Epilogue of a Car Crash - A Tribute to Orchid

Ok, so by now I'm sure most of you have heard at least some of the tracks off of this album, if not the entire thing. It has been out for a hot minute and I have seen this on some other blogs so I figured I would post this in case some people don't have it or havn't heard it. If Dog Knights wants me to take it down I will, but until then I will keep this up here. I hope they let me keep it up because it is already on the web. But I totally understand.

Alot of people have strong feelings about this album, but I'm not going to get into that because this is not the place to do so. This record is exactly what it sounds like: a compilation of Orchid covers. Some of the songs are really cool, others are whatever, but that doesn't really matter because the idea is fucking sick.

A shit ton of my friends and their bands are on this release. Pretty much all of the bands are awesome. There are some songs that sound just like the originals, you know, like they did it to sound like Orchid, while other tracks are the particular band's take on an Orchid song. You know? We (mnwa) were asked to be on the release, but we had to decline the offer because we couldn't record in time. We had mixed emotions about the idea because on one hand we all fucking love Orchid and it would be awesome to pay homage to such an influential band and it would be the shit to be on a release with so many homies and awesome bands. On the other hand, we knew that we could never do a cover of ANY of their songs that would be on par with the original and didn't want to potentially fuck up a sick song, if that makes sense. And honestly, we didn't want to potentially get shit from screamo old heads and purists who would turn up their nose to the release as a whole. I know that sounds fucking lame but its something that was brought up.

Anyways, like I mentioned above, most of the bands on here are fucking sick and really good friends of mine, and I respect the shit out of all of them for paying their respect to their roots. Even if any of the songs are not "as good" as the original, they are still sick songs. It is pretty easy to fuck up a song in this circumstance, but I mean if you do it "right" then it will still sound good, just different. I don't know. I really like the idea and I like the release as a whole. Its nothing more or less than cool. Anyways, I got it down below so scoop it up. You can buy copies from Dog Knights Productions, but I think it is really fucking expensive because of shipping. There are package deals that make it more worth the money, but also you can buy the digitals from the label's bandcamp.

These are the bands that are on the release:
Coma Regalia
Full of Hell
For Want Of
Voyage In Coma
You'll Live
Carrion Spring
I Don't Want To Know why The Caged Bird Sings
Piano Bastards
Cassus
Lizards Have Personalities
Foxes
Deer In The Headlights
Republic of Dreams
Questionable Youth
Lord Snow
Adobe Homes
Itto
Silenco, Ahore, Silencio
History Of The Hawk
Utarid
Todos Caeran
Mahria
Innards
Sed Non Satiata

Please give this a listen and support my friends. Come into the record open minded and you will enjoy it. Even if you don't like the idea of the release, it is at least interesting and worth at least one listen. Word.

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Epilogue of A Crash Crash

Vaccine

Vaccine has been talked about on here before. They are a powerviolence band from MA featuring Will Killingsworth. Since Carl talked about them last they put out three releases, all of which are below. Support this band, they are cool. Word.

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Crimes in Blood

Vaccine / Coke Bust

Dead Inside

Ampere - Like Shadows

I don't really try as hard as I once did to get these hot new albums first and throw them up here, so I let all these other blogs go out and get em for me. There are only so many new records that are coming out that I really give a shit about, so my interest in intensive blog lurking has wained dramatically. Last night in between bong sessions and Magic The Gathering battles I saw that Damian Jozwiak, some jaded kid from Indiana who seemingly spends most his day on the internet and runs a tumblr music blog called Re-Winded Tapes posted up this album. If he had it then I would imagine that he got it from Circling The Drain or something, because that blog seems to be pretty on top of their shit.

Ampere's new full length, Like Shadows, sounds like a continuation of All Our Tomorrows End Today, which arguably was their best release as a whole. They had some preview songs up on soundcloud for a minute and one of those tracks was a second part to a AOTET song, Escapism. This is the first release the band has put out since their split with Off Minor back in '08, so of course this shit is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. It seemed that Ampere took a back seat to Will Killingsworths recording profession and his slew of recent side projects (Weaklings, Failures, Vaccine).

