Where do we start and finish with this label?
Not much of a fan of their two original flagship artists, Napalm Death or Carcass, personally, i was more a fan of when the label expanded in the early 90s and started putting out stuff that was less death-metal, more fucked up dirty sludge noize.
Stuff like "Streetcleaner" and "Slavestate" EP by Godflesh and "Sleep's Holy Mountain" by Sleep. B0mbz Of Death recently said he thinks Sleep's debut is the best record to come out of the whole Abspestos Death/Sleep/High On Fire/Om lineage and i gotta agree. Yeah, "Dopesmoker" and "Blessed Black Wings" are classics and are the ones everyone sweats but the debut is simply unfuckwithable. "Dragonaut", yo!
I rate "Hate Songs In E. Minor" and the "Teeth" EP by Fudge Tunnel ridiculously highly but i totally slept on them back in the day until Yak put me onto 'em a few years back so i'm not even gonna front like i was bumpin' some Fudge Tunnel (ayo) next to "'Til Death Do Us Part", "Intoxicated Demons" and "Doggy Style" in '93.
Who else was there? Terrorizer get props for being one of the first mid 80s post-Siege grindcore bands. Entombed were probably the best of all their death metal bands. "Left Hand Path" is a truly sick album. I saw Cathedral live and was impressed by their 'Vitus-like doom-groove but never checked any of their shit. What's worth investigating? And then there was Scorn, although weren't they like techno bleeps with death metal Cookie Monster vocals and blastbeat drumming or something equally ridiculous? Weren't Clutch originally on Earche too?
Give it up.
