Amebix - Monolith

Track List:
1. Monolith
2. Nobody's Driving
3. The Power Remains
4. Time Bomb
5. Last Will And Testament
6. I.C.B.M.
7. Chain Reaction
8. Fallen From Grace
9. Coming Home

Amebix is a band that took quite a while to grow on me. I had known about their importance in the crust and hardcore scenes, and had assumed they were another one of those aggressive Discharge-esque bands. Imagine my surprise, then, when I picked up their excellent Arise! full-length and instead of brutal, chaotic hardcore, my ears were subjected to an unholy mixture of Killing Joke, Motorhead, and Hellhammer/Celtic Frost that focused more on atmosphere than kicking your teeth in with blinding speed. The bleak, atmospheric, apocalyptic sound didn't quite click with me right away, but eventually the album became one of my favorites. After about a year of listening to it religiously, I recently picked up Monolith, their final full-length, and last official release before they disbanded. It basically picks up where the previous album left off, taking their unique musical vision even further.

It begins with a beautiful yet bleak melodic intro, complete with clean guitars, and droning, Killing Joke-esque synthesizers. It eventually bleeds into "Nobody's Driving", which sets the mood for the rest of the album. Most of the songs sound very similar to each other, but that just emphasizes the bleak, apocalyptic mood this album portrays. They manage to make it all work together as an album, from the aforementioned intro to the crushing, heavy, doomy crust of "Coming Home", as perfect an album closer as I've ever heard. They say Godspeed, You Black Emperor! is the soundtrack to "watching a city burn." Well, this is album is the soundtrack to watching the entire world burn to death, as mankind slowly destroys itself.

Musically, this is easily Amebix's most metal-oriented work. The listener is constantly assaulted with simplistic, chugging riffs and the Baron's excellent Lemmy/Cronos-esque vocals. Somehow, they manage to draw much of their influence from metal, while still remaining entirely punk rock in spirit. Occasionally, they'll break it up with clean guitars and synthesizers, which just proves how ahead of their time they were. Nowadays, such things are commonplace for doom metal and crust bands, but can you think of many (if any) other bands that were doing this in 1987? I know I can't.

I absolutely cannot recommend this enough. This is, in my opinion, the absolute best record to come out of the crust movement of the 80s. This album doesn't come recommended solely to crust fans, however. I'm sure most people involved in that scene have this already. Anyone into any sort of dark, apocalyptic music should appreciate this as well. Neurosis and Sepultura have both claimed to have been influenced by these boys, and I'm sure many of today's doom metal bands have taken some cues from them. Whether you're into metal, punk, hardcore, goth, or whatever else you can name, this record is worth checking out. Don't expect to fall in love with it at first, but given time, it just might become one of your favorites.

Download? - Click Here (Amebix - Monolith.zip)

Amebix - Demo '85

No info found on this album... I downloaded it.
2 songs...

01.Largactyl
02.Spoils of Victory

Download? - Click Here (Amebix - Demo 85.zip)

Amebix - Arise!

Track List:
1. The Moor 3:10
2. Axeman 3:33
3. Fear of God 3:13
4. Largactyl 3:47
5. Drink And Be Merry 6:08
6. Spoils of Victory 4:17
7. Arise! 5:23
8. Slave 3:55
9. The Darkest Hour 4:54
Total Playing Time 38:20

The re-released CD version from 2000 has two previously unreleased songs (demo)
from 1987:

10. Right to Ride (06:06)
11. Beyond the Sun (06:09)


Album Reviews:

Rated: 85%

Written by Terrakotta on November 9th, 2007

Arise! is krieg.

Riffs disengage like artillery fire as rhythmic gallops storm the battlefield. This is sonic warfare unleashed at a time when Hardcore climaxed and Speed Metal was on the rise.

Even in moments of irritation, Amebix still managed to shatter their conceptual targets. Lower ranked “Axeman” and “Largactyl” are exactly what they set out to be: numbers to induce neurosis in the listener. What is missing however is a more effective way in accomplishing the same mission as songwriting would have been better off featuring feelings of fear, doubt and paranoia as opposed to being solely annoying for its own sake. Of course, The Baron’s series of cockney slurs in speech certainly did not provide any assistance in that matter…

In retrospect, it is side B that really puts Arise! on the map. Punk ballads “Drink and be Merry” and “The Darkest Hour” bleeds romanticised portraits of nihilism while onslaughts in between shed hope in an otherwise inevitable end by actually offering solutions to the problems at hand in anarchical and revolutionary fashion. Inspiration draws heavily from Killers in the album’s peak, “Arise!”

Vivid poetry in both lyric and music here leaves a permanent mark on history despite its slight inconsistencies, concluding the chapter to Hardcore’s initial flourishing with a then promising future in Crustcore.


