Venlo, Holland's Gore came together in 1985, when former Disgust guitarist Pieter De Sury and drummer Martin Van Cleef joined forces with ex-Pandemonium bassist Danny Arnold Lommen, thus establishing one of the 1980s' only influential all-instrumental bands, whose legacy would impact future underground legends like sludge-mongers the Melvins, noise rockers the Jesus Lizard, and -- obviously -- instrumental outfits like Pelican and Explosions in the Sky. Beginning with 1986's incredibly lo-fi, crust and feedback-laden Hart Gore LP (which saw Lommen moving to drums with the arrival of new bassist Rob Frey), Gore took their show on the road, quickly making a name for themselves around Europe and even behind the Iron Curtain, alongside other "fringe" acts like Swans, Young Gods, and Big Black. A second album, entitled Mean Man's Dream, followed in 1987, and having befriended the members of Black Flag some time prior, Gore released a split album pairing a few of their savage live recordings with Henry Rollins' burgeoning forays into spoken word performances. (Incidentally, although their albums had no vocals, Gore would still include a printed sheet of unsung lyrics, which invariably provided disturbing insight into the group's pessimistic world-view.) By 1988, Gore's reputation was threatening to shift their career aboveground, as they'd become Peel Sessions regulars and were invited to perform at that year's New Music Seminar in New York City, where they signed a new deal with Megadisc for the release of the double album Wrede/The Cruel Peace. Produced by their friend and champion Steve Albini, the record still failed to rack up substantial sales, though, and in tandem with steadily mounting tensions within the group, resulted in Gore's disintegration only a short time later. A largely discredited "reunion" would take place in 1991, with Frey resurrecting the Gore name and then single-handedly composing and producing 1992's Lifelong Deadline (another double LP), as well as 1996's Mest/694'3. The following year also spawned a limited-run promo CD called Slow Death, but this finally seemed to put a capper on Gore's journey, which would live on through the many bands inspired by it, and be celebrated by the 2008 reissue of those first two albums, plus bonus tracks, by Southern Lord. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, Rovi