Short article – or review series – on Hardcore beyond Gabber in Alien Underground 0.0 (London 1994):
About 2 years ago, in Holland a new sound of Techno emerged that set new standards in hardness: Gabber, simplistic, energetic, humourous, and highly controversial. Even though getting faster, mutating slowly, with its vast success and the ensueing bandwagon jumping a lot of the production has become a bit stale, using formula to create tracks that just sound too similar to each other; check Mokum, Rotterdam and their imitators to hear what I mean. But crazed gabbamuffins from New York, Chicago, Paris and Frankfurt wouldn’t have it and decided to out-hard the Dutch. Alien Underground went out to check the essential releases you’ve got to get, if you…
WANNA BE A GANGSTA!?
NEW YORK:
Disciples of Annihilation:
Industrial Power ‘9d4
(Industrial Strength)
Double pack of banging assault that is just h.a.r.d.a.s.f.u.c.k. and a worthwile introduction to the new genre of swearword traxx. This has the dark energy of people who take no shit, opening with “here’s a man who would not take it anymore, a man who stood up against the scum, the dogs, the filth, the cunts… here is someone who stood up” out of Taxi Driver, and then you’ve got your first encounter with a truly skullsplitting bass drum. It’s so hard you’ll have a smile on your face all the way through! Plenty of Mother Fucking going on, too, including the threatening phone message from someone who you don’t want to meet ever. The ultimate standout track for me, however, must be Poisoned with Strychnine, where the banging recedes a bit in favor of just scary darkness and depth bordering on the bottomless.
CHICAGO:
Delta 9
Deep 13
(Drop Bass Network)
This declaration of intent by the Chicago Hardcore Authority, could be the ideal soundtrack for a remake of Rivers Edge, dangerously fast speedmetal gabber – a joyride that’s definitely getting out of hand. Of the six trax, Hardcore Motherfucker is my favorite for its sinister undertones, but the whole thing is worth moshing to. This is a treat for everyone who was – secretly or not – into Slayer. I suggest to top this get Symphonies of Sickness by Carcass to sample from. Fuck, what a wicked idea!
PARIS:
Explore Toi:
Trrr…
3 Points (OUR 94)
There may still exist a prejudice that France is a techno free zone, especially as far as the harder side is concerned, but these 7 tracks will teach you a lesson, if you still think it’s all Rotterdam, Frankfurt and Brooklyn. “Paris + Banlieue experimental hardcore sequence pour les fortes tetes…” it says, and indeed you’ll be able to test the strength of your head with trax going up to 1000 bpm. In a way this review should maybe not be in this column, considering that the trax are very far from gabber, much more abstract, cool and maybe more on a Caustic Visions or Praxis tip of relentless exploration of noise, the mind, the body and urban space. Most of them certainly are very good.
FRANKFURT:
Leathernecks:
Test Attack:
Kotz 0
(Kotzaak)
What’s amazing about this is that every track is simply a classic. And the neighbours love it too (I thought somebody’s finger got stuck in my doorbell)! This is strictly for MF’s, boneheads and speedfreaks, and without a shadow of a doubt is on the very top of all swearword-trax charts! What happened to the mixing desk when these tunes were crafted is open to speculation, but it’s unlikely you’ll stop laughing for a while. Are you in the hardcore?
ROTTERDAM:
Klot’Zakken:
Dominee Dimitri
(Klote)
This is Rotterdam striking back and delivering delirious insane noise by the guys who did Alles Naar de Kl++te to start with, now out-gabbering themselves to a degree that must scare the shit out of anyone but the most battle hardened hooligans! Horny little demons rising from the graveyards to fuck all the innocent lil’ angels up the ass in an orgy of drug crazed devil worship.This transcends the usual dutch gabber sound with its ruffness, distortion and breakneck double speed; you can see this as a joke (& it’s actually quite funny) or as the true avantgarde of the nineties. Up to you.
DJ Jackal