You’ve waited long enough — MRR #345, the February 2012 issue, is finally here! With sick cover art by Mr. Alex Ratcharge, it’s the always epic year-end top ten issue, when all your favorite MRR shitworkers, reviewers and columnists opine about 2011′s best DIY punk releases. And that’s not all. We have interviews galore, starting with the artist behind the CRASS symbol, Dave King, Swedish cult favorites TERRIBLE FEELINGS, New Jersey’s own epic BIG EYES. We’ve also got the second and final part of the tour diary of local Bay Area hardcore warriors ZERO PROGRESS — an epic in itself! It doesn’t stop there… we head up north to talk to UNRULED, legendary Canadian hardcore destruction from the early 1980s, and RAPID LOSS who are keeping the HC mutated in Canada now! All o’ that plus the usual array of columns to get enraged by, and the most extensive review section in punk rock print media!

10 tracks of driving metal punk madness! All the energy of Motorhead with the punk hooks that made all the new wave of British heavy metal bands. Hailing from Portland

Last output together with the split 7" with Giuda before splitting up, japanes metalkrush punk!

one of the most extreme Confuse worshippers worldwide, hailing from Portland, OR this is true massive wall of noise punk

their demo sees the light on vinyl, mandatory metal-crust clash

US press of their third and latest full-lenght, Euro press sold out so act fast

third full-lrnght for thr japanese metalkrush punk heroes, absolute bulldozer!!

Wondering how Warsaw/early Joy Division would have sound today? From Portland, featuring Remains of the Day/Hellshock members

Three songs of Amebix worship thrash punk from Mie-city japan. With fold-out poster art by SUGI!!

The devastating debut LP from Portland City's true funeral cult is available again after the initial pressing sold out in 4 days! Pressed to 12" 180 gram vinyl (45 rpm) with lyric insert and full-color cover artwork by Chanel Adair (Atrocious Madness, Lebenden Toten) Don't sleep on it this time!

brazil pure d-beat, limited to 300 copies, act fast!!!

LP

Official re-issue on splattered brown vinyl of the only album released in '91 by these legendary finnish Death Metal gods!! Fucking heavy & dark stuff with a killer guttural vocals!! A true classic available again!! New cover art by Turkka Rantanen and expanded booklet with exclusive interview!! Includes free FUNEBRE patch, only available through our mailorder.

CD

New official re-issue of the only album released in '91 by these legendary finnish Death Metal gods!! Cd version Includes their demos '89 & '90 as bonus as well as a new cover artwork (keeping the original inside)!! Fucking heavy & dark stuff with a killer guttural vocals!! A true classic available again!! New cover art by Turkka Rantanen and expanded booklet with exclusive interview!!

LP

6th album by this legendary german Thrashers formed in '83 along with KREATOR, DESTRUCTION & SODOM!! This is not a bullshit album!! Crushing aggressive old school Thrash in the vein of the mentioned bands. Pure NECRONOMICON!!

CD

Re-issue of the mythic 1st and only album from '92 by this spanish Death Metal band. Includes their 3 demos from '91, '92 & '93 as well as an unreleased live track never recorded in studio!! All of them remastered. Contains new cover art (as well the original one) plus lyrics, photos and demo covers. For lovers of good old classic Death Metal in its purest form with influences in the vein of MASSACRE, MORBID ANGEL, early SEPULTURA, DEATH...

CD

Yes, the mighty french legend SUPURATION (aka SUP) are back from the crematory in form of a retrospective collection CD which includes all the earliest and most brutal stuff of the band from '89 /'90 when they were in their most Death Metal shape right before they started to experiment with clean vocals and more varied sounds."Back from the Crematory" is the generic title of this cult release which is planned for an imminent release on September 16th. The CD includes the awesome band's debut self-financed mini CD "Sultry Obsession" ('90), their only demo "Official Rehearsal" ('90) as well as the impossible-to-find demo of the band's very 1st studio recording "Haunted" under their previous monicker ETSICROXE as well as a 9-song live show, both from '89. This masterpiece comes with remastered sound and packed in a total old-fashioned layout in contrat to their latter weird & sophisticated designs. Includes killer 12-pages booklet featuring an exclusive retro-interview, liner notes, cover and tons of old photos & flyers. This definitely a must-have release not only for every SUPURATION fan, but for every lover of the good old Death Metal from late 80's and early 90's!!