Like Shadows is ridiculously good. I'm serious. Obviously anything this band puts out will be bad-ass, but this is a really solid album, which like the new Beau Navire, does not have any fluff tracks on it. 15 fucking awesome tracks ranging from like 20 seconds to like 2 minutes. I don't really know what else to say about the album. If you like Ampere you already know what you are getting yourself into: no one else sounds like Ampere.

The release for this record is coming up in Easthampton right? Its like in the first half of June I think. They are also playing the You and I reunion in July. I would imagine that Clean Plate is putting out this record, but there might be some other people involved. If you like the fucking record buy it. This is one records that is really worth your money.



Word.

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Like Shadows

Encyclopedia of American Traitors

Encyclopedia of American Traitors was a hardcore punk band from Pennsylvania. All I know about their history is that they broke up in '99. They played a mix of thrashy punk shit and hardcore that could today be considered screamo or even emo violence. Like most of these bands from a decade ago the genre(s) of music that they are associated with really didn't exist in their time. Their songs include political sound clips and have very strong lyrics that support their political views. I have the physical copy of two of their splits, and both contain inserts that explain how each album is an ode to or provides insight to some fucked up social injustice. A lot of their material seems to involve labor. They did splits with Orchid and Kwisatz Haderach, were featured on two compilations and put out two LPs. In 2002 a discography was released, which I have below. I couldnt find any videos, so sorry. Listen to the song "Sinking Atlantis" when you download this album.

Word.


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Discography

Ampere

Ampere has been a mainstay in the Northeastern hardcore scene for the better part of the past decade. The bands features members of bands like Orchid, Bucket Full of Teeth, and Last Forty Seconds.

The early recordings lean more towards a grind-oriented, raw punk sound. As they've progressed their sound has matured into a more streamlined, ridiculously well-oiled screamo machine. Killingsworth's guitar gymnastics hardly ever dissapoint, and the rhythm section propels the whole thing forward at an alarming rate. If you haven't heard this band yet, you should probably just download everything.

Below is what I had uploaded, it should be everything. If you don't feel like downloading all the splits you'd probably be good with just downloading All Our Tomorrows End Today, The First Five Years, and the Sinaloa Split.

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Demo 7" (2002)



Ampere/Wolves Split (2003)



All Our Tomorrows End Today (2004)



Ampere/Welcome the Plague Year Split 5" (2005)



Live at Dead Air Split 11" Ampere/Wasteland/Daniel Striped Tiger/Death to Tyrants (2006)



Ampere/Sinaloa Split 12" (2006)



Ampere/Das Oath Split (2006)



Ampere/Ringers Split 6" (2007)



Ampere/Daitro Split 7" (2007)



Ampere/Funeral Diner Split 7" (2007)



Ampere/Off Minor Split (2008)



The First Five Years (2008)

Vaccine

Here's another hardcore super group featuring Will Killingsworth. This band features members of Relics, Ampere, Orchid, Think I Care, Failures, Glue, Bucket Full of Teeth...okay, basically every band Will Killingsworth has ever been in plus a few others.

Vaccine plays very fast, very powerful, very short powerviolence with a straightedge message. And by very short, I mean extremely fucking short. Like, their five song demo clocks in at a little over two minutes.

This demo was originally released on a cassette limited to 100 copies which has been long since sold out.

You can order the one sided 7" from Killingsworth's label Clean Plate, or Red Room Records. Each site had only 35 copies of colored vinyl for sale, so I'm sure they're gone for now, but there should still be copies of black vinyl available! (I would reccomend Red Room, since Clean Plate can be a wee bit slow sometimes...)

Vaccine's website

And guys, sorry about not updating much lately. I'm really going to start posting more frequently!

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Demo (2009)

Failures

Featuring current and former members of bands like Charles Bronson, Ampere, Orchid, Das Oath, the Cancer Kids (and more), Failures has been tagged in almost every write up as a (go ahead and cringe) hardcore "supergroup". To be fair, with such résumés under their respective belts, the members of the bands should expect this sort of reaction.

