Here are some facts about the powerviolence genre. 1.) Stylistically, it is a GREAT genre. 2.) The best powerviolence bands are transcendentally good (i.e. Infest and more recently Mind Eraser). 3.) 95% of the bands within the powerviolence are garbage.
Somehow, most contemporary powerviolence acts have a really shallow understanding of the genre. Play fast... play slow... scream here... scream there... say we sound like "insert Slap-A-Ham band here" (and hope our audience doesn't know what said band actually sounds like). So with that out of the way here is a fact about the modern powerviolence climate: it is rule by oligarchy. There are a handful of bands that truly get it and not only do they do their genre's forerunners justice, but also challenge them. This includes Iron Lung in the Pacific Northwest and two other scenes. First is Texas headlined by Hatred Surge which is the brainchild of Alex Hughes. Hatred Surge literally started as a one man project with Alex writing everything. Early Hatred Surge shows would just be Alex playing bass & doing vocals while the PA blasted the band's recordings via iPod (surprisingly, still a very imposing live performance). The second is Boston and the Nu Scene. The major minds representing the output of this group include Brendan Radigan, Chris Corry, Drug Free Justin, and others. The only scene that has produced more quality powerviolence bands in the genre's history besides Boston is the original Slap-A-Ham / California scene. It was only logical that Boston be a breeding ground for class powerviolence. After all, Siege came from there.
Put To Death is a collision of worlds. It is a two man project featuring Alex Hughes & Chris Corry collaborating together. The product is a piece of wildly exceptional powerviolence. The real tragedy of Put To Death is a pretty common tale in hardcore: they just didn't do more. They only released one 7". That was the story of Put To Death. Even their one planned live show (at Chaos In Tejas) was cancelled. Put To Death is exceptional powerviolence. Their existence helps to validate the powerviolence genre. Enjoy.
http://www.mediafire.com/download/twxrb3f3c82u977/Put_To_Death.rar
In 88 I sent Infest a $20 bill for a copy of Slave and a t shirt. I never received them. Would've been sweet. Back then it was a lot of guess work involved in hearing new stuff. Thankfully getting ripped off was the exception for me. Put me off Infest though.
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