inthecaseofdarkness

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#202: REDEMPTION - “redemption”

this is the first release of REDEMPTION, a vegan straight edge band from rome, italy. three of the four songs are based on the typical metalcore or metallic hardcore sound of the time. unfortunately, the recording is rather poor, so that the necessary pressure in the production is missing. especially the drum sound is really bad.

also the vocals are still a bit raw and sometimes don't really fit the melodies. all in all, however, you can already guess that REDEMPTION knew exactly what they wanted to do.

the fourth song, “one million voices screaming in the darkness”, then dances completely out of line. it's a metal ballad that's a bit of a surprise on the record. you can also listen to all the songs on youtube.

the 7” was released in 1997 by xsurroundedx records (also from rome) and comes in a double-sided, fold-out cover. on the inside you will find the lyrics, contact addresses and a thankslist. the glossy print is very sensitive to fingerprints (i hate that).

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#201: PSY-9/WHITE TRASH DEBUTANTES - “split”

it's probably rare: a split release from a band from lower austria and a band from california. the lower austrian band PSY-9 teamed up with the punk rock collective WHITE TRASH DEBUTANTES in 1999 to release this split 7” via psy-9 records.

the two PSY-9 songs on side a are mainly melody punk, enriched with some classic british punk influences.

WHITE TRASH DEBUTANTES are also represented with two songs on side b  that could best be described as punk rock with a strong glam rock influence.

the packaging is rather spartan: the record comes with white labels, the cover is copied onto thicker paper. there is also a sheet of paper - also copied - with some information about both bands. 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#200: PSY-9 - “i don’t wanna get old”

unfortunately, i can hardly remember PSY-9. the band was definitely from st. pölten or lower austria and i think roland "elvis nine" schmölz (drummer/singer) once gave me the 7” as a present. that was either in a hardcore context or because I was writing for the gap at the time. 

but PSY-9 didn't really exist in the viennese hardcore scene back then. the scene was too introverted and musically it had to fit very well to happen there. PSY-9's punk'n'roll was certainly too far away or was too closely associated with melodypunk etc. and therefore took place elsewhere. 

in any case, the “i don't wanna get old” 7” was self-released on pnr (psy nine records) in 1998 on very nice pink vinyl and contains two very different songs. the cover is just a copied sheet of paper. beside of that the 7″ contains a copied lyrics sheet that also includes some credits (the tattoo artwork on the cover was done by “tobi’s tattoo studio”, st. pölten).

the title song “i don't wanna get old” is strongly reminiscent of the RAMONES, whereas “big teen burnout” sounds like grungy SONIC YOUTH. both songs (listen here on youtube: side a, side b) have aged surprisingly well and are actually also very well produced (recorded in matterhorn studios, vienna). 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#199: THE PROMISE RING - “boys + girls”

the price sticker on the plastic sleeve also looks suspiciously like i bought the record at sacro egoismo. a 7” for 50 schilling was really expensive back then and was mostly a us import. nevertheless, i bought a few of these emo releases from jade tree and co. 

as already mentioned in another review, i like the late work of THE PROMISE RING much better than the early stuff. But the two sides of this 7” (released in 1998) are actually real THE PROMISE RING hits, which - like many of the songs - live from davey von bohlen's unique voice. 

the way he pronounces the word “everyone” on “tell everyone we're dead” can truly be described as unique. “best looking boys” on the B-side is also extremely catchy and is immediately memorable. listen to the 7″ on youtube.

the 7” comes with a small insert on which the lyrics can be found, as well as a photo of the band and details of the recording. boys is printed on the front of the cover in glossy varnish, girls on the back.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#198: THE PROMISE RING/TEXAS IS THE REASON - “split”

this split 7” by two really big names of the 90s emo-rock scene was released on jade tree in 1996. i probably bought it in the sacro store. at least the price sticker (50 austrian schillings) suggests that.

although i think THE PROMISE RING's later work is fantastic (especially “wood/water”), i found the early releases nice, but somehow never 100% catchy. i feel the same way about the song on this 7”. “e. texas ave” is pleasing, but it doesn't really convince me.

