Noise Pollution #44: Old Dirt and Modern Rust

I was just walking out of my office and nearly bumped into a woman who was shopping in the back of the store. While my inattention to those around me (both physically and emotionally, I’m told) is nothing new, was Otherwise, this lady, who was well over six feet tall and (I’m guessing) in her sixties, had a piece of poster board taped to the back of her shirt. On that almost A2 (plate humor) piece of cardboard was a homemade anti-abortion flyer, complete with an eight-week-old fetus and a bunch of nonsense about the sanctity of life. She reminded me of some of those crusty (not crusty) punks I used to see on the Ocean City Boardwalk (to go back a few pieces) making their own patches using goddamn markers and glitter and whatever other craft supplies they could get at the grocery store. I was just as impressed with this lady as I was with those guys, who I’m sure still roam Ocean City, but are probably closer to high school than the Boardwalk these days.

This happened on 9/11, which I had forgotten about (oops) until I saw the Hulk Hogan meme on my social media timeline. You can google it if you don’t know. It was also the day after the debate where Trump talked about eating dogs and the “billions” of people dying in Ukraine. This was essentially 24 hours of societal decay that drained all my willpower to communicate with the outside world. It made me nostalgic for the record room in my house where, when my daughter sleeps for more than an hour without me having to be there right away to, I don’t know, protect myself from whatever ghosts my cats see in the house, I listen to music in private. What have I been listening to lately, you ask? I’d love to tell you it’s none of your business, but since you’re clearly curious, I might as well tell you.

For the record, before some of the most interesting and fun of you open the grease trap above your chin, I am all for the right to choose. Don’t believe in abortion? Then don’t. It’s like everyone feels the need to be their own walking bumper stickers these days.

One of the things I love about getting older is that I still discover bands from the past. My most recent obsession is, rather embarrassingly, a classic band in their genre and an influence on some of my favorite records. I’m talking about German grindcore precursors Blood.

Blood was a band I should have checked out thirty years ago, mainly because of the Naked Whipper connection (I’ll get to that later), but it wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I decided to give them a listen, specifically the Christmas bait record, featuring Alex Schulze (Dominus AS of Naked Whipper) on vocals. Holy fuck, what an album.

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Grindcore with doom and black metal mixed in, years before that became a subject line in some shitty band PR company that abuses my inbox on a daily basis. I already knew that Blood (first album and demos, in particular) influenced Blasphemy, who in turn influenced Beherit and the like, and yet this was my first full-on experience with them. So I figured I’d head over to Discogs to see how much it would cost me to get a copy and I was immediately depressed. $50 and up for a record when I know I can use that money for bills or mob protection just doesn’t make sense. So I went with YouTube. Same with the follow-up, O Agios Pethanea record that took the hard black metal influences to a higher level, albeit without Schulze.

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While Christmas bait had a denser production, O Agios Pethane is a much dirtier album. I’ve been spending more time lately delving into the deathier side of black metal, particularly early 90s stuff like the aforementioned Beherit and Blasphemy , but also the earliest recordings of Black Crucifixion and Belial , so this album was a great fit. I put it on my wishlist and moved on. About a week later I saw on Nuclear War Now!’s Instagram that they were re-releasing the first three Blood albums (including the debut Impulse to destroy) a few days after posting. It was one of those serendipitous moments, like things are just lining up to remind you that it’s not all shit, until the ass of the universe frowns and gives you a peck on the cheek. Moments like that are priceless.

The good, not the shit that stardust and the evil of existence give you.

I was able to get the colored versions of both Christmas bait And O Agios Pethanethe first record alone – which I now regret. But it’s the thrill of the chase, or so I’m told. The reissues are gorgeous, faithfully recreated from the original masters, and look and sound great. NWN! still has copies of all three available, just not the colored copies, which only matters if you’re OCD like me. It made me revisit an old favorite, Naked Whipper’s Pain streaks.

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Somewhere in the 90s I was in constant contact with Bernie from the Canadian band Lust, who had a wealth of knowledge about hard and brutal sounding bands, and who helped me discover things outside of Beherit and Profanatica which I was already totally into. He had sent me tapes of Blasphemy’s Fallen Angel of Judgment back when it was hard to find, before there were eighty different versions and it would be Bestial Summoning, Archgoat and Naked Whipper. Keep in mind this was a few years before the internet was widely used and sites like eBay made collecting less of a challenge, so trying to track down a copy of Pain streaks was a bit difficult, but through a few trades I managed to do it. That was one of those moments when you know that a piece of music would have a direct impact on things in your life.

Raw, hard and incredibly cruel sounding black grind, Naked Whipper was like a sledgehammer to your teeth. It took a while, but I was able to get their self-titled 7 inch, which is a bit wilder than the album. A little later I discovered that there was also a 12 inch ep, Moloch: Sour Orgythat was floating around and it turned out to be one of those white whales at the time. I don’t remember what I had to do to get it, I don’t think it had anything to do with genitals, but this was years ago, but I remember thinking it wasn’t as hectic as Pain streaksStill, it is mandatory to listen.

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A few years later, when I was running Blood Fire Death Records, I got the idea to re-release the Naked Whipper catalog, because it was both extremely good and hard to find. Trying to track down Dominus AS was like chasing a fucking ghost. I had every friend I knew in Germany try to get his contact information, but it always turned up nothing. I have one drunken memory of being at Root and Destroyer 666 in Germany and literally yelling at everyone who passed me that I had found him. Years later I would wonder why Europeans don’t find me as charming as I do.

About two years ago, Dominus/Schulze resurfaced, apparently fresh from nearly twelve years in prison for manslaughter and somewhat active again, with Iron Bonehead doing faithful catalog reissues and Naked Whipper performing live. At this point, I have no idea if they plan on doing anything else, but if they don’t, that’s fine. This LP and two EP discography are a perfect legacy to one of the meanest bands that ever lived.

I’m closing out my recent listening session with the new album from Circle of Ouroborus, Ajattoman Universitywhich was put up on Bandcamp last week. I thought a new CoO album would be inevitable when His Wounds Records, who have been making the last few albums, announced a late summer release, but that didn’t make it any less exciting for me. Those of you who follow my end-of-year lists know that they tend to either take the top spot in years that Kommodus doesn’t have a new full-length, or come awfully close. This is a band that has been very dear to my heart since I first heard them on their split with Urfaust two decades (!) ago.

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Circle of Ouroborus – Ajattoman Uni through his wounds

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Ajattoman University is a bit of a departure from their last few records, a little less gloomy (still miserable) but injected with a heavy Celtic Frost/Hellhammer touch, a black/punk step into the early 80s. CoO have never failed to produce an exceptional amount of earworms every year they’ve been active, but this time it’s almost non-stop. This is a fucking great record and I’m sure I’ll be bothering you with it in two months or so. Awesome.

Lastly, my Fuck Music Substack hasn’t seen much movement, but I plan on changing that soon. One thing that will change is the $8 subscription price, which seems a bit greedy considering all I’ll be doing is blabbering about shit I find interesting. But there is a free option, so feel free (GET IT) to do that and I’ll try to put something together soon.

See you in a few weeks, when the weather finally cools down a bit. Then I’ll tell you all about the apple lattes I drink.