9 Shocks Terror "Zen and the Art of Beating Your Ass" CD
[Havoc]
Geez, I've reviewed this record three times now, once when the LP first came out on Devour, once when Havoc re-released the original mix (also on LP), and now again - remastered onto CD. Thankfully the CD includes damn near everything the band has recorded to date (all of which has been remastered, actually), making it a definite must have for those who don't have all of this stuff on vinyl, or those that would rather have it all on one convenient CD. In addition to the "Zen and the Art of Beating Your Ass" LP (1998), you'll get the "Mobile Terror Unit" 7" (1999), the split 7" with the Killers (1999), the split 7" with Devoid of Faith (1997), the "Earth Wind and the Sheik Throwing Fire" 7" (1997), and various compilation tracks. How can you lose? A lot of the tracks from the older 7"s and splits were re-recorded for the "Zen..." LP, but fuck it. Among the comp tracks are two Gastunk covers ("Devil" and "Sex"), an H-100's cover ("Panic Attack", recorded live on WRPI FM), and a Hawkwind cover ("Brainstorm"). As I've said in the past, word for word, 9 Shocks Terror plays raging hardcore/punk with a distinct influence drawn from classic Japanese hardcore, including some fucking insane, cackled vocal screams that you usually can't decipher even if you try to read along with the lyrics. They've got good tempo variation, the very occasional dose of slight melody (believe it or not), tons of solos gone wild, plenty of ferocious speed, etc. These guys are just insane, and their lyrics are total fury: "Television revolt teenaged revolt annoying scum spoiled brat choke on yer own puke slice my balls with razorwire make 'em smell the funk." The recordings are all suitably raw, and I think the remastering has added in some low-end, which is nice. It's not as rugged as the vinyl of course, but in this case I think it's better that way. The layout looks just like that of the "Zen..." LP, except that inside are some black and white band shots, some images of their show flyers, and only a fraction of the lyrics... the liner notes state that you'll have to track down the original releases for complete lyrics and artwork. That's no easy task, but what can you do? It's awesome to have all of this stuff on CD, but they probably should have just handled it as a semi-discography and thrown in a thicker, more detailed booklet if you ask me. But whatever, over an hour's worth of killer hardcore/punk is good enough for me. (7/10)
Running time - 68:34, Tracks: 34
[Notable tracks: Constant Pressure, Attack With a Gasmask, Screw This Town, Razorwire, 9th Symbol, Backing Out, Strike Transmission, Sex, Panic Attack]
Havoc Records - http://www.havocrex.com

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