Customer Reviews

None of Your Attention

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One of the best h.c bands and artist of the 80s whos art is featured on many h.c bands,pushead,lamort great stuff here if any one can get it on import from japan it includes kichigai,burial,etc....

First off, though Amazon has the year of release as 1995, the Septic Death compilation I am reviewing, entitled "Attention," contains most of the band's recorded output from 1983-88 and bears a copyright date of 1990. Since Amazon did not provide a track listing, here are the songs included on my CD:

1. Burial (2:08)
2. Disinfect (1:56)
3. Forest of the Megalomaniac (1:33)
4. Quit (0:57)
5. Dream Silent (0:36)
6. Child (1:00)
7. Terrorain (1:49)
8. Thaw (Cold World) (1:04)
9. Poison Mask (1:03)
10. Hardware (1:36)
11. Silence (1:36)
12. the Evolution Garden (3:00)
13. Unprotected Games (0:54)
14. Change (2:28)
15. Demon (2:32)
16. Control (1:36)
17. Sweat of a Nightmare/Core of Reality (2:16)
18. Negative Threat (1:37)
19. Never Trust (0:50)
20. Mental Cancer (0:39)
21. Fear (2:22)
22. Advantage (0:37)
23. Gore Story (2:33)
24. Kharma Khamatic (1:05)
25. Outro (0:43)

Now, onto the review:

Though the use of extreme speeds and blast-beats are considered commonplace in underground metal today, the origins of the sound could clearly be traced back to a select few bands falling in the realm of hardcore punk in the early '80s, with Siege, Deep Wound and early D.R.I. being prominent examples.

Continuing this tradition was Boise, Idaho's Septic Death, featuring the talents of mainman Brian "Pushead" Schroeder on vocals/lyrics/artwork. Pushead was an early contributor to such fanzines as "MAXIMUMROCKNROLL" and later, created artwork for bands like Metallica.

Septic Death released countless 12"s, 7"s and compilation appearances throughout the '80s, all independently released and all in high demand by collectors today. Even this "Attention" compilation CD is quite rare judging by the lack of availability on Amazon and the prices I see it go for elsewhere on the internet when one does come up for sale. Yet this CD conveniently collects all the band's key tracks that would otherwise be nearly impossible to come by, barring paying horror prices for the vinyl originals.

British bands like Napalm Death, Unseen Terror and Sore Throat (all of whom credit Septic Death as a major influence) are often given the tag as having pioneered grindcore in 1986 and '87, but a full year or two earlier Septic Death were blasting away at equally extreme tempos. Just listen to the velocity of the 1985 tracks included here "Burial," "Silence," and "Terrorain" for proof. The latter first appeared on Pushead's own compilation from '85 "Cleanse the Bacteria," which also included light speed proto-grindcore tracks from bands like Boston's Siege, making the compilation highly sought after today and very rare.

But Septic Death also had a melody in their music in many cases that most grindcore bands could never touch, and this is shown best on the earliest 1983 tracks on "Attention" like "Core of Reality," "Negative Threat," and "Never Trust." Not only are these songs fast, but they feature the kind of brilliant riffs and vocal lines that will propel you to want to crank the volume up to maximum levels.

All in all, a fascinating collection of music for those wishing to hear the origins of the use of extreme speed in hardcore/crust/grindcore. Hopefully someone will repress this essential material again soon, but get it however you can.

Septic Death is a chaotic mix of hardcore punk-industrial noise from the old school. Featuring "Pushead", the artist of Misfits and Metallica fame as well as skate art, this album could very well be played backwards and not sound terribly different. Sound interesting? If you have a taste for hardcore noise, Septic Death is your group. Hard fast grating guitar licks, a drummer that must be heard to be believed, and the screeching growl of the vocals carried along by heavy bass lines makes this band worth a try.

Septic Death reigned in the eighties, where? some where not in the mainstream...noise aggression...philosophy in the words...punks speaking of Earth's fragility and life's fragility. Kharmatic returns (in Kharmatic Khomatic). From Ecology to Fear of the unknown to bent politicians to mistrust of organized religion. They spoke of these things before other more mainstream artists did, and did it better. Check out early DRI and PHC !