Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is lots to get stuck into…

• Featured New Arrivals from Foresight, Drill Sergeant, Adult / Planet B, and Squid Pisser
• Corrosion of Conformity: The Blind, Deaf, Numb Years
• Shows and Tours
• Coming Soon

‘If the system had one neck, you know I’d gladly break it, they’ve got us where they want us – stuck in this sick romance, they need no chain – it’s in our brain’.  Dance of the Dead, Corrosion of Conformity

Arguing about whether a particular LP is good or bad can clearly be fun but is largely an exercise in futility. Let’s face it, no one will ever change their mind.  It’s not that I buy into the notion of it being an entirely subjective judgement. Some records are objectively bad.  However, as these notes touched on a few weeks ago, the very way that music is performed can act to both include and exclude simultaneously, through both sonic and social ‘distortion’.  And our aim here is to talk about music that we like rather than that which we don’t.

Having said all of that, I do feel that certain records can be misunderstood.  Or perhaps, more accurately, yield new insights if considered from different perspectives.  What stirred me into this thought process was Corrosion of Conformity’s 1991 full-length Blind.  I was reading a piece by someone whose writing I usually find thoughtful and considered when he referred to Blind (and all COC releases that followed it) as forming part of COC’s ‘redneck music’ phase.  I must admit to a quizzical eyebrow being raised.  Now I’ll be the first to acknowledge that the Southern-tinged stoner-doom metal that the band have explored from Deliverance (1994) onwards hasn’t set my world afire – well-executed but just not my particular cup of tea.  But Blind? Blind is a very different beast indeed.

Cards on the table, I loved Blind at the outset, and I still love it now. But from day one, it is an album that has polarised opinion.  The band’s subsequent longevity has only served to amplify this.  Let’s face it, it is hard to think of many bands who have not only been continually active for over forty years with a relatively consistent line-up (in various permutations), but who have also gone through such a fundamental musical transformation from seminal political hardcore band to purveyors of groove-orientated heavy metal.

So, for the uninitiated, where does Blind sit within this sonic spectrum?  Think powerfully forthright but nuanced lead vocals that interplay with slab-like metallic riffs, which owe a debt in equal parts to thrash and doom metal. And all of it is underpinned by the supple fluidity of the rhythm section.  It’s also delivered with a hardcore ferocity as military adventurism, class dispossession, cartel politics, religious oppression, ecological degradation, and racial segregation are tackled with blistering intensity.

Now my first exposure to COC was following new vocalist Karl Agell’s arrival.  Sets supporting DRI and Sacred Reich at The Astoria in 1990 saw them beginning to try out their new material in a live environment ahead of recording the album. So, I came to it without too many preconceptions about what had gone before – I liked what I had heard, old and new.  COC’s sound had already gone through a degree of metamorphosis from the straight-up hardcore of their earliest releases to the much more crossover thrash leanings of Technocracy (1987).

But how would I have reacted to Blind if I had gown-up release by release with COC?  Now it is clearly more metallic and inherently heavier with cleaner vocals and an emphasis on power as opposed to speed.  But equally, it undeniably still burns with political anger.  And I continue to hear clear call backs to their earlier work.  In other words, the album was a reinvention, but one that clearly evolved from what came before.

So, Blind as stoner metal album doesn’t fly for me.  Nor does the second school of thought that tends to dismiss it as a ‘transition’ album. This has always struck me as a rather reductive interpretation.  Now of course, there is an element of truth to it – Blind was the most metallic COC release to date and began to deploy groove more explicitly than on previous releases.  These were aspects that post-Blind COC were to subsequently elevate to being the cornerstone of their sound.  But politically, musically, and aesthetically, Blind holds much more in common with Technocracy-era COC than with the outright metal releases that followed. I maintain that it is best understood as a singular moment in time, an almost stand-alone release, and the only one to feature Agell and bassist Phil Swisher.

I saw COC twice more as they toured Blind in 1992, firstly supporting Soundgarden at the Town & Country Club (now the Kentish Town Forum) and then an utterly blistering show headlining The Marquee in December of that year.  And as anyone who was present that night knows – whether embroiled in the swirling pit, in the waves of stage divers, or simply taking cover – that was unequivocally a hardcore show.  And an avowedly political one too as an imperious Agell raged eloquently amidst the carnage.

