BUILT UPON FRUSTRATION: Discography

Built Upon Frustration started off in Greensburg, PA in 1997 releasing the Cast The First Stone 4 song demo which was later followed up by the Low Life Crew full length on the infamous Da' Core Records out of Pittsburgh, PA. After playing out for a year or two following the release of the full length, the band technically broke up leaving guitarist Derek "Diggums" Kovacs to join Pittsburgh powerhouses No Retreat. The band laid dormant for roughly four years until Diggums decided to team up with original Built Upon Frustration vocalist Jason Hominsky and former Spudmonsters and Section 315 guitarist, Eric Klinger. This is when things got REALLY good, in my eyes.

I specifically remember whenever I got my hands on the two song demo they did when first getting back together in 2001. I studied Birthrights and Nothing and had them memorized by the end of the night. It has been a while since a band of this stature had come out of Pittsburgh, so the feeling of excitement was rather mutual amongst everyone going to shows in the area at the time. Luckily for me (and I suppose whoever is downloading this as well) I was putting together a compilation at the time entitled Set An Emo Kid On Fire (chock full of the heaviest bands I knew at the time) in which Built Upon Frustration gave me three extra demo tracks to pick from that the rest of the world didn't get to hear ... until now.

I promised I wouldn't let these songs slip, but I figure 8 years after the fact that its OK to let others in on the fun. All of the songs ended up being re-recorded for the monumental full length that was Resurrected. The album also featured the drumming of local legend Keith Hurka which put the album above and beyond the demo tracks which featured a rather inconspicuous drum machine.

Later on, vocalist Jason Hominsky quit the band due to the acquisition of a family life. The band persevered with the addition of vocalist Joe Bonnadio for a brief tenure before the band opted to go at it as a four-piece to feature the vocals of guitarist Eric Klinger. Somewhere in that time frame original drummer Keith Hurka also stepped down and was replaced by Mike Papillo of Fight Machine. All things considered, the second album turned out to be quite good in its own right.

Before leaving the band, original vocalist Jason Hominsky tracked two songs which would later appear on the Book Of Mourning full length disc. Also, during his short tenure in the band, vocalist Joe Bonnadio tracked these same two songs as well as two others in which appeared on the second full length. Both demo sessions were rather hard to come by as not many discs were passed out due to continual departures of both vocalists. Considering I attended every Built Upon Frustration show (minus a show in Columbus and an over 21 show when I had yet to reach that age), I managed to obtain copies of both sessions.

The group regretfully disbanded not longer after the release of The Book Of Mourning leaving many clamoring for a reunion show which will presumably never happen for more than a dozen reasons.

Resurrected is the first album I throw into the stereo whenever extremely shitty things happen in my life and I have no way to deal with it other than music. There are even a few tracks on The Book Of Mourning where Built Upon Frustration reminds me of their ability to be the angriest band of all time. There was supposedly a third album recorded for pre-production that never saw the light of day. Hopefully one day these tracks will see an unofficial release via the Path To Misery blog.

DOWNLOAD: The Demos
DOWNLOAD: Low Life Crew
DOWNLOAD: Resurrected
DOWNLOAD: The Book Of Mourning