WAR BETWEEN THE STATES: SOUTH tape compilation download...

Here's a cassette compilation from 1985 released on TPOS Records. It covers many obscure US hardcore bands from the New South (and a few from the Midwest), bands from a particularly conservative region who have been forgotten or overshadowed by their more popular contemporaries (it does have a few bigger names on; Born Without A Face, Subculture, Rhythm Pigs, Anti-Seen...).

Download here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5RS0ZHD4

I really like comps like this, which capture what was going on at a certain time and place, and contains bands you probably wouldn't otherwise hear. While it's not all gold, what I find with a lot of these old US compilations is that there is an abundance of youthful enthusiasm and a willingness to experiment with strange guitar riffs and effects, which makes it all the more interesting.

Here's a band by band overview:

POWER OF THE SPOKEN WORD - One of the few notable bands from Nebraska. Fast manic hardcore with metal linfluences and slow strange parts. It's a bit like Cancerous Growth, and has fairly strong Void influences too. Sadly the singer passed away a few years after they broke up.

LANDLORDS - Good hardcore from Virginia. The 3rd song sounds different from the other 2 and has a harsher sound.

MAGGOT SANDWICH - A good mixture of KBD-style punk and fast hardcore from Florida.

DEATH PUPPY- Raw garagey hardcore from Oklahoma. Not bad.

YOUR WORST NIGHTMARE - Standard hardcore.

CRASH N BURN - Improvised-sound with minimal vocals, like Captain Beefheart being played by drunken punks (if you couldn't have guessed, it's great).

JAWS OF LIFE - Garage punk with an organ player. Interesting.

SEX MUTANTS - As you can probably tell from their name, this is raw rough snotty KBD-style from South Carolina, pretty good.

ANTISEEN - If you don't know Antiseen already, they play scummy and raw Southern punk rock, and were GG Allin's backing band for awhile: get the idea? Some early tracks here.

ACTIVE INGREDIENTS- The same band that were on We Got Power #3. Good hardcore with odd effects and great vocals. Don't believe it's the same band as the one from California (?).

BORN WITHOUT A FACE - Dirgy nihilistic hardcore from Michigan.

BLEEDING NUN - Only one song, but it's great simple hardcore.

SUBCULTURE - Youthful and energetic hardcore. The singer is now in Double Negative.

RHYTHM PIGS - Pretty good upbeat hardcore, not too different from Capitol Punishment.

NOISE FOR THE NEEDY - Annoying mid-paced crap.

LIKE A HORSE - What a band name. They also appear on We Got Power #3. High energy manic hardcore with good vocals and breakdowns, great riffs and guitar sound. One of the highlights of the comp. I have no other info about them (does anyone else?).

BEEF PEOPLE - Good straight forward hardcore from Georgia (I think). Strong and rough vocals. The 3rd song is a fairly shit joke song though.

MNP - Another high energy effort, youthful hardcore (they broke up after graduating!) from Virginia, with plenty of stop-starts and interesting riffs.

MOE - One very raw, primitive dirgy track, about Reagan pushing the button. Good.

INC. YOU BAIT - Terrible name, and HILARIOUS vocals on the 1st track. Like the Cookie Monster but singing underwater. The 2nd song is better; strange punk with female vocals.

ASSAULT - Gruff basic hardcore, singer reminds me of Springa a little bit. Good!

If you know anything about this comp or any of the bands on it, leave a comment!

Photo: Power Of The Spoken Word

Edit: Here is an advert for the comp from Maximum Rock'N'Roll #29; looks like there was a North counterpart, which I'll have to try and hear...