Various Artists - The Ourselves

Various Artists - The Ourselves
This takes me back. Back to the days when you relied on fanzines to discover bands and new releases. When you had to scour mail order lists and distros at shows to find that record you'd been searching ages for. When being a music fan required effort. I stocked this record on the distro I used to run, after reading about it and writing to the guy who put it out.

This is a live compilation from 1997, featuring largely metallic hardcore bands. Each band contributes a few songs each. The sound quality varies from band to band but generally is pretty raw.

Endeavor are heavy and chaotic whilst the vocals verge on unhinged at times. The strength of their songwriting shines through though, especially on the classic Kill Traitors. Coercion are chaotic and messy, and they are let down by the cookie monster vocals. The Converge tracks are as raw as they come but they are rippling with an energy rarely seen at their live shows (it's no secret that I don't rate them live). A Farewell Note To This City sounds much more Sabbathian than it does on record thanks to Jacob Bannon's Ozzy-esque wail. The sound for Fall Silent is poor and wafer thin, meaning that only Levi 's high pitched screams and a bassy wall of riffs remain. This derails the recording completely, which is a shame as I always liked that band. Coalesce's tracks are chaotic and rampaging but the sound quality is terrible. The sound for Disembodied is much better. In fact, it's the best quality sound here. The vocals are buried in the mix a little but all the other instruments can be clearly heard, meaning that their slower, chunky, evil sounding metal is very powerful. Still I Rise are stylistically different to all the other bands on the album. The rocking, female fronted emo of their first track, Dead Ends, reminds me a little of Month Of Birthdays. Really good. Their second track, Happy Endings, is jazzier and a little more experimental but isn't anywhere near as good.

This release is as DIY as it gets (the card cover for my copy is cut out of another album - a kids album featuring songs from the Wizard Of Oz from what I can make out). Despite its sonic failings, I like this. It reminds me of a time when music seemed so exciting. There were plans to put out a further volume. I'm not sure if they ever did but I would be keen to hear it if they did.