Shades of Grey - Freedom/Incarceration

Shades of Grey is a half female crust band from Sweden that started in 2005. They remind me a lot of Wolfbrigade and Skitsystem, but they definitely have their own sound. They make best use of having two guitarists by use of heavy as fuck riffs and changing interlocking melodies, which sounds awesome. The bass has a deep dark tone, with heavy distortion. Singing is dual female vocals by the guitarist and bassist, in a mid scratchy and powerful screams. This album is heavy and powerful as hell; definitely crust at some of it's finest. In addition to this LP, they also have a demo and split with Massmord. Standout songs on the album would be "Indoctrination" and "Sort the Gods Out".

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Driller Killer - Total Fucking Brutalized + Total Fucking Hate

Driller Killer is a D-beat band from Sweden, surprised at all? Driller Killer's style has changed somewhat over the years, considering there is only one constant member: singer Cliff Lundberg. Out of all of their variations, I think this album is their best style. Guitars are distorted, bass is loud, noisy and crunchy. Singing is more of a shouting and most songs are at a pretty fast speed. This is D-beat at it's core through and through. The average song length on the album is around two minutes, but at 26 songs, there is certainly no lack of substance. Lyrics can tend to get a little corny at times, but it doesn't hurt the album in the grand scheme of things. Best songs would probably be "Futureless" and "Skaneland" is one hell of a cool song. Total Fucking Brutalized is a good solid album; nothing revolutionary, but a damn good album nonetheless. A solid block of total fucking d-beat. 

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Leadershit - S/T

Leadershit is a band from Spain formed from ashes of Ekkaia, Disface, Cop on Fire, Cementerio Show, Karton de Vino, and Caos Ok. This band is again one of my personal favorites and are fast and heavy as anything. The sound is traditional crust, with melodic guitar and d-beat elements tossed every which way. Vocals are belted out and there is some sick guitar work in here. Standout songs on the album are "A Perro Mojado" and "Hacia Dias Sin Cadenas", not to mention some awesome looking artwork. Expect me to post their split up here with Derrota sometime in the future.

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Lost Tribe - The Dawn

Lost Tribe is a band from Richmond, Virginia and plays a style I've never quite heard. Lost Tribe plays dark, gothic punk. I had never heard of them beforehand, but they were playing a show with my band and I was blown away. Every instrument plays something different, but everything flows and goes together perfectly. They're very heavy on the reverb, but it works in this case, and extremely well. Vocals are more shouted and chanted than screamed, which is an awesome effect, especially in their live performances. This is an awesome demo, but they're live sound can't be replicated, and is definitely a band I would recommend seeing if you even like them a bit. The song "Vexed" stood out to me most, but this is one solid demo, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on their newer releases.

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Punch - S/T

Punch is a female-fronted hardcore band from San Fransisco, California. They used blistering fast guitar progressions and scratchy high speedy vocals. The whole band is just really fucking fast and heavy, good stuff to be sure. Many, if not all, of the songs have breakdowns in them, and while I think overusing breakdowns just sounds stupid, they manage to make it work. They still tour around, and have another album called "Push Pull". The standout songs on this album are "Get Back" and "We're Not In This Together".

 

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Virago Baking Company

Virago bakery is located in Lansdale (north of Philadelphia) on 322.5 West Main Street. It boasts all natural, gluten free, vegan (and nonvegan), and European style cakes. The best food there is the food not even on the menu. For around $9.50, Virago makes the best vegan cheesesteak wraps I have ever had. It is most likely the best food I have ever eaten. The substitute beef has a great taste and is roughly the same consistency as the beef you would find in a Philly cheesesteak. The vegan cheese is fantastic and it is made to perfection. They offer chicken and buffalo cheesesteaks as well, of which I have only had the buffalo variety, also of which is exquisite. They also make excellent vegan cupcakes and pastries, which are huge compared to regular cupcakes, coffee, tea, sandwiches, cakes, and general cafe items. The people who work there are some of the nicest people you'll meet and they have an artist of the month and music every Friday with open mics on first Friday.

 http://viragobakingcompany.com/

Blackbird Raum - Swidden

Blackbird Raum is a gypsy folk punk band comprised of squatters from Santa Cruz, California. Their lineup consists of an accordion, banjo, washboard, mandolin, and washtub bass. Group vocals are shouted, sung and harmonized. It's hard to describe their sound, as I have yet to hear anything quite like it. Most of their songs have a high amount of energy and are generally pretty speedy. All of their albums are solid and I never get tired of listening to them. While all the tracks are amazing, the ones that stand out to me are "Witches" and "Honey in the Hair". Definitely one of my favorite bands.

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Broken Bones - Bonecrusher

Broken Bones is a hardcore punk band from England. They started in 1983 and are still playing presently. The bassist and guitarist are ex-Discharge members, and that can definitely show. This album in particular is, in my opinion, one of the best albums of all time. It was an American only release back in 1985. Every song is solid. The entire band are amazing at their instruments, with searing guitar solos, excellent bass riffs, and precise drumming. The vocals are shouted and are extremely unique. Honestly, just an amazing band. Standout tracks are "It's Like" and "Choose Death". Also notable is "Decapitated", being their most well known song. But every song on this album is fucking amazing.

