RDS220 - Hell is truth seen too late chapters I - IV review

A couple of weeks ago I finally got my hands on these awesome looking tapeboxes by RDS220 on Svart Blod Records. Sadly my tapeplayer decided to start eating tapes instead of playing them so I had to listen the tracks on the RDS220 bandcamp page to review them.

Let's start with who is in this 'band'. It's actually a duo project featuring ex members (let's get this ex members thing over fast...) of Liar, Amenra, Hive Destruction, VVovnds, Black Haven,... Musical mastermind is Matthias who plays guitars and programs drums and he is joined by co-songwriter, bass player and visual mastermind Kristof. I've known these two for quite a while now so it came to me as no surprise they came up with something this good. Because it really ís good!

Chapters I-II

Chapters III-IV

Ever since I met Matthias more than fifteen years ago he was always busy with bands but also with homerecording, programming drums, puzzling songs together on his 8-track recorder or computer. I remember he singlehandedly pre-recorded the demo's for the Empathy record at home before entering the studio. Same thing for the Liar record 'Murder manifesto'. I always thought that was really cool and showed a damn hard work ethic. Same goes for Kristof. I've known him even longer and he has always been playing in bands or making really good looking and mind blowing art and graphics.

Let's talk about RDS220. It's more or less the same concept as the beginning years (and 2 demo's) of Hive Destruction. Matthias and Kristof record the songs at a home studio as a duo. Hive Destruction was instrumental but for RDS220 they handed over their songs to guest singers. In this case, chronologically from part I to IV, they worked with singers Jenci Vervaeke (VVovnds, Et Dure, Gagged), Hans Verbeke (Liar, Blindfold,..), Paulo Rui (Besta) and Dehn Sora (Throane).

They describe RDS220 as punk black metal and I can only agree with this description. It's fast and vicious. It's really a riff fest and non compromising. Harsh and rough music perfectly fitting to the sometimes harsh and hectic times we live in today but always with a hint of melody in the guitar department. There's also enough variation to keep things interesting. The guest singers do a really good job and add a lot to the brutality and the hateful atmosphere of the songs. My favorite tracks are the ones with Hans Verbeke (you can't go wrong with a title like "Triumphant on the ruins of the world"...) and Paulo Rui (who I hadn't heard of before but man, what a throat!).

The lay out of these two boxes is phenomenal! Kristof and the label Svart Blod Records did an awesome job!You get two booklets with collages that really add some more vitriol and harshness to the whole concept of RDS220. I have always been a fan of Kristof's visual work. He has his own style but always surprises with original and thought provoking lay outs or art. He really should do more printed stuff like the book he did a couple of years ago called 'A book about decay' together with Arne Wastyn.

Go listen and download on bandcamp.
And buy some stuff from RDS220 and Svart Blod Records.

The immortal emokid - the Genet/Pyrrhus records emo years...

When I was 16 years old I was, like a lot of other kids, trying to find my way musically. I was fully developing my tastes and discovering a lot of music and subcultures. I saw a Congress and Blindfold show (there's a picture of this show on the back cover of 'Blackened Persistance') when I was 11 but I mostly remembered the Congress singer being quite little but singing and skating like a madman. I was pretty impressed by Blindfold and listened to my sister's Blindfold tapes on my walkman a lot!
I got sidetracked into more alternative rock (which I still enjoy) but at age 15 I got into skateboarding myself and turned into a snotty skatepunk. I really got into Jane's Detd. and Goodlife Recording's sister label Green Leaf Records and the well known American bands.

This all changed when I found two compilation cd's in my local recordstore. I got Revelation Records' 'In flight program' and a Genet Records/Sobermind Records sampler.

Three bands immediately stood out for me on the Rev sampler: Sense Field, Farside and Texas Is The Reason. My aunt lived close to Ghent and I asked her to pick up a cd in the Pyrrhus record store as a christmas present. I got Sense Field's 'Building' cd. It didn't leave my stereo for several months and I still know every song and every word by heart. This record had a serious impact on my developing music taste.

My beat up copy of 'Building'

The Genet Records/Sobermind Records sampler was called 'hardcore knockout' and I loved pretty much every song on the sampler but again three of them stood out: Serene, Reiziger and Kosjer D. I listened to these three songs religiously. At the same time I discovered fanzines like Yoda Magazine which (starting from the eighth issue I think) started covering more emo bands instead of the usual H8000 bands. A little while later I got my own crappy turntable and I started buying vinyl. The first records I ordered were from the Pyrrhus distro. I got the Reiziger 'the kitten becomes a tiger' LP on yellow vinyl (numbered!), the Kosjer D 'true' 7inch and a Blindfold shirt.

My first Pyrrhus order. I regret not having the Blindfold shirt anymore....

It was finally time for a visit to the Pyrrhus recordstore on my own. I remember being really siked for this. I got the Leiah 'Mood shifting tones' mcd, the Reiziger 'don't bind my hands' 12inch and a couple of other records. Leiah were quite the revelation for me. I liked the fact that they didn't look like most other bands at the 1999 Ieperfest and of course they played beautiful music. This was the time I started calling myself the Immortal Emokid (after a Serene song) online. Pretty cheesy and kind of cringeworthy looking back but hey, I was still only 17 years old... I got Leiah's first full length 'The Tigra Songs' on beautiful blue vinyl (again... numbered!) and there was no looking back. I got into all the bigger American bands like The Promise Ring, The Get Up Kids, Braid, The Casket Lottery,...

