V/A - Empty Skulls

Label: Fartblossom
Year: 1984

If you ever wonder why classic hardcore gets mixed in with the noise rock stuff on this blog (and it seems to bug a few of you), its simple: hardcore beget noise rock. The dudes (and occasional lady) who developed that noise rock sound did so based on a bedrock of hardcore. Hardcore took the streamlined rock and roll of punk, the dirty skuzz of early metal, the dissonance of early post punk, and painted it all black. You know, black, the color palette of noise rock. If you can't follow the line from bands like Black Flag, Void, or C.O.C. straight to bands like Big Black, Today Is The Day, or Unsane....well, I just don't know what to tell you.

The bands:
Outpatients (noisy, blinding hardcore, featuring a member of Deep Wound)
C.I.A. (catchy, not unlike a more straightforward Descendants songs, featuring members of 76% Uncertain, Vatican Commandos, Reflex From Pain, Onion, and Shelter)
Out Of Order (straight ahead hardcore)
Corrosion Of Conformity (the greatest North Carolina band in North Carolina history)
No Labels (speedy, no frills hardcore, featuring Reed and Woody from C.O.C.)
No Mercy (Venice locos, featuring members of Suicidal Tendencies)
Impact Unit (Boston hardcore O.G.s, featuring members of DYS and Mighty Mighty Bosstones)
Primer Gray (fucked up, harsh-core)
Against (the sound of the veins bulging in your neck)
Septic Death (truly ugly grinding hardcore, featuring Pushead and members of Condemned Attitude, and Raid)
Stalag 13 (fucking Nardcore!, featuring members of NOFX and Dr Know)
No Direction (straight to the throat hardcore)
Rights Of The Accused (fastcore forefathers, featuring members of Regress, White Zombie, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Local H, and God's Acre)
None Of The Above (ripping hardcore with a Bad Religion/Huskur Du steez), featuring members of Brother Inferior,
Electric Kool-Aid (raw and primitive)
Real Enemy (brutal hardcore, featuring members of Half Life)

DL