Accused - The Return of Martha Splatterhead

Released on Subcore before Combat picked up the band, eventually a later issue of The Return Of Martha Splatterhead would become the first album ever for a British upstart label called Earache (catalog number MOSH1). That version came with different cover art, more akin to the rough-edged sketch that adorned the Subcore release. (Maybe the Combat art was too cartoony, too metal, not punk enough, whatever — it’s certainly more intriguing than the yellow-haired, tongue-spitting image you see above, says the inner thirteen-year-old captivated by it in that used record store aisle nearly thirty years ago.)

The Return Of Martha Splatterhead has been in and out of print for its thirty-two years of existence — I still have that tape I bought back then, even long after I gave up on cassettes on the whole, and I was lucky enough to score a copy of the 2010 CD issue on Unrest (which restores my preferred artwork, thankfully). It’s not as difficult to find a physical copy of ol’ Martha as once it was (lucky you — I waited twenty years), so grab one while you can. It’s more fun than an open casket funeral… ~ Last Rites