The Destiny Program is a modern hardcore journey that while isn’t like their predecessors that paved the way for today’s hardcore bands, isn’t completely removed from the sound. Theirs is more of a Hatebreed sound with chugga-chugga guitars and a metalized core. Passionate songwriting amid sometimes catchy hooks and fast-paced double bass crushing, “Gathas” is a decent retreat into today’s hardcore sound without it being exhausted on some mall wastezoid group.

Norma Jean has gotten far more mature in their songwriting since their fourth album. “Meridional” is chaotic, unbridled and energetic, tackling topical concepts throughout. Spouting off huge amounts of aggression and anger, Norma Jean isn’t afraid to launch into chaotic noisy metalcore with math-y abrasions. Or you know settle back into a furious metallic hardcore scream-a-thon. Challenging from start to finish, “Meridional” never rests on its laurels. It sticks its tongue out to the MTV crowd who likes heavy music but doesn’t LIKE heavy music. As technical as one would expect from the Dillinger Escape Plan, “Meridional” only pulls a punch when it’s all over.

When you hear the word ‘Danish’, I bet you think of fun little fancy pastries and not the Danish people huh? And I bet even if you did, you wouldn’t think brutal hardcore. Well if you did, then you’ve heard Straight to Your Face. “The Struggle” is what happened to Rick ta Life. I’ve heard some people call them “metalcore”. I couldn’t disagree more. I think they just remind of the old school metallic-edged hardcore that we grew to love in bands like Madball. So if that’s your bag, you better be grabbing on for dear life. Crushing rhythms, gang vocals, sickly brutal breakdowns and quietly literally a whole lot of Straight to Your Facing.

Screamo that isn’t obnoxious and packaged for the mall rats, La Dispute churns out hardcore riffs amid soul-searching lyrics and hypnotic compositions. Frantic melodies lend an air of chaos that the vocally shouted, said, and uttered lyrics only make more urgent and hyper. Contemplating songs that beg one to decipher the strong song structures and well-written musical structures that are beguilingly deliberately removed from the standard verse/chorus/verse mentality. Pressing and obsessive, “Somewhere at the Bottom of the River Between Vega and Altair” seems to emerge as a flame-retardant for those of us with psychological issues and our hearts on our sleeves.

Ah politically and inspirationally virulent hardcore! “Wartime Citizens” by The Efforts is their painting of how The American Dream is a farce and that the mainstream media is conspiring to put us all into the zombie haze. “Dear Sarah,” is their statement to Sarah Palin and her parade of misleading and fame mongering. “Wartime Citizens” and its incredibly passionate and pissed lyrics makes me wish that The Effort would write a book – could you imagine their vitriol next to the false Tea Party and social conservatism “books” at Borders? And what they do with their words is matched nicely with their textured hardcore; crunchy guitars, sing-a-long anthems, and pounding percussion. This isn’t your papa’s chugga-chugga hardcore. Love it, buy it, spread the love, and memorize.

Southwestern German hardcore outfit Manifestation has been recording, touring, and creating mischief since the early 2000s. Their latest effort, “Burden of Mankind” stirs up memories of mid-career Sick of It All. These days it seems like everyone that is doing hardcore music has to do it more on the technical or metalcore side of things rather than embracing the earlier years of hardcore that influenced so many and made today’s diversified scene what it is. Manifestation tosses aside today’s clichés for old school hardcore with even a few Oi inspirations just to keep it even more real. For fans of Madball, Floorpunch, and Agnostic Front.

Young Livers evokes post-hardcore gritty dank guitars that drop bombs similar to seminal outfit Drive Like Jehu. “Of Misery and Toil” burns no bridges as they embark upon a steady diet of breakdowns, odd song structures, and tinkering with what we’ve all come to expect from post-indie rock outfits. Mid-range rhythms with some blasts of devastation that are few and far between remind me of a Far that doesn’t deploy a melodic singer (think Hot Water Music) and nods firmly in the direction of punk rock. Each song evokes an immediate attention span quadrant that scans the horizon looking for something better but comes up empty. I swear they are a few decades removed from the DC hardcore scene.

