PATH TO MISERY: Videos

Uploaded these a few weeks ago and realized I never put them on the blog. Here are a few samples from some of the shows we played right before going on hiatus.

Third World War & For The Innocent at The School - September 6th, 2008



Forget Me (Disembodied cover) at The School - September 6th, 2008



Victims Of Our Own Device & Relentless Persistence at The School on September 6th, 2008



Cheating Life in Auburn, NY on March 14th, 2009

200 NORTH & EVERY LIFE ON COLD KEEN

I was thinking about amazing splits after posting on the Pensive & Seasons In The Field split and remembered that I've been meaning to post this split between 200 North and Every Life On Cold Keen.

200 North is quite possibly THE most underrated band in hardcore history. They were from a small town in Maryland called Cumberland not too far from the PA border. I really don't even want to get started on how much I like this band because I know I won't be able to express myself as desired. Imagine if any of these melodic, supposedly passionate hardcore bands of today were interesting or genuine. There are only three songs on this split, but they're all perfect and should serve as motivation for you to check out their full length which came out on Da' Core Records out of Pittsburgh. I'm pretty sure members are now in Circa Survive, Carry The Torch, Signs Of Hope, and Delilah Why. Better Days is probably one of my favorite songs of all time; takes me to some higher place or something.

You may or may not notice that the name Every Life On Cold Keen makes absolutely no sense. They're from Japan though, so its OK; plus their music does the talking for them. As with 200 North, the Shai Hulud influence is definitely there, but to an even stronger degree and moreso on the progressive metalcore side. There is even a song that ends with an entire section of piano. These guys had no problem experimenting and I love every bit of it. They are still together and have shortened the length of their name to Evylock, you can keep up with them at myspace.com/evylock

Their tracks were recorded in 2003 while 200 North's contribution was put to tape in 2000. Not sure how that works out, but if my memory serves me correct, 200 North simply donated some pre-production material for their full length to serve as a split with Every Life On Cold Keen on a Japanese label known as Falling Leaves Records.

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PENSIVE & SEASONS IN THE FIELD

Alright, so anyone who knows anything about me understands both my knowledge and obsession with 90s metalcore; especially that in which roots from western Pennsylvania. For whatever reason, it was only yesterday that I got my hands on this monumental release. I am quite ashamed that I had never gotten my hands on this earlier; especially considering I own every other release on the often-ignored Akeldama Records out of Michigan. Either way, I finally got my copy of the Pensive & Seasons In The Field split and I feel a bit more fulfilled as a human being considering.

While I was fully aware of the respective legacies of said bands and knew I would be very into their musical undertakings, I never would have guessed to what extent. I'm talking better than Zao and better than The Juliana Theory here, people. In case anyone is not familiar with the names I've been tossing around, I'll give a bit of history. Pensive featured Brett Detar, Chad Monticue, Martin Lunn, and Joshua Walters. Brett Detar was responsible for Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest ... at the very least, the catchy guitar riffs of the albums. Along with Joshua Walters and Chad Monticue, he also started (and fronted) The Juliana Theory. Martin Lunn, a half of a decade later, would join Zao to fulfill bass duties. Seasons In The Field has an even larger connection to Zao as its members consisted of Daniel Weyandt, Russ Cogdell, Steven Peck, and Jason Keener. Daniel Weyandt and Russ Cogdell are obviously the members who took Zao into the next level of metalcore with their contributions that came in the form of Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest. Steven Peck would also join Zao around the same time as Martin Lunn (in 2004) to take the place of Jesse Smith on drums. To top things off, Joshua Walters (of Pensive) was supposedly going to be playing drums for Zao a year or so ago, but it never came to fruition for whatever reason. Enough about Zao, though ... this post is about Pensive & Seasons In The Field.

