Front and back cover artwork by Philipp Superfan Karger. The bombs and the explosion are screen-printed on the outer poly bag.
Spiel laut! Red vinyl version with labels.
V/A – Deutschland in Decline 7″
In the middle of the year 2004, I was thinking about good ways to celebrate the 15th birthday of HeartFirst Records which was coming up in 2005.
I think that compilations are the highlight in the life of a Punk record label or a certain scene. And very few of today’s compilations have really solid quality, especially if they’re focussing on a certain topic, area, or country.
In 1992, there had already been an international 7″ compilation on HeartFirst Records called “The World Is A Lonely Place”.
These days no one buys vinyl 7″s anymore – or so the people say. The 7″ EP is still the only true hardcore punk format – says I.
The one thing that sells even worse than 7″s in general are 7″ compilations, but I thought: In a long time there haven’t been so many great Hardcore Punk bands here in Germany as in the early 2000s. So I wanted to document what’s going on in form of a little compilation.
So I proceeded to ask some of those bands who were my friends, and they didn’t dare to decline the offer. I got seven wonderful and otherwise unreleased songs.
I asked another old friend of mine, Philipp SUPERFAN, to design the cover based on inspirations of another old German punk compilation from the early 1980s.
I ‘m very happy with the results. To me, this is the best German hardcore punk 7″ compilation to date. But wait – there have not been that many in the past, so it’s no big deal really. The only other great one is the Trust Vinyl 7″ compilation that came out in 1987.
Also the packaging turned out really fine. Full-color sleeve in a silk-screened poly bag. Expensive to make, but well – you only get to celebrate the 15th birthday once.
There are 500 on black, 500 on white, and 500 on red.
Tracks
The songs on the compilation are all are otherwise unavailable on vinyl:
THE NOW-DENIAL (Bielefeld/Münster/Bremen) – Emetics Overdosed (recorded especially for this compilation)
BURIAL (Ruhrpott/Bielefeld) – Under The Badge (from the session for their “Never Give Up…”-LP/CD)
SOLID DECLINE (Berlin) – Rockstar (from the session for their Adorning The Void 2×7″ on HeartFirst)
BOMBENALARM (Mülheim/Ruhrpott) – 1st Class Sheep, 2nd Hand Dogs (from the “Buried Alive” LP session)
CHAINBREAKER (Potsdam) – Dorf Nazis Must Die (from the session for their 7″ EP on Vendetta Mob)
DOOMTOWN (Bielefeld/Mülheim/Ruhrpott) – In The Jaws of Hell (from the session for the “Forever Fucked” LP)
AMEN 81 (Nürnberg) – Fast as a Shark im Goldfischglas (from the session of their third LP “The Hit Pit”)
Review from Maximum RocknRoll #274
Most bands these days give their worst throwaway tracks to compilations for good reason – most labels do a horrible job with comps, through bad distribution, crap artwork, tons of filler bands, hack recordings, the list goes on. Heartfirst somehow managed to find seven worthy bands to give not only exclusive tracks, but downright scorchers.
I really can’t remember the last time I thought that a whole compilation was worth listening to. The recordings are great, the artwork is awesome down to the screened plastic sleeves, the bands all have their own style, everything is here to warrant a good review.
The standout tracks for me are BURIAL with “Under the Badge,” an over the top Japanese style hardcore anthem. DOOMTOWN’s track “In the Jaws of Hell” is straight-ahead no-nonsense hardcore with a small TRAGEDY vibe, but not at all a replica.
I know I told Christoph that I would tear him a new asshole in this review (ha ha ha) but BOMBENALARM’s track, “First Class Sheep, Second Hand Dogs,” is my favorite, with awesome, unnerving chants and powerful, focused rhythems that cut and soar. Every other band is well worth checking out as well, but at risk of making this a novel I will leave it at that (WK, Maximum RocknRoll #274 )