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Andrew Jackson Jihad - Can't Maintain

Andrew Jackson Jihad is a folk band from Phoenix, Arizona comprised of Sean Bonnette on guitar, Ben Gallaty on standup bass, and an ever changing lineup of drums, horns, saws, and more. They started around 2004 and are known for their self loathing and satirical lyrics. This album is certainly no exception. This album is simply amazing. Acoustic guitar mixed in with standup bass and some very unique, yet very fitting, vocals. Some of the songs are electric, some of the songs are acoustic and some have horns saxophones, etc; a very diverse album. Lyrics are typically loathing and almost depressing at some point, but I can relate to almost all of them, creating a very personal feeling. And even within the grim lyrics, there is humor to be found and it has a very unique feel. I can't really pick any standout songs on this album, as every single one of them stands out in their own way; an extremely solid album start to finish.

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Grimple / Logical Nonsense 12"

Split 12" from Grimple and Logical Nonsense. To anyone that doesn't know Grimple, they started out as a street punk band back in 1990 in New Mexico which eventually drifted to crust. Singer is somewhat similar to Antischism's, being high pitch belted vocals. Logical Nonsense is also from New Mexico. They started out in 1989 and have a crust and thrash sound with deep shouted vocals. Standout songs are "Darker Shade of Grey" on the Grimple side and "Before the Act" on the Logical Nonsense side.

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Chumbawamba - Common Ground

Chumbawamba is a band from the UK which, despite it's most recent and popular music, used to be a great anarcho band. This is one of my favorite albums by them. Recording isn't all that great, but musically it is a wonderful bit. It has a typical anarcho feel, with a lot more melodic and singing parts thrown in. Vocals are male female dual vocals shouted as opposed to scream. Chumbawamba has gotten a lot of shit for their "selling out" by signing to large labels (one of which they were in a comp against a few years earlier) and completely changing their style to dancy poppy electronic music. But no matter what way it's look at, they made some sick music before the big change. Common Ground was released as a benefit to help striking miners in 1984. There is only two actual songs on this, plus an intermission(?), so it's a quick but good listen.

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Sacrilege - Behind the Realms of Madness

Sacrilege is a metallic punk band from England. Played relatively few shows, but considered an extremely important band and pioneers in Dbeat, thrash, metal etc. The guitarist played in Varukers for a while, but left to form this. This particular album is one of their best, if not the best. It was the first full length LP they released. Six songs of fast music with heavy solos and reverbed vocals, very unique sound. Some of their later albums got real metally and slow, and vocals were more sung than shouted; it actually sounds like a different band altogether. Best songs would be "Lifeline" and "a Violation of Something Sacred".

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The situation in Libya

To anyone who reads this:

As many of you know, many protests are occuring in the middle east and governments are being overthrown. In Libya, particularly, this has turned extremely violent. I urge you to please look at this site and stay updated on the situation there and make your voice heard. The events unfolding should be known to everyone around the world, and they need our support.


http://revolution2.moonfruit.com/

Age - Four Wings

Age is a heavy crust dbeat band which hails from the land of Japan. I couldn't really find much information on them, but I've been to a couple of their shows, and they are older guys, so I'm pretty sure they've been playing for a while, and it shows. Four wings is a tight album with belting vocals and searing guitar solos. The guitars are on the more treble end, and the solos are simply amazing; the guitarist is truly a master of bluesy rocknroll riffs. If I had to compare them to any band, I would say maybe a mix between Disclose and GISM? Very unique sound nonetheless. Standout songs are "Darkness Again" and "Invisible Future". Ha-doh

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Flux of Pink Indians - Strive To Survive

Flux of Pink Indians was an anarcho band from the England that emerged in 1980. Their music is known notably for the anarchistic, vegetarian, antiwar etc lyrics. The bass is very prominent and the guitars have some interesting distortion that has power in the high ends. Vocals are shouted and as with many anarcho bands of the time, very audible and understandable. Some songs are fast, some are slow. I imagine most reading this already know of Flux, but if not, they have a similar sound to Crass. Standout songs are Tube Disasters and Charity Hilarity.

 

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Axegrinder - Rise of the Serpent Men

Axegrinder is a crust band from London. They started up in '85 under the name "Tyrants of Hate" but later changed their name to Axegrinder. They played together until '91 and then they split up. Rise of the Serpent men is the first album they did and it came out in '88. It was reissued in 2006 with some bonus tracks, but alas, they are not on this download. This band is heavy. Amebix definitely comes to mind when listening to them. The bass is twangy and heavy and powerful. The guitars are on the higher end and rip in with some pretty good solos. Most of the songs have melodic intros that help buildup to the heavy beating sound that this band gives. Standouts are "War Machine","Life Chain", and "Hellstorm", but is a solid album throughout.

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