This time around, diving into the seedy underbelly of Southern California punk and hardcore, the Venice crossover scene. We're going the distance with this one, all the best shit from the Venice Suicidal set... tried to be as thorough as I could but still leave room for your own discovery. Everything here rips; totally crucial, totally essential. Get into it.

WASTED YOUTH - Fuck Authority... Tormented... Good Day for a Hanging

BEOWULF - Down Til Dead... Flare

EXCEL - Split Image... Make Up Your Mind

NO MERCY - My Own Way of Life

SUICIDAL TENDENCIES - I Shot the Devil... Two Wrongs Don't Make a Right

THE BROOD - Call of the Dog

UNCLE SLAM - The Prophecy... Will Work for Food

DR KNOW - Fear of War... The Unknown... Slice of Life

NEGATIVE SELF - Negative Self

FATUM - Informational Battlefield [2015 "Life Dungeons" Neanderthal Stench; Moscow, Ru] CONTAGIUM - Lies Beneath [2010 "Archaic" The Total End Records; Halifax, CAN] WILT - Cold Road of Despair [2017 "Self Titled" Profane Existence; Seattle, WA] SDS - Riding on the Ghost at Midnight [1992 "The Future Stay in the Darkness Fog: split w/ Misery" MCR Company; Gifu, JP] MISERY - Class Warfare [1994 "Who's the Fool" Profane Extistence; Minneapolis, MN] CRUZ - Culto Abismal [2016 "Culto Abismal" To the Death/Neanderthal Stench/Sentient Ruin; Barcelona, ESP] HELLSHOCK - Tell Me It Ends Well [2009 "They Wait for You Still" HG Fact; PDX, OR] LIMB FROM LIMB - Relentless Torment [2007 "Death.Famine.Plague" No Options; Van, BC CAN] SANCTUM - This Downward Path [2008 "On the Horizon" Self Released; Seattle, WA] SWORDWIELDER - Fields of Genocide [2013 " Grim Visions of Battle" Cubo de Sangre; Gothenburg, SWE] INSTINCT OF SURVIVAL - Suffocation [2009 "North of Nowhere" World Funeral; Hamburg, DE] EFFIGY - Cruel  Mind [1999 "Evil Fragments" Dark Age; Takamatsu, Kagawa JP] CANCER SPREADING - Psychosomatic Nausea [2016 "Ghastly Visions" Neanderthal Stench; Modena, IT] FILTH OF MANKIND - Poszanawanie Roznorodnosci (Respect for diversity) [2000 "The Final Chapter" Scream Records; Gdansk, POL] LEGION 666 - Into Their Shadows [2000 "Kiss the Goat" Schizophrenic Records; Toronto, CA] ATRAMENT - Spit on Mankind [2018 "Scum Sect" Sentient Ruin/Caligari; Oakland, CA]

When we think about European hardcore, or more specifically Scandinavian hardcore, we tend to go right to the home of mangel and kangpunk: Sweden. I think in terms of longevity that even Norway is often thought about more even though for the life of me I couldn't name any Norwegian hardcore beyond Svart Framtid or Fader War. Anyway, three 2019 releases really made me double back and get back into Finnish hardcore. There were so many projects coming from towns like Tampere and Helsinki and elsewhere that made huge marks not just on Scandipunk but the international punk scene abroad as well. In this episode we're going to hear a bevy of heavyweights that have all had equal import in terms of the hardcore/punk/crossover/thrash scene and I feel hit just as hard now as when this stuff was new... and some of it is new as you'll hear. So relax and crack a cold one and prepare to have your ears blasted from the land of the Winter War: the Fury of Finnish Hardcore. Kohti Tuhoa "Mitä Se Maksaa" Foreseen "Infiltrator" Kurøishi "Peace is Victory" Selfish "Burning Sensation" Treblinka "Helvettiin Ja Takaisin" Kohu-63 "Turmellus" Kaaos "Kuoleman Teatteri" Mellakka "Kiitollinen Kansalainen" Bastards "The Beginning of the End" Lama "Anarko Marko" Kansanturvamusiikkikomissio "Luontoon" Destrucktions "A Tale of the End of the World" Riistetyt "Sokeana Syntyneet" Kyklooppien Sukupuutto "Kuiva Maa" Força Macabra "O Silêncio dos Cadáveres"

Year-end list madness here, folks! Goin over some of the drops from 2019 that kicked my ass and then some. Hope you all find that something here that resonates, and thank you for making High Defamation a success!

