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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Skinny Puppy - Mythmaker
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The Geeks - Every Time We Fall
Limbeck - Limbeck
WinterKids - Memoirs
03.09.2007 by J-Sin
Music Reviews of Hardcore, Crust, Post-Hardcore, Metalcore
Face the Panic — The Reclamation Buy it at Amazon
Up in your grill style hardcore, Face the Panic is Buffalo’s excuse for portraying everything a couple of notches harder than it truly is. Putting out their debut, Face the Panic, manages to self-assert themselves with defiant lyrics, pop-riddled hooks, and metallic hardcore breakdowns ala Hatebreed. Formed from the ashes of a half dozen or so, great hardcore bands including Slugfest, Lockjaw, Every Time I Die, Union, and others, Face the Panic seems destined to encircle the youth of today and let them play out their aggression in a positive manner.
- J-Sin
Pechblende — Collapse Buy it at Amazon
Collapse was originally a grindcore outfit formed back in ’01, now the members of Collapse are known as Pechblende and their debut is known as “Collapse”. Confused? Their love for grindcore gave away to something more experimental and progressive. Raunchy post-hardcore and post-punk indie metal that bounces from crushing punk anthems to melodic hardcore overtures. Featuring a guest appearance by Fistfuck’s Christian Labrecque, the album was recorded by Rene Garcia (Commando) in Montreal. Canadian hardcore isn’t discussed nearly as much as it should but bleak and dank hardcore like Pechblende should be on the tops of everyone’s list.
- J-Sin
Botch — We are the Romans (Deluxe Edition) Buy it at Amazon
Botch is perhaps best experienced in a darkened room, with the heat turned way up, and the walls well padded—their fiery brand of metallic hardcore the ultimate exercise room. “We are the Romans” was originally released in 2000, and Hydrahead proudly is re-releasing a new edition that features demos of this magic final verse in the Botch Hall of Fame as well as some live tracks that display their rabid ferocity. Championing the metalcore scene before it was really known as metalcore (and before haircuts got you in), Botch is one of those rare special treats of heavy music that is thought-provoking, adrenaline pumping, and downright scary good.
- J-Sin
Light Pupil Dilate — Snake Wine Buy it at Amazon
Heavy metal with elements of prog-rock, hardcore, indie rock ala DC-area post-hardcore, and classical heavy metal anthems. They’re from Atlanta, Georgia and know how to wreck it. Their debut “Cascades” was warmly received but “Snake Wine” will make or break the group. Having already toured with the likes of Meatjack, Kylesa, Today is the Day, Mastodon, All that Remains, Burnt by the Sun, and Cream Abdul Babaar, it’s certainly within reason that they will break out of the underground very soon. “Snake Wine”’s successful marriage of metal and post-hardcore will only further that along.
- J-Sin
Modern Life Is War — Midnight in America Buy it at Amazon
J. Robbins is a genius. I could almost end the review right there, parading his majesty of production, but that wouldn’t do Modern Life is War’s latest any justice. While perhaps not overreaching their previous “Witness”, Modern Life Is War is a band very much at war with monotony. The group breaks up not with clichés, or even the cliché of avoiding clichés but instead by pitching their tent in mid-tempos and utilizing sonic textures to showcase the fact that they are not afraid to take a few risks. There are stories here that one could learn a lot from whether is your somewhat atypical swipe at wanting to improve themselves and get out of the working class grind, or if it’s “Stagger Lee” with its incredulous tale about a turn-of-the-century murder. Perhaps not tales we can all relate to but nevertheless a hell of a lot more intriguing than your typical neener-neener “fuck up the pit” nonsense that so many hardcore bands spew out these days. Hardcore is ready for a change of pace, are you?
- J-Sin
Aiden — Conviction Buy it at Amazon
The makeup and backwards brushed dyed black hair alone qualifies them for a Grammy!
- J-Sin
The Warriors — Genuine Sense of Outrage Buy it at Amazon
With a guest vocalist like Lemmy from Motorhead, one might not immediately think that the Warriors are a group of hardcore purist kids at heart. But they are, and that’s what led to the name of the album, which was uttered by their old guitar player about how so many in hardcore are forgetting about their outrage. Produced by Cameron Webb who has worked with the aforementioned Motorhead as well as Social Distortion and Silverstein, “Genuine Sense of Outrage” peppers you with thrashy guitars and hardcore anthems. Other guest vocalists include Comeback Kid’s Andrew Neufeld and Sick of It All’s Lou Koller. The group has been touring since they were 19 and are no strangers to the doldrums of touring as a hardcore band. The tempo and pace on the album is whiplashing and the staccato guitars will ignite you as if you were emerged in a hardcore fiery pit of awesome. I mean and that album cover, a crazed dude doing air guitar with a wolf stomach?!
- J-Sin
Purpose — 1994-2001 Buy it at Amazon
New Jersey’s hardcore punk band Purpose did the youth crew thing and jumped ship and kept morphing along with the hardcore scene over the years. There’s a lot of DC hardcore and youth crew influence that the group drew from throughout their career. Seeing twelve members come and go, Purpose had plenty of members go on to start or play in other bands you may have heard of including Ensign, Saves the Day, and Thursday. Definitely an album that will tug at the heart strings of nostalgia, Purpose employed a dynamic sense of melodic hardcore that posers wouldn’t start emulating for years to come.
- J-Sin
Between the Wars — Death and the Sea Buy it at Amazon
Ensign’s frontman Tim Shaw mans the mic while the guitars are handled by former Thursday member Bill Henderson. But beside the hardcore creds, Between the Wars is a post-hardcore indie rock juggernaut that juggles manic visceral proto-punk with hardcore anthems and indie rock harmonies. I love how “Death and the Sea” was recorded—it sounds like they’re playing right behind you with a definite attention to sounding like it was recorded completely live. Raw throaty vocals, vicious flaming frets, and frenetic drumming combine to construct Between the Wars as a group who may just have escaped the local prison, asylum, or fast food joint hellhole.
- J-Sin
Nodes of Ranvier — Defined By Struggle Buy it at Amazon
Hardcore group Nodes of Ranvier has been strengthening the cause of the underground for some seven years now. Having impressed the good folks at indie giant, Victory Records, they signed up to release “Defined by Struggle”. Blending metalcore with old fashioned hardcore ala Hatebreed for something that is crushing, devastating, and tough, Nodes of Ranvier manage to coat the metal world with their blend of metal and hardcore. And hell the album is released on my birthday, so it cannot be all that bad!
- J-Sin
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