Spalte Brno na prach
 / Burn Brno Down to Ashes

[ LP - 2008 ]

The best - well, everything of Brno based
raw punk/crust/HC no-compromise shit

12 ug hardcore bands (EVIDENCE SMRTI, SEE YOU IN HELL, MAC GYVER, AGE OF DEATH, THE LOUDEST SILENCE NEVER HEARD, FESTA DESPERATO, MAD PIGS, RISPOSTA, PRIPYAT, CORE BASTARDS, REAKCE NA ZMĚNU, ZEMĚŽLUČ) and a bunch of other active people join forces to put together this extensive representation of Brno scene that recently grew very active and strong. 

Rather than an attempt at promoting the local dirty punk patriotism, it is a cool listen on the first place offering a surprising variety of various raw styles of music, from punk to almost death metal!

A matter of course is a comprehensive 36-page booklet supplement.

This whole is supported by 14 local record labels: Papagájův Hlasatel, Phobia, Insane Society, Člověk, Zero Budget Productions, Hardcore Attack, Psychocontrol, Bažina, Destroy After Use, Garfield, Hellbeat, Codex, Rauva Turvaa, and Totalitarianism Still Continues.

REVIEWS:

@ Kids and Heroes (CZECH)
@ RawEzin (CZECH)
@ Czechcore (CZECH)

REVIEWS IN ENGLISH:

Fucking hell! If people start putting out more compilations that are as high quality as this one, then maybe comps will stop getting such a bad rep. This LP features 12 hardcore/punk bands all from the same city in the Czech Republic: Brno. The bands are varied enough in styles so that your attention wont wander, but they also arent too varied either. My personal favourites were EVIDENCE SMRTI, SEE YOU IN HELL, AGE OF DEATH, FESTA DESPERATO and PRIPYAT, but really, every band on here is great. Get this now or you will be kicking yourself later!
(Zach, Not Very Nice - issue 5)

It is the Brno city raw Hardcore/ Punk compilation. I guess every now and then an LP is released with local bands to show how the scene is going on here. This time 800 (black) + 300 (red) copies were pressed altogether, which are carried by many labels/ distros all around the country. I will not list all the labels that participated in putting this compilation out, let’s see the bands that are here instead. Evidence Smrti starts with two songs, and about their demo I will write somewhere else, OK? See You In Hell needs no introduction, either, if it does for you, read what I have written about their new LP somewhere else. Mac Gyver was surprisingly good for me, unfortunately only one song is here from them, on the basis of which I can state they have some original approach to music. Age of Death plays messy fastcore, the way I like it, enhanched by both hysteric female and male vocals. The Loudest Silence Never Heard is the only band on the LP using English lyrics (a very good one by the way), their song here is rather varied, and I could notice some metallic themes in there as well. Festa Desperato closes side A with two great, intensive crusty songs, the way they do in their orther releases. Mad Pigs offers probably one of the lightest stuff here, and even if I regularly do not like such stuffs I could enjoy this dirty track. The next one Risposta sounds excellent, I think they are also one of the most respected bands coming from here. They don’t run that fast here, but their songs are full of power and I liked the great basswork and the choruses most of all. Prypyat speeds up the tempo with 6 short, chaotic songs here, which I like very much. Core Bastards, now Korubo, has two songs here, and in this you can notice the base of their new demo, though the vocals are different (there are two types here) and the music is a bit more complicated and solid. I like the strange tempo-changes the most. Reakce Na Změnu has two never-heard (at least by me) songs on this compilation, which follow the direction of their demotracks (see: elsewhere) both music- and sound-wise. The closing track is from Zemĕzluč, one of the oldest, if not the oldest, still existing Punkbands from Brno – even though their track here is not their best in my opinion, one can definitely appreciate their original sound and style of writing melodious and catchy music of the mentioned kind. The compilation comes with a huge book(let) with all the info on the bands, the labels and also about other activities in the city of Brno. I think most of you have already met and got the release, if not here is a chance to get your copy from.
(Erik, Spálená ramena - issue 1)
  