TEXAS IS THE REASON have only released one album in total (“do you know who you are?"). and i've always really liked that one. “blue boy”, the song on the split, is also on the album.

the cover of the record corresponds pretty much exactly to the state of the art of the jade tree releases at the time. the enclosed lyric sheet contains the lyrics, a live photo each and details about the band and the recording (both songs were recorded at salad days studio (boston) with brian mcternan.

conclusion: i can highly recommend the TEXAS OF THE REASON side in particular. someone uploaded the split on youtube.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#197: PROHASKA - “cordoba achtundneunzig”

“cordoba achtundneunzig” (recorded in march 1998 at ekh studio) is certainly one of the best hardcore records from austria. PROHASKA have blended the north-core style of LOXIRAN with the sound of KONSTRUKT and created their very own mixture. 

“cordoba achtundneunzig” is not only musically very appealing. the whole concept behind the record is completely coherent: from the record packaging to the enclosed booklet (actually a small fanzine with guest contributions) to the content in the booklet and the songs, the record is a complete work of art.

PROHASKA use soccer metaphors for the entire content, which they themselves subsume under the heading “soccer symbolism”. based on the soccer match between austria and germany at the 1978 world cup in córdoba, argentina, they stylize a battle between small (austria) and large (germany) in order to criticize germany's fantasies of great power that were rampant in the 1990s (after reunification with the GDR). of course, they do not fall into any nationalistic thoughts that “normal austria” associates with the surprising 3:2 victory over germany back then. 

as samples between the songs, PROHASKA use edi finger's original radio commentaries from the live broadcast from córdoba in june 1978, which have long since become part of austrian media history. 

from “prominentenanstoss” to “cordoba 1978”, the six songs on the 7” released in 1998 by paracelsius (alex haase) and the charon collective have still not lost their charm in 2025. 

it probably goes without saying that PROHASKA were also an incredibly great live band. if you get the chance: get this record or have a listen on youtube. 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#196: V/A - “ist da wer?”

disclaimer: i played bass in PROGRAMM C, so it’s a little hard for me to simply review the subsequent 7”s, which is why i’m going to write a little bit about my memories around those records instead.

Dietmar, the guitarist from Konstrukt, was also behind the Hammerwerk label. With the two 7” compilations 'Und keiner weint uns nach' (with Fall Time., Käthe Core, Manface, Konstrukt) and 'Ist da wer?' (with Konstrukt, Kobayashi, Kawasaki, Programm C, Prohaska), he has succeeded in perfectly documenting a part of the hardcore scene.

While Konstrukt and Kawasaki (the electro project of T., the sound engineer of Konstrukt) were two veterans of the Viennese scene, Kobayashi (St. Pölten), Prohaska (Baden) and Programm C (Götzendorf/Himberg/Vienna) were among the “young and wild” of the scene.

The release show (you’ll find a scan of the poster here) for the compilation on October 30, 1998 at the EKH in Vienna is still one of the best shows I can remember. There was a limited yellow and a black vinyl version of the record. 

As for the songs themselves: from grindcore and emoviolence to powerviolence and industrial (Kawasaki remix by Konstrukt), everything was there. Above all, the songs by Kobayashi, Prohaska and Programm C are certainly among the still carefree highlights of the bands. You can listen to the compilation on YouTube.

The three Programm C songs came from the recording session for the split 7” with Kobayashi (more details here).

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#195: PROGRAMM C - “lucifer turns up the volume”

disclaimer: i played bass in PROGRAMM C, so it’s a little hard for me to simply review the subsequent 7”s, which is why i’m going to write a little bit about my memories around those records instead.

about half a year after our first recordings for the split 7" with KOBAYASHI and the “ist da wer?” compilation, we went back into the studio with 8 new songs.

in contrast to the first recording (1 day in a studio in 1200 vienna), we spent two days in tommy paschinger's studio in linz. if i remember correctly, we travelled to linz on saturday morning, spent a night at the kapu (thanks for that) and then returned to vienna on sunday evening.

