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Police & Thieves, Four Days to Burn, The Endless Blockade, and Nuclear Winter…

Police & Thieves - s/tI owe an absolutely massive apology to Washington, DC's Police & Thieves, who sent me their self-titled debut 7" (on Higher Conscience) a long time ago. Better late than never, I guess, but shit... I'm late, so I'm sorry. Anyway, the band features former members of Worn Thin and Four Letter Lies, among others, and cranks out four quick tracks of melodic hardcore in less than 10 minutes. Citing their influences as "early Dischord" while having been compared to Rites of Spring and Dag Nasty should give you some point of reference for their sound. I definitely hear some Dag Nasty in there myself, and that's never a bad thing, but while they may be looking to DC's past for influence, they do manage to capture that overall vibe without sounding dated or anything like that, which is great. Solid recording, solid layout, 7" pressed on opaque bright yellow vinyl... I don't know what else to say, really. It's such a short record, and I'd definitely like to hear more from these guys, so... hopefully I'll get the chance at some point!

Police & Thieves "Harbors"

This EP's supposed to come out on CD with a couple of extra tracks at some point, but the 7" is still available for all you vinyl junkies, so pick it up if you like what you hear:

Interpunk
Very Distribution






Four Days to Burn - s/tMassive apology #2 goes out to Dada Drumming, who sent me a couple of killer 7"s almost as long ago as Police & Thieves, but they got set aside and shuffled around and, well, I forgot. Oops. But the self-titled debut 7" from Texan sludge merchants Four Days to Burn certainly impresses with its two tracks in about 11 minutes. Excellent organic recording, totally badass southern-fried grooves with plenty of pulsing low-end and distorted grit, pounding midpaced rhythms countered by faster bashings and a certain chaotic sensibility, and a wicked dual vocal attack of absolutely raging sneers/snarls. Great shit, really. The 7" comes in a thick sleeve with a nice looking layout, and the first 500 are pressed on absolutely fucking beautiful pink vinyl with red splatters (a great match against the color scheme of the sleeve), so... well done!

Four Days to Burn "Lieutenant" (excerpt)

Make the grab straight from the label if you dig the snippet above:

Dada Drumming






The Endless Blockade - Come Friendly BombsAlso from Dada Drumming is the "Come Friendly Bombs" 7" from The Endless Blockade, and it's interesting that both sides of the three-panel sleeve are adorned with the artistic talents of Watchmaker's Brian Livoti, because these uncompromising Canadians seem to be becoming somewhat of the hardcore/punk equivalent of Watchmaker on some level. 11 raw tracks in just under 11 minutes with lots of explosive speed, chaotic vocal shrieks, and quick blasts of tangible hardcore/punk force or sludge-laden grooves amidst a rather power violence-esque core. This is a hint more fierce and aggressive than what I've heard from the band in the past, but that's a good thing, and they do a great job of cramming loads of different influences into succinct yet cohesive bursts. The sleeve's printed on thick matte stock and the first 300 records are on clear vinyl with red splatters, so... another great looking release from Dada Drumming.

The Endless Blockade "Therapy Through Violence"
The Endless Blockade "I Don't Give a Fuck About You"

As above, if you dig the tunes, make the grab straight from the label:

Dada Drumming






Nuclear Winter - Abomination VirginbornThis absolutely awesome 7" from Blast Beat Mailmurder hasn't been sitting here for too long yet (I'll have some more releases from Blast Beat covered here in the coming weeks), but I figured I should get to it now while catching on up on these other vinyl releases, otherwise, well... you know what would've happened, right? So, even though it was recorded way back in 2003, everything about the "Abomination Virginborn" 7" (which is actually a vinyl re-release of the band's final demo) from Greek death metallers Nuclear Winter looks and sounds old school as fuck! And I love every minute of it! Three tracks in 12+ minutes of thick, chugging, early-90's styled death metal with fucking excellent vocal power, slick melodic leads, the works... It just kicks ass, plain and simple. It's sort of like a faster and less melodic Bolt Thrower in many instances, but the vocals lend a certain sense of primal aggression to the tracks that I fuckin' love. Incredibly perfect recording for this niche, too. I'm sold. The sleeve looks killer as well, though. Everything about this EP just nails it. Oh, and I forgot to mention that these tracks were recorded as a fucking duo! Impressive. It's a damn fucking shame they called it quits after this demo, but both of the guys are now in a band called Dead Congregation, so I need to get on that shit pronto.

Nuclear Winter "Crucified Animal"

Unfortunately I can't seem to locate this 7" in any distros here in the US, so get in touch with the label directly through MySpace to see about getting your hands on this fucker. It's a keeper, trust me.

Comments

  1. Four Days to Burn had killer riffage but the vocals lost me.  Endless Blockade kills all around though.

    4.23.2007 | By Johnny

  2. also check out the new endless blockade split with hatred surge that came out on http://www.schizophrenicrex.com/. its really good shit!

    4.23.2007 | By Bryan

  3. all bands are pretty impressive. i dont have vinly player which would be nice to buy asap.

    Nuclear winter have interested riffs, it somewhat reminds me on some crust/punk/hc bands. And its pretty fast also.

    The cover from Endless Blockade looks very good.

    4.23.2007 | By ed

  4. thanks for the Dead Congregation/Nuclear Winter tip!
    I will be digging this up.

    4.23.2007 | By Walter

  5. oh yeah! iam getting the vinyl of endless blockade. good stuff.

    4.23.2007 | By L.Ron

  6. NUCLEAR WINTER RULED AND DEAD CONGREGATION IS THE FACE OF BLACKNESS ITSELF…RESPECT

    4.26.2007 | By JAMES

  7. i knew Crucified animal as a demo tape,now this is great! Here they step more in the death metal fields, more than they did in the Nuclear Winter/Incriminated split 7” but let you know this,these guys started as a midpaced heavy crust band ala Amebix, Axegrinder and the likes and released a awesome mcd back in the 1997 with personal lyrics in greek anda touch of Bolt Thrower heaviness. Dead Congregation broke up and members formed Inveracity, check them here: http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=4962

    5.1.2007 | By 7inchcrust

  8. Thanks for the info!  Looks like Dead Congregation is still active, though - they just share a drummer with Inveracity, I believe?

    5.2.2007 | By Andrew Aversionline

  9. Thanks from correcting me Andrew, DC are still active.
    i m not much in to death metal anymore, so mistakes like this is common thing,
    and i apologize for my bad english.. :(
    :( anyway,check their myspace sites for more infos:
    http://www.myspace.com/deadcongregation
    http://www.myspace.com/inveracity
    http://www.myspace.com/greeknuclearwinter

    and here ‘s Inveracity - Savagely Beaten video:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYpBuBwc698

    5.2.2007 | By 7inchcrust

  10. All you guys who found this 7’’ awesome (it is, no doubt) should REALLY check Dead Congregation. Musically, they continue from where Nuclear Winter started. Amazing death metal.

    5.8.2007 | By stam and the witches

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