WEHRMACHT - Shark Attack Reissue
Hammerheart Records
Well this is a fucking trip down memory lane for yours truly. For those of you who were not around back then. WEHRMACHT were a late 80's five piece hardcore act out of Portland, Oregon. They put out one important demo and two proper full lengths. Shark Attack was their debut full length which originally came out in 1987 on New Renaissance Records. That's the basics alright.
Now as far as personal history goes, I never had an original copy of this on vinyl back in the day. I do have it on CD, a reissue, now. But decades ago I had this (still do) on a cassette via a tape trade. Another cool band from back then ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT are on one side of the tape and WEHRMACHT on the flip. I also had the demo, Beermacht, from 1986 but that was a bootleg. I think I gave it to someone or the tape broke. I forget it's been a while. What's crazy is that I once saw this release in a used record store with a price tag way to fuckin high.
Musically WEHRMACHT relied on pure unadulterated speed and chaos plus they weren't too bad at musicianship. Their guitar tone was like banging on sheet metal. But their song structures were simple hardcore stuff with the vocals hidden behind the music and they also had a comedic sense to boot. Their songs were all on the not so serious side as well.
Now historical revisionism as it is has placed this band into the crossover or crossover thrash genre tag line. As I've said for years, crossover is a term coined by the major labels who signed hardcore acts (just a few by the way) who also appealed to metal fans. You're average music fan at the time didn't say crossover to describe a fast sounding band. It was either hardcore or metal (thrash).
Another important note, if WEHRMACHT's debut album was influential in any way it was towards a burgeoning music scene back then which we would eventually call grindcore. With that said this reissue is a damm good release to pick up if you're into these old sounds. Why pay a huge sum of money for something sticker-ed "rare crossover thrash" when you just want the music. So this is probably one of the more important reissues of 2021 thanks to Hammerheart Records.
LISTEN HERE:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hg0g1roUH1g
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