you can definitely hear from the recordings that tommy paschinger was into this kind of music and that he captured the typical sound of PROGRAMM C quite well.

the 8 songs were then released on thomas ‘gepi’ gebhart’s invertebrata records under the title ‘lucifer turns up the volume’.

i don't know why, but more records of the ‘lucifer turns up the volume’ 7" were produced than covers. so for some records we produced 100 covers (individual pieces) by ourselves. the discogs entry actually summarises this quite well: ‘limited edition of 100 with unique covers. includes two xeroxed inserts - a lyric sheet (a5) and a poster (a4).’ In any case, a unique photo was glued to each cover. The photos mostly came from family property or were found somewhere.

when it was announced in 2001 that ‘PROGRAMM C are not gonna take it anymore’, another limited edition was made for the last show.

there was a picture of TWISTED SISTER on the cover (you probably know the song ‘we're not gonna take it’ anyway). I have no idea how many copies were made. in any case, the version never made it onto discogs.

dee snider from TWISTED SISTER is currently somewhat politically conspicuous. we don't want to leave that unmentioned at this point.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#194: PROGRAMM C/KOBAYASHI - “split”

disclaimer: i played bass in PROGRAMM C, so it’s a little hard for me to simply review the subsequent 7”s, which is why i’m going to write a little bit about my memories around those records instead.

let me start way back in the mid 90s, my school and later military service days in styria. at some point i got in contact with hannes woschner, who was originally from styria too, but who was a student at the university in klagenfurt. we met at some shows and exchanged letters. in the summer of 1997 i moved to vienna. i got off the train in vienna, hopped on the subway and by accident bumped into hannes, who was staying with his grandparents while doing a summer job in vienna. he told me about an upcoming STALINGRAD-show at tüwi, where we met again. at the show he introduced me to jan “capeet” gallhuber, who became a close friend and my main companion at hardcore shows in vienna. at some point he heard about PROGRAMM C looking for a new bass player and he set me up with andi, christian, christian and martin. it worked out, although i couldn’t really play the bass. after some pretty awesome and breathtaking shows, jan asked KOBAYASHI from st. pölten and us about releasing a split-7” on his label capeet records.

so on june 29th 1998 PROGRAMM C went to a random studio (a&m studio) in vienna, who i think KOBAYASHI had the contact to, and recorded eight (?) songs. they were mixed on the same day, so you can imagine how big the budget was. i more or less experienced everything as a trial and error-take on how a band works. we had no clue about anything, but somehow it worked out. the diy-sound fits well with the songs of that time and we got really good reactions from the scene. four of those songs were released on the split-7” with KOBAYASHI.

KOBAYASHI contributed seven really fast and short emo-violence songs to the split 7”. i always experienced their songs as a grab bag between total arhythmic passages and mosh parts. they never made it easy for you to listen to the songs, but if you combine it with memories of the live shows, everything fits perfectly. 

the 7” had two covers (one side for each band). PROGRAMM C used “the death of marat” by jacques-louis david, KOBAYASHI a drawing by carl fredrik hill (i can’t figure out the name). the 7” was limited to 600 copies (100 green/500 black) and hand-numbered. each band made a d.i.y.-booklet. i still remember producing 600 of the PROGRAMM C-booklets and stamping the white labels of the 7”s with a capeet records-stamp on one side and a PROGRAMM C-stamp on the other side. KOBAYASHI just used two small coloured stickers to mark their side.

when KONSTRUKT invited PROGRAMM C to a 8-shows-tour in germany in 1999, jan produced a limited (50 copies) special tour-cover. 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#193: POLE*/STROKE - “split”

if you’ve been active in the 90s hardcore scene, you for sure noticed that POLE* is quite active on instagram lately (2020/2021). a new shirt was released too. POLE* was discussed in the 90s a lot, but i just can’t remember what it was all about. i’ve never seen them live either (i think). 

i have to admit that i don’t know that much about both bands, beside that they are from germany. the split-7″ was released via pateline industries (further details on discogs). on the inside of the cover there are the logos of pateline industries, life force records, inside view magazine, and XconsolidationX fanzine. i’m not sure what’s that about.

