same.
old jumble, the usual meal ticket, the
depression from the inner-office
politics. and sometimes certain
people just drive me up the wall. Dis-
illusionment or what? Procrastination
creeps in like a whisper and, gee,
nothing's really done. So what's a
person to do when the excitement
seems to be slowly vanishing? You
want to be an optimist, but there
90
15
always
that pessimist
side, that feeling of
doubt. Does it all sound too
familiar, is it that close to home, is it
really a negative feeling? Well, who
knows? But something has to be
done, that's for sure. So what do you
think, how does one react and how
can the situation be fixed or maybe
just altered? Some creativity and
voila. But nah. not today, my soap
opera's on at eleven and I'm feeling
lazy, anyway, so I'll look for a job
tomorrow before someone or my
stomach
starts naggin
at me. You know
what I mean, I've got
to collect my strength,
besides I think Nancy and
Frank might break up today
and I can't miss that, can 17?
Today's employment is the
Puszone, the job of spelling correctly
as the music hammers loudly.
Checking stock in the Puszone
warehouse (what?), there are still
copies of the Angellican Scrape
Attic flex, and the Will Evil Win floxi,
two hot compilations, for $1.00 each,
or send 3-22 stamps for a Puszone
sticker and list. The Puszone ware-
house worker always collects mail at
PO Box 701, San Francisco, CA
94101 USA. As always, thanx for
your support.
So they say to me, "Hey, have you
heard? Civilised Society went
metal." And I say to myself, now what
does that mean? Do they sound like
Bon Jovi or maybe even Iron
Maiden? Or maybe they mean the
"new" metal, which isn't like the old.
It's all so confusing. So Shane sends
out the test pressing and then the
finished product, and I play it all the
time, just enjoying every inch. Then
I think, did Civilised Society go
metal, like all these accusations? So
get on with the review. Did they? Now
here we have Civilised Society with
their second album, entitled Violence
Sucks, and, true, there are metallic
guitar trappings all over it, obviously
an influence from Metallica But go-
ing metal, no, not really. This is that
straight-forward hard-core punk
sound, crossed with an iron guitar
twang that is definitely enlighting
Still, the strength of this band is the
twin vocal duties of Hammy and Bev
who work in and out of each song so
well. They are a very unusual bande
who capitalize on their unique ap-
proach and combinations while hit-
ting some heavy riffs, as well as some
uptempo sections. Metal fans may
latch onto this music, but if they do,
the lyrics will shock their minds. No
metal band writes anything this
strong or this sincere, but then again
maybe it is Civilised Society's inten-
tion to shock metal-heads. For exam-
ple, take the fifth track from side A,
Treedom," with its heavy chords
and catchy choruses. The second
verse really hits
"Behind my door lies a mountain of
letters/Treeflesh abounds and stil more
follows / Suddenly I'm fighting for
breath/The more paper I use the worse
it gets"
Each song ruptures the mind with
intense, thought-provoking lyrics.
Maybe this is too heavy for the heavy
metallers?! The music will grab the
attention, but will the lyrics scare
away the listener? Always the ques
tion for those weak at the truth.
Civilised Society have again packed
a titanic wallop into a superb Lp. but
I'm sure it will be lost in the continu-
ing flow of crap records being,
released by capitalist dodos. On
Manic Ears Records, Box 666, Full
Marks Bookshop, 37 Stokes Croft
Bristol B52 3PY England UK
Still floating in British waters, I
wonder who these stupid idiots, The
Bailey Brothers, are and why their
egos are all over this compilation
titled Diminished Responsibility,
which they supposedly compiled.
They must be some big metal hot
shots or D.J's or something. I'm sure
you've lost interest by now. And I'm
also wondering why Heresy is on this
Lp. Even though they give explan-
ation, they must be desperate. Flip
on side one, and this first band,
Adonis...well, might as well go to
the next track, since it's just another
"Venom copy" Then we get to
Unseen Terror, who fair a bit better,
especially for a two-man outfit. Fast
speed metal with gruff vocals,
nothing too jumpy. Next is the biggest
hype band in the hard-core under-
ground, namely Anti-Christ who
ripped off Japanese bands Outo and
Confuse. These guys just taped the
Japanese bands' songs and put the
Anti-Christ name to them. So now
they decided to be a real band.
