EXECUTIONER - "HELLBOUND" 7"

It's not often that one stumbles across an unknown, undiscovered gem from the golden age of California hardcore, but that's the case with this debut release from a band that went their separate ways over 25 years ago. Formed in San Jose in 1982, Executioner's music was hard, fast, tight and loud. It contained "taboo" extended guitar solos and stop-on-a-dime tempo changes. They sounded like nobody else. A mix of hardcore West Coast punk rock, speed metal (before there WAS such a thing) and the larynx-shredding assault of singer Dave Burk's vocal missives, their music commanded attention. And they got it. A bootleg cassette of their song "Fix Me/Hellbound" became the number one requested cut on the legendary underground station KFJC for the entire year 1983. It was the number two most requested song on San Francisco's mainstream station KQAK (The Quake) the following year. All with absolutely no promotion, just word of mouth. But by that time they had called it quits, victims of their own teenage attention spans, the then-current ethos of slackerdom, and perhaps a few too many encounters with illicit substances. Their recordings sat unreleased for over two and a half decades, kept alive only by the 4th and 5th generation cassette dubs that kept on making the rounds in the following years as their legend grew. Until now... Patac Records is proud to release Executioner's long awaited debut "Hellbound." Members of Executioner went on to work with such diverse artists as Steve Jones (Sex Pistols), Guns n' Roses, 22 Jacks, Black Francis (Pixies), Throbbing Gristle, The Offs, Pete Yorn, and many others. Catch them here in their formative years, and prepare to be blown away. Cover art by WINSTON SMITH.