As a quick aside, in researching this piece, I stumbled across an interesting site (metallipromo.com/coc.html) that tracks the gig histories of hardcore / thrash metal bands from the mid-1980s and early 1990s, including COC.  Not only does it seek to catalogue each band’s tour history, it is also an absolute treasure trove of tickets and flyers, a few examples of which I have added below.  What it emphasised to me, as is hinted at by my own COC gig history, was the sheer spread of bands that COC toured with over the Blind period – from Carcass to Megadeth, The Rollins Band to Iron Maiden, Danzig to Prong.  Crossover in every sense of the word.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Consolation ‘Repulsive Reflections’ 7-inch (Crew Cuts)

ICD10 ‘Faith In Institutions’ 12-inch LP (Sorry State)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Hello and welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to look forward to…

• Featured New Arrivals from Belgrado, Antagonizm, and Blow Your Brains Out
• Stage Dives and Sticky Carpets
• One You May Have Missed: Covenant of Teeth by Morrow
• Shows and Tours, including Physique at the New Cross Inn this Friday
• Coming Soon

The current Summer 2023 edition of Alternative Strategies fanzine includes a great interview with Chris Tipton of Upset The Rhythm (UTR) records, who has been promoting shows in London and releasing records for 20 years, including cracking recent releases from Es and Terry.  The interview concludes with a map of the 117 different venues that UTR have booked shows at over the past two decades.  Of these, 55 are no longer venues, and one in particular brought memories flooding back – The Grosvenor in Stockwell.

In its days as a venue, The Grosvenor was a pretty traditional south London pub, with a function room out the back that provided an excellent spot for gigs.  Windowless, sticky paisley carpet to the rear, and sound monitors propped up on beer crates in front of a low stage.  The Grosvenor closed its doors in 2014, before re-opening again in early 2019 but without its function room – a living embodiment of the remorseless grip that real estate capital exerts on London, and a very rare example of push back from Lambeth Council.

Anyone who knows the area will know that Lambeth Council rarely cover themselves in glory. They have relentlessly waged war for over a decade on the residents of Cressingham Gardens and Central Hill estates with threats to demolish their homes against their democratic wishes, and even established a now-failed property development vehicle (‘Homes for Lambeth’) to accelerate their attempts to force working-class communities from the borough.

However, the planning department has largely resisted attempts by property developers to redevelop pubs, spurred on by fierce local opposition in the case of The Grosvenor. Nevertheless, an unfortunate consequence is that once a pub is sold to a developer, it can sit vacant for years until it finally dawns on them that for once, the Council means what it says.  So, after five years, the pub re-opened, but – as part of the planning compromise – the function room was lost to redevelopment, bringing The Grosvenor’s illustrious history as a venue to an end.

The most intriguing thing was the range of bands who played there.  Of course, up-and-coming bands, but it also seemed a regular stop for bands on a downward trajectory, who then found themselves on an upsurge of popularity again soon after, most notably DRI in 2011. Now there were many nights of hardcore chaos, such as a truly demonic performance from vocalist Larissa Stupar (now Venom Prison), who raged amidst a swirling mosh-pit, as if protected by her own force-field.  But the two nights that stand-out in my mind were in many respects more self-reflective affairs.

The first was Blacklisted in 2008.  I had caught Blacklisted supporting Terror a couple of years earlier at The Underworld, but for some reason their brilliant second LP Heavier Than Heaven, Lonelier Than God had not quite yet grabbed the attention that it deserved.  And so, they were playing to an enthusiastic, but by no means jam packed crowd at The Grosvenor.  Ultimately, Blacklisted enjoyed a longevity that few hardcore bands achieve (four LPs over 13 years before they bowed out in 2018).  Core to this, alongside a continual process of musical evolution and experimentation, was vocalist George Hirsch.

Now emotional catharsis clearly features in many hardcore vocal performances, but there was always seemed a depth to Hirsch’s delivery that went beyond simply anger.  And that night, yes there was rage, but there was also humanity, the inner strength to reveal vulnerability and self-doubt.  Literally nowhere to hide. It was a privilege to witness.

Now around the same time (2007/2008), I was also lucky enough to catch the rarity of a solo performance from Leatherface’s Frankie Stubbs, supported by Snuff’s Duncan Redmonds.   I’ll admit even now that I was unreasonably excited at the prospect.  Leatherface had a huge formative impact on me – uniquely gravel-raw vocals, melancholy drenched melodicism, poetic lyrics that evoke beauty amongst the desolation, and an unerring eye for those details of everyday life that enable communities to survive.

