OHL - Jenseits Von Gut & Böse 1986

Formed January 1980 in Leverkusen by singer under the stage name "German W" (W stands for "resistance"). Four years after the start of the punk wave in the U.K. was OHL one of the first German punk bands. OHL, an acronym for Supreme Army Command were one of the pioneers of German punk. The band is due to their political texts and iconography throughout their military record covers as controversial. After a self-distributed cassette Herbert Egoldt paid attention to the band and produced two EPs and their first LP "Heimatfront" on his label Rock-O-Rama. The band was, like most punk bands, fierce, uncompromising and provocative. Lyrically polemic against both the radical left and the radical right, mixed with a wild and hard sound are OHL a perfect example of German hardcore punk. "Jenseits Von Gut & Böse" is a no hard hitting political punk album like the previous ones but its still the most mature work of this period. May you be surprised but I promise you this is real OHL and this pretty record should be in every record collection.

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OHL - s/t EP 1981

Shitty coldy weather here, it seems as if it's raining now. So let's go on and fill the blog with more rarities. Here is the first OHL record which was released on the now scum Rock-O-Rama label and you could praise this as a crazy German-punk classic, a bit mushy and with calm guitars but melodious songs (the back cover says "Take" recordings, hmmm..). Three unpolished and rough lovesongs from Deutscher W & Co. and they show how brute the early years of OHL were before they went into a more darker sound (listen to their Jenseits Von Gut & Böse album for example). Nevertheless, the hatred in the voice of the singer Deutscher W (W stands for resistance or wealth?) is fuckin' impressive and the style is consistently continued on the following albums. Not everyone's cup of tea I think, but for me are OHL as well one of the important bands of German punkrock and their stuff is still worth listening to, perhaps out of date but zappy.

- Huge Thx to Reinhard -

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OHL - Oktoberrevolution 12'' 1983

Exhausted, dull & with a cold I sit here with a delicious tea and wonder why the purchase and sale of OHL records is locked at discogs, does anyone know? I think that is a bit exaggerating and can't understand this. Anyway, this is the 3rd 12 inch slab and its a mini-album with eight smasher and was released in two different versions, mine is as you can see on the cover, the second one. From this album the band spoke in songs such as Russen In Afghanistan and Roter Terror against the real socialism and stressed on the back of the record that after the debate against old and new nazis, also against the extreme left is necessary. Since then, the band has repeatedly distanced itself from left-wing as well as right-wing political extremism and religious fanaticism. Ultimately, the music is crucial and everyone who has a bit of sense will know if he likes it or not. Don't miss Verbrannte Erde and more stuff.... and now back to bed and cure myself, Amen!

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OHL - Verbrannte Erde 1983

Fourth album by Leverkusen's finest Punk combo OHL, released via Rock-O-Rama and in the typical sound of the responsible whose name is unimportant. Verbrannte Erde is the last record where the gentlemen fourteen hearty excellent hardcore/punk songs recorded: crude, fast and with a brilliant milling, sawing guitar, before they changed their sound into a darker and tranquil direction (but gothic-rock I would not call it). Lyrically still influenced by the cold war but I think the basic structure is clear. A German punk classic in every case and in 2006 appeared a reissue by Teenage Rebel Records.

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DER FLUCH - s/t LP 1982

Side projekt of Deutscher W, lead singer of OHL, which were founded 1981 in Leverkusen. Their early sound is a bit Influenced by bands like The Cramps and Meteors but naturally OHL. The first album was released in 1982 on Rock-O-Rama and that same year the Gesandten Des Grauens 12'' plus three goodies on the 'Die Deutschen Kommen' comp. After that the band disappeared for twelve years until 1994, then comes the album 'Für Immer' out and the music became harder and the lyrics are still influenced by the British Hammer and horror B-movies. In 1994 they were represented with Betet Für Uns on the Godfathers of German Gothic compilation and thus pays tribute to the influence of Der Fluch on the German Gothic-Rock scene. Until 2002 they published three albums. The band is still acitve, but plays only sporadically live. I like those early tunes and I think these are the best recordings from Der Fluch, pretty minimalistic and very catchy. Today rarities, at that time they were laughed. So kann's gehen, nicht wahr. In this file are the songs of the 12" included. The envoys of horror ask for the dance, don't let them wait!

