7 Inch Boots – Tamped Concrete and 3 Lieder für Bruce Lee

The great cover of the “Tamped Concrete” 7inch tells you everything you need to know: This is music from skateboarding (or bouncy-ball hopping, or whatever that thing is on the back cover…) straight-edge kids who love Metal and have fun with it. So it is metal-core from a time (1989) before that genre really took off. Plus, for additional novelty these guys are from Germany and that is probably the only reason why I know about them. And now you can, too. 7 Inch Boots were from Mühlheim, a.d. Ruhr, which isn’t too far from where I used to live. If my memory serves me well (and that’s not something that I would rely on) they were associated with, or at least friends with this small collective of people who published a vegan/political/straight-edge fanzine called “Think Again”. The “Think Again” people were a German version of what I imagine the Ebullition people must have been like: All very nice and righteous, and trying to save the planet by not exploiting honeybees and through various other grassroots movements. In any case, I would frequently bump into some of these guys from 7 Inch Boots at shows and I saw them play once or twice (I’d like to say that I saw them open for GO! on their European tour in ’91, but that is probably wrong).

And while this 7inch is very near and dear to my heart and brings back good memories, I am absolutely not posting this for the sentimental value alone. This is really powerful sludgy hardcore.

The second EP “3 Lieder für Bruce Lee” was recorded in 1991, but only released in 1995. Those 3 songs represent a clear progression towards even more sludge and they are more Melvins than hardcore. Not that that is a bad thing, but the intensity of these songs doesn’t reach that of “Tamped Concrete”. Still good, though.

As an interesting side note, the members of 7 Inch Boots would later go on to form Bohren & der Club of Gore (on LastFM). Bohren & der Club of Gore play an ambient, noir jazz, which I have heard described as “music for people for whom the Twin Peaks soundtrack is too hectic”. Yet, the band maintains a distinct dark “metal” aesthetic in their cover art and merchandise. If this kind of “doom jazz” is your thing, too, then you should definitely check them out. Bohren & der Club of Gore (official page). They are still around and apparently doing pretty well.

Anyway, check out these masterpieces of German mosh-core. And if for some strange coincidence you have anything to add about 7 Inch Boots, by all means please do!

7 Inch Boots - 2 EPs

Point Blank

I had thought about posting these 2 singles for a while, but for one I have been too busy and -more importantly- I don't really know anything about the band, which taken together would make for a very brief, impersonal post. But then today I saw that Buske over at An Attitude Exhumed was looking for these, so I figured 'what the hell, maybe there are other people who will enjoy these, too'. It's fast, pretty straightforward HC on Nemesis records, which should tell you everything you need to know. These 2 records came out in 1990 and 1991 as Nemesis #19 and #33, respectively; with the self-titled 7" that is pictured here being the earlier release. The music was probably a bit harder (bordering on cross-over in the vain of S.O.D.) than most HC that I was listening to at that time, which made this record stand out. Sadly, they also stood out with respect to the tough-guy image that they wanted to portray and some rather politically incorrect lyrics; particularly on "Intro/We don't owe you shit", which rails on people (Hispanics?) collecting welfare for being drunk and having multiple children and every other cliche that they could imagine. MaximumRockNRoll supposedly had a real beef with these guys for this shit. But since I never read MRR, I don't know whether that is true (i.e. if they ever bothered enough).
So while the band's jock attitude might take away a bit of the listening pleasure the music is still quite enjoyable and you will probably want to check it out for the classic "Shit on minitrucks" alone. 'Nuff said.
Oh yeah, the second record (for which I have no picture) is called Blacklisted! We won't be silenced. The Zip file contains the 2 singles separated in 2 folders, plus one extra song "Turning back".

Point Blank

Slapshot - Blast Furnace

Slapshot need no introduction. They put (Boston) HC “Back on the map”. Starting out with a very Oi-influenced sound they provided a blueprint for many bands that followed, both musically and with respect to the tough guy SxE image that they portrayed.

To me Slapshot are one of the very(!) few bands that actually only got better with time (or at least not worse – which says a lot). Sure, the early classics like "Step on it "and "Sudden Death Overtime" will always have a special place in my heart, but their later records like "16 Valve Hate" or "Digital Warfare" are just awesome in-your face HC, that make you want to smash something or someone.

So if you are a true Slapshot fan and/or some sort of HC completionist, who needs to collect everything, chances are that you already have this album. However, there seem to be few people who actually like this record, including the band itself. Slapshot’s official band page dismisses this EP that was released 1993 on the German “We Bite” label with 2 sentences:

“The band's next album, "Blast Furnace", took about 2 weeks to write and about 3 days to record, and the band members were sick of it before it even came out. However, that was album number one of a three-album deal - that's how the band saw it.”

So what’s wrong with this album? Nothing, I say. It’s just not the typical Slapshot sound that one had gotten to expect and which they seamlessly pick up again on their later releases.

Choke (Jack Kelly) is the only original member on this release, and for lack of better words it is an experimental album on which Slapshot ventures into heavy metal and maybe even grunge (it was the time, you know…).

The sound is rather slow and pounding in both drums and guitar riffs. However, it never drags on too much and is mostly quite catchy. “Wired” is a real stomper with a glam-rock beat, but also some Nine-inch Nails-inspired whirring sound effects. The song “Another Mistake” is an updated heavy version of “The same mistake”, which was originally included on “Step on it”. The title song Blast Furnace is one of my favorite Slapshot songs. It’s got all the aggression and intensity that you want in your Slapshot songs, but has a lot of things going on to keep it interesting.

Overall, the sound of this EP reminds me in many parts of Prong’s sound at that time (ca. Beg to Differ). Finally, the abundant sound samples (at least for a HC band) and movie excerpts that lead in and out of most of the songs add to the “experimental” feel of the record.

I like that kind of stuff, but clearly it’s not for everyone, particularly if you have strong preconceptions as to what a classic HC band has to sound like.

Blast Furnance