Rated: 90%

Written by Doomrock on February 15th, 2006

Amebix remains today a cult favorite, after a career of releasing mostly singles and EPs with a few memorable full lengths to boast as well. Practicing what they preached, Amebix lived like squatters, selling all but their instruments to survive and living in condemned buildings. Thankfully for us, we can still hear the band but not smell them.

An important inspiration on much more successful bands like Neurosis and Sepultura, Amebix's memorable Arise! album is still a work of art. The listener can be dared not to want to nod their head to songs like "Slave" and "Fear of God" or simmer in dirges like "Drink and Be Merry". Labelled more closely as a crust punk band than a metal band, the metal sound is definitely there and the heaviness was ahead of it's time.

The less-than-polished performance and production give the album a very authentic sound, and this album is more than highly reccomended to fans of the early development of metal. The DIY ethos is all the more evident on such an album, which sounds somewhat like Venom's Welcome to Hell, albeit with a more developed style. This album is still exciting over 20 years later, and everyone is invited to slum with the kings of hard living.


Download? - Click Here (Amebix - Arise!.zip)

Amebix - Demo '79

Download? - Click Here (Amebix - Demo '79)

Accion Mutante - Ghetto Europa 7"

- GHETTO EUROPA
- WHO THE FUCK YOU THINK YOU ARE
- NO LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS
- DESENSITIZED
- ACT LIKE A GOD
- YOU`RE NOT BETTER

- CONTROL OF MY MIND
- LAST AMEN
- HATE US
- DEAD DREAM
- BOMB IN THE BRAIN
- ... TO AN END


Download? - Click Here (Accion Mutante - Ghetto Europa.zip)

Accion Mutante - Y No Hay Remedio

Album Review:
ACCION MUTANTE - y no hai remedio 7" EP
five new mad blasts from the german kings of metal-edged crust! much more varied than the first EP, yet contains an equal dose of raw thrash power! (PE)

(only review i found in english)

Download? - Click Here (Accion Mutante - Y No Hay Remedio.zip)

Accion Mutante - Decade Of Decay

This album is really good, it's just a discography of all their stuff. I like this band so of course I'd like a disco. hehe. Well, I suggest this download if you like this band.


Tracklist:
GHETTO EUROPA 10" incl. UP THE METAL PUNX - DIY-MCD: 1. ghetto europa 2. who the fuck you think you are 3. no light in the darkness 4. desensitized 5. act like a god 6. you´re not better 7. control of my mind 8. last amen 9. hate us 10. dead dream 11. bomb in the brain 12. ... to an end bonus
BONUS: 13. fuck authority
MASCHINENTRAUMA - CD-comp.: 14. geburt eines neuen gottes
DIE SPLIT 7" - 7": 15. no hope 16. religious fuck
Y NO HAI REMEDIO - 7": 17. what a wonderful world 18. creature of inhuman power 19. Wiesenthal 20. experimental disease 21. crashyuppies must die
PUNK´S NOT DEAD it just smells like it - CD-comp. incl. DIE HUMAN RACE - flexi-7"-comp.: 22. november 1918 (2nd rec.) 23. the feeding hand 24. die human race
WHISPERS - DLP-comp.: 25. sellout
KRUSTEN SCHINKEN STEAKS - tape comp.: 26. scheibe
MOTHERCAKE - fanzine comp.: 27. november 1918
FEAR - 7": 28. fear 29. dreads & spikes 30. american psycho 31. gewalt gegen andere 32. the world´s my country bonus
BONUS: 33. possibility of life´s destruction


Review #1:

