news september07: burial are back from japan and had a blast of course. unfortunately the timing was not the best since many band members of japanese bands were either dead, in jail or in hospital at the time. the country also suffered under a record heat which is not good when at the same time the humidity is around 120%. but what can you do? kids, you gotta buy the damn out of vogue photo book, ok? it makes up for missing the great bands in germany of the last 5 or 6 years, or if you didn't miss them but didn't bring a camera, you need it, too. solid decline recorded new songs for their split lp with ruidosa inmundicia. two of the best european bands at the moment for sure. pick up their amazing ep before it's too late. i think i sold 10% of the pressing through my mailorder. new goodies in the mailorder: i unearthed another box of the romantic gorilla 7" from 1995, don't snooze cuz they are selling fast. other old junk from the vault is the european press of the classic th'inbred "family affair" lp on bonzen, it also contains their amazing "reproduction" ep from back in the day. other junk that's worth your hard earned cash are the releases on the quality deaf forever label outta finland, eg. the awesome first kakka-hätä-77 ep, they also have another ep out on combat rock industry, the new ep by alligators (roger of agnostic front with guys that were in insted, ltd. 500 on indecision), the chainbreaker lp in a mindblowing screen printed cover and the great the horror/war all the time split 7". the horror are also mindblowing live and war all the time are slightly modified boxed in, so they are quality, too.

news june07: wow, again it took me ages to update this website. well, it's summer and a lot is going on. so i got better things to do than sit in front of the computer. the so much hate lp is selling very well, the copies with the booklet are gone but the release will be in print for a long time. there is a burial cd out in japan on hg fact with songs from both eps und two sampler hits. in ugust burial will be touring japan together with nightmare, in time for the tour there will be a compilation (some call it three-way-split) of the two and crude. the two new burial songs are total destroyers. new in the mailorder section are new lps from norway: kolokol, summon the crows, i.o.u., siste dagers helvete and barn av regnbuen. totally mandatory is the second lp by bombenalarm "no mistakes", and the severed head of state "power hazard" 12". also new is the killer ep on no way records by acid reflux.

news march07: the first release on the sub-label norwegian leather is out: the re-release of so much hate's - "how we feel" lp which originally came out on x-port-plater from oslo in 1987. the record looks like the original but the cover is black/white as the original artwork was colored afterwards. the lyric sheet is exactly like the original. the first pressing of 1000 comes with an 8-page-fanzine with old interviews and liner notes by long time friends of the band. unfortunately postage for one lp is very pricey. to europe it's 4,50 euros and 8 euros to the USA, japan, australia etc. if you add 1-2 7"s to your order from the heartfirst-mailorder it might make your order more efficient. There also are a bunch of restocks in the mailorder section like some grave mistake 7"s and the betongbarn 7". new lps are in by situations from berlin and cobra noir from montreal.

news january07: happy new year and all that! the norwegian reissues keep me busy. the so much hate is all done but the fanzine is still not layouted and the screenprinted cover version needs to be done. release date should be in early february. new stuff in the mailorder are 7"s by ritual and bomberegn (this is the last kicknpunch record).

note: in the older news i am talking about certain records. just because releases are mentioned here in the news of recent months does not mean that they are still available. you will have to check in the mailorder-section here to see what is still available. even then some stuff might be outta stock, so always email first when placing an order.

read older news

available on norwegian leather:

SO MUCH HATE (norway) - how we feel lp re-release

official re-release of the band's legendary first and best lp that originally came out on the x-port plater label in 1987. this one is up there with other classics of us influenced euro hc of the 1980s such as negazione, heresy, ripcord, spermbirds, bgk etc. members used to be in kafka prosess and bannlyst.

heartfirst releases available today

BURIAL (germany) - hungry wolves 7"

the wolves are back in town -- yeah! this is their best release to date. better vocals, better songs, better sound than before. this record is a step up from their already amazing lp of last year. this ep brings four new songs that are somewhat influenced by japanese hardcore but burial have found a style of their own that is just totally driving, extremely powerful hardcore punk. simple as that. it would be great if japan these days had more bands as good as burial. to top it off, japanese punk artist sugi did the front cover artwork.

SOLID DECLINE (germany) - adorning the void  2 x 7"

after their debut-ep on heartfirst and the split ep w/ strong intention on vendetta mob the berlin band brings you 10 more songs. more varied yet more powerful than before. this one was recorded analog by frank bolz (who also did bombenalarm, dean dirg, burial, doomtown etc.), so the recording definitely does the brutality of the songs justice. the double ep comes in a foldout screenprinted cover and is limited to 700 copies.

