Seven songs…

So, I was "tagged" by Cosmo at the always interesting (and unpredictable) Invisible Oranges to do this "meme" thing:

List seven songs you're into right now. No matter what genre, whether they have words, or even if they're not any good. But they must be songs you're really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your blog along with your seven songs, then tag seven other people to see what they're listening to.

Oh, and I despise the word "meme"!

Anyway...

1. Lash Out "Evening Shade"
(from the "Worn Path" 12"/CD, 1994)
Utterly fucking destructive track from one of the greatest bands ever to walk the planet, and easily the most unsung metallic hardcore band of the 90's, without question. Go to Google right now and look these guys up and you'll barely find shit of any substance beyond their MySpace page and maybe four blog posts. Disgusting. This band was so fucking good it's ridiculous. I was gonna reissue all this shit myself but I ran into some heavy personal problems (life ain't a treat sometimes) and had to kill it at the last minute. I think another label's gonna pick up the pieces (I hope), so damn sure keep an eye out for that. There are just so many worship-worthy songs in the Lash Out discography, but this tune in particular is right up their with Integrity's finest in terms of the degree to which it makes me want to destroy all living things (and I mean that in a good way, of course). Absolutely amazing.

2. Underdog "Never Too Late"
(from the "Demos" CD, 1993)
I revisited "Vanishing Point" a couple months ago and still don't "get it", but the Underdog demos are total fuckin' gold. "Frontside Grind" is always the first track that comes to mind, but damn, this song's just stupid catchy. It's barely over a minute long, so I guess "stupid catchy" is all I've got here.

3. Elements DEC "The Game Ain't the Same"
(from the "Win or Lose" demo, 1996)
I've been rockin' the two demos from these painfully, painfully, painfully overlooked New Jersey cats a whole hell of a lot lately (again). It seriously causes me physical pain to ponder the fact that material this fucking good never gets released, and that bands this amazing can just fizzle away in a flash. I mean, how did E.Town Concrete do so well and Elements DEC just disappear!? Insane! It's entirely possible that very few people outside of New Jersey would've ever heard these tracks were it not for my website, and that's just wrong on so many levels. Criminal.

4. Christie Front Drive "Pipe"
(from the "Anthology" CD, 1995)
As I often do, like an idiot, I sold this CD way back when (don't ask me why, 'cause I have no fuckin' clue), and then finally revisited the band a few weekends ago when I randomly went on an obscure 90's emo kick. I ended up re-buying all their tracks off eMusic, and this collection disc remains their finest effort, in my opinion. I thought two-minute long instrumental intros were exclusive to late-80's/early-90's thrash metal, but apparently the tactic is equally effective for relatively laidback midwest emo, as it's quite obvious that this song is gonna rule right from the start.

5. Ire "Percept"
(from the "I Discern an Overtone of Tragedy in Your Voice..." CD, 1998)
By far the best song this band ever recorded. It just destroys everything else Ire ever did, I don't care what anyone says. I saw these guys play in someone's basement with Cave In back in the day and bought this disc afterwards largely due to this track, which totally killed it live as well. It still randomly pops into my head now and then, which is rare for a song like this that's not exactly "catchy" in any way. The break about three-and-a-half minutes in where it drops out to clean guitars and really accentuates the insanity of the vocals is just mindbendingly twisted (yes, once more in a good way).

6. (216) "Hands Bound"
(from the "s/t" CD, 1998)
For some bizarre reason (216) never really seemed to get their due outside the Mushroomhead crowd, despite the Integrity and In Cold Blood connections. I guess because this disc was never exactly easy to get your hands on, but... whatever the case: Great band, great album, awesome song. Fuckin' amazing chorus, too. A damn shame these guys never did another record.

7. Eidolon "Cranes"
(from the "Sanctuary" CD, 1992)
I never really knew anything about this band whatsoever, but I bought this CD blindly a long, long time ago just because it was on Jade Tree, and "Cranes", the opening track, kicked my ass all over the place immediately. The rest of the album isn't spectacular, but it does have its moments. Easily worth the price for this masterpiece alone, though. Super, super moving emo fused with what ended up being tagged "post-hardcore", not to mention some of the noisy, droning guitars that ended up being tagged "post-rock"... so, yeah, pretty ahead of its time, really. This song still kills me to this day.

(And for the record, I absolutely would've listed "Lycanthrope" by +44 above, as I've played it a ton lately, but I'm too wary of posting still-in-print major label tracks. I almost posted Harold Faltermeyer's "Fletch Theme", too. Classic.)