108 “Creation.  Sustenance.  Destruction.” 2xCD

For some reason I certainly did not expect to see a release such as this take shape in this day and age, but as both a diehard supporter of discography CD's and an overzealous aficionado of 90's metallic hardcore, I'm certainly thrilled that it has! (Much respect to Equal Vision Records for seeing this thing through.) "Creation. Sustenance. Destruction." is a massive 2xCD collection of every track recorded by the infamous 108, including their "Threefold Misery" and "Songs of Separation" full-lengths, the "Curse of Instinct" and "Holyname" EP's, and the previously unreleased track "Panic" to boot. The end result is over 35 tracks and more than 90 minutes of material that can indeed be considered legendary, whether you like it or not. ("Songs of Separation", especially, is an absolutely fucking incredible album, and remains my favorite 108 release to this day.)

It seems an almost inconceivable occurrence looking back on it, but there was in fact a time when the hardcore scene actually had a niche of Krishna conscious activity going on, though for the most part only two such bands "mattered": Shelter and "that other Krishna band", which would have been 108. But in all seriousness, while Shelter may have been the more popular/focal of the two, 108 was by far the more creative, the more inventive, the more intense, and the more hardcore. No other band has ever really sounded like 108, and I highly doubt any other band ever will. (Random aside: Way back when I was in my freshman year of college, I actually had some dude offer to literally buy a 108 t-shirt right off my back for $20. Weird, huh?)

108 was formed in the early 90's by ex-Inside Out guitarist Vic DiCara, who remained the band's chief songwriter and visionary throughout their tumultuous (yet fairly productive) existence into the mid-90's. He brought in Ressurection vocalist Rob Fish just prior to the recording of the band's debut, "Holyname", and the rest of the lineup sort of shifted around over the years—at times including future members of Crown of Thornz and Texas is the Reason, among others. DiCara's songwriting style was equal parts noisy acerbity, chunky metallic rhythms, twisted dissonance, and borderline straightforward bursts of hardcore energy—all of which jumbled together in a mass of what I'd describe as generally controlled chaos. You really can't put this stuff into words, though. The dude was a total fucking riff machine and literally wrote some of the weirdest, most bizarre shit I've ever heard in terms of just piecing together strange picking patterns and rhythmic structures with mangled squeals and bends that only scarcely flirted with the most minuscule elements of melody. But see, talking about it like that makes it sound somewhat unappealing, but a lot of the songs are really fucking powerful and memorable—if not anthemic at times—which is pretty damn admirable on numerous levels, not the least of which is considering the subject matter that the band was dealing with, which has never been exactly open to a wide audience, you know?

But I'm just gonna shut the fuck up and let the music do the talking, folks. Here are a few tracks from various releases collected herein that exemplify various forms of 108's supreme awesomeness. "Solitary" and "Deathbed" are from the aforementioned "Songs of Separation" and mark two of my personal favorites in the 108 back catalog. Amazing, amazing shit. Check the solo about 1:35 into "Solitary". You can't lose, people. If you're a fan of oddball riffs then be sure to check out all of the songs below to get a real idea for how whacked some of this material really was (in the best way possible, of course). Enjoy:

108 "Solitary"
108 "Deathbed"
108 "Holyname"
108 "Slave"
108 "Scandal"
108 "Killer of the Soul"

Also worth mentioning is that this fuckin' thing has one of the biggest CD booklets I've ever seen in my life, complete with sweet metallic ink on the print job, photos, all of the lyrics, and reflections on the songs by some of the band's members. Talk about getting it right, eh? And the label's even selling the entire package for just $10, which is beyond awesome. Wholly and absolutely recommended, especially to anyone that missed out on this band the first time around, 'cause bands like this do not exist anymore.* No fuckin' way. Now go make the grab:

Equal Vision Records
RevHQ
@ Very Distribution

*Well, that's not entirely accurate, because as if it wasn't enough of a surprise that this collection came out at all, 108 is also back together playing some shows and prepping material for a new full-length!? Who the hell would've thought!? I'm certainly curious to see what's gonna come of all this... but shit, if nothing else, this discography totally kills, so I'm just grateful for that.