A single chair sat just in front of the stage and as Stubbs took his place, a silence impregnated with intense anticipation descended.  If anything, the already hefty emotional punch of songs, such as Springtime and Heaven Sent, was amplified and heart-swelling in their defiance.  Little was said between songs bar some light-hearted exchanges, the buzz of a busy Saturday night pub filtering through into the function room.  The show reached its crescendo with an utterly compelling rendition of Dead Industrial Atmosphere.  A night that still lives vividly in the memory.

So, the memories live on, even if The Grosvenor as it once was does not.  And while thankfully The Grosvenor is once again thriving under the stewardship of a local landlord, it still serves as a reminder of how the fabric of our cities is too often distorted.  Twisted to meet the demands of the capital that exploits them, rather than the needs of people who call them home.

Alternative Strategies can be found at www.anothersubculture.co.uk priced £7.50.

From the moment the album opens on a haunting chant, you sense you are in for a rather special journey and Morrow do not disappoint.  A brilliant exercise in juxtaposing rage with reflection, beauty with desolation, this debut album explores a post-apocalyptic narrative that it skilfully animates through a blend of crushing d-beat and soaring neo-crust, all infused with a cello-led melancholy.  The band features Alex CF of Fall of Efrafa on vocals plus guest vocal appearances from members of Anopheli, Archivist, and Masakari.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ 7-inch (Refuse Records)

Foresight ‘In Search of Understanding’ 12-inch (Refuse Records)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to get stuck into…

• Featured New Arrivals from Faim, Incendiary, and Miss Espana
• Heretical Distortions
• One You May Have Missed: Matador by Burning Flag
• Shows and Tours, including Savageheads and Sial hitting London over the next week
• Coming Soon

In his recently published book Tonight It’s A World We Bury, Bill Peel undertakes an intriguing study of the characteristics that have made black metal susceptible to far-right politics, while asking whether those same characteristics can also nurture radical, left-wing politics?  We, of course, already know the answer to this question from the musical endeavours of left-wing and anarchist black metal bands such as Ancst, Dawn Ray’d, and Ragana.  The interest lies more in how Peel marshals political and anthropological theory to examine exactly what those characteristics are and how they interact with musical expression.

Rather than the review the book, I thought it might be more interesting to unpack some of the central tenets of its arguments to see how relevant they are to hardcore punk.  I must admit most of the bands that the book examines are pretty alien to me (and some for very good reason), but there is a certain universality that emerges in Peel’s thesis that I feel can be applied more widely to understanding the dynamics of hardcore punk.  I will focus on three specific characteristics identified by Peel.

‘Aggressive, oppositional music is the best tool to express compassion and empathy, because it’s not the language of our culture’ (Dan Yemin, Paint It Black)

The first characteristic is that of ‘Distortion’.  Now Peel isn’t just talking about the sound of distortion, but also of the social impact that distortion achieves, the friction that it introduces.  It is here that he calls upon the political theory of Ernest Laclau and Chantal Mouffe who argue for the importance of conflict and antagonism in our lives – how a politics devoid of conflict allows hegemonies to form and to constrain society through enforced consensus.  As such distortion serves both as a barrier to those who will not engage with it, but also as a home for those who will.  The aim should not be to create a defensive community, but rather one that continually regenerates itself by constructing difference through creativity.

‘To show that things can be different, to take things that are familiar and make them unfamiliar’ (Brian D, Catharsis)

The second characteristic of ‘Heresy’ then comes into focus.  Peel examines the concept in terms of both religion and capitalism, and I think it is helpful to think of it in its broadest possible terms – ideas that are at variance with the established orthodoxy.   Distortion creates space for a musical community to engage in exploring its own heresies that challenge the structural social, economic, and political inequalities that define people’s lived experience.  By doing so, common understanding can be established.

‘The struggle is not over, it assumes new forms’ (War by Other Means, Trial)

The third characteristic is the importance of avoiding the grasp of ‘Death Fetishism’.  This represents Peel’s deliberately macabre reworking of the notion of ‘Left Melancholy’, a concept first delineated by the political theorist Wendy Brown.  She explored Stuart Hall’s writings on the failure of the left to understand and challenge Thatcherism in the UK by examining how feelings and sentiments can sustain attachment to specific ideas and analyses in a way that is both conservative and self-destructive, rendering them ineffective to challenging the new reality.  In other words, hardcore punk cannot simply be angry at social injustice, yearn to start over again; it must continually strive to explore new ideas and understand shifting political contours.

