Search - Gore :: Hart Gore

Groundbreaking but completely forgotten

PB000001 | Belgium | 11/21/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The legendary debut of this Dutch instrumental hardcore outfit, recorded in 1986. Filled with brutal and repetitive, but at the same time quite catchy guitar riffs. This album is dark, heavy, post-apocalyptic, and sexy as hell. I never get bored listening to this. Also, the fact that there are (English as well as Dutch) lyrics to every instrumental song (lyrics that mock and at the same time celebrate the typical death metal / horror movies themes) is so cool.



This is definitely one of the best things to have come out of the Dutch anarchist squatters scene of the eighties. Should be of interest to hardcore, metal, sludge, noise rock, industrial and drone fans alike. So look no further and buy without hesitation: you have located the long lost forefathers/ counterparts of the Melvins, Swans, Flipper, Godflesh, Kyuss and Sun0)))



-- A short note on the other Gore albums:

While Hart Gore is a killer throughout, the other Gore studio albums have their highs and their lows. The follow-up, Mean Man's Dream (1987) had 'songs' that were a little bit more complex, but not necessarily more interesting. Still it is very much worth getting, and the title track to that album is my all-time favorite Gore track. The split live album that Gore did in that same year with the Rollins Band is absolutely fantastic, yet, to my knowledge it has never been released on CD and might be very hard to track down.



By the time this was released, Gore had made quite a name for themselves in the hardcore/ metal underground, and also the US noise scene around Albini and Sonic Youth was taking note. Wrede / A Cruel Peace (1989) was produced by Steve Albini, and was meant to be Gore's breakthrough album, but while it had its moments, it was not as dark and hardhitting as its predecessors, and its failure to get any recognition caused the demise of the band. Gore was revived in 1992 and released a.o. Lifelong deadline, and Mest 694'3. Samples were introduced on these albums. Some songs on them are great ("In the Name of Rotten, Evil and Gore" springs to mind), but as a whole, the quality is quite uneven. And so Hart Gore and Mean Man's Dream remain the essential Gore studio albums."