CD

The mini CD titled "Resurrection... Book of the Dead" was a long project in the making but after much work was recorded by Brian Werking at Shockwerks Audio in Tampa, Florida during September/ October of 2011. This EP was then mixed and mastered by Javier Fernández at Room 101 Studios in Guadalajara (Spain) in October/ November of the same year.

If you remember EXMORTIS from the early days of Death Metal, then you will enjoy this classic recording set in modern times. The extreme brutality it presents is undoubtedly some of their best work to date and will again engrave itself with a strong hold in the Death Metal underground where they plan to stay.

EXMORTIS was originally inspired by such bands as Destruction, Kreator, Slayer, Possessed and the list goes on. If it's old then that's what EXMORTIS represents. Even to this day EXMORTIS is and will always be an underground sensation.

7"

New 7", ultraactive political hc/punk from Italy. Comes with a 7"x42" foldout picture sleeve. and a 12 pages booklet.

10"

Furious hardcore straight out of Italy.
In the vein of Italian hardcore classics like Negazione and Indigesti. Fans of SOIA will love this, too. 10" including 6 songs, blue vinyl. CD included for free.

Official reissue of the classic swiss Death Thrash debut album - comes in high glossy laminated gatefold sleeve and includes 3 bonus tracks from an unreleased 1984 demo! If you like raw, fast and down right evil thrash in the true 80s tradition, this is an album you should definitely pick up... hard and fast as hell with great evil sounding screaming vocals. Nice riffs, very thrashy, raw, and highly fast. Easily one of the best Swiss Thrash offerings of the 80s!

killer double LP reissue of this Swiss Thrash masterpiece! High glossy laminated gatefold cover, limited to 300. 7 bonus tracks ("Powerthrash" demo 1985 and "Infernal Thrashing" demo 1985). This is probably one of the best raw thrash/death metal albums of the 80s you will ever find! The most interesting features about this album are probably its lyrical content, usage of synthesizers (a rarity in thrash) and the overall intensity the band provides. Tschösi (also in the grind legend FEAR OF GOD!) crazed screaming vocals approach is unique in the genre as well. Either way, any fan of thrash metal should have this album in any form possible!

In the summer of 1989 Sweden's MERCILESS recorded their first album "The Awakening". Before that the band had been doing some demos, the first one "Behind The Black Door" came out in 87. After that demo Kåle left the band and the new singer was Rogga. After the first record was out, the band played a lot of shows with bands like Entombed, Dismenber, Count Raven, and also the Brazilian band Sepultura on their "Beneath The Remains" tour. Merciless' second record "The Treasures Within" was recorded in '91 but was not relesed until the year after. Then the drummer was tired of waiting for the record to be released, so in '92 a new drummer, Peter Stjärnvind (Unanimated/Entombed) replaced Stefan Carlsson. In the begining of '93 the band did a tour in Scandinavia together with Entombed. The same year they recorded their third album, "Unbound" with producer Dan Swanö at his Unisound Studios. Tired of the lack of support from the record company, Merciless lost the inspiration to go on. In the start of '94 the band did a show before they decided to take a long break. However, in '95 they preformed on the Slayer tribute record "Slaytanic Slaughter" with the song "Crionics". In '99 the first album was released on Osmose productions then Merciless were offered to do a lot of shows and started to rehearse again. After some more successful shows Merciless decided to start working on a new album. In 2002 they finally entered Dog Pound Studios in Stockholm Sweden. The band has 10 tracks of fast and aggressive thrash/death metal on the new album, there are some mid paced moshing passages in some of the songs but mostly they stick to hard and fast deaththrash with a truely 80s fashioned production. Recommended if you like Sadus, Pestilence, Death and early Atheist.

Sweden is well known for having some of the best death and thrash metal bands in existence. It seems rather strange that one of the very best bands to came from Sweden, is very unknown to the vast majority of fans in these genres. MERCILESS was a band that had surpassed so many others in terms of aggression. From 1989-1992, there were very few in the death/thrash subgenre that could compete with this band, besides Germany's Protector, and the highly underrated band Incubus (later Oprobrium). Their raw and brutal debut is one of the most intense albums from the 80's (it was actually recorded in '89, but released in 1990), and in a similar fashion to Incubus, featured thrash beats played at almost blast-beat tempos. Their worthy follow-up, The Treasures Within, features a similar amount of aggression, now with better musicianship and much more technical guitar work, recalling the more technical period of Death. A much more deathly Merciless is displayed on The Treasures Within. In contrast to the raw, brutal, and unrelenting debut, these songs have some added complexity, and tempo changes. This is very similar to Swallowed In Black from Sadus in that it preserves the aggression of the debut, with better musicianship, and more technicality. The Treasure Within shows that the band had the potential to become quite similar to band like Pestilence, and Death in the technical death metal genre.. This album as well as the debut are the band's best work and are highly underrated, but superior in terms of quality to most releases out there. Sadly the band didn’t quite achieve the level of success and recognition their peers, like Entombed, and Unleashed. Recommended for anyone who likes fast Death, Thrash Metal, or just quality metal in general.