‘The greatest power the capitalist class have over our lives, is convincing us that betraying each other is the only way to survive’ (Inferno, Dawn Ray’d)

Here in the UK, we live in a country that has been governed by a socio-economic orthodoxy that has disparaged the collective, atomised communities, and valorised the private sector above all else for four decades.  The results in respect of levels of poverty, inequality, and degraded public infrastructure are evident for all to see.

Hardcore punk songs will not change this, have not changed this.  But they do serve an important role in creating the means for people to recognise that this is happening, to forge common cause, and to articulate that alternative futures are possible.  And that is a very valuable starting point.

Tonight It’s A World We Bury by Bill Peel is published by Repeater.

The quotes from Brian D and Dan Yemin are taken from Gerfried Ambrosch’s books ‘The Poetry of Punk: The Meaning Behind Punk Rock and Hardcore Lyrics’ (Routledge) and ‘Punk Matters: Interviews with Punk Artists and Activists’ (Active Distribution).  Both well worth checking out.

Halifax’s Burning Flag return to crushingly groove-laden effect with a venomous new vocalist for their third-full length ‘Matador’.  Dark crust punk that carries with it a decidedly metallic edge, marrying a hardcore urgency with mid-paced riffs of brutal intensity.  Down-tuned guitars and industrial hues call back to early 1990’s Earache bands and are refashioned into Burning Flag’s more groove-orientated expressions.  Lyrical themes span the UK’s cultivation of overseas oligarchs, societal misogyny, abortion rights, and the Government incompetence that blighted the UK’s Covid response.  They are delivered with a passionate punch.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror and Going Off (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

26^th July Current Affairs plus support (The Lexington / UK Tour)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Belgrado ‘Intra Apogeum’ 12-inch (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Blow Your Brains Out ‘The Big Escape’ 12-inch (Quality Control HQ)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ 7-inch (Refuse Records)

Isolant ‘Oblivion’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Savageheads ‘Service to Your Country’ 12-inch (Social Napalm)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And this is what we have lined up…

• Featured New Releases from Existence, Fairytale, Peace de Résistance, and Rata Negra.
• The  Quiet Pleasures of the Soundcheck
• One You May Have Missed: Bad Advice, Good People by Clear History
• Shows and Tours, including new Khoti Tuhoa and Cloud Rat / Bad Breeding gigs
• Coming Soon

When spring arrives in these parts, it is not long before a regular sight emerges in earnest – that of our local bricklayer.  He always operates alone, working methodically in solitude to rebuild degraded walls and restore damaged facades.  And to watch someone who really knows their craft, work their way through a project over a sustained period, is strangely satisfying – the meticulous rhythm of the skilled craftsperson, the desire to do a job well for the sake of doing it well.

And it is this same pleasure that I have always derived from watching bands set up and work through their sound checks.  If I’m entirely honest, the nature of this enjoyment has evolved over time. In the early days, it was very much more the pleasure of anticipation. As you eagerly awaited the show, a riff would emerge that would form part of the ensuing set and electrify the atmosphere – teasing and tantalising the crowd with what was still to come.  That said, my favourite instance of such pent-up anticipation overflowing was when the mighty Trial played a truly ferocious show at The Borderline back in 2011 and the first stage divers were soaring through the air long before the classical intro to Reflections had even completed.

Now while anticipation clearly still plays a part, other elements figure.  It is a moment of respite between sets and offers the chance to watch as bands limber up in their own specific ways for what is to follow, the literal calm before the storm.  It is fair to say each band has their own dynamic at play – from those who operate with metronomic precision to those who look like they have never seen a guitar cable before, from those halfway through a European trek to those playing their first show in months.  Not that I have ever been able to build a convincing correlation between these approaches and what follows on stage.

Now it is possible that the enjoyment stems from my own musical mediocrity, but I think it comes rather more from those same dynamics afforded by watching any craftsperson at work (don’t even get me started on cricket bat makers…).  The two keenest pleasures though are derived from the rhythm section.  Drummers always look like they would be just as happy battering through a solo set without the unnecessary extravagance of bandmates, while you actually get to hear the bassist and to form a sense of just how good many of them are, as their work is all too often largely subsumed under the mix once proceedings get underway in earnest.  Catching Es, who are guitar-less, at The Windmill the other evening was a reminder of the infectious power of the bass when it is allowed to punch through properly.

However, if I had to name my favourite soundcheck of recent times (and I acknowledge that this is a somewhat niche category!), it would definitely be awarded to Mastermind from when I saw them playing with Spy at The Black Heart last year.  Now for those of you who have not yet heard Mastermind’s debut LP, The Masters’ Orders, they deal in robust metallic-leaning hardcore that takes some gratifyingly unexpected turns. Meat-and-potatoes hardcore can at times feel like a pejorative term.  But, of course, the real question is whether the execution elevates these base ingredients to something genuinely memorable?

