Completely random find. As I was parsing through the various Commodores and Jim Reeves albums at the local antique mall, suddenly this black and white, somewhat DIY-press-looking thing popped out at me. It was literally between a Poco record and a Christmas compilation. What the hell?

So, of course I start looking it over, trying to find some information on it. It’s a split album, one side per band. Malachi Krunch and Sold On Murder. The Malachi Krunch side has some text that implies their EP is titled American Realities along with a picture of two people in hats, glasses, handkerchief masks and holding guns. Its kind of intimidating.

Flipping it over shows the artwork for Sold On Murder’s side. A longhorn skull with a bunch of symbols behind it and what appears to be an interpolated gas mask is staring back at me. Alright, it’s time to hear what this stuff is like.

Side one; Malachi Krunch.

It’s fast. Its loud. Its hardcore. Yep, that’s kinda what I was expecting here. This isn’t music for a Sunday morning brunch. This is Saturday night, punch a cop, piss in a gutter, debauchery straight outta Connecticut.

Now for what I’ve been able to find. Malachi Krunch was the first band of New Haven, Connecticut punk Jim Martin. Jim would go on to front the band Broken, and later Chem-Trails. As I page through the insert a bit and read some of the lyrics, its clear to me that this band’s message is right up my alley. Cutouts of “STOP THE WAR ON THE POOR” and “Resist Amerikkan Genocide AND Drug War” are plastered betwixt lyric sheets. Yes! Song topics range from Puerto Rican revolt due to lack of representation, resistance, homelessness, pollution, and and ode to Dan Quayle’s wife Marilyn.

Jim’s still fronting hardcore crust acts today and leads the group Chem-Trails. Here he is performing with them in 2018.

Further digging yielded this basement performance recording of Malachi Krunch and Seizure in 1989. That’s Jim there with the long hair and sideburns, a completely different image from his more well-known shaved head aesthetic. His look matched the picture of him in the insert. I wonder if the pic was taken at this show?

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Now for side two. Sold On Murder is muuuuch more difficult to find information about. I found this interview with Kris Keyes, a frontman for the band Dive Bomber in Los Angeles. He talks about how he first started painting himself in the music world while working with a band called Sold On Murder in New Haven, Connecticut. This checks out, too, because in the liner notes it thanks Kris Keyes for help on “Open Mind/Mind Decay” and “An Insanity Plea”.

According to a comment on this news story about a murder victim in New Haven in 2008, one of the members of Sold On Murder was, in fact…murdered. John Evers Robinson played bass and sang vocals for Sold On Murder, but was killed before the album was released. This was confirmed after I started looking through the inserts that came with the record.

One side of the lyric sheet is a memorial to John that also includes some pictures of Dan Quayle and his contradiction quotes. The lyrics are wild, in the sense that topics range from eating the world, drinking blood, sex, anti-capitalism, mental illness, and police brutality. Rad.

The music itself is hardcore. Fast, uptempo, brutal vocals, messy guitars, blazing solos. Its peak late 80s hardcore, like Bad Brains mixed with Living Colour (both of which are mentioned in the “thank yous”. This was absolutely worth the buy and a very fun trip into history. Its a real shame that John was murdered, the message behind his art is poignant 30 some years later. I’ll leave you with his quote from the insert.

Thanks for reading!