Sábado 22 Mar 2008, 22h:11

http://b9.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/00801/96/17/801597169_l.jpg

Hassan I Sabbah was a hardcore band that existed from around 1998-2001, featuring ex-members of FORCE FED GLASs, Puritan, Prevail, and Rinse. Their drummer went on to play in the red chord and Unearth and the singer to Otesanek. They were Zac, Mike, Ryan, Tommy and Chad. Emotional, Sludgy, Fast, Desperate.

Ok, so a lot of people like this band, but can't get hold of the real albums. And since I hate unnoficial "discographies", I decided to break down that discography which is floating around on P2P programs, and add the stuff that is missing.

1998
• Self-Titled ? Cassette - Self-Released
1. Unknown
2. Unknown
3. Unknown

All I know is that this has three songs. I've been trying to track it down unsuccesfully for a while. I think "Epilepsy as Performance Art" was on this, but I'm not sure.

1999
• Self-Titled Cassette - Self-Released
1. Yella' Sun, Cold Morning
2. Untitled
3. Not So in Tune with Shells
4. Head on a Stake
5. A Horse Never Goes Heartless

Their name on this cassette was Hassan I Sabbah And the Holy Handgrenades. Recorded in a basement on a four track, this is really impressive and good for a demo. Songs # 1 & 5 were re-released on the split 7" with usurp synapse. Song #3 was re-recorded for the Self-Titled 7", while the other two songs remain exclusive to this cassette. Pressing info; Foil cover.

2000
• Self-Titled ? Cassette - Self-Released

I don't know anything about this, other than that it's Chad's (from puritan) last recording with the band. Pressing info; only 25 copies were made. Oh, and people call it the "April 2000 demo".

• Usurp Synapse/hassan i sabbah - Just Do It! 7" - The Electric Human Project, EHP #003
A1. usurp synapse - Wrist, Meet Razor
A2. usurp synapse - Maybe You Should Kill Yourself
A3. usurp synapse - You Thought You Were Special, You Were Wrong
B1. Hassan I sabbah - Yella' Sun, Cold Mourning
B2. Hassan I sAbbah - A Horse Never Goes Heartless

The Usurp Synapse songs are pretty good, I think this is their best release besides the jerome's dream split 7". The hassan i sabbah songs are from the Demo Cassette. Pressing info; 9 Test presses, 100 On white vinyl (with razor), 900 on black vinyl.

• Self-Titled 7" - Robodog (Robotic Empire), ROBO #007
A1. Untitled
A2. Watching The Eyes Of Someone Lying
A3. Not So In Tune With Shells
B1. Watching The Eyes Of Someone Lying

This is one of my favorite records. So damn good.
The first pressing was 100 on clear vinyl and 200 on clear with hex pattern cover. The second was 538 on black with noose sticker cover. Approximately 30 exist on yellow, randomly hand numbered out of 162. According to band members, the box got lost on tour. This record shows clearly that if they stayed together for just a couple of years more, they would be the 00's minor threat. But on time they would probably turn into something otesanek-ish, so never mind.

Compilations
• Antipodes 7" (2000) - Level Plane, LP #009
A. the Assistant - 93,800 Hours
B1. Neil Perry - Memoirs Of An Illiterate Penpal
B2. Hassan I Sabbah - Fuck The Thinking That They're Living Some…
B3. Jeromes Dream - How Staggering Is This Realization?
B4. Usurp Synapse - Good Luck With Your Book

This comp kind of sucks. Press info; 25 test presses, the rest on translucent red vinyl. There were 45 records released with alternate silk-screened covers. Layout and screening all done by Chris Smith.

• Ghost in the Gears CD (2001) - Iodine Recordings, IO #001
1. Cave In - Terminal Diety (Demo)
2. Milhouse - Postcards From Concentration Camp
3. Forty Days Rain - Evolve
4. Garrison - Untitled
5. That's All She Wrote - A Dul(t) Life
6. Converge - The Human Shield
7. Daltonic - Escape And Run
8. Zegota - Eight
9. Devola - Judge Me
10. Hassan I Sabbah And The Holy HANdgrenades - Cut Fixed With Mud
11. Indecision - Merchandise
12. Jeromes Dream - Everyday At Three Zero Six
13. Force Fed Glass - You Slit Your Own Wrists
14. Catharsis - Bow Down
15. Guernica - Violation - Greed Driven Culture
16. Bastian - Three Words
17. Dahmer - Unne Bonne Tablette
18. Good Clean Fun - Loser Dot Com
19. Love Power Electronics - Worshipping Sound

This one is ok. Nothing special. But the HIH song is great. It was recorded back when they were still called hassan i sabbah and the holy handgrenades.

• Relics of Ordinary Life - A Compilation of Rare and Unreleased Tracks From Happy Couples Never Last Records (2002) - Happy Couples Never Last
1. Suicide Note - Calling Collect
2. Hassan I Sabbah - Epilepsy as Performance Art
3. Eulcid - Haler Fixer (Remix 99)
4. Right Arm Death Threat - Fake
5. Mara'akate - Comp Song
6. There Were Wires - The Physics of Air Hockey
7. Usurp Synapse - …
8. Force Fed Glass - Pistol Complex
9. Humanbodyflawed - Evisciration Song (Love Like Knives)
10. The Hareste - Frequency Modulation
11. The Hareste - The Title of Itself
12. illithed - Around Tuit
13. Laura's Agent - Your God
14. Die Trying - Track 3
15. pg. 99 - Cip Len Rae
16. The Drago Miette - Giving up the Ghost

This comp is very good. The songs by the Drago Miette (Usurp Synapse side-project), There Were Wires, Eulcid, The Hareste & Usurp Synapse (which, surprisingly, is not included on that shitty discography double cd) are very good. But the Hassan I Sabbah song is ridiculous. It must probably be from their oldest recordings… It sounds nothing like all the other songs they have released. Someone could even say it's a different band.

Also, "Not So in Tune With Shells" from the 7" appeared on the following samplers:

• Robotic Empire Sampler 2002 (Also featuring circle of dead children, gregor samsa, hot cross, joshua fit for battle, house of low culture, superstitions of the sky, benumb, the now, etc)

• BMA vs. Metal Blade vs. Robotic Empire: Sampler 2004 (Also featuring Pig Destroyer, Lamb of God, Unearth, Circle takes the sq4are, black dahlia murder, from a Second Story Window, the red chord, a life once lost, deadwater drowning, agoraphobic nosebleed, as i lay dying, cannibal corpse, opeth, six feet under, etc)

Unreleased

• American Nightmare/Hassan I Sabbah Split 7"
According to Wikipedia, this was recorded and produced, though was not released due to recording complications.

• Discography CD - Robotic Empire, ROBO #036
This should have been released in 2005. I hate it when good bands' discographies never get to be released.

Other
• Chad (singer for Hassan I Sabbah and otesanek) ripped off some people on the Viva La Vinyl forum; here's what he had to say about his beloved band:

"i look at it this way, you're the idiot in the first place for even wanting to hear something as awful as the hassan i sabbah record, much less paying an ungodly amount of money for it…. yeah i played in the band; when i was young and didnt know any better….. as a grown man you should know better, and not want to listen to faggy temper tantrum sounding bullshit…. but i guess not all of us are winners…..

thanks for the free money"

Good one, winner.

• Relics of Ordinary Life Compilation / Here

• http://hassanisabbah.pacihl.com/, HIH's old website.