BL'AST
BLOOD (SOUTHERN LORD)
-180 gram vinyl with deluxe gatefold jacket - MIXED AND PRODUCED BY DAVE GROHL The highly influential Santa Cruz hardcore legend: 'BL'AST!' formed in 1982 and released its first album, The Power of Expression, in 1985.
Their debut album completely blew everyone away and would go onto be one of the "must- have"/classic hardcore albums from the 80s'.
'BL'AST!' was beyond intense and continually pushing the boundaries of hardcore with their advanced musicianship and overall ability to completely explode during live performances.
This overwhelming power caught the attention of SST records who released the bands' 2nd album: "It's In My Blood" in 1987.
Their 3rd album Take The Manic Ride, was released in 1989. As always 'BL'AST!' was reaching to get heavier and as manic as possible and this intense perseverance became an influence for many bands to come.
Shortly after the release of Take The Manic Ride the band broke up and their story was buried by time and dust....UNTIL NOW! Earlier this year 'BL'AST!' guitarist: Mike Neider contacted Southern Lord with news that he had found some mysterious old 'BL'AST!' master tapes in a abandoned storage locker.
They were sent out to a studio to be baked as the tapes quality had deteriorated ...they were 25 years old after all! Once they had been baked and the audio information had been transferred digitally it was time to find out just what was on these mysterious tapes! Southern Lord contacted long time 'BL'AST!' fiend Dave Grohl about mixing this recording and his response was an enthusiastic: "FUCK YEAH! , LETS DO THIS"! Whilst inside Grohls' famous 606 studios and with the Neve console featured in the recent Grohl produced documentary: "Sound City", we discovered a completely unheard, unreleased 'BL'AST!' recording session from the mid-80s! The band is absolutely on fire on this recording! The lineup of the band at the time of the recording included second guitarist William Duvall (Neon Christ) who had moved from his hometown of Atlanta out to Santa Cruz on a tip from mutual friends: Corrosion of Conformity to join the band.
Interestingly and completely unrelated is that William Duvall is now the vocalist for Alice in Chains! Unfortunately his tenure with 'BL'AST!' was short-lived and no recordings from that lineup were ever released.
From the thunderous bass intro of "Only Time Will Tell" to the apocalyptic warnings of "Its In My Blood" the album completely rips and rages from start to finish.
All parties involved were completely amazed at how vibrant, unique and new the material sounded.
"Blood" will be a crucial purchase for any current Hardcore fiend as well as all old fart punker/hardcore folks who loved the band back in the day.
START THE MACHINE! For fiends of: Black Flag, OFF!, SSD, (early) C.O.C.