Music Reviews of Hardcore, Crust, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore
Band Spotlight
Chiodos
Perhaps no one can explain the sheer ferocity and timid quietness it is better than when vocalist Craig Owens says “we don’t want to let the kids down” when discussing the group’s intense vocals live at shows. Well they never let a single kid down with their vicious assault on the ears and grip on the jugular...
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03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Hardcore, Crust, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore
A Day to Remember — And Their Name Was Treason Buy it at Amazon
Their intro track features the creepy sample of the bunny rabbit asking Donnie Darko to wake up and that sets the tone for one wickedly sick metal album. The band employs generous amounts of melodic singing that gets it butt kicked in gear by some wild screams and growls. But don’t take this for the next entry in the screamo hall of unfame—A Day to Remember is really a band to remember from the humid far reaches of Central Florida. It’s as if they somehow are the by product of Florida’s old school death metal scene and their emerging talented underground emo and indie rock scenes as some sort of devilish collage of mighty punk/metal half-breeding.
- J-Sin
Champion — Time Slips Away Buy it at Amazon
Get this album out now on Bridge 9 Records even if you already own the out-of-print EPs, “Count Our Numbers” and “Come Out Swinging”, because great straight-edge hardcore like Champion are just hard to find these days. Their positive brand of straight-edge hardcore isn’t often written these days with most kids writing more negative stuff, while their straight-edge heroes lose their ‘edge. Is there more of a classic than the title track that will inspire generations to come? I doubt it and I doubt that any band will ever match the intensity of “Time Slips Away”.
- J-Sin
Scary Kids Scaring Kids — The City Sleeps In Flames Buy it at Amazon
Arizona’s Scary Kids Scaring Kids have been making waves in the metal, hardcore, and punk circuits with their tremendous live shows and they’re soon to turn even more heads with a stint on this year’s Vans Warped Tour. Folks that enjoy My Chemical Romance will absolutely fall in love with “The City Sleeps in Flames” with its dark vision, screams, and sonic pathos. The palette that they paint with is bucketed with huge stadium riffs, melodic vocals, screeches that will rip the paint off of 12-foot ceilings, and surprising keyboards that give it a different sort of edge that most don’t expect from “screamo”. With this release firm in hands, Immortal Records looks to be propelled to the forefront of the scene just like when Korn, Far, and Incubus were hot and up-and-coming.
- J-Sin
Sinai Beach — Immersed Buy it at Amazon
I'm a real sucker for the top notch type of brutal Metalcore and this new Sinai Beach record is about as good as it gets. Leaving their debut full-lenght When Breath Escapes in the distant past, Sinai Beach destroy all with the crushing material on Immersed. Aside from some of the most violent breakdowns since bands first put shubba with dub, this record is extremely focused on the monolithically tyrannical Metal sound with only a few moments of Metalcore's perfunctory melodic reprieve. The more stripped-down, Metal-meets-the-streets sound balances between All Out War and the last Slayer record on a killing spree, the vocal dynamics battle between the traditional screams and Danzig-esque cleans, and the production lends and extremely vague (and somewhat disturbing to some purists) touch of Slipknot's filthy accessibleness that will catch the attention of Hot Topic kids across America. The morbid cover art and shameless lyrics tie it all together for one of the year's most barbarically unapologetic releases.
- Jeremy
Corinthian Order — The Comfort of Lying... Buy it at Amazon
For a band who haven't even been together for a year, Corinthian Order are doing impressively well; hell, they're ahead of countless bands that have been playing for much longer. Their solid line-up of musicians (including former Between the Buried and Me drummer Mike Reig) has done some touring, crafted an explosive set of songs, and recorded this EP of stunning, chaotic, techy Metalcore with no quarter on the brutality and none of the sassiness the sound has unfortunately come to espouse. Fans of Dillinger Escape Plan and Into the Moat will fall in love with the noodly riffing and interesting layers of guitars, but fans of the moshier bands will get into their less esoteric and more straightforward approach. Any band that can offer up this kind of tight, pounding music after less than a year deserves your attention.