Accion Mutante This is a CD i'm really happy about, i have been enjoying the 1'st two Accion Mutante albums on mp3 for years now, none of my friends online seemed to be into them, until i ran across thier webpage i knew absolutly nothing about them and wasnt sure what labels they released with and all i could find on google was info on the movie Accion Mutante. Crimes Against Humanity gets props for putting together the CD that will finally shed some light on this fucking awesome band! this is a reverse discography of everything released till 2004 and it sounds great. This starts out with the newest recordings, the Ghetto Europa 10'' which i missed completely, Up The Metal Punx which i only heard a couple times until this CD, a split 7'' which i also missed, a bunch of compilation tracks i also missed one of which was even taken from a Cassette comp and still sounds great, then there is the 2 7''s that got me interested in this band and held that interest for over 5 years now. The newer tracks are more grindcore styled now wheras this started out a very crust sounding band, after thier 1'st album the low grindcore voice was brought in and remained ever since. I find Rossi's voice has become alot uglier also, though still similar to old recordings it has become alot rougher. There is a bonus track on here that at first i didnt recognize even though its a song drilled into my brain from countless listens in its original form, what is this track? Fuck Authority by GG Fucking Allin! this is probly one of the last things i ever expected on a sociopolitical type CD because GG was a total deviant. The vocals are low growls that remind me of Sam Biles from Hideous Mangleus or the low voice of IRF, the mid voice is rough hardcore punk yells, the voices are mixed well and its deffinately a dual vocal band. After the 1'st 7'' the band tunred alot heavier and since has kept progressing into a heavier sound. The first 7'' is my favorite still and probly always will be even though its not as heavy, still i cant say i have anything bad to say about any of thier material and this CD rocks from start to finish. The music style is all basic and overall its midpaced to fast, there are some leads and solos and they work well and arent long or obnoxious, aside from that its pretty much straight forward crust/grind withought any frills, there arent a bunch of breakdowns or paning fx and it really doesnt need it. This band was supposed to do a split 7'' with Extinction of Mankind but that never happened, to date the only split album has been with Basalt, everything else has been solo or compilation material. 73 fucking minutes, i didnt realise it was actually this long... i have no problems sitting through this whole CD and its not often i feel like listening to 73 minutes of anything, this stays in my personal collection.... This CD booklet has the bands biography starting back in 1995 up until this CD, also there is a fucking shitload of band photos collaged, plus all the album covers from everything they appeared on at a viewable size and if thats not enough, lyrics to all albums and compilations, this is awesome its everything a discography CD should be.

Review #2:
This German Grindcore band reminded me of early Napalm Death and Extreme Noise Terror. There´s 33 tracks on this offering their 10 years history. Some songs are sung in English and some in German and all pretty much political. Again production wise is pretty spot on for this DIY label and the booklet which comes with this package has all the lyrics with some pretty cool photos. Yeah not a bad release at all. (Crimes Against Humanity) 8/10


Review #3:
You ever heard of these guys? I hadn’t…until now. It’s usually a pretty good bet that whatever comes from punk/crust/grind label Crimes Against Humanity will offer at least something of value. Accion Mutante is a German crust punk and grindcore band. Decade of Decay includes every song ever released by the band during the decade noted in the album title, as well as a couple of bonus tracks. What you get is 33 tracks of fuck-off punk nihilist nuggets and anarchist grindcore riot starters. Mostly sung in English, with the occasional German lyric, there is a lot to sink your teeth into on this one. Not surprisingly, the style comes directly from the Schools of Discharge, Extreme Noise Terror, early Napalm Death, and any number of similar punk and grindcore bands. Metal-edged, usually crust covered, and always furiously performed, Decade of Decay flows rather well as a complete album considering that the collection consists of everything from compilation tracks to splits to tape (yes, tape) compilations. Tunes from the Ghetto Europa 10” (which includes the Up the Metal Punx “DIY MCD”) are among the most brutal and acidic. The song “Ghetto Europa” (sung in German) begins with a snippet of Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto” before shoving the listener’s head right into the shitter. A kind of bastardized and crusty reggae part crops up before the song heads back to speedville. Tunes from the same collection, such as “Who The Fuck You Think You Are” are as burly as they come. Something about parts of “Dead Dream” had me thinking in terms of Minor Threat’s “Out of Step” (though in a dirty as fuck, grindcore kind of way). Other tunes that caught my attention include the “Fuck Authority” bonus track, a rather catchy little shit thrower. Alternating the grindcore growls heard on much of the disc with a snotty crust punk vocal on tracks like “Geburt Eines Neuen Gottes,” (from the Maschinentrauma compilation), “No Hope” and “Religious Fuck” (both from the Die split 7”) work very well. In fact, “Religious Fuck” takes the DKs “Religious Vomit” and runs it through a meat grinder. I was not surprised to hear that “What a Wonderful World” includes part of the actual Louis Armstrong song (gee, do ya think the band paid royalties?) before turning the whole goddamn thing on its grind-punk head. Fans of the music described above would do well to pick up this album for the measly $8 that CAH is charging for it. It’ll keep you fat and happy (and probably stinking from BO and cheap booze) for a good long while


Download? - Click Here (Accion Mutante - Decade of Decay.rar)

Accion Mutante - Fear 7"

Download? - Click Here (Accion Mutante - Fear.rar)

Accion Mutante - Up The Metal Punx

UP THE METAL PUNX

5 songs of the 12 expected =/

-Bomb In The Brain
-The Last Amen
-No Light In The Darkness
-Dead Dream
-The Comes To An End

These five songs are just the arrangement of the
expected 10" which unfortunately couldn't be
finished by the start of this tour. That's why it
comes as a DIY-MCD edition - made 111 copies.
(September, 2000)

This band is really bad ass, check 'em out.

Download? - Click Here (Accion Mutante - Up The Metal Punx.rar)