The first half of the split comes from Pensive in the form of six songs. This was a follow-up effort from their debut release, The Subtlety Of Silence which was released a year earlier. The pre-Juliana Theory mention gives you a pretty good idea what this sounds like. However, while there is definitely the hooks and catchiness of The Juliana Theory, there are also plenty of screamo-esque backing vocals matched with the occasional Blood And Fire styled metalcore riffs. While the last thing I want to do is paint these songs out to be "predictable" or anything close, it is the exact music you would expect coming from someone who would later go on to be in both The Juliana Theory and on Zao's Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest album. It makes sense, that is all.

The true infatuation I am developing with this album comes in the form of Seasons In The Field, however. To sum it up in a sentence, it sounds like kids who would eventually go on to write Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest while they were still worshiping Passover and ripping off Iggy from Abnegation's vocals. In fact, they even recorded in the same studio as Passover as admitted by Daniel on the Zao documentary DVD. Surprisingly, however, Daniel was merely playing bass on this recording while Jason Keener was handling the vocal duties. The true talent of the vocalist lays in his ability to simultaneously sound like Iggy from Abnegation while also sounding like Jack from Passover. I should mention that when I make these comparisons, I make them with the highest regard.

I really don't know how to sum up the perfection of this band. In the aforementioned DVD, the members seemingly minimize their efforts put forth during this era. Without any disrespect to the monumental works that they've accomplished with Zao ... Seasons In The Field kills all of it. I may be alone in this thinking, but I know of at least one other person who sees it my way.

Speaking of which, this entire post is dedicated to one Derek "Poop Toss" Camp. If it wasn't for his insistence on Seasons In The Field being the best metalcore band of all time (and consequentially his favorite band overall), I would have probably never spent the time that I did tracking this album down. His dedication to obscure, over-looked metalcore from the 90s rivals that of myself and I respect him just as much for that as I do his shit-scooping abilities.

Check this split out NOW. I will hopefully be collaborating with The Poop Crank to bring you demo material from both bands in the near future. Oh yeah, the layout for this album rules ... but you need to do your homework and track down a real copy to see that part.
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CLEARING AUTUMN SKIES: Discography

I used to review CDs for hardcorewebsite.net from like 2001-2002. Possibly the only decent CDs I ever got were the Irate and Through The Discipline EPs and some random disc from a band called Clearing Autumn Skies. All I ever knew of the band were that they were from California and sounded like a west coast take on earlier Candiria material (minus the jazz). I haven't listened to this EP in a few years. I recently pulled it out and was equally blown away as the first time I heard it back in 2002.

This is the definition of a criminally underrated band. I have yet to meet a single person who was even remotely familiar with this group. They put out a follow-up full length and later turned into Apiary (minus the drummer) who did a full length for Iron Clad Records. (Apiary has since turned into the band Early Graves and has somehow lost every single original member in the process.) These are both solid releases, but neither of them have been able to match up to this EP for some reason. There's just something about the recording of the original EP that the follow-ups fail to re-create in my fucked up head. I'm sure its nothing more than a personal inclination towards the first thing I had heard from them, but who can really

The music flows back and forth between the dreary acoustic instrumentation that went hand-in-hand with their earlier metalcore counterparts and the off-time, down-tuned Meshuggah-esque chugging in which the metalcore bands of today are still trying to perfect. As previously stated the band constantly breaks into Candiria styled riffing and percussion work reminiscent of their Beyond Reasonable Doubt and Surrealistic Madness albums without lifting any of their actual material. The vocals remind me of something that I can't put my finger on. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I initially uploaded the Apiary full length while it was unknowingly still in press. If you've downloaded it, I'm sure you loved it and should now go HERE to purchase it from Iron Clad Recordings.

Drummer John Lazarus has been playing with Stomacher since the end of Clearing Autumn Skies. Guitarist Mike McClatchey has three projects under the monikers Balcony, Lament Cityscape and The Conceal (which is possibly the heaviest thing I've heard in years). All of these projects are putting out some of the more interesting music I've heard in recent memory all across the musical spectrum

DOWNLOAD THE DISCOGRAPHY

MARTYR AD: The Human Condition In Twelve Fractions

Through recent conversations with some younger kids, I've realized that a lot of people are only aware of Martyr AD's "On Earth As It Is In Hell" album. With the internet playing the role that it does these days, its weird to think that there are still albums out there that remain void of tenure on iPods amongst the hardcore world. It makes you remember how much ahead of the the time Victory Records was in comparison to the likes of Ferret and Trustkill at the time as far as promotion and distribution goes.