Yet another notch in the holy belt of engineer and musician Kurt Ballou (Converge), “The God Complex” was recorded in his den of awesome, God City Studios in Massachusetts and boasts annihilating aggressive hardcore that strays from conventions. Another Breath was formed in 2003 by a bunch of friends that grew up in “The City with a Future”, also known as Fulton, New York – yeah I know, that’s a misnomer, no one has heard of it…but maybe in the future? Anyway, this eleven-song masterpiece churns out perfected lyrical writing by singer Ted Winkworth (doesn’t his last name sound like some Golden Ticket winner from “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”)? Okay I digress. The guitars are aggressive blending harmony with dissonance. Each song seems to build off the last and by the end of the LP, you feel like you just experience a 12-round slug fest with the best boxer in the sport. Isn’t it awesome that at this point in the realm of hardcore, there are still bands reinventing the genre?

Check them out on MySpace.

Plus peep some footage of their record release show:

Atlanta may not be best known as a haven for post-hardcore outfits, but perhaps with the self-titled EP by Lakehurst is Burning from one of my personal favorite indie labels, Reason Y Records, that could all change in a blink of an eye. Angular guitars combine with splendid melodies that brine together the best offerings of DC post-hardcore/indie rock ala Fugazi and the smart emocore (you know, what REAL emo is/was?) that so many rock musicians these days seem to have sadly forsaken for the ridiculousness of screamo and bland noise rock. The Paper Champions unfortunately fell apart after six great years in 2008, but Lakehurst is Burning, which features three out of four members of that super group, formed in its wake shortly thereafter. If you don’t know – and few that consider themselves “in the know” wouldn’t, The Paper Champions were gifted with plenty of success ranging from a prized inclusion on Deep Elm Records’ widely acclaimed “Emo Diaries” compilation series and also their “Ask Emma” was featured on MTV’s coveted Road Rules soundtrack – their ’04 debut full-length “Weekend of Compromise” being one of the early success of the aforementioned Atlanta imprint Reason Y, but it was their 4-song EP, “End. Transmission” that was their most critically acclaimed album. Sadly that band is no more, but if this self-titled debut EP shows us anything, it’s that the creative juices and intelligent songwriting that went into each passionate cut that The Paper Champions penned hasn’t been lost and indeed seems to have been fostered into something new being just as propulsive and essential. How’d they get this interesting moniker you ask? Well the band name is a reference to an air force base in Lakehurst, New Jersey where brother Jason (vocals/guitar) and Brad Neubert (drums)’s great-grandfater manned the tethers for the doomed Hindenburg zeppelin that tragically burst into flames killing 36 people. Despite the bleak band moniker, the album is a refreshing and captivating adventure of post-hardcore indie rock with gritty song structures of intriguingly paced time signatures and mature yet dark lyrics. Fascinating album that seemingly offers something new and exciting with each listen.

Buy Entire Album on MP3 on Amazon | Listen to “Captain, This is Crazy” [Free MP3 Download]

Watch a Live Video from their CD Release Party:

Okay so I admit this review is well over due. But just because I’ve been slacking off, doesn’t deride any of the importance of how truly epic and essential Converge’s seventh record release is. Jacob Bannon (singer) and Kurt Ballou (guitarist) are two of the most influential people in metal/hardcore/heavy music today, with Kurt Ballou having established himself as one of music’s most revered producers/engineers with his God City Studio a well-sought after destination. Ballou’s resume in the production, recording, and engineering realm is as impressive as his own musical one with a long resume that includes The Hope Conspiracy, pg. 99, Cave In, Modern Life is War, Blacklisted, Champion, Scars of Tomorrow, Orchid, and Paint it Black among many others. Indeed the group as a whole is a visceral auteur of heavy music, paving the way for many other experimental and chaotic bands to land into a scene that is welcoming, always moving, and rarely if ever stagnant. On “Axe to Fall”, Converge yet again expands their horizons with wavering and sober moments like “Cruel Bloom” featuring bluesy gravelly vocals sung by Steve Von Till (Neurosis) amid moist piano and ambient acoustic guitars. “Wretched Bloom” also features a guest vocalist in Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman who smoothly pours out a velvet of clean vocals that oddly complement the typical raging storm of Bannon’s ferocity. The album pours out buckets of emotion into a room that was once soaked with blood but is now drying, peeling off red-flecked paint chips like a million past childhoods wrought with self-destructive actions, something a song like the punk-fueled “Cutter” seems to cry out on. Converge are champions of everything heavy and prove their worthiness of the crown by dipping their quill into an inkwell of heavy rock, visceral chaotic metal, churning hardcore, and melodic heavy alternative art. “Axe to Fall” will fell an entire forest before it’s through rockin’ you out.