both bands play this metallic kind of hardcore that was big when bands like CULTURE or DISEMBODIED became popular. the two STROKE-songs are more straight forward exactly in this metallic hardcore-way, the two POLE*-songs combine this with some crossover-elements. crossover was still popular in the mainstream at this time. 

the production of both bands is really okay, but this split-7″ is actually none that i’m enjoy listening to today, 25 years (holy fuck!) after it’s release in 1996.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#192: PLASTIC PRIDE - “noir”

in april 1998 PLASTIC PRIDE were supporting SEPARATION on their european tour. i went to the shows in prague and vienna to see SEPARATION. i’m not sure, if i knew PLASTIC PRIDE before that. but i remember, listening to their “daredevil i lost”-cd (released via desperate fight records in 1997) a lot. 

the “noir”-7″ was released in 1999 via eternity ea records and destination records on red vinyl. the three songs are less (melodic) hardcore as the previous releases and let me think of amrep-bands or even HELMET. but somehow the three songs on this release didn’t age that well. 

if the information on discogs is correct, members of PLASTIC PRIDE are now playing in CULT OF LUNA (thomas hedlund) and KHOMA (jan jämte).

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#191: PITTBULL/RYKERS - “split”

again one of those records i ordered from lost & found. l&f sent out something like a mailorder-catalogue with lots of pictures in it in the early 90s already. so i got hooked on some shirts and read the descriptions of the records to figure out what the bands were about. at some point i they had a yellow PITTBULL-longsleeve which i ordered (in extra large of course, though i was pretty skinny back then already) together with this PITBULL/RYKERS split-7". i guess this must have happened in the first half of the 1990s. at least the record was released in 1993.

the two PITTBULL-songs are okay. the band was from detroit, but pretty much adapted the sound of the east coast- or new york-hardcore scene. tough shit. it's still okay to listen to, but actually it never was the kind of hardcore i really liked.

the same goes for RYKER'S actually. we always made fun of them for being the german MADBALL-wannabes. i guess this might be their first official release. they added an apostrophe for the later releases, but on this one they are still called RYKERS. i have to admit though: the three songs on this record aren't bad at all. they've got mosh-parts, hooks and i like them. weird. on new years eve 1996 RYKER'S played a show at the oho in oberwart in austria together with ABHINANDA (here's a youtube-video of their show). i went there to see ABHINANDA, so i just watched RYKER's from the back. i didn't care about or didn't like their show.

on the backside of the cover is a picture of the two bands and a tour-badge that says "m.a.d. europe 93", so i guess this 7" was released for or after a tour of the two bands. the pretty shitty cover-design was done by fabian richter of artcore productions. but in this scene this weird graphic-style was (and maybe still is) popular.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#190: PHILLIPPÉ/UNIVERSAL - “love.”

the front-cover of this split-7″ might let you think of a mod- or beat-record, but don’t get tricked. PHILLIPPÉ plays this late 80s washington d.c. emo-core (think of RITES OF SPRING etc.). UNIVERSAL are doing this wall-of-sound or noise-hardcore. a label-flyer that comes with the record describes their style with: BORN AGAINST meets URANUS. that’s quite fitting. some heavy stuff, if you know these bands. i think even grindcore-fans could like UNIVERSAL. 

the UNIVERSAL-side is called “punk”, while the PHILLIPPÉ-side is called “hippie”. it may seems stupid, but it fits. PHILLIPPÉ isn’t hippie at all, of course. but their two songs are - in comparison to the four UNIVERSAL-songs, that don’t take any prisoners at all - more difficult to get in. think of late 80s d.c. emo-core and you’ll understand. 

i’m not sure, when this record was released, but it might be 1998 or 1999, since the UNIVERSAL-songs were recored in may 1998. it’s a co-release of flowerviolence records (still active by the way) and hombre lobo records. 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#189: PERIOD PAINS - “spice girls (who do you think you are?)”

