Die Kreuzen [self-titled]

(click on album picture to download)

Die Kreuzen Self-Titled
1984
Touch & Go
VBR

(red text = sample track)

1 Rumors 1:48
2 This Hope 1:10
3 In School 1:23
4 I'm Tired 0:52
5 On the Street 1:34
6 Enemies 0:56
7 Get'em 0:57
8 Fighting 0:36
9 No Time 1:16
10 All White 3:38
11 Pain 1:16
12 Sick People 2:04
13 Hate Me 0:46
14 Live Wire 1:46
15 Not Anymore 0:55
16 Mannequin 1:11
17 Fuckups 1:10
18 Think for Me 1:39
19 Dirt and Decay 1:11
20 Don't Say Please 1:01
21 No Name 1:28

Reviews:

If the vocals weren't nasty enough on that last platter, wait till your ears get tarnished by the clamorous siege of Die Kreuzen's Dan Kubinski. Blistered tonsils split open as he wails out the spit paced growling, a titanic demon which holds your mind in fear. The sheer grounded flavor of the grievous voice makes your curiosity rage in what the next track offers.
Completely insane besets of missiling quickness and savage bass plucks highlight Die Kreuzens debut album. Brutal perfomances of unrelenting fury ravages spasms of exhilating assertiveness. Die Kreuzen force feed 21 alarming tracks (each a highlight in its own right), filling all combinations of vigorous energy and full tilt expressionism. Well-produced with crazed outer graphics, this exceptional platter haunts as it storms with speed, velocity, and engulfing vocal strength. Finally the true slice. On Touch & Go Records...of course.
-Pushead, from Puszone #30, Thrasher Nov. 1984

This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great! This is fucking great!
-Tim Yohannon, from Maximum Rock'n'Roll #15

Bio from KILL FROM THE HEART:

Die Kreuzen ("Dee Kroyt-zen") started in 1981 when four suburban kids from Illinois and Winsconsin joined forces in Milwaukee. Their name means "the cross" in German, and they would later say they chose it because people wouldn't know what it means. Their first recordings ended up on the "Charred Remains" comp tape put out by Version Sound, putting them immediately side by side with some of the country's best hardcore bands. They then landed a few tracks on the Master Tape compilation LP on Paul Mahern of the Zero Boys' label. By the end of the year they had a single of their own, the classic Cows and Beer EP on Version Sound. This record was unlike anything else coming out at the time. Die Kreuzen took the basic formula for hardcore and twisted it around so that it sounded sick and scary again.

The band launched a 1983 summer US tour on the strength of their single, and returned to Wisconsin to record their first full length for Touch and Go. The resulting 21-song album, which finally saw the light of day in 1984, is the band's masterpiece. No other record sounds like it, and even the songs that were great on the EP are taken to a whole new level of twisted ferocity. After two more years touring around the US and Canada, Die Kreuzen toned down their sound significantly and recorded the October File LP. This album is more spacey and new wave, losing the edge their first one had. The band continued playing into the early '90s, continually winning new fans as their sound continued to "mature" and "evolve" into less intense areas including the addition of a horn section. All of their records have been reissued on CD (including the rare early material on the Gone Away single just after the Aerosmith cover), and the first LP is fairly easy to find since it sold thousands of copies back in the day.