Suppression - Degradation/Elimination Of The Robot Swine-Pig

I'm fucking exhausted. Managing the entire produce department alone can go eat a dick. If I haven't mentioned this yet, come June, I'm gonna quit my job and head out across the country on a bike, again. I attempted it last year, but amazingly, the poor planning didn't quite coalesce with the overall hardship as well as I'd hoped. I bring this up primarily because it'll signify a lengthy break for this blog; one that'll likely last 2 or 3 months. Just thought I'd mention it to whoever reads this.

Anyway, Suppression.

Back in high school when I first discovered powerviolence, instead of doing research on the genre's progenitors or asking around for suggestions, I pretty much just grabbed a bunch of band names I remembered reading on the Underground Obituary forum and let the downloads roll in. Fortunately, this approach paid off in spades, as I not only happened upon most of the classics (Man Is The Bastard, Capitalist Casualties, Crossed Out, Dropdead) but also got closely acquainted with a bunch of considerably more obscure bands (Gasp, Quattro Stagioni, Stapled Shut, MK-Ultra) as well as some complete shit (Sylvester Staline, Rainbow Of Death, Apathetic Ronald McDonald, Graf Orlock... who aren't PV, but I checked them out thinking they were. Kinda like finding owl droppings as your Cracker Jack prize). Suppression fall into the middle category, apparently, even though they played right at PV's high point. Just check out their last.fm as an example - only a little over 15 hundred listeners. I realize that's far from an accurate core sample of their fanbase, but it's still really dinky for a band that's been around for 2 decades. Maybe all their true fans just spin their vinyl still.
So alright, now that we have that bunch of uninteresting bullshit assembled, let's move on. For the first half of their career, Suppression played powerviolence the old fashion way - really raw, roughly produced, and dissonant hardcore punk-esque music that alternated between completely caustic, hyperspeed bursts of energy and filthy sounding sludge, all augmented in general unpleasantness by Man Is The Bastard-esque noise interludes. If you're unfamiliar with what might be termed "new fashion" PV (as opposed to what Suppression play), then think of bands like Charles Bronson, Combatwoundveteran, or the later Spazz albums - still intense as hell but lacking that scummy rawness that made the bands seem like a bunch of lowlifes or druggies or something. Well, I guess Infest might resent that, but I mean it in an endearing way, of course.
Degradation/Elimination Of The Robot Swine-Pig is actually a split 12" with Italy's crust-grinders, Cripple Bastards, and is the longest thing these guys would release before abandoning PV altogether. Regardless, this puppy clocks in at only 17 minutes, but it's an insane 17 minutes - ultra noisy, uncompromising, feedback-laden, and recorded in that special way that makes everything sound like it's barely under control and about to burst. Awesome stuff.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2dps698sk3gsuki

I know I didn't really do them justice here, but this is the full release, containing all 23 Cripple Bastards tracks. I think they're all rough versions of songs from their first album, Your Lies In Check, but it's been a while since I've heard either release. Frankly, grindcore doesn't move me quite the way it used to, but fortunately powerviolence still kicks my ass. If you dig 'em both, this is an essential download.

ADDENDUM: I forgot to add this before - Suppression is still active today, but they're nothing like the band you'll hear on this split. They're just kind of a jokey noisecore band now without any of the aggression that made them so great. If you're interested in more primo cuts, pick up the 9296 CD here. It's got this as well as all their EPs, splits, and some bonus tracks.