Ryan from Blasphemour Records recently sent me an email and let me know that the label has decided to give it another shot (he's looking for bands to work with, so get in touch if you're label hunting), and asked if I'd be interested in writing about his past efforts from the late-90's (as well as offering my readers a coupon code, see below). Blasphemour Records started up in 1999 and quickly released two CD's that same year before eventually calling it a day: "One Hell of a Compilation", and Deformity's "Murder Within Sin". Both of these releases have had a home in my collection for some time now, so of course I agreed.
"One Hell of a Compilation" is a 17-track collection featuring an assortment of bands such as the metal-based "hardcore" of Deformity, Length of Time, and Burial Ground (If anyone can hook me up with the "Let Us Pray" EP, please let me know! I've been searching for ages!); the rugged abrasiveness of Milhouse; or the straightforward death metal of Abnegation and Skinless—not to mention an early appearance from Goatwhore, and rare experimental noise tracks from Arora and Psywarfare. (The Psywarfare contribution alone is almost 17 minutes long!)
"Murder Within Sin" is the debut full-length from Belgium's H8000-linked Deformity (which was released in Europe by Next Sentence Records), and marked the band's first foray into a sound that was essentially full-on death metal with just a few crunchy breakdowns here and there (whereas their prior EP had maintained a little more semblance of a metallic hardcore type of edge). As far as "metalcore" bands that started moving towards death metal goes, this album sits right at the top of the heap for me. The quality of the riffs, the intensity of the vocals, the songwriting... everything falls into place nicely, and hits with more force than a lot of comparable material from that general time period.
You can listen to one track from each CD here, and for a limited time you can get 40% off of your total order from Blasphemour Records using this coupon code:
aversion
I know I'm not saying very much here, but I threw this post together really quickly so people could take advantage of the coupon code. There are very few copies of the compilation left, so don't wait around for too long if you're interested!
Comments
“Milhouse”?
9.5.2011 | By Anonymous
Yes, there was a band called Milhouse:
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Milhouse
9.5.2011 | By Andrew Aversionline
Great review (as always) + interesting artworks + bands from before 2000 + great discount = buy!
:)
9.5.2011 | By Carlos
Andrew, first off thanks for the press. Secondly, I do not have the Let Us Prey EP, but I do have an unreleased EP that was meant to be Blasphemour Records 3rd release.
9.5.2011 | By Blasphemour Records
DEFORMITY ruled on that MCD, the full-length CD wasnt bad either but it sort of alienated me back at the time because I expected some more H-8000/edgemetal! But the sort of Malevolent Creation-type of death metal that they were playing was really good!
9.5.2011 | By Panos
Milhouse’s Obscenity in the milk is an underappreciated gem! What is the title of their contribution to this compilation?
9.6.2011 | By Roel
Their track on this compilation is “New York Winter”.
9.6.2011 | By Andrew Aversionline
Thanks, is it like Obscenity in the milk or more like their ep?
9.6.2011 | By Roel
I’ve only been exposed to Milhouse on compilations, actually, so I’ve never heard one of their full releases. Sorry!
9.6.2011 | By Andrew Aversionline
Then i recommend you track down Obscenity in the milk asap!
9.6.2011 | By Roel
Actually I just checked out some tracks on YouTube and I’d say it’s somewhere in between. It’s not quite as abrasive as the EP but it’s not as oddly melodic as the full-length either. They have the full-length for dirt cheap on Amazon.com so I should order that shit…
9.6.2011 | By Andrew Aversionline
The singer of Milhouse, Artie Phile, was also the singer for Indecision for a few releases. He also ran Wreck-Age Records. Other points of interest on the comp…
Arora is Stephen Kasner of Blood Fountains. Also an amazing artist. Track is produced by Dwid
Goatwhore…this was their first non-demo release.
Deformity - Different recording than the one on the Murder Within Sin CD
Abnegation - The last 2 tracks the band recorded
Psywarfare - Track was much longer than the version that was released on the CD. Dwid instructed me to use as much of it as I could fit on the album.
9.6.2011 | By Blasphemour Records
ordered and backed hard! Label shipped the next day!
9.7.2011 | By Jesse
Thanks for your business Jesse.
If anyone is no longer into CDs, and has gone the way of the digital trend, you can now download the Compilation through Itunes. Other sites to come soon.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/blasphemour-presents-one-hell/id463561868
9.7.2011 | By Blasphemour Records
The Deformity CD is now available on Itunes as well.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/murder-within-sin/id464298965
9.10.2011 | By Blasphemour Records
I played drums for the band Heaven Forbid on this comp and I’ve been looking for a copy of this disc for years. That’s awesome that it’s available digitally. Thanks for throwing our little high school band on the record!
3.23.2012 | By Mike
Hey Mike. Contact me. I only have a couple physical copies left, but I will gladly send you one for free when I get some time.
3.23.2012 | By Blasphemour Records