Fear of god

This quartet was formed in early 1987. In the Swiss hardcore punk scene, the band was not particularly enthusiastic about the audience. The band's vocalist, Eric Keller, explained this by saying that they were "too extreme." The audience left their concerts, the group did not get along with other bands. “We dedicated ourselves to our noise,” as Keller later recalled ^[1] .

In terms of music, Fear of God began to pick up speed with the advent of drummer Franz Oswald in late summer 1987. Members of the group often met teams that played very quickly and this had a strong influence on the team ^[1] .

Fear of God was a political collective. The members of the group were supporters of vegetarianism and from time to time broke the windows of some butcher shops, boycotted against transnational corporations and companies that did business with the racist government of South Africa . Also, the members of the group were opponents of commerce ^[1] .

Fear of God rarely had the opportunity to give concerts. During their career, they performed only 15 times, but the team secretly sold cassettes in order to attract attention. The group recorded several tapes in 1987, and the following year they released a self- titled mini-album . However, the team broke up a few months later ^[1] .

After 15 years of silence, Fear of God reunited at the end of 2002, but again broke up in January 2004 ^[1] .

In 2018, the band re-released their self-titled mini-album on the label FOAD Records in honor of the thirtieth anniversary of the release ^{[2] [3]} .

With the advent of the new drummer Franz Oswald, the band began to pick up speed. Their songs lasted from 20 to 30 seconds; they were almost as fast as their debut album Napalm Death ^[1] . Fear of God are considered pioneers of noise grades . The characteristic features of the band’s music are a sharp noise , an abundance of feedback , cacophony and a “cry out of the blue”. The group did not use any effects while recording albums. Instead, on the contrary, the team used equipment of far from the best quality ^[2] . The 1988 Fear of God As Statues Fell album is often referred to as the frontier of the noise bar ^[4] .

The reactions of others

The goal of the band was to destroy the music. They wanted to use their tools in the most “wild” way. Vocalist Eric Keller called their performance in Hanau , West Germany "sonic madness." A few weeks after the group’s performance, the country's leading hardcore fanzine conducted a survey on the “1988 biggest disasters”; “After some chemical and nuclear incidents that shocked Germany, readers called the Fear of God performance in Hanau the biggest disaster of the year. I think this is exactly what we strove to achieve, ”Keller recalled ^[2] .

Many people who met Keller said that the music of this band sounds “cold” or “inhuman” to them. Keller’s acquaintances once asked him to show off the recordings of his group that they had heard about. Their reaction was “Is it really you ?!”, which, in fact, pleased Eric ^[2] .

1987 - April 1988:

• Erich Keller - vocals
• Reto Kühne - guitar
• Franz Oswald - drums
• Dave Phillips - bass , vocals

April 1988 - July 1988:

• Erich Keller - vocals
• Hervé Geuggis - Guitar
• Gilles Geuggis - Guitar
• Massimo Iorillo - Bass
• Franz Oswald - drums

Albums

• 2006 - Dave Phillips : A Collection of Curses - CD Blossoming Noise / USA
• 2004 - V / A Tribute Album : The End of Fear Of God - CD Tochnit Aleph Records / Germany
• 2003 - Dave Phillips : The Hermeneutics of Fear Of God - CD Tochnit Aleph Records / Germany
• 2003 - Fear Of God : Fear Of God (1st) - CD Eu91 / Italy
• 2001 - Fear Of God : s / t - CD A.Marsch / Japan
• 1997 - Fear Of God : I'm Positive - MC Maimed by Love / USA
• 1988 - Fear Of God : Blazing Swiss Noise - MC Private Records / Sweden
• 1988 - Fear Of God : At Speedairplay / LoRa - MC Off the Disk / Sweden

LP

• Zeitgeist - Double-LP 2003 Absurd Records / Brazil
• Grind Masters - LP
• As Statues Fell - 12 "LP Reissued 1992 Farewell / Germany
• As Statues Fell - 12 "LP 1988 Off the Disk / Sweden

EP

• Pneumatic Slaughter - 7 "EP reissued 1993 Anomie / Germany
• Konserven - 7 "EP 1992 Wo Sheds / Switzerland
• Pneumatic Slaughter / Live - 7 "EP 1990 Atrocious / USA
• Fear Of God - 7 "EP reissued 1990 Far Out / Sweden
• Fear Of God - 7 "EP 1988 Temple of Love Records / Germany

Collections

• Nobody Listens Anymore - 7 "EP compilation with Youth Crew , Psycho Sin , Filthy Christians , etc. 1990 PPR / Violent Noise / Mexico
• Trapped in a Tooth Gear - compilation from LP 1993 Two Sheds Records / Sweden

Bootlegs

• Fear Of God - 7 "EP, includes 1 Bonus Track (" Break the chains "by Infest) 1985
• Fear Of God - Controlled By Fear - LP (Live and practice recordings)
• Fear Of God / Infest - Split 7 "EP
• Fear Of God / Death Noise - split 12 "EP
• Fear Of Godstomper - 7 "EP split with Godstomper

Articles

• Salmhofer, Andreas. Grindcore - eine ›extreme‹ Mutation des Metals? Zur Diskursivierung des Grindcore (German) // Nohr, Rolf F. and Schwaab, Herbert Metal Matters. Heavy Metal als Kultur und Welt. - 2012 .-- S. 220 .

Books

• Mudrian, Albert. CAMION BLANC: CHOOSING DEATH L'histoire du death metal et du grindcore . - Camion Blanc. - ISBN 9782357794542 .

• Fear of God interview with EU´91 Serbian League Magazine