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D.R.I. - Live @ CBGB'S New York 1984

This brings back a lot of memories. In the early 80s I listen to a lot of Metal stuff because I was a Metaller with all my heart. I leave this style when I came in touch with American Hardcore bands like Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, Dead Kennedys, Warfare (UK) etc.... so also with D.R.I. The Hardcore sound was an integral part in this scene and then more and more concerts took place I rather visited of course those gigs as Megadeth or Anthrax. 1986 then D.R.I. live in my city, together with Holy Moses (ARRGGHHH!) and this show changed my lifestyle completely. I will not say that they made me a punk because I've also heard some German punk bands, EA80, Slime, Daily Terror, OHL for example, but they were rarely present live as the ami bands. I would say my interest in metal was deleted this evening, First-class performance with pogo till the shack crashed, unforgotten. Who ever saw a D.R.I. gig can attest to this. A little info:

D.R.I. (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles) is a crossover thrash band from the United States that formed in Houston, in 1982. The band currently comprises founding members, vocalist Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy, as well as drummer Rob Rampy and bassist Harald Oimoen. D.R.I. never gained a mainstream audience, but the integration of their hardcore punk roots with thrash metal influences was a stylistic catalyst for their contemporaries - most notably Suicidal Tendencies, Corrosion Of Conformity and Stormtroopers Of Death - alongside whom they are considered pioneers of what would later be called "crossover thrash." They have released seven original studio albums, the last of which was released in 1995. Since then, the band has continued touring and intermittently going on hiatus. In 2004, D.R.I. released a web-only demo track "Against Me", their first recording in a decade. For years, there has been talk of an eighth D.R.I. album, which has yet to materialize.

The first three albums are all terrific and as '4 Of A Kind' came out the music was too monotonous to me and I lost interest. I love more the rapid, wild aggressive sound and here on this CD are all their hits. Forty songs in Thirty-Nine minutes. A Must Listen!!

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COTZBROCKEN - Jedem Das Seine 1981

Brilliant or scrap? That's the question I'm asking myself when I listen to Cotzbrocken from Cologne. Blunt uninspired monotonous music with simply knitted lyrics or the signs of the time recognized and zack into Herbert's studio and spontaneous thirteen songs recorded. I have some Rock-O-Rama records but this one is by far the last I would buy. The band existed from 1979-1982 and consisted of Peter (vocals), Axel (guitars), Igor (bass) and Carsten (drums). Musically, this very well-known but often ridiculed record was in the German punk scene not really a highlight, too slow and monotonous; the self-contradictions in their lyrics showed hardly any irony. The album was indexed by the BPjS, which, so Moloko Plus (Fanzine), "proves that the ladies and gentlemen at the Federal Examination Office took the nonsense seriously". In 1982 the band appeared together with Der Fluch, OHL, Fasaga and Stosstrupp on the Köln-/Leverkusen compilation Die Deutschen Kommen. Stylistically, the songs are similar to those on Rock-O-Rama's published and indexed record. Although the Cotz lumps are considered embarrassing due to their simple music and lyrics - even for their time - the "Moloko Plus" described their album as "undoubtedly one of the worst records ever to have done a punk band [...] Nothing is right here: the band can not play, the singer is completely incompetent, the lyrics saudoof, the production a catastrophe", they are regarded as one of the most important German punk bands and their plays as classics. Oldpunk Karl-Heinz Stille said, "Cologne was for most of them more of an encouragement to make their own music than heroes and role models. You were SO good even after the first three rehearsals, and they already had a record outside. But just that gave the band something totally real, authentic and honest [...] punk rock in its original form, even if it did not always work out quite so with the second chord".Well, decide for yourself, because over taste can be argued, as is known.

