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
Destruct-a-thon / Kill It All Away / Duncan Wilder Johnson Has a Short Guy — Workaholica Buy it at Amazon
Whoa Duncan Wilder Johnson is a brave soul. Not only does he bare his soul on “Workaholica”, he does so while showing how damn hard he’s willing to work. This release is actually three releases combined into one giant mighty juggernaut. Destruct-a-thon is a hardcore-edged Slayer-esque metal group. Kill It All Away is a stripped-down two-piece. Duncan Wilder Johnson Has a Short Guy Complex is all crazy spoken word material. This is the underground version of Henry Rollins on crack.
- J-Sin
Classic Case — Losing at Life Buy it at Amazon
“Losing at Life” is now the third album that I’ve had the pleasure to review for the good folks in Classic Case. The album is the group’s sophomore full-length and features Page Hamilton of Helmet infamy behind the knobs as the producer and engineer. And you can tell. The guitars are stirring and juggled between thick effects and dirty distortion. Post-hardcore glitz that’s buried up to the neck in Quicksand, Handsome, and Muse influences. Of course there’s a little Glassjaw sprinkled in as well, which is to be expected when you figure that their drummer Durijah Lang was a member of that group. You’ll love the beautiful melodic vocals that are ridiculously catchy while at the same time giving a firm nod in the direction of their bass-laden grooves. Pick it up.
- J-Sin
Various Artists — Take Action Vol. 6 Buy it at Amazon
This double-disc plus DVD set has taken this compendium and grown it substantially. Still armed with an initiative to grow and benefit the Youth America Hotline that tries to help prevent suicide among teenagers, the “Take Action” tour and album has seen massive growth and approval among its target audience. Along with the compilation, the tour this year will feature Emery, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, A Static Lullaby, and Kaddisfly. If you’re wondering who’s on the DVD and the two discs worth of music—well you just better check it out for yourself because it’s a who’s who of independent punk, metal, screamo, and indie rock.
- J-Sin
A Girl A Gun A Ghost — Save This City Buy it at Amazon
Savannah, Georgia is as hot as it can get during the summer months. Just ask A Girl A Gun A Ghost what they think. These Georgia natives might not shudder at the challenge of wrangling out a short metallic hardcore tune or two in the dead of the summer but most would at least shred a bead of sweat. Instead this young crew manages to carve out a niche of metallic hardcore with pop tendencies that is both invigorating and fresh. After shaking loose of a lineup issue, the band has managed to set its goals higher than anyone at Hotfoot Records may think possible. Good for them.
- J-Sin
The Storm — Relentless Buy it at Amazon
For the past three years, Pennsylvanian hardcore outfit The Storm has thundered through stage after stage. Utilizing the sound of hardcore that Strife and Earth Crisis made famous prior to the Storm, the group delivers breakdown after breakdown with gang vocal choruses and plenty of sing-a-longs. Layered aside nifty guitar solos and punk drumming, this is a band that simply demands your complete attention.
- J-Sin
A Day to Remember — For Those Who Have Heart Buy it at Amazon
A pop-punk quintet from Florida? Come on Victory Records you can do better than that. Well scratch that then and add some hardcore floor pounding, screamo vocals, pop-punk choruses, and energetic rock anthems. That should be A Day to Remember (yeehaw, pun!) shouldn’t it? It is by golly! "For Those Who Have Heart" is a mosh-pit, coffee house, dorm room friendly anthem-riddled album for the angst-riddled teen, the jock prick across the way who wants to flail his fists, and the sweater-tugging bookworm who enjoys black espresso. Who didn’t think that mall-punk would meet metalcore head-on?
- J-Sin
Freya — Life the Curse Buy it at Amazon
The most famous straightedge guy around, Karl Buechner (former Earth Crisis frontman) left hardcore behind and began Freya a much more metalcore outfit than the often metallic hardcore sound of Earth Crisis. Utilizing Norse mythological imagery and allusions in their songs, Freya tells personal stories of betrayal, angst, and anger at the world. Continuing to fight for animal rights, Freya agreed to team up with P.E.T.A.2 to record a music video for their anti-vivisection tune “Struggle to Survive”—it’s perhaps the biggest separator for Freya from the rest of this crowded genre.
- J-Sin
The Stiletto Formal — This Is My Boomstick Buy it at Amazon
Wow an album name straight from Bruce Campbell’s legendary “Army of Darkness”? But why the goofy MySpace-esque moniker? Well once you get past that emo eye make-up name, you’ve got yourself a good proto-punk noisy dance rock group. Generating a bit of a buzz about themselves even outside of their native Phoenix, The Stiletto Formal delivers blistering guitar assaults with imaginative songwriting and layered vocals that range from screeches to melodic beautiful crooning. Plus how many MySpace bands really have a cellist? Be sure you pay attention to this one.
- J-Sin
Various Artists — The Best of Taste of Chaos Two Buy it at Amazon
Wow two-discs choked with nu-metal, metalcore, and hardcore. MTV-style. One music video, err, I mean single, err, I mean best song-on-the-album, at a time. Hmm.
- J-Sin
The Assailant — Colera Buy it at Amazon
Recorded last fall in Seattle’s The Red Room, “Cólera” almost instantly brings Botch to mind. Noisy cathartic hardcore with mathematically precise time signatures and filthy pounding rhythms, The Assailant takes many measures to ensure that the anxiety you feel while experiencing their music is as real as it can get. Screamed vocals drip of mania and frenzy while the tension mounts via densely layered distorted guitars. “Cólera” is documentation of pure unadulterated craziness bottled with pure adrenaline and panic attacks. Pick this up immediately if you like musical influences that range from pg. 99, Botch, Fugazi, Majority Rule, and Swans. Another brilliant gem from Rome Plow Records.
- J-Sin
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