Various Artists - Victory Spring Rock Sampler 2014

Who:  Most of the Victory Records lineup.

What:  A compilation CD containing the latest singles from all of these bands.

When:  April 2014

Where:  The label is based out of Chicago, IL.

Why:   I've loved this compilation series since it was originally called Victory Style. That said, not all of these songs are winners.

[The Radness Average (or star rating) is derived from assigning each song a number of stars based on a 1-5 scale, then adding the total number of stars, and then dividing that number of total stars by the number of songs on the record. A Radness Average of 4.0 or higher indicates a good or great record. A Radness Average of 2.0 or less indicates pure crap. Everything else is in the middle somewhere.]

Various Artists - Victory Spring Rock Sampler 2014 - Victory Records

1.  Emmure (Queens, NY) - "Nemesis" -- ****
2.  Comeback Kid (Winnipeg, MB) - "Should Know Better" -- ****
3.  The Bunny The Bear (Buffalo, NY) - "Pale Green Eyes" -- *
4.  Reverend Horton Heat (Dallas, TX) - "Let Me Teach You How To Eat" -- *****
5.  Close Your Eyes (Abilene, TX) - "The End" -- *
6.  Seeker (Dallas, TX) - "When Hope Fails" -- ***
7.  Neurotic November (Miami, FL) - "Nonchalant" -- **
8.  Erimha (Montreal, QC) - "Condemned to Desolation" -- ****
9.  Tear Out the Heart (St. Louis, MO) - "Dead by Dawn" -- **
10.  Islander (Geenville, SC) - "New Colors" -- **
11.  Terror (Los Angeles, CA) - "Hard Lessons" -- *****
12.  Counterparts (Hamilton, ON) - "Compass" -- **
13.  Darkness Divided (San Antonio, TX) - "Remnants" -- **
14.  Ill Nino (Newark, NJ) - "La Epidemia" -- ****
15.  Sister Sin (Gothenburg, SWE) - "Fight Song" -- *
16.  Wretched (Charlotte, NC) - "Karma Accomplished" -- ****
17.  A Day To Remember (Ocala, FL) - "The Downfall of Us All" -- ***


Radness Average:  2.882


Various Artists - Victory Spring Rock Sampler 2014


Verdict:  The same old Victory as always. Half of this is miserable crap. The other half will blow your mind.

For fans of:  Any of the bands on this compilation.

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Various Artists - We Are Triumphant Nu-Metal Cover Sampler

Who:  Various artists from the We Are Triumphant Records lineup.

What:  A compilation of deathcore bands covering nu-metal bands.

When:  May 2014

Where:  The label is based out of Rockland, MA.

Why:   I've got to know what it sounds like when someone covers Saliva. Terrible, it turns out.

[The Radness Average (or star rating) is derived from assigning each song a number of stars based on a 1-5 scale, then adding the total number of stars, and then dividing that number of total stars by the number of songs on the record. A Radness Average of 4.0 or higher indicates a good or great record. A Radness Average of 2.0 or less indicates pure crap. Everything else is in the middle somewhere.]

Various Artists - W.A.T. Nu-Metal Cover Sampler - We Are Triumphant Records

1.  Immoralist (Richmond, VA) - "Psychosocial" (Slipknot) -- ****
2.  Extortionist (Spokane, WA) - "Click-Click Boom!" (Saliva) -- *
3.  Dealey Plaza (Ft. Myers, FL) - "Falling Away from Me" (Korn) -- *
4.  Feign (Houston, TX) - "Dig" (Mudvayne) -- ****


Radness Average:  2.500


Various Artists - We Are Triumphant Nu-Metal Cover Sampler


Verdict:  Two decent songs and two terrible songs make for a sub-par Radness Average.

For fans of:  Within Ruins, The Acacia Strain, Barrier, REX, Emmure

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Where Are They Now? (Wonderdrug Records edition)

Various Artists
Up The Dosage! compilation
Wonderdrug Records

Welcome to 2014. I've hit the ground running and I'm ready to roll last year's momentum right on over into this year. What do I mean? Earlier today, I added the full album stream to the review of the Wonderdrug Records compilation CD titled Up The Dosage (an ongoing project for this year is to repair all the broken links in the older posts) that was originally written back in 2009. Read the review and hear the record by clicking here. This CD was originally released back 1998. That was 16 years ago! A lot of things have changed since then.

So, instead of getting bummed about time slipping through our collective fingers in our inevitable march towards death, I thought it would be fun to check out what the bands on this comp have been up to between then and now. As you're about to see, this particuar comp had an incredibly strong lineup that covered a wide variety of rock musics. The common denominator here is the city of Boston, MA. Wonderdrug was and still based in Boston and the label focuses largely on the bands from the Northeast. Up The Dosage is a snapshot of the New England scene in the late 1990s.

Boston has traditionally been a stronghold for heavy rock and roll in the United States. With that in mind, how did the class of 1998 fair? Let's take a look...


Bands are listed in the same order as the tracklist. Each band has its Facebook page or homepage linked.