The Human Condition In Twelve Fractions was Martyr AD's first effort as a band. These ex-Disembodied members went straight for the throat with a debut full length release. Unlike most full lengths, this one both deserves and has a reason to exist. Martyr AD can not be summed up in four-to-six tracks. A full length offering was in call and these guys stepped up to the plate with this release.

The album starts off with quite possibly the only fitting intro to the album; Failed Polygraph Examination. Immediately breaking into possibly the most chaotic sounding riff of my at-the-time 16 year old life, Broken Mouth had me hooked from my first listen. I specifically remember thinking "this sounds like The Great Southern Trendkill".

Seventyfive-Twentyfive, the third track on the album, was responsible for making me a lot of friends in Erie, PA. The second or third show I attended up there was the Martyr AD/Throwdown tour in late 2001; at which I was knocked-the-fuck-out during the break in the aforementioned song. I was out cold for the remainder of the song, but stood up and proceeded to mosh for the rest of the set; because I'm hard. Hell, I even tried moshing for Throwdown after but the venue told me I had to "cool it". HxC.

Martyr AD was also responsible for being the band to initially introduce me to The Mr Roboto Project. Somewhere early in the year 2001 was when I first was introduced to The Mr Roboto Project when I went to see Martyr AD and Burnt By The Sun. The venue altered my reality of what going to a show could be (there's no bouncers!?!?! you didn't have to leave smelling like smoke!?!?!) but that is another story for another day I suppose. Point being, had Martyr AD not written such a superior mosh album for its time, I would've been delayed finding out about Roboto for god knows how long (it was rare for the mosh to be present at Roboto back then). I specifically remember wanting to mosh the entire set, yet being too nervous to until the Martyr AD vocalist ran up to the wall and did some sort of kick off of it as though he was on a skateboard; knocking into me and in turn starting the first karate mosh that Roboto had probably ever seen.

As I eluded to earlier, Martyr AD was essentially a continuation of Disembodied after their break-up in 1999. Featuring guitarist Joel (guitar), Tara (bass), and Justin (drums) of their former band, Martyr AD was a furthering of the progression heard on the final Disembodied album. Looking back, the "Heretic" album serves as a perfect precursor to what would eventually be heard from Martyr AD. Its like listening to a 33 RPM Disembodied record at 45 RPM, but with the vocals somehow getting lower and meaner.

As much as I love Disembodied and everything about the band, Martyr AD was definitely an "improvement" on what Disembodied was doing as far as musicianship goes. The drums really got taken up a notch as did the vocals. Don't get me wrong, the lyrics and vocals of Disembodied are perfect in my eyes, however, some of the vocal techniques used by Michael James Fisketti on The Human Condition were considerably groundbreaking; especially for its time. The main reason that their follow-up album on Victory Records couldn't hold up to their debut was the departure of the drummer and vocalist who appeared on said debut. The riffing available on the follow-up is more than satisfactory, however, the vocals and drumming could never keep up the way that they did on the debut (sorry Holding On guys).

Listen to this album the whole way through - DOWNLOAD

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POST UPDATE - Stuck In The Past has posted up the definitive collection of Martyr AD demo material. The post includes pre-production for the entire debut album, FOUR tracks from the session with Jared on drums, and five pre-production tracks for On Earth As It Is In Hell. You can download these all at Stuck In The Past.

DISSOLVE

Always being a fan of the unrecognized and under-appreciated, Dissolve is probably my favorite finding within the past few years. To be completely honest, I always kinda heard the name floating around but chose to delay checking the band out for absolutely no reason at all. It wasn't until I heard as many people who's musical taste I respect getting as excited as they did over the band's reunion shows in 2008 that I chose to pay attention. I found their self-titled 7" on Endless Fight Records and it was decided before side A was even done that I was fully obsessed with this band.

