For whatever reason, I was never a Turmoil fan. I guess I could probably chalk it up to my finicky ears often having a tendency to (at times unfairly) hold less-than-stellar recordings against solid songs, I don't know. There was a time when I owned their debut full-length, "From Bleeding Hands" (in fact, I've owned it twice), but I sold it for the second and final time many years ago and never looked back. But when this double-CD discography (plus three brand new tracks) from Abacus Recordings showed up a month or so back, something funny happened: Turmoil finally hit me.
These Philadelphia bruisers started out more than 10 years ago, and this retrospective actually marks my first exposure to 1999's "The Process Of..." (their final full-length release at the time), which is chock full of fucking awesome tracks and a slick set of production values that smokes their earlier work by a landslide. Though, admittedly, there are some killer tunes throughout the band's back catalog (in all these years I've never forgotten how raging a moment it is once the vocals kick in during the intro to "New Media"). This heavy and discordant form of metalcore with smatterings of post-hardcore melody and minimal flirtations with the more angular and chaotic side of the genre is honestly very Deadguy-ish to my ears, so I can't exactly call it the most original thing in the world, but I have to confess feeling like an idiot for having overlooked the quality of this material in the past. These dudes have demonstrated some great songwriting that manages to pull plenty of feeling and atmosphere into the mix, and that's where most bands of this nature tend to fail:
Turmoil "The Locust"
Turmoil "New Media"
Turmoil "Pinstripes & Neckties"
And you know the drill, fuckers. If you like it, buy it. Two CD's for $11—$13, so how can you lose?
Relapse Records
RevHQ
@ Very Distribution
Start looking for the blog to (hopefully) be updated on a more regular basis starting now. I know it's sort of halfassed as opposed to writing actual reviews, but it's a lot easier (read: less time-consuming) and a lot more fun to do write-ups like this and post a few tracks for people to check out and comment on (At least sometimes, you slackers!) than it is to spend an hour writing an overly thorough review that I'll never hear a peep about. For the time being I'm not writing any reviews for the regular site, so I'll be mixing up the old and the new here in an effort to give a shout to some of the best shit that's crossed my path lately that I had originally intended to review more fully on the main site before I smacked the wall and burned the fuck out. Such is life...
Comments
i friggin loves these guys cover of “is anybody there?”, i really love their earlier sound… but i’ve always never been fond of the whole tough guy metal hardcore stuff…. not that these guys are that tough guy… but its that sound that i associate with it… i saw them recently with the reunited/unnamed new coalesce band and they ripped up the place pretty good, the new tracks they got aren’t too terrible either. good pick =)
11.1.2005 | By Long lost and still forgotten
HA!
Sick.
where’s that Bad Brains cover on this thing? or did i miss it?
Shame that Why Me recording IS what it is on From Bleeding Hands because it just destroys what intensity is be there.
Steve Evetts was in utter shock at all the random mic bleed when he was trying to salvage it for the remix.
Andrew, shit is in the works for you so…hold tight.
11.1.2005 | By jim fucking winters
Oh shit. New Media. This is the song that got me into turmoil way back. I forgot about this song. It was on a Century Media compilation a long time ago. Good band. Still are.
11.1.2005 | By Anonymous
I’ve always loved this band. “FBH” certainly had a poor production, but my first exposure to them was live, so I’ve always been able to overlook it. Great band with great songs and a fucking brutal live presence. I did an interview with them some years back and I don’t think you’ll find anybody more sincere about what they are doing. They are awesome guys on a personal level too, so I pretty much love everything about these dudes…
11.2.2005 | By scott
I’m loving this shit. I’m a bit bummed to hear you’ve stopped writing reviews for now, but more blog updates will make up for that. Thanks.
11.2.2005 | By Fergus
Hmm, they used to have the full ‘The Process of…’ available for download on their website. Seems like they’ve removed it, though.
11.3.2005 | By Gabriel
The Process is a fucking sick record.. great writeup, dudes definitely deserve the props. I have high expectations of things to come from this band!
11.3.2005 | By Mikel
Always curious why Andrew never liked Turmoil. I’ve always thought they were one of the better bands of that period. In fact, I find FBH to be better than their later material from a songwriting standpoint. Oh, but that fucking horrible recording ... Maybe I’ll pick up the new record.
dion
11.18.2005 | By Anonymous