in 1997 i went on the first interrail trip of my life. we were traveling through the uk and ireland for a month. in london we bought the melody maker and the nme and in one of those was a review of this record. i ended up checking out every single record store i found and finally stumbled across the record somewhere. and that’s more or less the whole story about this record. 

as you probably already figured out by reading “spice girls (who do you think you are?)” it was a typical hype record. an all female riot grrrl-band singing about the artificiality of a world-known pop band. everyone in the punk-/indie-scene knew that anyway, but i guess that’s how the british news-/media-system works (creating artificial hypes). 

on the 7″ (released in 1997 by damaged goods) are three pretty simple punk rock-songs. nothing special actually, though john peel invited PERIOD PAINS to a bbc-session, which was released on another 7″ later on in 1997 by damaged goods as well. 

on the back-cover are the lyrics of the three songs, some production notes and - which is weird - some german school test with a teacher’s comment.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#188: THE PEECHEES - “cup of glory”

THE PEECHESS played in vienna some (easter?) weekend in the late 90s. xfunkydiscokidsx organized the show. i remember that i had to go to see my family and missed it. it’s a pitty i never got to see them play live. somehow THE PEECHES weren’t a band, that i was listening to a whole lot in the 90s, but retrospectively seen, they were damn good. this punk/riot grrrl vibe just gets to you.

“cup of glory” was released in 1994 and seems to be the first record of THE PEECHEES. it came out on kill rock stars and the cover is just amazing. just take a look at the illustrations (tennis, track & field on the front cover, basketball, skiing on the backcover), everything is lovely. on the inside of the gatefold cover you’ll find pictures of the four band members, lyrics and thank you notes. 

i really like “cheap fun”, but “grease” and “fine watch” are worth listening to too. on side b there’s another song, but it ends after only a few seconds. it actually sounds like a misproduction, but since discogs points it out too, i guess it’s intended.

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#187: OVERCAST - “begging for indifference”

edison recordings discovered and released lots of very relevant bands in the 90s. if you were into metallic/chaotic hardcore, it definitely was worth to check out their records. this OVERCAST-7″ (released in 1996) has the catalog number edison 003. the STARKWEATHER “into the wire”-12″ was edison 001, and the ACME-discography was edison 002. just to drop some names.

very big shoes to fill, but the two OVERCAST songs on “begging for indifference” are up to it. “for indifference” as well as “fate’s design” sound like very metallic hardcore songs. it’s even more like metal, without intensive guitar soli. the songs still work today. 

what’s not working out is the packaging design. fuck me. the frontcover is still okay, but the rest belongs to the ugliest things in my collection. it’s just horrible. the song titles on the back cover look like if they would come out of 3-d-books, that were popular years ago. you really have to concentrate to be able to read anything. the inlay-gatefold-card isn’t better. maybe it should be a poster on one side, but the proportions of the picture aren’t correct at all. beside of that, the resolution of the picture isn’t big enough (pixel-alarm). on the other side there are lyrics, thanks-lists and some details about the recordings, talking about songs that even aren’t on the 7″. it seems that the cd-booklet was used and blown up for the 7″. 

[inthecaseofdarkness]

#186: ONE MAN AND HIS DROID - “one man and his droid”

ONE MAN AND HIS DROID from germany played solid 90s emo rock, somewhere between THE GET UP KIDS and deep elm records bands. concerning songwriting, the band did very well actually. the biggest problem is, that the singer is off quite regularly. but at least he is into it with his heart. no hesitation, just singing at the top of his lungs. self-confidence wasn’t the problem here.

four songs on this record, released via remaining thought records in 1999, maxing out the length of a 7″. the packaging-design is very artsy. it’s a fold out cover with lots of white space, a band photo, lyrics, and a thanks list on the inside. the last of the four songs is called “better than dying”, which is written on the footer on the cover as well. a label flyer, that came with the record, advertises the record with the name “one man and his droid”. on discogs you’ll find it under “better than dying”. 

i haven’t listened to the record for quite a while now and though i did that like 15 minutes ago, i can’t remember not one part of a single song. weird.