New Blood: Dead Weight (UK)



For the uninitiated, how did Dead Weight come about?
Dead Weight was formed in late 2010 when Sam Hames (Vocals) wanted to start a new St Albans Hardcore band as many new bands were coming out of the area at the time, after a few practices trailing various friends the band started playing shows in March 2011, the line up at this point consisted of Sam Hames (vocals), Sam Gale (guitar), Josh Khalid (guitar), Thomas Debaere (bass) and Wolfie Cloutman (drums). Josh Khalid and Wolfie Cloutman have since been replaced by Aidan Starr and James Mason respectively.

Victim Of Deceit dropped last year, how do you feel about it few months after it came out?
Stoked. It definitely rejuvenated us as a band, UKHC has taken a more metallic tone and structure since and around the time that we released the EP and that definitely helped us get it out to a wider audience. We hadn't played too many shows prior to the release of Victim of Deceit due to changing band members and the good reaction we got helped us get back into playing shows and enjoying them as we did when the band started out.

New Blood: Point Blank



Point Blank are from Tallahassee (Florida), which is a place I know absolutely nothing about but their debut ep Life Crisis is the sort of record that should have made their hometown a hardcore mecca. Their sound can be best described as classic sounding hardcore with a heavier vibe, which means it's fast but it also hits hard. I recommend you pay attention to this band.

For those who are unfamiliar with Point Blank, give us some introduction?
POINTBLANK is a hardcore band from Tallahassee, FL that was formed just to open local shows for touring bands. The group ended up being very compatible, and some really heavy stuff came out of it. Some hard work payed off with some recognition, thus we went a bit further & even blew ourselves away with Life Crisis.

Life Crisis came out in April, how do you feel about it months after it dropped?
Life Crisis, when it came out, was a very proud moment for all of us. Over the next flow of months we realized that the tracks be perfected, and we have decided to re-master and re-release with harvcore records.

New Blood: Cold Truth


Cold Truth are keeping it real in their area, which is Tacoma, WA. Definitely a band worth checking out if you're into hard-hitting, aggressive hardcore with a crossover vibe.

Tell us what people should know about Cold Truth.
We’re a straight edge hardcore band from Tacoma, WA. We just let the music speak for itself.

How did the band get its start?
I came along pretty early in the game. My understanding is that when Trevor, our singer, and Patrick, our bassist, were in Prepare the Bride half of that band went to start Singled Out. Trevor and Patrick decided to do a heavy band. Originally it was going to be like this early 2000’s Throwdown kind of thing. Then Trevor asked me if I wanted to play guitar. So, I wrote Choke, Life Lesson, and True Love pretty quickly, and Patrick and I collaborated on Mind’s Eye. We got Chris to slap some drums on it real quick and went to the Mukilteo Mansion and recorded with Cameron Heck. Then we had the South Sound Demo.

New Blood: Terrible Minds

Terrible Minds straight from the depths PAHC bring that beefy, tough hardcore everybody loves. Their recent record Devolution is absolute ripper, full of ignorant, pitbull-like aggression and pissed-off, fuck-you attitude. I suggest everyone into hard-ass hardcore like No Retreat, Krutch or Menace give it a listen.

Congrats on the release of your recent record Devolution. Give us some overview, how do you feel about it and the reception it gets?
We've gotten a lot of positive feedback from it from a lot of really great people. We're proud of how it turned out, but it makes it so much better hearing it from others.

Is there any type of message in your music that you want to send to the listeners?
Just be yourself, don't give up on your goals, and always keep your head up. Stay true to the people around you that you love and you can achieve anything.

New Blood: Born Free


Born Free is new blood from Melbourne, Australia. The band is nice with their take on groove-laced hardcore with vocals that are definitely above average. Their recent ep called Evil Hands is definitely worth checking out, you'd be surprised how good it is.

New Blood: Blind Beliefs (Belgium)


How did Blind Beliefs start? Were you in any other bands before this one?
It started with me and our old drummer jamming together back in 2011. We wanted to start a band and needed some members, so I asked some of my hometown friends if they wanted to join. As simple as that, not much later the band was formed. All of us played in some small local bands before, but nothing worth mentioning.

At the start of 2013 we found a new drummer, and from then on we kept the line-up as it is. The new drummer was in another local band before. But since they quit, we all start focusing on Blind Beliefs for 100%.

New Blood: Väistä


Vaista is a new band from Turku (Finland) with some of the members from now unfortunately defunct Alley Gods. I was big fan of that band, but Vaista is very cool as well. They still keep it 100% core, it's fast and in your face stuff that begs for circle pits and stage dives. On top of that, they sing in Finnish which is also pretty dope cause how many bands you know which do that?

New Blood: Back Down

Back Down hails from Bristol and so far have a demo that dropped last year, which was then followed up by Against All Odds EP that came out earlier this year. They play hardcore that while fast and dynamic, stays on heavier side of things, not unlike Terror or Madball. If you like this style, there's much to love about that new ep. Check out the interview I did with Tom who does vocals for the band.

New Blood: Guts Out - Moscow Hardcore

Guts Out caught my attention with the self titled ep they dropped in January - with pretty much every track on it being incredibly dope it rapidly became one of my favourites. The band doesn't break any new ground, but it works classic NYHC hardcore style with considerable skill and aggression. Take my word for it, without mentioning any names, it can give a lot of more hyped bands a run for their money. Anyway, as I want to have more bands from Europe featured on this blog this year, Guts Out were an obvious choice.

Retribution Interview


Retribution caught my attention with their superb Consumed 7". That record was pure fire - pissed off vocals, massive breakdowns and powerful riffs combined for a definitely dark and negative output. The new stuff that the band dropped at the end of 2013 definitely lives up to the previous material so make sure you check it out. You can grab it on tape from Lost Time Records. Check out the interview I did with band's vocalist Kenneth.