Cleanse The Bacteria LP 1985 Pusmort – PUSMORT 0012-02
$
60
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Description
I also got a Pusmort product sheet with the LP, and I am including it. Check out the 1987 $7.50 Pushead T-shirts!
This is not my review, but it is a thorough description of "Cleanse the Bacteria."
Although the glory years of hardcore punk could be said to have been between 1980 and '83, there were still a number of bands from around the globe keeping the sound alive a couple years on in the mid '80s, and getting progressively more and more extreme I might add.
This is where "Cleanse the Bacteria" comes in. Released in early 1985, this international hardcore compilation LP was the brainchild of "MAXIMUMROCKNROLL" and "Thrasher" scribe Brian "Pushead" Schroeder, who also just happened to be frontman for one of the bands included on the compilation, SEPTIC DEATH.
Let it be said that all compilations are a mixed bag and this one is no exception. That is to say, I didn't like every single song or band on here, so in this review I will focus on what were for me the highlights.
Kicking off the record in a big way is a band who needs no introduction for seasoned hardcore fans, Reno, Nevada's 7 SECONDS, who turn in two high energy tracks, the latter, "We're Gonna Fight," being a rerecording from the band's 1982 "Skins, Brains & Guts" 7". These songs predate the considerably softer direction the band would later take, when they became far removed from the gritty hardcore sound you will find here. England's INSTIGATORS also caught my attention, as they featured in their ranks one Paul "Hammy" Halmshaw, who was the founder and mainman at the Peaceville Records label in the '80s and later, drummer for SORE THROAT. The three INSTIGATORS tracks, being in the early peace punk vein of other U.K. acts of the era like CONFLICT, and complete with an appropriately snotty vocalist and an anthemic sound, are very well done and were a definite highlight for me. Of the more obscure European bands featured here, I really favor Holland's GENOCIDE EXPRESS and Sweden's MOB 47, the latter of whom have built up a sizable cult following in the underground through the years with their high speed hardcore attack, which I found to be not unlike the early work of Holland's B.G.K.
But maybe the main claim to fame of this LP, and one of the reasons it is so rare and sought after by collectors today, is that it happens to be the sole vinyl appearance ever for the band that I found to be the comp's crown jewel, Boston's SIEGE. Their three tracks here, which amount to just over four minutes of music, were recorded in October 1984 and are thought by many to be the exact point at which hardcore evolved into something far more extreme, grindcore, and hence influenced countless bands since, such as REPULSION, NAPALM DEATH, and HERESY. While I'm sure even that is open to debate, one thing is for certain, the light speed and dissonant wall of sound the band create here is brilliant, and sounds better in analag format on the original vinyl than it did on Relapse's CD reissue from the '90s of the "Drop Dead" demo. Totally vintage and mindblowing and far better than most of the bands that they later influenced.
For all the reasons given here, it's a true shame that no one has ever reissued "Cleanse the Bacteria" in its entirety on CD, barring a few of the tracks appearing on various compilations, such as the already mentioned Siege. I had my crackly old vinyl copy transferred onto CD, skips and pops and all, but I'm glad I did. To summarize, if you have the extra cash to spare and are at all into any of the bands mentioned, I see no reason not to track down a copy of this vinyl-only rarity known as "Cleanse the Bacteria."
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