Entry the 18th: Malefaction - Smothered

My first album by a Canadian (and local) act, this is an album that I didn't get until early 1998, but I had already been familiar with for a couple of years. I'd had it in my possession having borrowed it along with Propagandhi's Less Talk More Rock from my friend Richard, and tape of it came along with me on a road trip to BC a year and a half before, so Smothered and I were already good pals.

Listening to it now for some reason takes me back to a day when I saw Titanic at Portage Place, which is kind of a weird association for my brain to make, but I guess it was the right time period. It's now my least favorite Malefaction recording, but still pretty enjoyable, even if it lacks the bite of their later grindier work.

Check out: Remains

Entry the 17th: Refused - Songs To Fan The Flames Of Discontent

My first foray outside of the USA was into Sweden via hardcore band Refused. I had been missing out! I'd learned about them through the second Victory Style compilation with the song It's Not OK... I remember the day I bought this album at The Cellar with my friend Joe, and listening to it for the first time at home, the intro to Rather Be Dead being so exciting, and then the song itself being so fast but also nice and heavy at the same time.

I still love this band, although this isn't my favorite of their albums. It seems so much smarter than so many of these early selections of mine. Not necessarily in the lyrics, as I think they're just as naive as any other, but in the songwriting. Not so heavy a reliance on breakdowns or singalongs.

Check out: Rather Be Dead