To sum up this band, I chose to quote the "bio" found on their MySpace page as it is stated more precisely than I am sure I could word.

"Now into their second decade, Dissolve has shown an undeniable persistence in the underground music scene through never straying from the overwhelming call to creativity felt by its members. Dissolve's approach to making music draws upon their diverse musical talents and interests, mixing in the eclectic backgrounds of each member. This independence has resulted in a sound that is unique to the metal and hardcore scene. Heavy, unexpected, and hard to imitate. Put plainly, one is hard-pressed to pigeon-hole their style of music into a particular category. Honestly, the only "label" that would truly apply to Dissolve is heavy."

Rewinding a bit to the band's beginning, they started with the release of a cassette demo entitled Rebirth Of Thought in 1992 which I unfortunately do not have. This was followed up by a 7 track demo in 1993 which I am fortunate enough to have a copy of. In fact, I actually have two different rips of it that I included in the download link for the diehards.

I'm not sure which came out first, but in 1994 the band released their debut 7" on Endless Fight Records while, almost simultaneously, contributing two tracks to the original Over The Edge compilation put out by the same label. Both songs would later be re-recorded for their Dismantle CD which is surprisingly still available through Interpunk for $8.25; a very random find.

After the release of the Dismantle EP, the band's final two recording sessions would the Graverobber EP and a very rare two-song demo from 1998. They continued on with their tradition of playing "sludgy metal crunch, yet with a mix of psychedelic paranoia, and a Voivod-ish slant on bizarre out-of-this-world angular riffs... except slower". Thank you, Ryan Hex, for the perfect description of Dissolve.

For the better part of 10 years they gave it their all to make it in music, resulting finally in a well-deserved contract with MIA records back in 2000, putting them on a label in which also housed noteworthy bands such as Candiria and Darkest Hour. A greatly anticipated album was recorded, mixed and mastered; even having artwork created. The actual release of the album was the only aspect which would not see the light of day. The owner of the label decided to fold the operation just as Dissolve's album was about to be released. Undaunted by this setback the band trudged on for a year and a half in support of their never-released album, entitled Caveman of the Future, hoping that someone would pick them up and put out the album. As fate would have it, this never happened. Day jobs, distance, and side projects began to take precedence resulting in a hiatus from touring for Dissolve.


While the band never officially broke up, performing stopped and the band went into a kind of hibernation. Incredibly, in defiance of the implications of the hiatus they took, a death knell for most other bands, Dissolve sustained. Due in part to the reformation of both Overcast and Trip Machine Laboratories, 2008 finally saw the release of their Caveman Of The Future album, as well as some live performances from the band in support of their "new" record. I'm not going to post the Mp3s to the new album as you can easily order it for $6 from Trip Machine Laboratories. If you're not sold yet from the Mp3s that I've posted, then you can also preview a few of the tracks on their MySpace page.

Here's to hoping the band decides to continue playing. According to a MySpace message they sent me, they plan on doing so. I'll be there, man.

By the way, vocal delivery ... holy shit.

DOWNLOAD: Dissolve - Demo 1993
DOWNLOAD: Dissolve - Dismantle (1995)
DOWNLOAD: Dissolve - Graverobber (1998)



BUY - CAVEMAN OF THE FUTURE from Trip Machine Laboratories

ED GEIN: Demo

I finally tracked down master copies of the re-released Ed Gein demo. To re-iterate, the band initially put out the first three tracks as their 2002 demo, later adding on another three tracks that were recorded not long after, yet before their first full length. Two of the additional tracks appeared on the Mutation compilation put out by Robotic Empire (which also featured some unreleased Minor Times songs). I'm not sure if Pee Wee Herman/Paul Reubens was ever released officially, but I still had the Mp3 from when they posted it on their website in 2002. You know, back when you had to pay for bandwidth. Good times.

Anyhow, here is the full demo (all 6 songs) ripped in 320 ... apparently the only place on the internet where you're going to find this.

The break at the end of Bathed In Orange is still the bat-craziest-shit ever.

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