NOTE: If you like the album, support the scene and buy it from an underground distro or from the band itself!
Track List:
01. Down With The Ballot Box
02. Home Sweet Home
03. Ultimate Decision
04. Edge Of The Abyss
05. Shadow Of A Picture
06. As Machines
07. Through Ages
08. Burn
09. Instrumental (practice '96)
10. Destroy Me
11. Time Is Money
12. Discliche
13. Good Luck
14. Raw Screen
15. Shut That Big Mouth
16. God Is Cool
17. Vacant Not Empty
18. Overwhelmed
19. Cramped For Space
20. Hell Is Near
21. Opposites
22. Mr. Innocent
23. Pathetic Sounds
24. Let Derby Punk
Never mind the spelling mistake (yes, it is "monstros"), here you have Hiatus' last two recordings on one cd, namely "The Brain" from 1996 and "El Sueño" from 1995. Hiatus was one of the very best European bands of the 90's as far as good and powerful crust punk is concerned. They started out in the late 80's as a Doom/Sore Throat/Discard band but had the great taste to add some Antisect influence in the mix. To be honest, Hiatus didn't put out a bad or even an average record.
The first 8 songs of the cd are from the last 10" and they may surprise some with their melodic, almost emocore undertones in the guitar and the drumming (you can hear that Unhinged wasn't too far away by then) while keeping a distinctive crust backbone. The remaining songs are all from the 2nd Lp and here we are in traditional Hiatus territory: fast, potent, catchy crustcore, the way the genre was meant to be played. The vocals are awesome and the drum is just pummelling its way through crusty greatness. Lyrically, Hiatus really wrote their best lyrics on these last two records. Gone are the dischargey haikus and instead you have political songs from a personnal point of view, and by this I mean from actual experiences, from the guts, they are stories one can easily relate to.
The whole booklet has been scanned. You'll find the lyrics in English but also French translations, pictures, flyers from their various tours (and they toured a lot) as well as the story of their last tour (in English and in French) full of funny anecdotes and drunken stories.
Members of Hiatus went on to play in Unhinged, Skew Whiff, Twisted System, Loadead, Deafenestration and Visions of War.