- Jeremy
Bane — The Note Buy it at Amazon
You could spend an hour just figuring out the hidden messages in all of the printed song lyrics in “The Note” alone. That doesn’t include how much time you’ll be spending deciphering the varied nuances and inner meanings in each track nor does it include all the time you’ll spend just freakin’ listening to the damn thing. One of hardcore’s most important members, Bane has always been wholly influential and now they step it up with quite possibly their best album to date. And when you have an album like their 2001 “Give Blood” already under your belt that’s saying something. Unlike so many of the other bands in the hardcore scene, Bane has succumbed nor resigned to playing metal-edged hardcore instead opting for the more traditional sound, all the while still sounding as modern and kick-ass as ever. You’re a chump if you’re a hardcore fan and don’t own this album.
- J-Sin
The Hurt Process — A Heartbeat Behind Buy it at Amazon
A while ago I was hospitalized for erratically fast heartbeat, which turned out to be a panic attack plus a condition known as chest wall. I felt “A Heartbeat Behind” quite literally. But this brings it all back; a rush of adrenaline, a slight fear at what’s around the corner, and the notion that death could certainly be just a blink away. But The Hurt Process doesn’t mean to cause me this pain; in fact, they’re trying to unleash a torrent of their own via their intimate hardcore de-birthing from the womb of emo and metal. The Hurt Process emanates everything that we’ve ever liked about metal, hardcore, and emotional rock all mixed into one tremendous Bag of Holding. Could it get more raw or emotionally pressed? I doubt it. Could there be a better album about everything that could be stuffed into a trunk, whether that’s a body, luggage, or the very few belongings left from a successful runaway? It would be extremely unlikely. If you could bottle beauty and moods this well, you’d be the next info-mercial—this is metalcore’s wettest dream.
- J-Sin
Blacklisted — We're Unstoppable Buy it at Amazon
With an album title that’s less boast than descriptive, Blacklisted is one of the newer bands on Deathwish’s roster but they’re certainly no stranger to the hardcore world as their “Our Youth is Wasted” recordings would prove. They’re old school and will invoke incredibly violent pit dancing at any venue (un)lucky enough to feature them. With some wicked caustic vocals that recalls Madball’s best days mixed with some fierce breakdowns and tight guitar thrashing, Blacklisted is one fistful of hardcore’s best offerings.
- J-Sin
Trephine — Trephine Buy it at Amazon
Baltimore’s Trephine throw punk, progressive rock, metal, noise, and even math rock into the melting pot, stir things up a bit, and eat the result. With crafty use of sonically manipulated sounds, Trephine likens their instrumental approach to really no one else out there. They may remind people a bit of bands like Godspeed You Black Emperor! and even Keelhaul but they’re quite possibly one of the most unique bands I’ve ever had the pleasure to come across. Why so different? Well besides their awesome use of song structure they add in “found object percussion”, literally banging on the trash that Baltimore so incredibly boasts on every corner. Also don’t confuse this band with the much less talented Michigan band who shared the same name (Trephine has added an “MD” at the end of their moniker to avoid this confusion) because it’d be a crime to skip over this juggernaut.
- J-Sin
Not Enough Gold — The Listen & Learn EP Buy it at Amazon
Chicago’s never been known to boast a very compelling hardcore or punk scene—or at least on a consistent basis. But I guess it would be hard to produce anything really heavy to supplement the legendary industrial outfits that Wax Trax and the Windy City have mustered to usher out into the world. Maybe that’s changed with the onslaught Not Enough Gold is ready to beat out of the city’s inhabitants. Heavier than Ditka’s Bears and more punk-ass than trading Sammy Sosa, Not Enough Gold can unleash a torrent of Maiden-esque riffs or drop down the breaks like some of the legendary youth crew acts used to do, all while cranking the fun knob up to eleven.
- J-Sin
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