Great edition on Gatefold lp!!! Rotting Christ's 'Passage To Arcturo', originally released in 1991, shows their raw, ugly early sound in its purest form. An important foundation for everything that came after. Haunting, obscure and creepy, this is a seminal album in the evolution of black metal, a cornerstone of the genre's early development.

ANARCHY AND DESTRUCTION! 39min.41sec of violent world now ressurected!!! This is a ZOUO's legendary live document at CANDY HALL,OSAKA, Jan/4th/1984, about 2 months before the release of " The Final Agony" EP. Total 14 tracks, including 11 unreleased tracks, and this is the final chapter of CRUST WAR's triple ZOUO vinyl release!

pure metalpunk sound from brazil and sweden, if you're into Warfare, Motorhead, Venom… and Inepsy, that's for you!

members of Bestial Mockery team up for this rock'n'roll metalpunk overkill, great stuff!! For fans of Inepsy and Turbonegro

The Brutal Truth side contains studio recordings from Japan that were supposed to be released as a split with S.O.B. but never came out. The S.O.B. side was recorded live in Tokyo in 1995 at a tribute show for Tottsuan who had just committed suicide. Vocals were handled by Kevin Sharp of Brutal Truth and Lee Dorian of Cathedral/ex-Napalm Death. Limited to 520 copies.

Limited pressing of 500 copies
Reissue of this 2004 self titled LP initially released on Profane Existence, this blackened crust classic is available once again with fully remastered music, artwork, and a glossy 12 page booklet. - Fast, Raw, Crust with Black Metal riffs -  

Limited pressing of 500 copies
Relentless Vegan Anarchist Dark Crust / Dbeat with crushing Breakdowns, Primarly Female Vocals with "The Baron" type Male backup vocals. Recently went on a 5 week tour accross canada and usa and sold half the pressing!

Limited pressing of 300 copies
Debut 7" of Raw, Noisy  Minimalist Black Metal Punk - Drenched in feedback, Noise and Sombre, Agonizing screams.

Limited pressing of 500 copies
Debut 7" of this darkened hardcore anarcho d-beat outfit from Winnipeg. Members of Skeleton, Archagathus, and Dead Dogs. Think Swedish hardcore that has blown its fucking head off last winter. Dark tones, anihilistic lyrics, crushing breakdowns, and no sympathy for those hurt in the process. hardcore punk for crust fucks

Great band from California, heavily influenced by Trouble, but you can also spot some more classic heavy metal and obvious Sabbath influence. Limited to 666 copies

inally a new full-length by this swedish slow dark-crust heroes! Monumental crust from Sweden with a very unique style that blends elements of crust, metal and somewhat ambient, eerie and tribal sounding music together. You can hear some influences from other bands such as AMEBIX, DYSTOPIA and NEUROSIS in parts, but COUNTERBLAST is something truly unique that must be experienced to understand how amazing this is. Comes with 180gr vinyl and a huge 4 colour textbooklet.

"the prophet feeds” is the debut album from Midwest bashers MASAKARI. This band is amazing and this full-legnth shows relentless, unhinged, chaotic crust! Somewhat in the vein of HIS HERO IS GONE, TRAGEDY and FROM ASHES RISE, but with a more distinct and brutal edge. MASAKARI fuses their apocalyptic crust with the raging power of DISFEAR's d-beat and the hard-edged Japanese punk stylings of G.I.S.M., with a smattering of blast-beat driven grindcore to drive it all home. The LP comes in a gatefold-cover on heavy 180gr vinyl.

"but you rule" the is one of those doom full-length's of the year! At least it is the freshest injection to the genre for a long time. Helsinkis CASKETS OPEN develop further the amazing demo and distill their own distinctive blend of cold, extremely violent but still subtle warm sound on this debut LP. Razorsharp edges in sound and morbid, social aware lyrics. A clicheless mix of drunken, anti-clerical and sleazy doom with a hint of post-punk, imagine JOY DIVISION fucking roughly with ST. VITUS in a dark night on a graveyard. LP comes with a superb gatefold on 350gr and a poster; 658 copies in all!

