SATURDAY SEMINAL POST-HARDCORE ALBUM (FROM A BAND WE’VE NEVER, EVER MENTIONED BEFORE) TO GET DRUNK/STONED/HIGH/GONE/FOUND TO: INK AND DAGGER — THE FINE ART OF ORIGINAL SIN
Saturday, June 27th, 2009 at 3:43pm by Kip WingerschmidtHardcore often gets a bad rap from the aggressive music community. It’s usually screechier, more grating and abrasive than metal, which can require quite a bit of commitment to get into. However, thanks to countless regional bands and farther-reaching outfits such as Converge and Botch, the genre has become both a lasting movement and an art form.
It took me quite a while to get down with the frenetic off-kilter riffs and bloodcurling high-pitched screams that I consider to be “hardcore-styles” (who fucking knows anymore), but the more I came to understand that this type of music is all about taking those ugly risks and not concerning oneself with the oft-ultimate priority for metallers, almighty technique, the more I could appreciate. And clearly hardcore players almost always have more chops than the punk rockers ever did (at least most of them).
The innovative band Ink and Dagger is straight from the heyday of the gay 90s, starting in 1996 in Philadelphia as a face-painted Vampire-themed punk band (!) and quickly transitioning into what many would call one of the shining kernels of post-hardcore. They only lasted for a few years, announcing their impending break-up in ‘99, and shortly after the group recorded their last album (which became self-titled), 27 year-old singer Patrick McCabe was found dead in a motel room in Indiana.
Who knows where McCabe would’ve taken aggressive music in his next band…
INK AND DAGGER — The Fine Art of Original Sin (1998)
1 — “The Fine Art Of Original Sin”
2 — “Philapsychosis”
3 — “We Live Despite Their Schemes”
4 — “Cut Throat Tactics”
5 — The Six Feet Under Swindle”
6 — “The History In E”
7 — “Vampire Fastcode Ver. 1.5″
[entire album downloadable here]
….but rest assured I did not put this link up, so if the litigious remaining members of the band wish to pursue legal actions, get yr e-tectiving on (i.e., don’t look at me!!)
-KW
Wow really interesting. I will definitely give these guys a listen. Thanks!
Such a great band. And don’t forget, even though it was a brief time, Eric Wareheim of Tim and Eric rocked some time in this band too.
Is this true? i wish i could’ve been to one of those shows..
Great SSTGST!!!!! This band was one of many mid 90’s bands that opened a lot of doors for what we’re hearing in hardcore/metal music today. Thanks for (hopefully) turning kids onto an often overlooked band.
May I recommend three great little-known recent albums that are fun/cool to get stoned to, that are in a simular vein?
Obviously they have decent drummers…
Here goes:
- Fifty Watt Head/ Fogcutter (Canada)
- Mothra/ Dies (Poland)
- Kylesa/ Static Tensions (US)
All three of these ‘Stoner-Metal’ albums are reminiscent of later Melvins, Mastadon, and Pelican; and all three are very pissed-off sounding.
Fiftywatthead is one word and Kylesa is pretty well known around these parts
yea, most people know Kylesa where I’m from… but that doesn’t mean they don’t kick ass!!! good call w/ ur post. all 3 of these bands rock.
Thanks Dude.
BTW I’m from Van and have seen SYL a few times….
After reading drumb’s comment, I searched this site for Billy Anderson, and there’s not one article tagged. Anyway, if you want supercharged pissed off stoner metal, Blessing the Hogs will remedy.
Merci.
I’ll seek it out tonight.
Sorry; I misspelled the Mothra album, it’s called Dyes. Hard to find, but worth it.
(there are at least 4 bands called Mothra, so you need the correct title)
Thanks again AbleBodiedMachine for recommending Blessing The Hogs, I will check it out after I finish downloading Divine Heresy/ Bringer Of Plagues, which was posted today and is available here:
http://newmetaldiscs.blogspot.com/2009/06/divine-heresy-bringer-of-plagues.html
Fuck; don’t bother with the new Divine Heresy… it’s more commercial crap.
Cazares’ git parts are cool, but everything else about this band blows.
And don’t get me started on what I think of triggered drum sounds; it would be a lengthy tirade.
wow, nice 90 flashback. rock on.
great to see this band on here, it was unfortunate to see that Bert from the Used listed them as the band that “changed his life” in alternative press last month. they need to inspire some good music not shitheads like The Used
haven’t thought about this band in at least 10 years…thanks for the reminder
HC punk bands like Bad Brains, (early) SS Decontrol, Die Kreuzen, 7 Seconds, SNFU, Offenders, D.O.A., MDC, DRI, Minor Threat and Black Flag had serious speed chops and the courage to create something new people hadn’t ever heard.
classic band, loved how they pissed off plenty of hardcore purists in the 90’s, even though they were supposedly kind of jerks. ah well…
To be fair to the “litigious” remaining members of Ink & Dagger, I’d say there is a definite difference between some kid getting your album off of the ‘net and the biggest software company in the world putting your songs in a mass-produced video game.
oh man, this band was so great.
so what if you didnt put up that link? your fucking blog obviously gets way more traffic than whoever’s little download blog put up that link.
why don’t you put up a link like this?
http://www.amazon.com/Fine-Art-Original-Sin/dp/B000009QL5
christ amazon sells the record, it’s not like you have to dig… obviously the remaining members of the band arent going to get rich off of back royalties for their obscure screamo band, but there’s nothing wrong with them going after microsoft for using their songs without permission. that doesnt make them “litigious” that makes Microsoft assholes for CLEARLY being able to afford to license their songs and deciding not to. if you want to draw attention to and support an obscure band there’s a very clear way to do it. it’s not like they just had one demo and never any official releases…if thats the case then sure download away. but I&D was a real band they had a couple full lengths and a bunch EPs and toured. come on dudes not cool
Here’s some obscure & hard to find for ya:
Ironchrist – Getting the most out of your own Extinction.
Absolutely Fucking Brilliant and way ahead of its time…
Funny this was a SSTGST… I went to high school with one of the guys in this band who was very straight-edge, complete with X’s tattooed on him (as were the rest of the skaters/hardcore kids in the clique). Go figure they all ended up becoming stoners and drug addicts…. at least the X’s they had tattooed could serve as markers for doing bumps of coke.
hardcore sucks.
This band was so much fun that I had to break out both albums after reading this and give them a spin. People were really really pissed about the whole “vampire” thing but it actually worked live. On a non-musical, but band-related note, it was Sean McCabe threw yogurt at Karl from Earth Crisis during a show in New Jersey…still one of my top-5 funniest ‘did that just happen’ moments at a show. Not enough bands express their displeasure by hurling dairy products these days.