Various Artists - Hell Comes To Your House

A historical compilation featuring the earliest recordings from some of the luminaries of the underground L. A. Punk and Deathrock scenes, "Hell Comes to Your House" brings on the mosh in fast and driving numbers that barely let up. Well-known names kick out the jams with pogo flourish like Social Distortion's Rockabilly punch, Red Cross' snarling vituperative and Christian Death's barely there mumbles. A number of female-led acts are featured and they're quite the lit in this testosterone-driven scene especially Super Heroines. While there are no standouts, good production and a solid energy-packed set keep the attitude and one's attention. Punk, with all its spittle flying, this is one of the important artefacts from one of the most influential and compelling musical eras in Rock history. Cool album cover too.

Ripped to MP3 @ 320kbps

From Kill Your Pet Puppy, a brief workout of what’s going on here:

The 45 Grave tracks are the second recordings released by the band (the version of ‘Evil’ is different to that on the first LP)…Christian Death – led by vocalist Rozz Williams – had a long and convoluted lifespan that continued after Williams’ suicide in 1998…Eva O of the Superheroines (who was William’s wife for a time) also played in the band…Williams briefly worked on a theatrical-music project in 1981 with performance artist Ron Athey…Their song here (a great slice of mannered death-synth) is from their first recording session…
100 Flowers developed out of one of the great L.A. bands – The Urinals – who released their EPs on their own Happy Squid label, and travelled in circles which included Savage Republic and the Los Angelese Free Music Society…100 Flowers (named after a Mao quote) had a much more ‘Post Punk’ feel to their ep, LP and mini-LP recordings (as evidenced on the great but simple track here) which were mainly released after the band split…
Rhino 39 (named after a virus) were still at school when they released a single on Dangerhouse (home of LA punk in the late 1970’s) which is seen by some as a pre-cursor to the later ‘Hardcore’ sound…They also released an LP in 1986 with a new singer after their singer had died in a car crash…Black Flag played their first concert as support to Rhino 39…
The Super Heroines had a more Metal-inflected sound to their ‘Death Rock’ which they featured over 2 LP’s…Eva O (Vocals / Guitar) went on to marry Rozz of Christian Death and also play in the band. She also had a relationship with serial killer Richard Ramirez (known as the ‘Night Stalker’)…Jill Emery (bass) later played for Hole and Mazzy Star, while the drummer went on to play in the pre-Guns and Roses band Hollywood Rose…
Social Distortion had some degree of success with their SLF-inflected melodic punk; later signing to Epic and released a number of LPs. ‘Lude Boy’ is a nice cut…
Legal Weapon contribute a great song here (from their 2nd LP): just the right amount of snotty and trashy energy…Unfortunately, their releases began to lose the energy and verve after their first 12″ and first 2 LP’s, which makes their later (numerous) releases less essential…The band once included Patricia Morrison (of Castration Squad, Bags, Gun Club, Sisters of Mercy and Damned fame) on bass…
Red Cross began as schoolkids with an obsession with pop culture and continued into the 1990’s…Their first 12″ (on Posh Boy records) is an absolute classic – dumb, angry, snarling, great! The ‘Born Innocent’ LP which followed it included an (uncredited) Charles Manson cover and a cover of the Carrie Nations…Members of the group went on Black Flag, Circle Jerks and Bad Religion…
Modern Warfare featured the people who started the Bemisbrain label (Jimmy Bemis, and Ron Goudie). The band released 2 singles (1980 and 1981) on Bemis Brain, both of which displayed a more ‘Hardcore’ sound…
Secret Hate were another of the bands featuring school kids and a more ‘Hardcore’ sound. They also appeared on the ‘You can’t Argue with Suckcess’ comp LP on Mystic Records along with the Conservatives (and the mighty Mad Society who featured an 8 year old vocalist) before making the ‘Vegetables Dancing’ EP for New Alliance records (run by Mike Watt of the Minutemen with whom they shared a practice space)…
The Conservatives are something of a mystery: they appeared on this LP and the Mystic comp LP mentioned above, and that seems to be it. It’s a shame as their songs have a certain jaunty energy and the sloppy repetition of ‘Just Cuz’ always raises a smile…

The compilation was focused on the Long Beach and Orange County scenes around Los Angeles, and is presented in 2 strands: Side A features more ‘Post Punk’ and ‘Death Rock’ groups, while Side 2 is more ‘Punk’ and ‘Hardcore’…The LP was picked up for licensing in the UK by the Riot City label who reissued it in a grey cover, and also rearranged the track listing. This release of the album also left off the Red Cross track for some reason…The label – Bemisbrain – went on to become Enigma Records (which went on to become etc etc)…
The engineer of the LP – Randy Burns – went on to make a niche for himself in the production of ‘extreme’ metal acts such as Megadeth, Death, Nuclear Assault and the brutal first album by Possessed (which is viewed by many as the beginning of ‘Death Metal’)…
A number of the more ‘Hardcore’ bands appeared on the ‘American Youth Report’ comp LP which Bomp put out in 1982…An interesting element of the LP is the illustration of how many women seemed to be involved in the early L.A. scene…

A1 Social Distortion - Lude Boy
A2 Social Distortion - Telling Them
A3 Legal Weapon - Daddy's Gone Mad
A4 Redd Kross - Puss'n'Boots
A5 Modern Warfare - Out of My Head
A6 Modern Warfare - Street Fightin' Man
A7 Secret Hate - Deception
A8 Secret Hate - New Routine/Suicide
A9 Conservatives - Suburban Bitch
A10 Conservatives - Just Cuz/Nervous
B1 45 Grave - Evil
B2 45 Grave - Concerned Citizen
B3 45 Grave - 45 Grave
B4 Christian Death - Dogs
B5 100 Flowers - Reject Yourself
B6 Rhino 39 - Marry It
B7 Super Heroines - Death on the Elevator
B8 Super Heroines - Embalmed Love