Wire, "Practice Makes Perfect"
The second Wire album, Chairs Missing, was a little less frenetic than the debut record. Many of the songs are given more room to develop, with a little bit more of a drone-y feeling to some of the songs. It's still great, but it's a different sort of record. This is how the record opens, setting the stage for how things would go.
Piss Vortex, "Abyss"
Hee hee, Piss Vortex. Sorry folks, couldn't resist this band! A little grindcore never hurt anybody! (This is not true, lots of people have probably been hurt at grindcore shows.)
Cavity, "Spine II"
The edgy vocal sample, that's extremely mid-90s right there.
Ludicra, "In Stable"
First time with Ludicra on the blog! Ludicra was a black metal band out of San Francisco, notable primarily for not being anything else besides a black metal band. They also stood out for John Cobbett's guitar playing, where he was willing to go pretty heroic at times, to very good effect. The riffs are huge and nice and clear, and the solos were bitchin'. This is from the final Ludicra album, Tenant, but Cobbett would later play with Five Songs favorites Vhöl and Hammers of Misfortune.
Iskra, "Lawless"
Going full-on metal today, huh? Iskra is a crust/black metal band from Victoria, B.C. Interestingly, this was a recommendation from a writer when I asked her for a band that was similar to Ludicra. And you can hear it! Anyway, sorry for the face-melting today.