Crow - Who Killed Dove?

Note: A special shout out to April and Negative Insight for their awesome article on Grave New World. There's no way I would have gone down this road without their well-researched, well-written history of the band.

Last week's preorder announcement by Bitter Lake Recordings that they'd be reissuing the 1991 Grave New World album "The Last Sanctuary" wasn't just an exciting way to get a classic crust record. It also reminded me how much I love vocalist Crow's previous, eponymous project. So what better time than now to share the debut 7" by Osaka's Crow. It rips.

A lot of Crow's later releases were put out here in the States by Prank, starting with the 2003 reissue of the Artimus Pyle/Crow split 7". But the mid 80s material, prior to Crow joining Grave New World, remains unreleased in the States. There's a great, self-released CD from 1997 that compiles this, the "Last Chaos" LP, and their comp appearance on "Eyes of the Thrash Guerrilla". I wish you luck finding one for less than $50 here in the U.S.

So, enjoy "Who Killed Dove?" If you have no frame of reference, expect metallic hardcore; not so much Earth Crisis, or late 80s Discharge, but something on the continuum between Motörhead and Napalm Death, but with more NWOBHM influence. Does that make sense? I'd rage out to this if I saw it live. So circle pit it up in your living room, or in the park, or wherever the mood strikes you.

Discogs

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Bastard - Wind Of Pain

The cool/weird part about shopping for records in Japan is the things you'll find that you've never seen elsewhere. Case in point: Bastard's "Wind Of Pain". Either I learned about this late 80s/early 90s Japanese hardcore band when they reunited for Chaos in Tejas in 2010, or via late night text conversations with Sean from Fan Death Records. Regardless of where I heard about them, my last trip (to date) to Tokyo coincided with the 2013 reissue of "Wind Of Pain" by Feral Ward. I walked into Disk Union my last day and saw a small stack on the counter. Fuck it, I'll drop 2,000¥ on a rumor. I haven't regretted it since.

If you ever wanted to learn more about Japanese hardcore, specifically the "Burning Spirits" style, this is a good place to start. How would I describe this? Think posi D-beat. Drummer Koba would continue, post-Bastard, to playing drums in Systematic Death, as well as running Fade In Records and doing some really cool record covers for bands like Rocky & the Sweden. So your chances are greater than nil of ever seeing/meeting one of these guys. Would it be nice if records like this were a little easier to track down? Sure...I guess. But the chase, especially when you have to go halfway around the world to hear a copy, is part of the fun.

Discogs

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