Long one here, folks... covering the gamut of a bunch of death metal that I feel like doesn't get its just due. The bands covered here span the map and all draw on seemingly different styles and atmospheres but they all rule and I urge you to dive deeper into their catalogs.

Playlist:

MANGLED TORSOS "Drawings of the Dead"

KRABATHOR "Body as a Cover"

LEMMING PROJECT "Hysteria"

ANASARCA "I Will Not Be Broken"

INIQUITY "Spectral Scent"

MASTIC SCUM "Imminent Obscurity"

OPPRESSOR "As Blood Flows"

PARAMÆCIUM "Injudicial"

KAAMOS "THERIOMORPHIC PANDÆMONIUM"

In terms of High Defamation getting personal, this is probably the closest I've come so far. Exploring the regional shit that wet my appetite for music and got me headlong into not just the Seattle scene, or even the PNW scene, but really music as whole beyond anything "starter pack". Not the most obscure playlist you're likely to come across, but it's a pretty accurate timeline of importance related to the scene I was involved with in my younger days. From grungy garage rawk to punk rock savagery, thrashing sickness and more, I try to cover those bands and songs that hammer home now just as vehemently now as they did then.  Playlist: 1. MUDHONEY “Touch Me I’m Sick” 2. TAD “Cooking With Gas” 3. SKIN YARD “Start at the Top” 4. DERELICTS “Wash” 5. ZEKE “Holly 750” 6. ZEKE "Schmidt Value Pack" 7. THE ACCUSED "Sick Boy" 8. CHRIST ON A CRUTCH "Dreams" 9. NORTH AMERICAN BISON "Broken Dreams" 10. MUKILTEO FAIRIES "Contention" 11. BEHEAD THE PROPHET NLSL "Lewd Lewd Lewd" 12. CRISIS REBIRTH "Kleptocracy" 13. DEAD MOON "Black September"

It’s rarer and rarer these days that I find I’m buying actual new releases or discovering new bands to fawn over or obsess about. While I try to keep my ear to the ground the art of “keeping up” is getting lost to a preference to filling gaps. However, here I want to talk about some 2019 slabs that have left a so far indelible mark on me... albums that I will continue to come back to over time... hell, over years if I’m honest. So crack a cold one and sit down for some aural shredding as we go through four records I really dig from 2019.

In this installment we dive into the early scene from the former Czechoslovakia. So many young and raw artists playing their renditions of evil metal that it was hard narrowing down my choices, though ultimately, as I repeat often in this episode, it’s all a subjective crapshoot anyway. My choices aren’t necessarily indicative of “the best” the country had to offer, just those that I wanted to talk about most.

Tracklist:

1. Torr "Exorcist"
2. Torr "Kral Mor"
3. Torr "Pan Snu"
4. Crux "Rev Smrti (Scream of Death)"
5. V.A.R. "Proti Vizim"
6. V.A.R. "Vratislav (Vratislav Beer)"
7. Master's Hammer "Kovovy Chram"
8. Master's Hammer "Duse Nesmrtelnych"
9. Master's Hammer "The Mass"
10. Master's Hammer "Utok"
11. Master's Hammer "That Magnificent Deer Has Vanished"
12. Master's Hammer "Rock & Roll Music"