Non Compos Mentis: Vermont psychos formed in 1997, released two albums for Wonderdrug, and broke up in 1999.

Scissorfight: New Hampshire psychos are still at it and are still signed to Wonderdrug. Greatest hits album came out last year.

Tree (Boston Hardwood): Never hit the big time but still active in the Northeast. Tree played a NORML rally in Boston back in September.

Honkeyball: Existing from 1992-99, Honkeyball was notable for NOT playing moshcore during Boston's toughguy era.

Anal Cunt: Somewhere between Pee Wee Herman and John Wayne Gacy lies Seth Putnam, the John Belushi figure of grindcore. Band ended abruptly in 2011 following his fatal heart attack.

Roadsaw: Boss stoner band is still active having released its latest album on Smallstone Records in 2011.

6L6: Early Boston metalcore band existed from 1993-97 and released three albums.

Porn Star: Man, you've got me. As far as I can tell, this is the only song this Boston band ever released. Get in touch if you know what happened to these dudes.

Sam Black Church: One of the local legends in Boston. Existed from 1988-2000 and released seven albums. One of New England's most popular bands during the 1990s. Have played two reunions shows since breaking up.

Reach The Sky: Long-time Victory Records signees existed from 1997-2003. Fun fact: the band's guitarist is now the tour manager for Sick Of It All and the Dropkick Murphys.

Diecast: Prototypical toughguy Boston metalcore band is still active and still touring after a long stint on Century Media. Hit "Hot Topic" level popularity with Ozzfest appearances, videos on Headbanger's Ball, etc... These guys almost hit the big time but still did very well.

Blood For Blood: FSU flag-wavers and kick-ass hardcore band abruptly ended in 2012 following the arrest of singer Eric "Buddha" Medina on rape charges.

Miltown: Formed in the late 1990s by former ONLY LIVING WITNESS singer Jonah Jenkins, fell victim to a botched major label deal with Giant/Revolution/Warner Bros., and morphed into RAW RADAR WAR.

Staind: Hit the big time after changing its sound and signing with Fred Durst. Mega-hit Break The Cycle is one of the best-selling albums of the 2000s.

OHM: The only digital trace of this long-forgotten Boston band is an old Myspace page.

Claymore: Even more obscure Boston noisecore band from the 1990s.

Humans Being: The further we go down this list, the more forgotten the bands get. No one remembers these guys either.

Feces Pieces: Tasteless metalcore existing in a local band time warp.

Quintaine Americana: Transplanted Southern rockers moved to Boston from Mississippi in the 1980s and have been at it ever since. The band curates the annual Redneck Fest in Massachusetts.

Insult: There are at least six signed bands named Insult. This Insult is the Boston thrash punks who are still a full-time band and released their last record in 2010.

Slughog: ...And we close with another obscure, short-lived,generically-named Boston punk band. This one hung in there from 1996-98.


That was fun. Look forward to more of these in the future.







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Gummo – Soundtrack

Gummo
Soundtrack
Polygram



Like the film, the Gummo soundtrack is not for everyone but those who “get it” will love it. Also like the film, it’s an amazing feat that a major label released the Gummo soundtrack. To some degree, I believe that Harmony Korine pulled the ultimate fast one on the media corporations. This is based on more than the outrageous amount of black metal on the record. Think about it. Korine put Spazz on a major label movie soundtrack in 1997. Eyehategod is on there too. That’s pretty hip. The movie Gummo is about the weirdo rednecks in Xenia, Ohio following a tornado that devastated the town. Gummo isn’t for everyone, but it is for deranged headbangers and clinically-depressed punk rockers. In short, the movie and the soundtrack were both custom-made for the No Funeral readership.







Gummo – Soundtrack





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Various Artists - Up the Dosage!

Various Artists
Up the Dosage!
Wonderdrug



After three years of life as a zine and almost four months as an MP3 blog, this review marks the first appearance of the phrase various artists. It’s time to start posting some compilations, especially if there is some arching theme or motif to them. I’m toying/preparing a movie soundtrack theme week, but that won’t be for awhile. Yeah, I know record labels used to churn out those cheaply priced and assembled sampler CDs, but some of those companies actually put some effort into them.

Take Wonderdrug records for example. This Boston-based label worked almost exclusively with bands from New England. Up the Dosage! provides a snapshot of New England metal and hardcore in the late 1990s. The disc is filled mostly with tent-pole bands from the Boston scene (Reach the Sky, Miltown, Tree, etc…) and New England bands that had (or eventually would) rise to the level of national touring bands (Diecast, Blood for Blood, Scissorfight, etc…). Two of Boston’s craziest and unpredictable bands, Anal Cunt and Non Compos Mentis, make their presences known.

Most interesting of all is the appearance of a pre-Flip Records Staind. The band played “Spleen”, a song that would later appear on Dysfunction. This version of the song is pissed as fuck and kind of sounds like Hatebreed. It’s a far cry from the major-label monstrosity they became. Can you believe that Staind sold out and wussed out so fast for, of all people, Fred fucking Durst? This is a highly entertaining compilation CD and this unique interesting moment in rock history can be yours, right now.









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