I would have never heard of Adrenalin O.D. if it wasn’t for Fenriz getting inebriated and inviting a portly German into his home to pry into Fenriz’s life, work and very extensive music collection. Skip to 7:30 for the relevant material, but if you haven’t already I highly recommend you watch it in its entirety.
Fenriz has a long history of recommending his dedicated fanbase bands which without Darkthrone would have never existed. The guy adores music and prefers to talk about what he’s currently listening to than his own seminal band. If you’ve ever checked out his blog on Darkthrone’s myspace page, a majority of entries are titled BAND OF THE WEEK and span from early 80’s hardcore and thrash to more recent releases mainly in the thrash metal vein. Even Darkthrone’s latest release, Circle The Wagons, includes FENRIZ’ GUIDE TO MUST-HAVE ALBUMS, a continuation from prior releases.
So when you see a very drunk Fenriz partying hard and reacting in such a way to a band in the flesh, I’d deem that a must-have record. Adrenalin O.D. play down to earth hardcore punk with a very tongue-in-cheek attitude from a time where it had just dawned on punk groups that they could actually play a lot faster. And damn, these guys play fast. Really fast. Their music is precisely the kind of punk that a certain group of Bay Area bands would splice with NWOBHM to create thrash metal, and the kind that Napalm Death would force kicking and screaming to its logical conclusion as grindcore. All these rock ‘n’ roll history snapshots can be heard with clarity on the recordings. Hell, even In The Shadow of the Horns features the chunky power chords that A.O.D. and other bands of that time and ilk employed to make their dazzling music.
This release reissued by Chunksaah records in 2008 includes the LP; The Wacky Hi-Jinks Of, the EP; Let’s BBQ, a live session recorded at City Gardens in ’84 with a super dorky cover of Queen’s We Will Rock You, and a hilarious set at a university radio station recorded in ’82. The between-song banter on that one is worth the download alone. It’s almost impossible to find a decent rip of this release by itself, let alone with the extra sessions on it so download and enjoy some obnoxious classic hardcore.
HOW MUCH PRIMITIVE CAN YOU GET?!
The Wacky Hi-jinks Of Adrenalin O.D.
1. A.O.D. Vs. Godzilla
2. White Hassle
3. New Years Eve
4. Small Talk
5. Going To A Funeral
6. Corporate Disneyland
7. Trans Am (The Saga Continues)
8. Sightseeing
9. Middle-Aged Whore
10. World War IV
11. Clean And Jerk
12. Sleep
13. Rah-Jah!
14. Rock & Roll Gas Station
15. Paul’s Not Home
Let’s Barbeque
1. Suburbia
2. Old People Talk Loud
3. Trans Am
4. House Husband
5. Mischief Night
6. Status Symbol
Live @ City Gardens 1984
1. Masterpiece
2. Trans Am
3. Traffic Jam
4. Clean And Jerk
5. Rock N Roll Gas Station
6. We Will Rock You
WFMU – 1982 [Pat Duncan Show]
1. Suburbia
2. Adrenalin O.D. Theme Song
3. New Year’s Eve
4. Status Symbol
5. Old People Talk Loud
6. Suicide Abortion
7. House Husband
8. Hijack The Senior Citizen’s Bus
9. Gutter Fun
10. Die For A Cause
11. World War 4
12. Asskisser
13. Trans Am
14. Scare Tactics
15. Brady Bunch
16. Learn The Poem/Paul’s Not Home
17. A.O.D. Barmy Army
