Bands to know (power violence)

The Bottom Line Extreme Music rocks, all you hardcore kids & metal heads who don't know need to recognize!

Power violence never gets any play on epinions. Maybe it's too underground & too wild for every one's liking, but everyone is in a hurry to do a review on Beach Boy sounding ripoffs like the Queers & corporate crap like the new Offspring record...but I don't ever see any reviews for Orchid or @sshole Parade. So, because of this, I figured I'd list a few bands that makes hardcore punk bands sound like 80s pop.

THE LOCUST: Probably the hottest band in the scene now, from San Diego featuring members from bands such as Swing Kids & Le Shok. A long Locust song lasts over a minute. The average length of their verses rang from about 5-10 seconds. Their first & only full-length contains 20 songs that clock in at 18 minutes. Also, the keyboards are an excellent finishing touch to their sound.

ORCHID: Another hot item, who just released a new 10", Dance Tonight, Revolution Tomorrow which isn't just about blast beats & screaming so fast that words become slurs, but they involve so much more. For instance, "...& the Cat Turned To Smoke" from the new album, begins somewhat mellow & rocks in the most spine tingling way, w/a violin playing in the end to combine for one of the most eerie sounding parts to a song ever.

CHARLES BRONSON: They're no longer around, but they live on as legends. One of the first bands to rock out 30 second songs full of blast beats, screaming, & offensive lyrics that can't be understood unless you read along (& you still can't understand half of them), whether it be aimed at fascist people to Christianity. "I'm down for the count/Cause weakness is for Jesus"

@SSHOLE PARADE: Power violence w/a pot-smoking twist. These stoners rock like stoners. They throw in as many beats as humanly possible for about 10-15 seconds, slow it down some so they can get in some bong hits, speed it back up, & WHAM! Song's over...

SPAZZ: The legendary Spazz from the East Bay unfortunately called it quits last December, but they're probably the most influential band of their kind (other than probably Man Is The Bastard). 3 guys thrashing out, all putting in their variety of vocals (whether it be a Kung Fu Dan constipated like growl or Hirax Max's screaming reminiscent of many black metal singers, like maybe Cradle of Filth or Mayhem). Whether it's bashing emo or raving about wrestling, you have to be able to enjoy these guys (unless you don't like this style of music).

JENNY PICCOLO: Featuring a bassist of the legendary emo-core Mohinder, this band is by far the craziest of all the crazy bands that make up the extreme music scene. No one beats as fast, no one rocks as hard, no one else can fit 4 songs on one side of a 5" vinyl (the Locust could only fit 2 on the other side of that one). Not recommended to people w/epilepsy.

REVERSAL OF MAN: Emo violence band from Tampa who broke up summer of 2001. They rocked for years like no other band, combining the styles of emo-core bands like Rites of Spring & Mohinder & mixing it w/power violence. Probably best well-known for "Get the Kid With the Sideburns", which tells a story of the fucked up happenings at an Earth Crisis show (who is well known for their militant straight edge messages) & also rips off an EC riff & fitting in the lyrics "street by street, block by block/you hypocritical fucks!". Earth Crisis hired people to go to their shows & beat them up if they played that until they day they disbanded.

MELT BANANA: My friend Jeff hates these guys. The weirdest of the extreme bands straight outta Japan. The singer is a girl (very hot too, though that makes no difference when it comes to the music) who flows better & faster than any rapper I've ever heard...& even though her English isn't great, it's better used than in Ebonics. The guitarist is probably the greatest guitarist of all time using sounds I never thought could come out of a guitar. Crazy, crazy band...probably the best live show I've ever seen too!

HELLNATION: Power violence from KY, & the drummer sings! The beats are almost all the same, but try beating that fast & singing ALL of yr bands' songs!

MAN IS THE BASTARD: The innovators of power violence. This band has been defunct for quite some time, but they're legends of the scene. They're not like most of the bands: they don't use blast beats that much, you can understand their lyrics, half of their songs are longer than 2 minutes (some around 10!), & they have much more of a sludgy feel. Nonetheless, the slow down-speed up method is involved, plenty of odd time changes to go around, & they have a message in every song, usually about how screwed up mankind is.

FANTAMOS: Much more well known than other bands of the genre since they feature Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr Bungle), King Buzzo (Melvins), & Dave Lombardo (Slayer) (also the bassist of Mr Bungle, but I forget his name). They've only released 1 album, which basically is the format of the comic book in the cd booklet layout & Patton doesn't sing a single word, just some "a-chi-chi-chi-chi"s & "ooOOOOOOoooOOoOo"s! Very interesting, very innovative.

SU19B: Sludgy power violence from Japan. They are kinda like Eye Hate God if they decided to do blast beats for 5 seconds at a time in the middle of their sludge core aggression. Not the most intense extreme band in the world, but nonetheless they'll still rock yr socks off...just very slowly.



RACEBANNON: Extreme music at it's weirdest. They could play a slow lil indie rock sounding song w/some weird beats for about a minute or 2, then they just go insane. Also, the singer is a loon! If you ever see these guys live, you'd know what I'm talking about cause he paces the floor talking about everything, kinda sounding like someone trying to act like a gangsta, but that's just how he is & while he's talking the music will start up & he'll just go crazy! Very odd, very nice!

Well, that's all the bands I feel like listing, but if yr looking for more in the world of extreme music/power violence than what I listed, look for some of these bands of the past & present:

Spread the Disease, Romantic Gorilla, MK Ultra (warning, there's like 4 bands w/this name so don't be fooled!), Kakistocracy, Fu[k On The Beach, Zegota, Catharsis, Aus Rotten, Capitalist Casualties, The Swarm, Walls of Jericho, Vaz, Assuck, Anti-Product, Drop dead, Los Crudos, Force fed Glass, Heroin, Crimson Curse, Left For Dead, PG. 99, & many more