Description
PARANOID are easily one of my favourite on-going bands. Just when you think they’ve peaked and their distillation of raw punk, heavy metal, hardcore and whatever else is as perfect as it can be, they crank it up a notch!
This double set compiles their last two physically-released albums and shows where they really came of age. Heavy Mental Fuck-Up is the rawer and more punk of the two; it has a total razor guitar sound (it’s been remastered here and sounds better than the original version in my humble opinion!) and is really pretty unrelenting in the way Discharge records would just not have any moments of respite from start to finish. Out Raising Hell may become the band’s masterpiece for me. There’s a really immediate sound to the recording, and it’s more metal-influenced than before. It’s informed by d-beat, hardcore, NWOBHM; it’s as much Venom as it is Gauze. I don’t think I’ve heard such utterly fuckin RIGHTEOUS guitar leads on a punk record in my life. This pair of records show what punk and metal are capable of when you don’t care about musical genre and just do what you feel you need to do, and that’s why PARANOID are the best there is!
Great new cover art from Anton Atanasov as a total tribute to the 90s bargain “2 for 1” releases!
This release is intended as a positive stand against what I see as an insidious and crass creeping capitalism in the “underground” scene. There are too many labels relying on under-pressed, high-price, ultra-hyped vinyl releases and downloads. Something that is incredibly important to me as a label is that EVERYONE should be able to own music. CDs do not cost a lot to manufacture, and if you’re buying a CD from a band, label or whatever and they’re charging you a tenner for it: sorry guys but you’re ripping your fans off. There’s more than a decent profit to be made and I’m sick of seeing people being gouged. Quite how you can call yourself a punk during a heinous cost-of-living crisis then make 900% profit on your “art” is fucking beyond me. So these two full albums with a nice big booklet (and a wee secret bonus!) are available here to purchase for a little over a fiver. The cost of a pint these days I’m led to believe!
