Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Die Kreuzen


I was listening to the mighty ELDOPA the other day, and I was struck by how much the song "Decomposing" reminds me of some of the slower to mid-paced tracks on Die Kreuzen's first LP. Songs like "Rumors", "All White" and "Sick People". Don't know exactly what it is, maybe just the singing.

Just how influential have these Wisconsin hardcore legends been? Have they? They fucking well should have, because their 1984 self titled is one of the most original and flat-out testicle
shredding LP's of the '80s. When it came out, my bros and I would listen to it with furrowed brows, heads shaking solemnly, and the general consensus was that none of us had heard anything like it. That this was something special. 25 years later, and not one micron of it's barely-controlled-chaos intensity has been diminished. Songs like "Enemies", "Pain" and "Not Anymore" still give me sweaty palms and make me want to throw myself around the room breaking your furniture into matchsticks.

I know I'm probably preaching to the converted here, but if there's anyone who hasn't heard this slab of white-hot Milwaukee adrenaline, here it is. Doesn't matter of you're into metal, punk or whatever, you'll probably like this. I think I've heard that Corey Rusk doesn't take too kindly to file sharing, so this download link may be a bit touch and go... thank you, you've been great.


11 comments:

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

SONOFA....I was gonna do a Die Kreuzen post!!

Nah, good on ya. I'm a YUGE fan, right the way through to 'Cement'. I think that the live version of 'Number 3'off the 'Gone Away' 12" is one of the greatest, most moving pieces of music I have ever heard. it just GETS me right 'there', y'know? Also, 'Big Bad Days' SLAYS. I can listen to Brian Egeness play ALL FUCKIN' DAY - like Pen Rollings, Piggy, Wino, Tim Sult and Woody Weatherman - I NEVER get bored.

So, yeah, good call. DAMN YOU!!

Aylmer said...

I really need to sit down and listen to their later stuff. I've always avoided it cuz I've heard it's disappointing compared to this, the Cows EP and the single with the Germs cover. Where should I start Thing?

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

It really is a totally different kettle of fish. The first LP and 'Cows & Beer' are NOTHING like, say, 'October File', which in turn is NOTHING like 'Cement'. Their leaps of progression were pretty big. Best thing to compare it to is to imagine the first LP is 'War And Pain' by Voivod, then imagine that their last LP, 'Cement', is 'Angel Rat'.

The velocity got lessened, the screaming slightly less abrasive, the songwriting got tighter and more innovative, and the guitars got BETTER. Its a fairly safe bet that this link will vanish, so hang on and I'll send you a copy of the 'Internal' Promo CD that covers ALL their stuff.

The Thing That Should Not Be said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
The Thing That Should Not Be said...

Bloody mediafire is down. No worries, once it sorts itself out I'll send you a link to get that promo.

I think I'll do a Pen Rollings post next week. If you're not familiar with his stuff - Honor Role, Breadwinner, Butterglove and Loincloth - I reckon you'll dig it.

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

Dude, get it here -

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=VGAHUV3Y

Aylmer said...

Thanks dude!

Steven said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steven said...

Awesome. The first fun download on my new computer...Nice to be back.
Also, I wasted no time in committing my first idiotic typo...

The Thing That Should Not Be said...

In the interests of self-promotion, i'd like to point out that I have just put up a post about Die Kreuzen over at MY blog, which you may well enjoy, if you enjoyed THIS one.

GRK. said...

Robbo! Your upload's only 3KB & there's only .cda icons in there! You've messed up!