Statement

Militant Vegan Straight Edge Solo-Project from Patrick "Rat" Poole

And the face of the Hardline movement for a while...

at least the cover art from the Prepare For Battle 7"

And thats also where I'd like to begin - although that there were the "early" Statement as well,

the first Demo recordings are from '85, but these have nothing to do

with the Statement that I'm featuring here...

Until Prepare For Battle it was pure Anarcho-Punk.

Already Militant Vegan Straight Edge with cool lyrics and stuff, 

but musically not really my cup of tea!

However, if youre interested in that stuff, look somewhere else, or write me! ;-)

(Demo '85, Muted Existence Split, Demo '86, Fairies Can't Fly, Not For Punks, 

The Apostles Split LP, The Apostles Split EP)

So, in '90, when Muttaqi and Vegan Reich put Hardline on the map,

Rat decided to go more in the Thrash Metal, Crossover direction and they released

the legendary Prepare For Battle 7" on Hardline Records.

Two years later, he recorded the Vegan Inquisition EP, which should also

be released on Hardline, but never was... Muttaqi went to Jamaica

and Rat turned his back on Hardline.

(What most people don't know, he never "really" was a hardliner...

militant Vegan Straight Edge - yes, but religious and homophobic - no.)

Anyway, with this record he went more and more into the direction

of Slayer influenced Thrash metal.

After that, two years later the Split 7" with Dim-Mak was released,

also a good record, but I, personally, dont like the way how he tries to sing

on that one - fortunately he realized it as well

and so the next release, Genocidal Justice, sounded way better, again!

This time its pure Slayer Thrash Metal - probably comparable to the later Unborn stuff!

There is also some "newer" material, like the song from the Tears Of Gaia & Extinguish Split

and Visions Of No More...

if you have it, or know a way to download it (Tales Of Mysanthropy for example) 

from myspace, please let me know! I'll add it, as soon as I got it!

Rat was involved in bands like:

The Apostles, Cracked Cop Skulls, Muted Existence, Riot/Clone, 

Arrogance, Anorexia, Unborn, Talisman, ...

Statement - Prepare For Battle (1990)

Statement - Vegan Inquisition (1992)

Statement & Dim-Mak - Split EP (1994)

Statement - Traces Of Blood (Song from the Stones To Mark A Fire Comp - 1995)

Statement - Genocidal Justice (1996)

Statement & Tears Of Gaia & Extinguish - Split EP (2004)

Statement - Visions Of No More (One Song - 2007)

edit:

Found some more Statement Songs that were hiding on unknown Compilations

(dont worry, I'm doing a Compilations You Should Know About post soon!)

Statement - Fight Of The Halberd (Animal Truth Comp - 1998)

One of the previously unreleased tracks from the Dim-Mak Split Recording Session.

The other one from these Recordings is on the ToG/Extinguish Split.

Statement - Meat Means Murder (Barricades And Broken Dreams Comp - 2001)

Kinda different Song... with Tom O'Brien (Unborn, Eakra, etc.) on bass!

Foundation

Vegan Straight Edge New School Metalcore from San Diego

Not to confuse with the current Foundation!

Their 7" came out on X Words of War X when they were still cool (1997)!

I dont know if the members were active anywhere else, 

all I know is, that their bassist, Dean Reis, played in some other bands afterwards, like:

The Heartaches, Spider Fever, Sultans, ...

However, I guess it was a kinda short-lived band,

starting in 1996 and breaking up in 1998... but I can be wrong!

I just know, that they recorded their demo in 1996, put it on tape

and then, 1997 on vinyl.

Short time later they've recorded their Split with Ecorche,

which was released in early 1998.

Thereafter I dont know...

If someone knows more - youre very welcome to tell me! :-)

Foundation - Selftitled (1997)

Foundation & Ecorche - Split EP (1998)

Sevin

Straight Edge Vegan Information Network (SEVIN)

- awesome name -

90's Metalcore band on Militant Records (probably Hardline)

Not really the best quality recordings, but it's good music with a message!

"...these songs are not outwardly dealing with veganism/ earth liberation, they are dealing with human psychology, which is what has put the ecosystem in the threatened condition it is now in..."

Members were also active in bands like:

Autumn, You And I, The Assistant, This Ship Will Sink, In First Person, 

Less Life, Manalive, Black Kites, Capacities, ...

Sevin - Proving Ground Demo (1994)

Sevin - Heaven's Deception (1995)

Sevin - Rebirth (Song from the Stones To Mark A Fire Comp - 1995)

If someone has the Demo Tape and could scan the artwork and lyric sheet - would be awesome!

As Friends Rust

Not really the kind of stuff I'd normally post...

Also not really the genre I'd normally listen to, but this band is an awesome exception!

I probably "started to like them", cause of Damien Moyal (Vocals)

and because it started as some kind of side-project of Culture, who I already loved! ;-)

And, yeah... for a long time I only liked the Demo...

But then, when I gave the later stuff, which certainly sounds a lot different 

- whole new line-up except of Damien - 

a third (or something like that) try, I began to like it (in another way) as well!

While the Demo (The Fists Of Time) sounded very scremo, 90's emo-hc like, 

the later releases have gone more and more in the direction of melodic trendy (pop) punk.

Still 90's emo - but more that kind of stuff that you could also hear on the radio! ;-)

In 2002, after their last Release, Damien (the only constant member) left the band

and so the remaining members "morphed" As Friends Rust into Salem...

Who sounded way more like emo influenced indie-rock.

Members (there were a lot over the years) were also active in Bands like:

Culture, Bird Of Ill Omen, Morning Again, Shai Hulud, Poison The Well, Bridgeburn R, Insist, Red Letter Day, Roosevelt, Dead Man's Theory, Argentina, ...

Members (I'll tell which in brackets), went on to bands like:

Damien Done, On Bodies (Damien Moyal), Crucible (Chris Beckham, Thomas Rankine), Army Of Ponch, Bullets To Broadway, Rehasher, Savage Brewtality (Gui Amador), The Rocking Horse Winner (Henry Olmino, Jeronimo Gomez, Matt Crum), Grey Goose, The Sheryl Cro(w) Mags (Kaleb Stewart), Moments In Grace (Tim Kirkpatrick), Carlisle, How Dare You (Zach Swain), ...

As Friends Rust - The Fists Of Time (1998)

As Friends Rust & Discount - Split EP (1999)

As Friends Rust - Selftitled (1999)

As Friends Rust - Won (2001)

As Friends Rust - A Young Trophy Band In The Parlance Of Our Times (2002)