Now Mastermind’s certainly does, and it was as the band set up that evening that an intriguing insight emerged.  One of the guitarists and the drummer erupted into what was essentially an impromptu jamming session that gave fuller expression to the fluid jazz-infused interplay that permeates aspects of the LP, more fully realising that sense of Madball meet The Messthetics.  Now often such colouring gains power from being used sparingly.  But, as I watched that unconscious explosion, you couldn’t help but wonder what could happen if such strictures were removed and those appetites were fully unleashed.

And that in essence is the joy of watching the craftsperson in action – when the performative takes second place to the actual, and unguarded moments fashion unexpected flourishes to the necessary disciplines of process and repetition.

‘Still so confused, I guess that’s your prerogative, only the truth, I guess that’s too provocative’. Clear History pair an infectiously danceable rhythm section with sparse, lean guitar work and dual vocals that revel in an impassioned back and forth.  Sitting somewhere between a latter-day Fugazi and The Evens, Clear History understand how to inexorably engrain their grooves in the listener’s mind, and how to seamlessly blend moments of quiet introspection with raucous explosions of anger.  Bad Advice, Good People will have you singing along in the drop of a match.

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

2^nd June The Flex, Subdued, Last Affront, Turbo (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

22^nd July Kohti Tuhoa, T.S. Warspite, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

18^th August Cloud Rat, Bad Breeding, Golpe (Studio 9294)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Blow Your Brains Out ‘The Big Escape’ (Quality Control HQ)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Faim ‘Your Life and Nothing Else’ (Safe Inside Records)

Incendiary ‘Change The Way You Think About Pain’ LP (Closed Casket Activities)

Niebla Mental ‘Miss Espana’ (La Vida Es Un Mus Discos)

Welcome to this week’s Foundation Vinyl Newsletter! And there is plenty to enjoy…

• Featured New Releases from Deathfiend, Hellshock, Terry, and a four-way split LP from Hag, Junta, Nonplus, and Zyfilis
• Testing the Pest
• One You May Have Missed: Positive Disintegration by Diät
• Shows and Tours, including new Sial and Dawn Ray’d / Ragana gigs
• Coming Soon

For a genre that had such a deep-rooted and longstanding impact, it is perhaps surprising how short thrash metal’s heyday actually was: arguably 1986 to 1991.  But what a fertile time that was.  Even just focusing on the thrash band’s that I enjoy, it is clear that there was something powerful afoot:  Nuclear Assault (Survive 1988, Handle with Care 1989), Sacred Reich (Ignorance 1987, Surf Nicaragua 1988, The American Way 1990), Kreator (Pleasure to Kill 1986, Terrible Certainty 1987, Extreme Aggression 1989), and Megadeth (Peace Sells…But Who’s Buying? 1986, So Far, So Good…So What? 1988), Mordred (Fool’s Game 1989, In This Life 1991).  Albums that pushed music forward, and to my ears at least, have stood the test of time.

Looking back now, it is hard to recollect just how disruptive thrash metal was – the musical and social distortion it brought to bear.  It was not a unified genre by any stretch; indeed, it was in many ways an inherently volatile one.  But the aforementioned bands were defined by a heady brew of often socially aware lyrics drawn from hardcore punk and blended with an aggressively dissonant reimagining of heavy metal.

But all good things come to end, and thrash metal’s demise, can perhaps be traced back to the Clash of the Titans Tour (featuring Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, and Suicidal Tendencies) in the autumn of 1990.  Metallica had broken into the mainstream, and this Wembley Arena encompassing tour proved the starter gun for the scramble to follow suit.  Shows flipped from seething stage dive filled nights at The Marquee and The Astoria, to the sanitisation of the all-seater Hammersmith Odeon.  Whether knowingly or not, thrash metal’s focus was now on achieving commercial success, which led to a rapid dilution in its musical creativity.  Its oppositional anger and desire to confront rapidly seeped into fuelling the burgeoning hardcore and death metal scenes, leaving thrash itself an ever-more insipid and bloated shadow of its former self.