DEUTSCHLAND IN DECLINE - 7 band, 7 song compilation 7"

as the title hints, these are all recent german bands. for a long time there have not been this many good local bands playing killer music. so i put together this compilation with my friends' bands. some of these already have a bunch of releases out on various labels. this one has unreleased tracks by amen 81, bombenalarm, burial, chainbreaker, doomtown, the now-denial, solid decline. this is the best german hardcore punk 7" compilation so far. now that does not tell so much because most good german comps in the past were lps. but heartfirst is a 7" label so here we go. no crust, no d-beat, no deutschpunk -- just straight up fast rough hardcore punk. all recordings are top notch sound quality from the bands' last sessions. comes in a full colour cover with a screenprinted outer poly sleeve. there is a special website for the compilation here.

BOXED IN (uk) - third 7" a.k.a. distance

veteran band from the uk with their third 7" after two classic 7"s on crime scene from the uk and busted heads outta sweden. this ep is their most powerful and angriest to date, totally solid quality of non-stop fast 80s-style euro hardcore in the vein of ripcord or even bgk, recorded by sir bri of doom fame. everything is on eleven on these seven songs, one of which is a kafka prosess cover. comes in a killer screenprinted cover.

TOAMOL (norway) - tragedy of a mind once lost 2 x 7"

besides kolokol one of the best bands from norway in recent years. eight songs of heavy hardcore punk between old norwegian hardcore and middle era neurosis. there is something unmistakingly norwegian in their sound and they have ex members of kort prosess and alltid jaget, so the experts will know this is good. comes in a screenprinted fold-out cover designed by robin ex-kort prosess, limited to only 550 copies.

SOLID DECLINE (germany) - back in line 7" 

totally rocking platter with six songs, wrapped in an awesome screenprint cover. solid decline are the follow up band to Y, who had a lot of releases out on labels around the world, for example on sound pollution. unlike to Y they have no blast beats and play straight up fast hardcore punk that cannot be categorized easily -- which is good. this was recorded at the legendary kuschelrock-studio in bremen. also available is the split 7" ep by solid decline and strong intention, recorded at the same session released on the berlin label vendetta records.

BORN DEAD ICONS (canada) - unlearn 7" 

one of the best north american bands of recent years, an amazing live band, too. they have done various tours of north america and europe. people love to compare them to motörhead, discharge and amebix, but they just found their own style. these four songs (three fast ones and an instrumental) were recorded together with their last lp/cd "ruins" on feral ward.

DIGITAL RELEASES (vinyl version are long gone, sorry)

ALLTID JAGET (tønsberg, norway) – du synker inn i døden.... CD...12 songs of great norway-hc, style wise like a mix of KORT PROSESS, SLAYER and SO MUCH HATE. members went on to form TOAMOL (with the ex-KORT PROSESS bassist), big two-coloured booklet  6,-

STRAIN (vancouver, canada) - bomb wedemark CD... their early hits off der overkill 7" and the pushead 7" and an unreleased demo song.   8,-

KORT PROSESS (oslo, norway) - svart natt CDep...16 songs, their last and best record, the packaging alone is worth the money, letterpress envelope and a booklet full of great artwork for each song.  6,-
STRAIN (vancouver, canada) - our end CDEP...2 songs off their out of print "these years/regret" 7" on HeartFirst, the other two songs are off their New Age 7" which never came out  6,-

BRAND NEW UNIT (vancouver, canada) - no heroes CDep...3 songs off their "All For Nothing" 7" and three more from the same session, six songs of extremely asskicking yet melodic skatepunk that totally rocks  6,-

KORT PROSESS (oslo, norway) - 18 song CDep...combines their first two EPs (1993 und 1994), the whole thing is over in 20 minuten. KORT PROESSS were one of the best hardcore punk bands of the 90s  TEMPORARILY SOLD OUT

STRAIN (vancouver, canada) - Repetition  CDep... combines their first two singles on heartfirst plus one song from the pushead compilation "l.a. vs. vancouver" that never came out.   6,-

THE LABEL FORMERLY KNOWN AS HEARTFIRST

SUPERFAN (germany) - fuck you 7"
SUPERFAN (germany) - out of style 7"