Gore and van Eenbergen who produced several albums of the band in the following years. The cover of the album shows a photograph of a raw pig's heart pierced by a samurai sword. The picture is a work of Dutch photographer Egon Notermans. Hart Gore consists of 10 extremely reduced, repetitive, rhythmical and riff-dominated songs. The tracks lack almost all melody but are interspersed by tempo and rhythm changes. Feedback and distortions replace harmonies and volume is an essential element of the music. Gore on their debut are violent, loud and dirty. They break metal down to its essence, its pulsating, vibrant heart that then lies before us naked, just like the pig's heart on the cover of the record. Although Hart Gore is an instrumental record, lyrics to songs are included. With the exception of their last studio album Mest 694‘3 and the compilation album Slow Death, this will be the case with all Gore albums. The controversial lyrics are no less radical and raw as the music of Gore. The vulgar outbreaks of violent images and obscenities give insight into the negative, pessimist world view of the band. The lyrics are signed with „Val Hard“ which is yet another pseudonym of Frey. 1987 Mean Man's Dream, the follow up album, was recorded in Tango Studios in January 1987. Again the album recorded live in studio, produced by van Eenbergen and released on Eksakt Records. Mean Man's Dream is even more monotone, minimal, metric and metallic than Hart Gore was. There are no adornments on Mean Man's Dream, there are no charismatic reference points such as vocals or solos. There is only the naked, screaming riff and the mercilessly pounding rhythm in manic intensity. The iconic cover shows a crude butcher's knife on a scratched metal surface. The stark, direct photo, again taken by Notermans, visualizes perfectly the hard and cold aggression that fuels the music on the record. The album received predominantly positive reviews internationally, sold fairly well and is seen by many fans as the essential Gore record. In the summer Gore tours Europe with Henry Rollins who just had left Black Flag. Recordings made on this tour later appear on a Gore / Henry Rollins split LP. The Gore / Henry Rollins split LP is released in autumn 1987. It contains four live songs by Gore, which were recorded at a show at „De Bakkerij“ in