Speed death metal with the stupidest
name yet, and maybe the drummer
only uses a snare drum and beats as
fast as he can. I'm falling asleep now.
Maximus Thraxx come across a bit
better, but again, it's unoriginal
metal. These guys are young.
though, so experience will do them
a lot of good. Or will it? And finally
Heresy snaps to it with their ultra-fast
metallic onslaught, sounding like a
sleepy MDC. Not bad. So here it is,
negativity, not even at its finest, but
why? This Lp looks more like a cash-
in on a trend than a serious effort.
and its not even worth funding. Avoid
at all costs. On BB Records. These
guys look thrash metal too! Hah!
The new 12" Ep by Straight
Ahead has been a long time in
coming. Originally, this band called
N.Y.C Mayhem broke out of the N.Y.
HC scene, and they quickly got a
good cult following. The band then
changed their name to Straight
Ahead, had a good demo and a few
tracks on the One Step Ahead comp
7 Word has it that some of the
members joined Youth of Today. Now,
affer no releases from Straight
Ahead in quite some time, Tommy
Carroll has gotten it all together for
this Breakaway 12", featuring sex
tracks full of the famous NY deep.
thrash sound and Tommy throating
the lyncs with tonsil strength. Grind-
ing raw guitars, gritty with chunky
distortion, set the pace, hitting breaks
and whiny leads, as the drummer
shows a bit more originality than
most of the current crop of snare
smashers. It's the Straight Ahead
style with it's uptempo beats and
quick starts that makes this record
play so well. This record brings back
memories of the old N.Y. H.C bands,
like The Abused and Antidote. It
comes in a simple white cover with
a lyric sheet on 1 Risk Records clo
Some Records, 210 East 6th Street,
NY, NY 10003
Here's a rare gem out of Canada.
The Fratricide/Mission of Christ
split Ep. Both bands hail from the
British Columbia area and are a good
sampling of what's coming from
there. First is Fratricide with two
tracks, "Razor Piss," and "Our
Circled Adventure," that are forceful
and dominant with a definite
crossover feel, like COC or Beyond
Possession, yet original. The guitar
work supplied by Eric is meaty and
has a thick, deep, distorted tone that
echoes and riffs heavily, working
slow to fast, chords complementing
vocalist John's unique sound. John
snarts off the words with a scrawling
note, working with each song at the
right moments. Fratricide is defin-
tely a band to watch for. Mission of
Christ fit into the crossover arena
well, delivering two tracks: the
lengthy "Nocturnal Serenade" with
its metal sections and beely parts
and the speedier "Crypts of
Darkness," which thrashes and
bashes well with crazed metallic
attacks. Both bands are fitting for this
Ep and not to totally different from
each other On Final Notice Records.
Write to: 11067 146 A St. Surrey B.C
Canada V3R 3V3.
What can you say about these
Japanese speedsters, except that
they really are fast and have such an
angry tone? S.O.B. continue to push
the pedal to the metal and haul. On
their new 12 Don't Be Swindle,
S.O.B. (Sabotage Organized
Barbarian) slice out eighteen light-
ning fast. 1,000 mph rippers that bum
with a feverous fire that lets the sweat
pour from your body. Tottsuan smiles
all the time, but when he sings, it's
mean angry growls that are like barks
and snaps, vicious with piercing
command, a nightmare for less rip-
ped throats With a voice like that,
you'd expect this huge bullying figure
to be ready to menace your every
move. This is hardly the case, but
he's a crazed one live. Bringing up
the onslaught is guitarist Toshimi and
bassist Naoto, who create a force of
distorted power that flails with chaotic
aggression, never humming or calm
ing, always nasty and forceful, like
sharp teeth biting hard. Drummer
Yasue works the kit at a mayhemic
pace; slowing down is hardly on his
mind. For their second release,
S.O.B. continues with the tradition
they set in their first classic Ep, and
it looks like this Osaka band is gain-
ing a rather big popularity fast. When
the storm comes, it doesn't back off.
On Selfish Records, Mac Sainan Apt.
Room 401, 4-8-20 Minami Aoyama,
Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107 Japan.
PUSZONE
Satanic Malfunction I've Just Had
About All I Can Take Ep
Urban Waste re-issue 12"
Desecration/Subverse split-Lp.
My Meat's Your Poison Comp. Lp
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