Failures' debut LP boils, seethes, broods, and explodes, but it never slows down. The record kicks off with a few quick strums before Mark McCoy screams, "FAILURES!" Intense stuff. 14 songs in 14 minutes and 17 seconds, and then it's over. Anchored by a rhythm section seemingly hellbent on breaking their instruments, Will Killingsworth's guitar fills it's familiar frantic niche while exploring new rhythms and putting thrash at the forefont. His treble-driven dissonant attack propels Mark McCoy's (former Charles Bronson frontman) desperate howl as he sarcastically rakes just about everything you might take for granted over the coals. If they were going for "pissed", these guys succeeded.

Basically, if you're a fan of any of the bands these guys have been associated with, this LP is essential. If you haven't heard of any of these bands before, you might as well start here and work your way backwards, because you must have been living under a rock for the past 15 or so years.

Order the LP from Clean Plate.


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Failures (2008)

ORCHID

Orchid has got to be one of my all time favorite bands, hands down. Simply put, they fucking slay. Between Will Killingsworth's (Ampere, Bucket Full of Teeth) ultra fast gut wrenching guitar work, Jayson Green's verbal attack, and the rhythm section's spastic explosiveness, these guys put just about every band who wishes they could be Orchid (and there are a lot) to shame. The guys in this band have gone on to play in Wolves, Panthers, Bucket Full of Teeth, Ampere, and Transistor Transistor. Their first two full lengths were recorded by Kurt Ballou (of Converge fame) at his Godcity studio. Everything they have ever put out is killer, and on this post I'd actually like to take some time to talk about the releases.

Note: "Chaos is Me" and "Dance Tonight!" were re-issued recently on a single disc, and this is what I uploaded. Just click on the "Chaos" link for the albums.

Totality: This release is a compilation put out in 2005 of Orchid's demo, splits, and other unreleased shit. Orchid put out splits with scene legends like Jerome's Dream, Pig Destroyer, Combatwoundedveteran, and Encyclopedia of American Traitors. The remaining tracks are from their Demo cassette and a self titled 7". The last track on the album is an alternative 4 track demo version of "Weekend at the Fire Academy".



Favorite tracks: "Eye Gouger" and "Panopticism" from the Combatwoundedveteran 7" and "She Has a Cold, Cold Heart" from The Red Scare Split

Chaos Is Me: This was Orchid' first full length release, and considered by many to be their finest work. Not much to say about this one except it's blistering.

Favorite Tracks: "Aesthetic Dialectic", "Weekend at the Fire Academy", "Death of a Modernist", "Epilogue of a Car Crash"

Dance Tonight! Revolution Tomorrow!: The second full length, and this one at least seems to run a lot quicker than "Chaos" if it isn't actually shorter, which I'm fairly certain it is. Will Kill's attack on this album is breathtaking, as he barely takes a second to build you up before he's tearing into you again. The real gem on this album is "...And the Cat Turned to Smoke", an uncharacteristically long song for Orchid (clocking in at over 5 minutes long, easily the longest of their career), which features violins. "I Am Nietchze" is also on this one, a staple of Orchid's live shows.



Favorite Tracks: "Destination: Blood!", "Anna Karina", "I Am Nietchze", "Don't Rat Out Your Friends", "...And the Cat Turned to Smoke"

Gatefold: For me, this is the big one. After having Kurt Ballou record the first two LP's, Orchid opted out on this one and Will Kill took over on the production aspect. This is Orchid at their most experimental, at times most chaotic, and on some of Will Kill's ambient guitar interludes, most reserved. 19 tracks and every single one is a winner. I'd really recommend buying this LP (I recommend buying all the music i post!!!) if not just for the gatefold itself. All the lyrics are written out with an explanation for every song (even the instrumental track!). Orchid's lyrics are just as important as the music anyway, being a punk band, and the explanations are awesome. This is Orchid's last release before their break up.



Favorite Tracks: "Amherst Pandemonium" Pts. 1 & 2, "Loft Party", "A Visit from Dr. Goodsex", "Flip the Tape", "Tigers

And just for shits and giggles, uploads of the Red Scare/Pig Destroyer/Combatwoundedveteran splits (featuring those band's contributions), and the demo.
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Demo Tape



The Red Scare Split



Pig Destroyer Split



Combatwoundedveteran Split