EXTREME SMOKE 57 "WHO SOLD THE SCENE?"

I have been thinking alot about my teenage years lately.  I spent my youth on the west side of Chicago, raised by two amazing grandparents. My grandma would peek into my poster covered room laugh at the absurdity of some the music I would be listening to- whether it be Manowar, King Diamond or some harsh Japanese noise. She was an amazing soul, and I miss her everyday.

During those days, I was receiving some awesome tapes in trades (as mentioned in the Warsore piece), and was lucky enough to get a dubbed copy of Extreme Smoke 57's "Who Sold The Scene?". Nothing prepared me for the sheer brutality of this album. I would laugh every time at just how fucking goofy yet scary this album was. It humiliated almost everything else in my collection, and I instantly dubbed two backup copies, just in case my walkman got hungry.

30 songs in 7 minutes. One song ends, and you get the sound a of burp, or explosion, or gunshot or chainsaw or creaking door to mark the beginning of the next assault. This ep had songtitles like "I Wonder What All Conservative Grinders Will Do With This?" and "Grindcore Is Rather Selling Out", blurrrcore "riffing", endless blastbeats and multiple vocalists puking, grunting and screaming in agony, all  resulting in a whirlwind shark tornado of aggression. It surprises me that I don't hear as much praise about this record as I think it rightfully deserves. Slovenia's Extreme Smoke 57 not only recorded the most intense, unmarketable, offensive grind record of 1996, they ended up recording one of the most timeless grind records ever. This is a serious top shelf album, and should sit snug between all the Sore Throat and Sete Star Sept albums.

INDEPENDENT MUSIC IS BORING