The woeful 2nd album, for so long dreaded by many, from the Irish grime-bandits WRECK OF THE HESPERUS. Crawling out from their grim festering underground caverns after 5 years - this new monstrosity shows they have, unsurprisingly, learnt nothing since the pitiful noise of "the sunken threshold" in 2006. "light rotting out" is a regressive degenerate musical abomination of fetid, retarded doom. Dirty dissonance from demented dissidents. Guest vocals from Albert Witchfinder. Limited edition of 500 copies comes with gatefold-cover and printed innersleeves.

"3000" is the 2nd full-length of this canadian horde. An absurd mix of phsycedellic japanese noise-punk, industrial, G.B.H., Mad Max and Super Mario Brothers. Side-a contains CONFUSE and DISORDER-style noisecore, while side-b dark, classic industrial noise like early SPK or mid-'70s THROBBING GRISTLE. Limited to 400 copies!

casewrapped single jacket / black vinyl / including A2 poster / printed inner sleeve / limited to 500 copies. So you thought Warhammer, Apocalyptic Raids or Hellkommander were the only true heirs to Hellhammer and Celtic Frost throne didn’t you?! Surely, formed in 2009, Florence’s Barbarian also namechecked Running Wild or early Bathory as one of t...heir main influences but come on, as soon as the first notes of “Serve In Heaven, Reign In Hell” hit you off and ‘Borys Crossburn’ lets go his first ‘ugh!’ of the day, you know what the score is and as Tom G. Warrior would have say himself, the usurper’s tears surely guide their sword. Just look up at each of those three Italians’ role in the band: ‘necroharmonic guitarmageddon and invocations of baltic storms and polish metal albums’, ‘eruptions of evil from cracked earth’ and ‘fuck off bombardment’. Indeed, only 1984 is real!!! This first set of six morbid tales was recorded by this trio in the classic sense of the word and originally released as a self-titled demo tape last year after eight months of intense rehearsal in only 99 copies. Now re-released on a glorious and lavish LP version in the classic Doomentia tradition, this monstrous debut has finally all the means required to crush all the posers. And with songs like the doomier yet as morbid “Ad Mortem Festinamus” or the rock n’roll rumblings of “The Hammer And The Anvil” showcasing another side of their necromantical art and thus proving that Barbarian are more than just a tribute band in disguise, you know that this is just the beginning.
Venom are killing music…
Hellhammer are killing Venom…
Barbarian will kill you all!!

originally released in 1987, brazilian thrash classic reissued together with the "Cannibal" demo, can't miss it!

SABBAT's glorious debut album finally reissued on Heavy Vinyl plus an A2 sized poster! This is top quality early black metal, more similar to the groovy/traditional Venom, Bathory, and Celtic Frost releases. Certain songs, like Satan Bless You and Reek of Cremation, are straight up neckbreakers that have nothing to do with the "cult" and "necro" aspects that are associated with the second wave and beyond. There are influences of a lot of different genres found here, from punk to plain old rock and roll, and it works. The vocals here are like a more raspy Cronos with some Sarcofago and even Macabre type styles mixed in.. Guitars-solid. There is some great soloing on this disc, especially on the faster speed songs like Sixth Candle and Carcassvoice. Looking for some viking and doom influence? Check out King of Hell and Dead March, both sound a bit more like "typical" black metal than rock and roll, but are both great. A real cult release

Official release of the two cult-Demos and Live material from MASSACRE, the Legendary band behind EX-DEATH/ MANTAS veterans Kam Lee, Rick Rozz,, powerdrummer Bill Andrews and the original bassplayer Michael Borders. Compared to their Debut album From Beyond", this album is pure 80s Death Metal rawness with the incredible insane and power-voice of Kam Lee. On your knees and worship, this is one of THE ultimate classics!"

Watch out for this new band from the "Grand Master of Hades and Mayhem" JEFF MANTAS, together with DEMOLITION MAN and ANTTON, all former veterans of the Black Metal Gods VENOM. First the band was called PRIMEVIL but to avoid confusions with other "Prime Evil" bands they changed the name to MPIRE OF EVIL now. A Mini Album "Creatures of the Black" is out now!!!!