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CANAL TERROR - Zu Spät 1983

Next classic German Punk album is the debut record from Canal Terror and I don't know how many times I played this LP up and down: angry, aggressive, rebellious music which has nothin' lost of their rudeness. Founded 1980 in Bonn by Tommy, Volker and Dominik, 15 to 17 years old, in the following year 14-year-old drummer Rainer completed the band. 1981 published the first demo recordings and a Super-8 film on which they introduced for the first time their most popular song 'Staatsfeind'. In December, the band participated on the compilation Soundtracks Zum Untergang 2 (AGR). Canal Terror played this year their first concerts outside of Cologne and Bonn with Black Flag, Minutemen, Slime, OHL, etc... More demo tapes were released in the following two years. In December 1982 they recorded their debut LP, appeared due to differences with label boss Karl-Ulrich Walterbach, in the spring of 1983. Tommy left the band in 1983 after internal disputes and Rainer moved to the micro. Ex-Toxoplasma bassist Stefan came as a drummer. Frank Glienke ("KutA") was for a few concerts the second guitarist but left the band very soon. The group toured again with Razzia, Inferno, Neurotic Arseholes, Boskops, Die Ärzte, etc... and the recordings for the compilation Underground Hits 2 emerged. Again it come to quarrels and Dominik and then Volker left the band. The band continued until 1984 by Rainer and Stefan and with other members. On the Dutch sampler 'Babylon Bleibt Fahren' the song "Staatsfeind" was in a live version on it and shortly after this release the band split up for good. In December 1991 the band played in the original line-up a unique concert in the Biscuithalle/Bonn, together with Toxoplasma, Die Skeptiker and the British band Urge. In 1992 Red Rossetten Records released a CD with recordings of this gig under the title "Live In Bonn". AGR reissued without the permission of the band their first album in the 90's and so Canal Terror secured in a trial against AGR the rights to their songs. A Review: "Canal Terror produce diverse hardcore material on their debut album, including full-tilt thrash ("Multis," the title cut, etc.), Oi!-influenced stuff ("Bonn-Duell"), '77 punk with melodic guitars ("100 Mann"), reggae-punk mixtures ("Mallorca"), some cool Rock'N'Roll ("Hey"), and even a funnypunk version of "My Bonnie." The guitars should have been emphasized more in the mix, but this record is still entertaining as hell." - Jeff Bale (from MMR #8, September 1983) / That's the story so far, for me another major record which is second to none today.

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V/A - German Mystic Sound Sampler III 1992

And we stay black and it goes wave after wave, I could say. Volume three has arrived, and all of the fourteen bands are unknown to me and right in advance, not every song pops with me, yes even some of them bored me quite a bit, but as already mentioned, I'm punk rock but only delve into one genre is not my style and therefore for all darkwave/goth nerds it's another listening pleasure of the 'softer' tones, and that even before breakfast .... An interesting song is #2, it was written by a well-known gentleman named Deutscher W and insiders know he is Singer and head of OHL, a punk band of the first wave from Leverkusen, who've been active since 1980. Wolfsheim is also a pleasure, Lacrimosa I have a record somewhere and otherwise a rather restrained mixture that can't really top the first two parts. Let's see how the next Volume is. By the way, the subtitle Indie-Classics is a bit confusing and out of place in my opinion, for whatever reason...

1.House Of Hate - CATASTROPHE BALLET

2.Feuer - FORTHCOMING FIRE

3.Paradise Eyes - BLESSING IN DISGUISE

4.Second Generation - THE MERRY THOUGHTS

5.San Diego (The Tragical) - THE ETERNAL AFFLICT

6.Alles Lüge - LACRIMOSA

7.Last Dream - UMBRA ET IMAGO

8.Meet Moshe Dayan In A Russian Bunker - PRINTED AT BISMARCK'S DEATH

9.Come To Me - THIS DARK NOISE

10.Simple Blue - DERRIERE LE MIRROIR

11.The Sparrows And The Nightingales - WOLFSHEIM

12.Another Life - SECRET DISCOVERY

13.Paradise - FORTIFICATION 55

14.Time Has Come Today - BLUEFIELD

- Special Thx to STARGAZER -

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THE SKEPTIX - ...So The Youth 1983

A great politically charged band, not as heavily political as Crass, but great well thought out meaninful lyrics are there. The Skeptix originally formed 1980 in Stoke On Trent by Snotty (vocals), Fish (guitars), Usher (bass) and Chig (drums) and they signed to Zenon Records and release their debut 7'' Routine Machine in 1981. Between 1981 & 1983 the band released five singles & an album via the German label Rock-O-Rama Records which was not a good decision, the album went down in nothing and received little response. A split with OHL, The Kids Are United EP, followed and they said goodbye to H.E. and in 1985 the Skeptix split up. In December 2001 the band, with the original band line-up, reformed & started to rehearse for the Holidays in the Sun Festivals in the UK & USA. Their first album in twenty years, Hate & Fear, was recorded & released in 2003. In the same year the Skeptix toured the USA to promote the album. The recording of their gig at New Yorks CBGBs became their next album for release. A DVD of the CBGBs gig, including additional footage from the tour, was also released. So now enjoy fast, brash UK eighties hardcore punk.

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