It really is about time there was a good compilation of Czech bands playing that raw style of pissed-off hardcore/punk that has given the country a good name! Brno, a city in Czech Republic for those uninformed, has some great acts and included are a lot of them. 27 songs, 17 bands, including: SEE YOU IN HELL, MAC GYVER (dude, why hasnt anybody used that name before?), AGE OF DEATH, FESTA DESPERATO, MAD PIGS, PRIPYAT, CORE BASTARDS, ZEMEZLUC and much more. Comes with an awesome big booklet too.
(Nick Mangel, Maximum RocknRoll - issue 307)
 
From what information I've gathered through talking to people and reading zines there are two camps when it comes to compilations: one that think they've played out their part since you can browse the internet in search of new bands, and one that appreciates the compilation as a medium and still uses it to find new great bands. I'm definitely part of the latter group and while I can admit two hours of MySpace browsing might be both cheaper and more efficient I appreciate the compilation for what it is - a record filled with punk. I like punk and I like records, I don't go apeshit over 1's and 0's when it comes to music.
With the above said I've made it clear that I think this compilation LPs existence is valid regardless what quality the music might hold. Luckily this LP is not just valid, it kicks ass! I've known for a long time that the Czech scene holds some of the most raging and fierce hardcore punk bands Europe has to offer today and the twelve bands on here aren't doing anything to change my mind on that.
The bands Evidence Smrti, See You In Hell, Mac Gyver, Age of Death, The Loudest Silence Never Heard, Festa Desperato, Mad Pigs, Risposta, Pripyat, Core Bastards, Reakce na Zmenu, and Zemezluc are together bringing different versions and styles of what we call hardcore punk and where one band might lean more towards crust and another stand closer to fastcore or powerviolence they all contribute to making this one of the more qualitative compilations I've heard in a long time. Admittedly some bands are better than other of course, but they all maintain high quality and therefore I see no reason to go further into detail of what band is better than what band, I instead urge you to make your own opinion after you've bought this record. All the twenty-seven songs are previously unreleased by the way.
Also accompanying the LP is a thick full-sized booklet with thirty-six pages of band-, label- and other Czech punk related information. The compilation has been put together by Filip of See You In Hell and you'll find several Czech label logos in the booklet. "Burn Brno to ashes".
(www.attackfanzine.net)
 
 
Reviewing hardcore compilations blows, especially when they are mostly chock full of really good bands. There is no way to properly describe any band and the reviewer is frequently left saying simply „this is good“ or „this is bad“. This LP, featuring bands from in and around Brno, Czech Republic, is one of the good ones. Really good. Hardcore punk is the focus, with a few slightly more melodic tracks, the MAC GYVER tune is particularly sweet, and there is not a clunker to be found on either side. SEE YOU IN HELL are probably the best known band on the comp. (which was assembled by the guitarist), and their track smokes. THE LOUDEST SILENCE NEVER HEARD are in the URANUS vein, AGE OF DEATH, FESTA DESPERATO and PRIPYAT are fast noisy crust, MAD PIGS are for fans of DEFIANCE, CORE BASTARDS and RISPOSTA are total Swedish d-beat worship, REAKCE NA ZMENU are fastcore brilliance, and the record closes with a great melodic punk track from ZEMEZLUC, who date back to the late 80s. THE LP comes with a fat booklet with info in Czech and English on the scene in Brno (both music and community), a page for each band and lots of details on gig collectives and other punk shits in the town. A super solid chronicle of a thriving scene in a city far far away...
(Short, Fast And Loud - issue 21)

RELEASE DATA:

Date of release: 2.9.2008

Format: 12" vinyl LP, 36-page A4-size booklet 
             300 copies come on red vinyl, the rest is black like minds of Brno politicians

BAND LINKS:

EVIDENCE SMRTI   [ myspace ]
SEE YOU IN HELL   [ myspace ] [ web ]
MAC GYVER 
AGE OF DEATH   [ myspace ]
THE LOUDEST SILENCE NEVER HEARD  
FESTA DESPERATO   [ myspace ] [ web ]
MAD PIGS   [ myspace ] 
RISPOSTA   [ web ]
PRIPYAT   [ myspace ]
CORE BASTARDS   [ web ]
REAKCE NA ZMĚNU   [ web ]
ZEMĚŽLUČ   [ web ]

STATUS: available, trades for other vinyl welcome