Cryptic Slaughter

Seminal "hardcore" band from Northern California. Until recently, their CDs were some of the most hot-selling commodities on eBay...but as the old adage goes, "If You Wait Long Enough, It Will Be Reissued." It just took them a lot longer than most...

"Convicted" (2003 reissue)

  1. "M.A.D." (1:24)
  2. "Little World" (1:39)
  3. "Sudden Death" (1:44)
  4. "Lowlife" (2:32)
  5. "Rage to Kill" (1:49)
  6. "Rest in Pain" (3:03)
  7. "Nuclear Future" (4:16)
  8. "State Control" (1:49)
  9. "Hypocrite" (3:02)
  10. "War to the Knife" (1:54)
  11. "Nation of Hate" (1:24)
  12. "Black and White" (2:07)
  13. "Reich of Torture" (2:55)
  14. "Convicted" (1:33)
    Life in Grave Demo 5/85:
  15. "Flesh of the Womb" (2:36)
  16. "Necessity Supreme" (2:45)
  17. "Life in Grave" (1:36)
  18. "War to the Knife" (2:17)
  19. "Rest in Pain" (3:34)
    Live in Houson 7/6/88:
  20. "Set Your Own Pace" (2:19)
  21. "Positively" (2:29)
  22. "Black and White" (2:20)
  23. "Lowlife" (2:59)

This album caused me to smack myself in the forehead every time I visited the used CD store -- not once, but TWICE, I saw the original disc in the bins for $5.99, and I didn't buy it...blissfully unaware that the sucker would fetch over $60 at auction!! Indeed, Bill Crooks decided to reissue the band's albums when he saw how pricey they were. (And people are STILL bidding $20+ for the reissued version...idiots!) There's also some tracks from the Live in Grave demo (nice, but cheap-ass quality) and a brief live set from the Money Talks tour. Kinda pointless to discuss the music, since it's all 200-miles-an-hour and sounds the same anyway...but the repackaged booklet is nice, and I totally forgot how funny it was that all the band members appear to look fourteen years old.

"Money Talks"

  1. "Money Talks" (4:10)
  2. "Set Your Own Pace" (1:19)
  3. "Could Be Worse" (3:43)
  4. "Wake Up" (2:35)
  5. "Freedom of Expression?" (3:14)
  6. "Menace to Mankind" (3:12)
  7. "Too Much, Too Little" (1:08)
  8. "Human Contrast" (2:27)
  9. "Tables are Turned" (4:24)
  10. "Positively" (1:35)
  11. "All Wrong" (2:02)
  12. "American Heroes" (3:47)

When I first bought this record (on crappy vinyl), I had no idea what the band sounded like and had never listened to hardcore before. What a shocker when I played it! I remember turning to my brother (or whoever it was who was there) and said, "Uh, I dunno about this..." Well after some perseverence I got to really like the band. The song lyrics helped a lot, talking shit about the P.M.R.C. and stuff. Quite nostalgic these days.

This is the original pressing, which used to sell for up to $150 on eBay...and I bought it for six bucks, haha suckers!! Not a clue what it's worth now, but I think I'll stick with it since the reissued version only contains demos for this album & a few more live songs. Sure hope they reprint Stream of Consciousness soon...


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