'The Tigra Songs' by Leiah

The years passed and I bought a lot of great records in all kinds of different genres at the Pyrrhus Recordstore. I have really fond memories of buying records there and then looking at them on a bench next to the water nearby. The Reiziger/Bob Tilton split LP helped me getting into more complex or experimental music (the Bob Tilton side on the split caused that). I really got into the Deep Elm Records catalog. I played in an emo band called Wilson and we even opened up for Cursive and The Appleseed Cast. As Friends Rust and Saves The Day also became huge bands for me and I'm pretty sure I'm forgetting some bands and records.

So thank you to Bruno and Kathy and Genet Records and Pyrrhus Records for helping me to find my way into music and for developing my taste. Leiah has reunited and released two new songs which I actually like. I saw a short rehearsal video on Instagram of them playing 'red star pilot' (my favorite Leiah song) and I got really nostalgic which could actually be the reason why I'm writing this. They also posted screen shots of an interview I did with them for my webzine when I was 18 years old.
I even bought a Kosjer D shirt on etsy last summer. How nineties is that! Some bands and records stood the test of time and some others didn't.

Let's listen to some of those records and prepare for 'The French Belgian Winter'!

 

What I'm currently spinning.

Things have been pretty hectic lately. But in between taking care of our one and a half year old son, house hunting and busy times at work I found some time to finally write a new post. These are the records that are currently on high rotation on my record player and I'll finish this post with two on-line gems
Let's go!

Devil Master - Manifestations - LP 

This must be the record I continually go back to the past few weeks. It got released at the beginning of this month on Relapse Records. It's actually not a new record but a compilation of two demo's that got released in 2016 and 2017. This is such an awesome band! Think of Japanese hardcore/punk mixed with the coldest black metal and some goulish death rock to finish this unique blend of dark music. The lay out of this beast is also great. It reminds me of the obscure lay outs of Les Légions Noirs bands but all finished in pink. My favorite song is 'Inhabit the corpse' The band is from Philadelphia and are releasing their debut full length on Relapse in 2019. I can't wait! They're playing in Baltimore in january with Integrity (DM's guitar player Francis Kano plays live bass in Integrity). Listen here or through YouTube:

The Frames - Longitude - Double LP

I got to know this Irish rock band through the legendary and greatly missed Belgian radioshow 'Duyster'. I already knew singer and guitarplayer Glen Hansard from his role in the movie 'The Commitments' from the beginning of the nineties. This double LP is sort of a best off and shows the variety of this band. Early songs have a slightly twisted side to them (kind of reminds me of early dEUS) and they grew to be a great indie rock band. My favorite song has always been 'What happens when the heart just stops' and I'm glad I finally have this song on vinyl. The artwork is a picture of a beautiful painting of Belgian artist Thierry De Cordier. I also learned from the liner notes that they recorded an album with Steve Albini. Didn't know that.

Shellac - At Action Park - LP

Which brings me to the next record: Steve Albini's Shellac! 'At Action Park' is probably the album with my favorite packaging in my collection. It's some awesome cardboard fold out package that's hard to describe or even take a picture of that does justice to this great record. Shellac is my favorite Albini band and this record is my favorite. It's from 1994 and you can clearly hear how influential they have been on a lot of bands. Albini is a great songwriter and the rhythm section of Bob Weston (bass and vocals) and Todd Trainer (drums and vocals) must be one of the tightest around. The overall sound of this album is so good. It sounds organic yet dry and heavy yet clear. Love this band and record!

La Muerte - Murder Machine - 12"

The last record I want to write about is a Belgian one. It's an EP released on Record Store Day in 2016 that I recently dug out of my collection again and listened to a lot because I want to see them live in january in Brussels. La Muerte is a legendary Belgian band. They describe their own music as 'Salvador Dali meets The Stooges'. They formed in Brussels in 1983 and released a couple of albums and EP's (and even a John Peel session!) before disbanding in 1994. They reunited with a new line-up (including Michel Kirby of Wolvennest, Length of Time and Arkangel, Christian Z of Length Of Time and Tino De Martino of Channel Zero) and original members Dee-J and Marc Du Marais in 2015. They play heavy rock/metal with awesome vocals. Marc Du Marais growls his way through the songs and performs live with a bag over his head. I really want to see this band live and have to get the old albums and EP's!
Je suis le destructeur!

To finish this off here are some things I really enjoyed online:

Integrity - Bark At The Moon

Integrity released this digital only single on Halloween. It's a cover of the classic Ozzy Osbourne song 'Bark at the moon'. Integrity proves again why they are the most interesting band in heavy music today, even after a career of over 20 years and Domenic Romeo proves why he is my favorite guitar shredder at the moment.

Joie De Vivre - April 2009 (Live at little elephant)

While talking on-line about the Mineral reunion with a friend and fellow emo-enthousiast he recommended me some newer bands I didn't know. One of them was Joie De Vivre. I don't like the band name but love their song 'April 2009'. It has everything a nineties emo lover wants. Glasses, checkered shirts, sweet riffs, slightly out of tune vocals,...

That's it for now! I plan on updating this thing more regular in the future so stay tuned!