Got a little personal with this one, giving up some backstory. Tracing my path from starter pack punk rock and UK anarcho punk to discovering the crustier, more metallic and abrasive beginnings of US, west cast specifically, anarchic hardcore, with a diversion to the wilds of Brazil. It's a journey told as a timeline and one that I hope sheds some light on my own journey through music, eventually landing me where I currently am in this quagmire of tunes. Special thanks to Bryan K Ward and anyone else involved with Christdriver for permission to use the Consumer, which goes great lengths to illustrate the contrast of their own evolution from Subvert to another beast entirely. And also my apologies for any butchering I may have done of the Portuguese language while trying to discuss the Brazilian groups. I get an A for effort, right? Tracklist: SUBVERT "The Madness Must End" SUBVERT "What Does it Mean" CHRISTDRIVER "Consumer" FINAL WARNING "Out of ight, Out of Mind (Live)" FINAL WARNING "I Quit" CRUCIFIX "You're Too Old" CRUCIFIX "Indo China" CHRIST ON PARADE "Chaos Breeder" CHRIST ON PARADE "Rock & Roll Armageddon" DOGMA MUNDISTA "Sky Turns Black" GLYCINE MAX "Crust Core" RATOS DE PORÃO "Crucificados Pelo Sistema" LOBOTOMIA "Só os Mortos Não Reclamam" LOBOTOMIA "Penso, Logo Desisto (Mas Insisto)" NÃO RELIGIÃO "Semelhantes"

Kochi City's Disclose was always a dichotomy of savagery and control, bedlam and refinement and the band left behind a MASSIVE catalog of releases that tend to be elusive in the wild but nonetheless important. Not just in the development of their sound but in the progression of d-beat and punk in general. We're diving deep into this one, folks, enjoy the ride.

Kawakami Forever

Playlist:

1. DISCHARGE "But After the Gig" (Realities of War, 1980 Clay Records)
2. GISM "Anthem” (Detestation, 1983 Dogma Records)
3. DEATH SIDE "To the End" (Bet on the Possibility, 1991 Selfish Records)
4. TOTALITAR "Sin Egen Motståndare" (Sin Egen Motståndare, 1994 Finn Records)
5. DISCLOSE "Tragic Scene" (Fear of the War, 1994 Japankore/Crust Records)
6. FINAL WARNING "Rain of Death" (Out of Sight, Out of Mind, 1984 Fatal Erection Records)
7. MASSKONTROLL "Spräkta Naziskallar" (Warpath, 1995 Havoc Records)
8. MG15 "Luchad Contra El Poder" (Caos Final, 1983 N/A)
9. DISCLOSE "Burn to Damage" (Tragedy, 1994 Overthrow Records)
10. BACTERIA fragment (28 Trax Demo [1994], 2015 Dan-Doh Records)
11. DISCLOSE "Firestorms" (A Mass of Raw Sound Assault, 2001 MCR Company)
12. WOLFPACK "Zonetripper" (Lycanthro Punk, 1998 Distortion Records)
13. BROKEN BONES "Bonecrusher" (Bonecrusher, 1986 Combat Core)
14. DISCLOSE "But Still Work (Victims of the Mine)" (Apocalypse of Death, 2002 Dan-Doh Records)
15. DISCLOSE "The War Dead" (Yesterday's Fairytale, Tomorrow's Nightmare, 2004 Game of the Arseholes)
16. G.A.T.E.S. "Demon Crusade" (Nuclear Hell/Black Plague split w/ Disclose, 2005 Dan-Doh Records)
17. DISCLOSE "Nuclear Hell" (Nuclear Hell/Black Plague split w/ G.A.T.E.S., 2005 Dan-Doh Records)
18. DISCLOSE "Doomed to Die" (Controlled By Fear/Cruelty split w/ Cruelty, 2006 Dan-Doh Records)
19. GOATWORSHIPPER "Ave Satanas" [excerpt] (Blackgoat Harshnoise, 2007 Smell the Stench)
20. BLACKGOAT "Track 1" [excerpt] (Sabbatic 5 Goat, 2007 Smell the Stench)
21. CRUCIFIED BY THE KA-KAMI "Lovestruck" (Just Wanna Be Myself/Crucified By The Kä-Kami split with Insane Youth, 1999 Dan-Doh Records)