Crash Of Rhinos - Distal

I bought this without hearing a single note from this band.

Crash Of Rhinos are a band from Derby (near the middle of the UK for overseas readers) and make a brilliant punkrock-jangly-shouty-gangvocals-anthemic- noise. Not a very concise description, so I guess I could say that if Kinsella bands and Algernon Cadwallader float your boat, prepare to have a new favourite band. This is how they were sold to me, so I bought it and was not disappointed.

300 copies of this double LP set were pressed, released through Triste Records and The Audacious Art Experiment. The package has a brilliant DIY feel to it. The wraparound sleeve is printed on an olive green, thick card. Inside that is a lyric sheet, backed with a ton of black & white photos of the band.

Song lengths are longer than your average for a band of this style, so the album is is spread across 3 sides.

With a blank side where D would have been. I inexplicably love a blank vinyl side.

It seems that copies of this are getting thin on the ground now. You can't get them from the bands Big Cartel anymore, and I got the last copy from the site I bought mine from.The band have said on their site that they have taken some copies out on the road with them for their current run of shows with Algernon but they're expecting these to sell out. There's some copies on the Triste records site (hope you paid attention at school) but no telling how long these will last. I'd get in there quick, you won't regret it.

One thing I do know is that they are set to re-release Distal through Brave Or Invincible Records in a CD package. BOI have always put a shit load of DIY love and attention into their CD releases so this will be worth keeping an eye out for. On top of all that, you can also head to the band's Bandcamp page and download the entire album for free. So if i haven't brainwashed you with my picutres, hyperbole and easy link clickability, ill try and be more direct. GO  AND  DOWNLOAD  IT,  IT'S  FREE  AND VERY  GOOD.

Weekend Nachos - Punish and Destroy

It can be quite good to get into a band relatively late on in. From hearing that first song that grabs you, you can have a huge back catalogue to get into instantly. It can also be a bit of a mixed blessing with the record collecting game, as you then get that indescribable urge to buy vinyl increase by 4 or 5 more records in varying degrees of rarity. Such is the case with this Saturday's delivery - powerviolence/sludge animals Weekend Nachos.

I only heard these a few months back, a song off their new EP 'Black Earth' released on A389. I was blown away and went straight on to their (brilliant) webstore and picked it up. I might aswell show you a picture of it, seeing as it's so nice.

A short visit to Discogs later and I was on the hunt for their earlier stuff. It seemed easy to purchase re-presses of the 2 albums they had released so far in brand new condition from various web-stores, but I wanted to attempt some first press collecting. eBay soon hooked me up with the first press on Cowabunga Records from 2007 of their debut LP 'Punish and Destroy'. You can tell it's a first press because of the red font, fact fans. Second press had blue.

The packaging and record suit the tone of this album perfectly. If you haven't heard them, WN mix the speed and ferocity of bands like Infest with crushing moments of sludge-doom riffing. It's break neck fast one second, then slow and pounding the next. It works real good. They're the heaviest I've heard in a long time.

I'm not sure who the photo on the B-side label is of, but he looks like a wrong-un.

Nice, clear insert with lyrics. Lyrical themes range from hatred of people, to hatred of other people, back to general hatred of everyone. It's cheery stuff. But shot through with a knowing sense of black humour. The insert also reveals that the album was recorded while the band were a 2 piece, with the guitarist doubling up on bass, and the vocalist also doing the drums. That's 4 jobs done by 2 people! What other blog gives you that kind of maths? No other blog, that's who.