Picked this up at the Derby All Dayer, and settled down to listen to it for the first time in the bath. And I guess it’s more health conscious and has less calories than settling down with some Belgian chocolates in the bath instead. But is it as tasty?

Anyway, so what this is about is four bands spread across the CD, each contributing 3 tracks. First of the bands is Circle who offer 3 pretty decent tracks, featuring some nice tempo changes, shout-a-long choruses, especially on Knockout and a bit of variation in the vocal department. There’s even an almost acoustic guitar led intro to Drift Away, which currently makes a nice change.

Next in the pecking order are Exit Nineteenwho revert to what seems to currently be the more normal border on a deathmetal growl style vocal. Which isn’t bad, but is just getting quite boring these days. And then, during Reflection, there’s an acoustic passage that used to be prevelant in many metal bands at the turn of the decade. Nothing wrong in that, just pointing that there are links to different places whereever and whenever you look. Severed has a thrash riff in there, and a chord progression that you could easily associate with say Slayer. Sounds pretty good actually, though isn’t it strange how Tom Araya’s vocals, which were always regarded as extreme and "hard", look compartively accessible by the standards of some of todays hardcore throat stranglers.

PN finish the CD, and I kinda like this band. There is the typical hardcore thing going on, I mean, would you expect anything less. But there’s also some variation in the vocals that seem to prove that vocalist Johan has a pretty impressive range. It’s something I’d like to see used more, but at least it’s used, and it helps set things apart. Musically it’s on the metal hardcore side of things for the most part, but there are some more melodic breaks, and a little more invention.

Sometimes I wonder if all this metallic European hardcore is going to be looked back on in 5 or 10 years time in the same way German metal and thrash is now. Y’know, chessy and out of date. But that’s worrying about the future, and really it’s the present that counts.

Available on: Funtime Records, Dutselhoek 12, B 3220, Holsbeek.

Picked these up at the OCPU gig above (for those reading the paper version. If you’re on the web, it’ll be somewhere else.) Anyway, I’ve heard the name of this magazine a few times, but never actually saw a copy. So when two were presented to the eyes, well, they were taken aback. As was I when I opened them, cos what we have here is your common or garden FULL COLOUR GLOSSY PRINT magazine. Wow. That must cost. Yet it’s still only got a cover price of 1.95. It’s described as a street zine, culture vulture or "one with bits about skateboarding and snowboarding in it". Which is stuff I know nothing about and to be honest, am not overly interested in.

One issue has Sick of it All in along with an on the road with Pitchshifter and more, while the other has the Beastie Boys, 59 Times the Pain, Mogwai, SpeedUrchin and more. If you’re into the new music scene, or the skate lifestyle, grab some copies.

See, Mr Cynic's at home at the moment, so seeing a name for an album like that, and knowing that there's a load of remixes of tracks from the self titled album on here, I'm wondering if that name is just a little too indicative of what it's going to sound like and I'm about to made a fool of. But then Biffo (Brutalized version) opens up, and within seconds, it doesn't really matter anyway. That thick, sick and heavy 3D sound is going from the player, through the headphones and into my lugholes (well, I don't think everyone, or maybe anyone in work would appreciate the sound of Beef reverberating round the office. And yeah Steve, I'm working on the thesis. Honest. You'll have that chapter by Thursday.) Now where was I? Oh yeah, we're into the thick rumbling bass. 3D are a contradiction. They're not easy listening, they make a greater impact live, yet are still utterly compelling on CD. But you need to be in the frame of mind to appreciate it.

Sedition (16 Volt Mudcock Mix) sees the first of the remixes. Always sure to test my powers of endurance are remixes. This one has a dance beat and a lot of electronics enfused on it. In fact, the only thing I really recognise are some of Nial's vocals. Which leads to the problem I have with remixes. Maybe a column for sometime, I've already been in a prolonged discussion of this with Mr BlowHoly. But anyway, it's like, as a song in it's own right, it's kind of ok, more electronic than I usually listen to, but that's the point. I wish they'd make songs in their own right, instead of using the sometimes tenuous link to another song and calling it a remix. Why not a collaboration of some kind between two artists. One providing the music, the other the lyrics or a riff or whatever it is that's been saved from the original? Anyway, that's my problem not yours. Does it work here? Well, I guess you can tell that I'm the wrong person to ask really. Can I just give no answer? "No Dave". Bugger. Uh, well, ok, not as good as the original.

The remixes continue through tracks Society Of Old Crows (Scar Tissue Perception mix) and White Hog Slaughter (Deathline Int’l Remix), and they're kind of more atmosopheric, less dense and there's room for the music to breath more than the originals. Excuse me while I just go and wash my mouth out after having uttered such a pretentious sentence. Swishswishswigglebleurgh. That's better. I guess I mean, they're less heavy and intense than the originals. There, that's a whole lot better isn't it.

Abate brings us back to the new 3D material, and the difference insound and style is marked. I'm feeling decidely easier here, in a very uneasy manner. Well, it's not easy listening. But it's trademark 3D.

Id’d By Dental Records (Leech Woman Interference Mix) is another remix, and it's the one that's working the best for me. And I can't give you any idea why it's working the best. It just does ok! Though the 6 1/2 minutes is probably a couple of minutes too long. No hang on, Society Of Old Crows (Class 3 permit mix) is up, which features a gonzoid out of control drummachine set on kill, probably a little like ol' Johnny Violent and his UltraViolence. It's utterly pointless and great because of it. It's also the rhymthic shot in the arm that I was probably looking for at this point in the CD.

And then we're back into the sludge of Brittle, one of their best tracks to date. It's got a groove and swagger to it, brutal in its simplicity. But at least it ain’t a remix. Yet.

White Hog Slaughter (Insilico Remix) finishes things off, yeah, it’s another remix. Nice drums though.

Overall? Well, it is a puzzler. You wonder where it's going to attract the new listeners. You do need to be in the right mindset to listen. Maybe those that like remixes and more techno oriented music will "get them" for the first time, but then you think the normal Beef is going to scare the shit out of them. But maybe it's not done for the recruitment of new listeners. Maybe it's just done because they wanted to.