Back in stock. A goddamn classic album of weirdo American hardcore circa 1984, Milwaukee band Die Kreuzen's self-titled debut sprouted from the sort of speedbeast three-chord punk thrash that was raging all across the Midwest in the early 80s (and which they themselves pretty much perfected on the classic Cows And Beer 7" that preceded this), but by the time that the band got around to recording their first LP for Touch & Go, Die Kreuzen's sound had further mutated, with a newfound tendency towards off-kilter song arrangements and supersonic speeds, and made even more unique by the discordant riffery and odd droning melodic sensibilities that guitarist Brian Egeness was starting to experiment with. Of course, singer Dan Kubinski and his totally wrecked-out howl was also a big part of Die Kreuzen's x-factor here, and his monstrous vocals heard here are a clear precursor to the extreme styles that would begin to emerge in later years with the death/crust/grind crowd.

When this self-titled album came out, it sounded like nothing else, an absolutely savage and offbeat record that pushed hardcore punk's basic template into a more extreme direction. One would imagine that Greg Ginn's atonal playing style was at least somewhat of an influence on Egeness's guitar playing here, but he took that skronkiness and atonality even further, banging out his riffs with weird chordal shapes and odd phrasing that would itself end up being a major influence on the guys from Voivod; just listen to the jagged thrash of Die Kreuzen's "On The Street" or the dissonant claustrophobic dirge of "All White", and you can easily make out where Piggy picked up some of his ideas from. The rhythm section were no slouches either, drummer Eric Tunison and bassist Keith Brammer adding to the band's idiosyncratic sound, splintering apart the raging thrash tempos into sputtering off-time breaks and trickier time signature changes than you were used to hearing on a hardcore Lp back then. All of these guys bring something different to the table, and the result is one of the best and most bludgeoning American hardcore albums of the period, a big influence on the more extreme directions that both punk and metal would go in later in the decade, as well as pursuing a more progressive sound that would result in Die Kreuzen moving further away from typical three chord thrash with each subsequent album. Can't recommend this one enough, it's long been one of my favorite hardcore records, all the way down to the fantastic album art depicting a bleak, nightmarish Midwestern America with massive cyborg beasts grinding across the landscape on tank treads while smoke stacks and factories belch black smoke across the horizon. Essential stuff for fans of classic edgy hardcore outfits like Void, Mecht Mensch, Siege and United Mutation.

This newer vinyl reissue comes with a digital download code.