Many of these bands have continued to plough a furrow of ever-diminishing returns, and the occasional comebacks have produced little recorded output of note (though I did find much to enjoy in Mordred’s 2021 The Dark Parade).  Now, of course, music is a rather cyclical organism that draws as much on reinvention as it does on invention, and there have been various attempts by new generations to reinvigorate the thrash / crossover genre.  But few have set the world afire, often feeling rather inorganic – knowing the moves, but not quite feeling them.

So, I approached Pest Control’s debut full-length Don’t Test the Pest, with a certain trepidation, although Quality Control HQ have a great feel for this space.  My worries were soon tossed aside.  From the electric acoustic opening to its absolutely crushing final track ‘The Great Deceiver’, this is a blistering LP.  Clearly it draws on many established influences, but it is not owned by them, nor is it some pale pastiche.  Instead, Pest Control have vigorously refashioned them into something vibrantly their own – a dash of Ignorance, a hint of Extreme Aggression, the fluidity of Handle with Care.  The musicianship throughout is superb, but it is undeniably the vocals that hold centre stage – raw, rasping, uncompromising.

Which rather poses the question, how have Pest Control managed to successfully reanimate a seemingly moribund form?  The answer came to me when I caught them live supporting Dawn Ray’d at The Lexington back in March.  The joy of the band as they played their set was tangible, their relish at the call backs to their inspirations palpable.  They have absorbed their influences to the point where they are now instinctual, and they can be reignited into new forms.  They have the technique to play, but they also love what they play – they know and feel the moves.

The original press has sold out, but we have the repress in stock now and it, perhaps, goes without saying that it is well worth checking out.

‘Got a fridge full of postcards and a thousand what ifs, got a face full of creases and nothing to show for it’.  The 2022 remastered repress of the 2019 modern day post-punk classic from Berlin’s Diät.  Almost spoken-word vocals soberly dissect the frustrations and confusions of life’s missed opportunities and thwarted ambitions, the unwavering disappearance of time.  Vibrantly plaintive guitars and urgent, surging rhythms provide the perfect sonic interplay with these poetic explorations.  The only question remaining is…when did melancholy become quite so utterly infectious?

This section lays no claims to being a definitive listing!  It is simply gigs coming up in London that catch my eye and that I think people who read this newsletter might be interested in.  I will always try and highlight where a show forms part of a wider UK tour.

27^th May Yleiset Syyt, Stingray, Rifle (New River Studios / UK Tour)

28^th May Delivery, Es, Honk (Brixton Windmill)

2^nd June The Flex plus support (New River Studios)

3^rd June The Restarts, Destruct, Fatalist, Subdued plus more (New Cross Inn / Destruct UK Tour)

4^th June GLAAS, Zeropolis, Turbo (New River Studios)

9^th June Savageheads, Rat Cage, Subdued (New River Studios)

11^thJune Snuff Acoustic Matinee (The Lexington)

14^th June Sial, Morreadoras, Turbo (New River Studios)

14^th June Terror plus support (New Cross Inn)

16^th June Physique, Circle None, Skitter plus more (New Cross Inn)

17^th June Keno, Nation Unrest, Can Kicker plus more (The George Tavern)

24^th June Ribbon Stage, Ex-Void, R.Aggs (The Lexington)

9^th July End It, Spy, Combust, Initiate plus more (New Cross Inn)

10^th July Fuse, Dregs, Stingray, Antagonizm plus more (New River Studios)

18^th July Doldrey, Harrowed plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

18^th July Powerplant plus support (Moth Club / UK Tour)

19^th July Diploid, Casing plus more (New River Studios / UK Tour)

20^th July Iron Deficiency, Sentient plus more (New Cross Inn / UK Tour)

21^st July Jotnarr, Wreathe, Cady (Bird’s Nest)

24^th July Faim, No Man, Dying For It plus more (New Cross Inn)

4^th August Gag, Plastics, TS Warspite, Unjust plus more (New Cross Inn)

5^th August Knuckledust, Nine Bar, Fifty Caliber plus more (New Cross Inn)

8^th August Sacred Reich plus support (The Underworld)

14^th August Chat Pile, Petbrick, and Dawn Ray’d (The Dome)

9^th September Big Brave, Dawn Ray’d, Ragana, Jessica Moss (Bush Hall)

15^th September Cinder Well plus support (Moth Club)

Drill Sergeant ‘Grim New War’ EP (Refuse Records)

Existence ‘Go To Heaven’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Fairytale ‘Shooting Star’ LP (Quality Control HQ)

Incendiary ‘Change The Way You Think About Pain’ LP (Closed Casket Activities)

Wolfbrigade ‘In Darkness You Feel No Regrets’ LP (Destructure)