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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Current Top Ten Chart
Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker
Converge - No Heroes
The Graduate - Anhedonia
Death By Stereo - Death Alive
Comeback Kid - Broadcasting
The Snake The Cross The Crown - Cotton Teeth
Dear and the Headlights - Small Steps, Heavy Hooves
The Geeks - Every Time We Fall
Limbeck - Limbeck
WinterKids - Memoirs
03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Hardcore, Crust, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore
The Bronx — The Bronx Buy it at Amazon
The Bronx apparently forgot what hardcore punk was all about on their very heralded release. I guess that’s why they got picked up by a major label and were featured on MySpace. Go get a Kyuss album, you won’t regret it. What a complete disappointment given how good some of their earlier stuff was.
- J-Sin
Hostility — Uncompromised Buy it at Amazon
Yelled vocals with big guitars that shred riffs left and right along with huge drums, Hostility was born in high school in ’98. Thick chugga chugga riffs complicate matters. They’re most definitely another rung on the metalcore ladder. If you’ve been listening to metal for the past couple of years than you’ve heard “Uncompromised” all before (can you say Killswitch Engage?). It’s not bad but man is this genre tired.
- J-Sin
Betrayed — Substance Buy it at Amazon
Hardcore bands have been delving too much into metalcore and it’s made the once friendly melting pot of hardcore shows a big bore. Betrayed slays all of that with their latest offering on “Substance” taking us back to the good old days when hardcore was just fucking hardcore and nothing else. Pioneering hardcore back to the early ‘90’s and ‘80’s of hardcore (you know, when x’s meant something), Betrayed enlisted legendary producer Kurt Ballou to produce. Ballou not only produced he also helped with the song structure and even some writing. Raw and unnerving, “Substance” is one hardcore record you’ll be glad you picked up this year.
- J-Sin
Take My Chances — Down Here With Us Buy it at Amazon
Are they real hardcore? Yes. Speaking to us via political social commentary and emotional lyrics, Take My Chances expose their talented chops with punked up energy. The band features ex-members of This Is Hell, Heads vs. Breakers, and the Backup Plan and write compelling hardcore punk songs in the vein of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, and Set Your Goals—they’ve shared the stage with Kid Dynamite and toured with Set Your Goals. Maximizing their energetic assault with huge speedy drumming and like-minded guitars that seem to emanate from a circle pit, Take My Chances is a nod to the old school hardcore just like Comeback Kid was.
- J-Sin
108 — Creation. Sustenance. Destruction. Buy it at Amazon
While I’m certainly far from a religious person, I do consider myself to have somewhat of a spiritual side—it’s just not engrained with any particular dogma or structure. 108 is a hardcore band, actually a Krishna-core band. Having formed in ’92 by ex-Inside Out (yes Zach de la Rocha’s hardcore band) and Beyond bassist Vic Dicara and Resurrection singer Robert Fish, 108 quickly undertook a mission to bring positive lyrics that were thought-provoking, spiritual, and honest to a genre known for its brutal live shows and thunderous pace. Writing songs concerning vegetarianism, celibacy, masculine overbearance (both in the hardcore scene and society), and other topical subjects, 108 has always been adorned with a special sort of fan. This release is a double-disc discography album that spans the entire 108 collection including their amazing “Songs of Separation”, “Threefold Misery”, and “Holyname” albums. Clearly leaning on the old school hardcore sound, 108 crafted memorable masterpiece after masterpiece utilizing their platform to spread word about their philosophy and starting a movement of their own. Show Equal Vision the love that they deserve for packaging all of these amazing hardcore songs into one inexpensive package.
- J-Sin
Dead Man In Reno — Dead Man In Reno Buy it at Amazon
Making the most of the stale metalcore sound, Dead Man in Reno joined up with producer Jamie King (Through the Eyes of the Dead, Between the Buried and Me) in North Carolina to record this manic metallic-edged blending of hardcore, extreme metal, and tech metal. Dead Man in Reno is another example of self-marketing on the Internet paying off as the band signed up with an imprint for Candlelight Records in Abstract Sounds after establishing a rabid fanbase on MySpace and Pure Volume. Throbbing double bass attack with guitars that rear their ugly mangled heads amid smashing bass groove. Add a little screamo style vocals and substantial torturing yells and you’ve got one hell of a blistering album.
- J-Sin
Day of the Dead — A New Healing Process Buy it at Amazon
Growling vocals that yell with in-your-face bravado is just one step forward for Day of the Dead. With hardcore’s honesty and blistering breaks, Day of the Dead launch right out of the speakers and into your cerebellum. Allowing themselves to have a hint of metalcore but without reviving the now stagnant dead cliché that that bloated genre now offers, Day of the Dead remain poignant and almost clairvoyant. Thick chunky guitars work to deliver a beating that will bruise your soul. Big ups to a band who know what hardcore is still all about.
- J-Sin
Drugs of Faith — Drugs of Faith Buy it at Amazon
Northern Virginia group Drugs of Faith may have had a rotating roster of bandmates but they’ve always delivered crusty punk hardcore high and above most anything else out there. Founded by an Enemy Soil original member, there are clearly marks of grind/crust throughout their brain-busting attack. Mastered by the man himself, Scott Hull, Drugs of Faith’s self-titled “debut” (they’ve had several 7”s and demos) will hopefully finally garner this awesome trio the attention they most certainly deserve.
- J-Sin
Jenny Piccolo — Jenny Piccolo Buy it at Amazon
Splitting an EP with The Locust, Jenny Piccolo is one terrific power violence crusty punk juggernaut. Primitive hardcore punk that’s loud, abrasive, and unafraid, Jenny Piccolo doesn’t live up to its sweet sounding name—instead they’d rather throw you into the meat grinder. And speaking of grind, there are definitely some blast beats and elements of grindcore here but if you thought that power violence group Charles Bronson was a severe hit to the cranium, then wait till you hear Jenny Piccolo. Blistering speed, filthy distortion, and caustic screams make this one gut-busting adventure.
- J-Sin
Outbreak — Failure Buy it at Amazon
What do Comeback Kid and Agnostic Front have in common? Both have been graced with Outbreak’s presence on tours. Soon This Is Hell, Modern Life Is War, and Bane will also share that honor. Old school hardcore tenacity with beat-downs for drumming take Outbreak back to the days when hardcore wasn’t a cliché or fashion. Jim Siegel lends his expertise in recording this album—you’d know him if you’ve heard Dropkick Murphys, Blood For Blood, or American Nightmare before. Punked up rhythms with shout-outs, stirring frenetic guitars that chugga-chugga away, and a lack of that breakdown reliance that so many “hardcore” bands have been leaning on the last few years—but that’s not to say there aren’t some breakdowns, in fact the ones that exist on “Failure” are so devastating that they’ll break your legs. Brutal!
- J-Sin
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