Taggers - cop's training video

Taggers is actually a real training video for police in Los Angeles from the early 90's. Advice for the coppers how to fight with the taggers that is give here is marvelous, especially one about chasing for the fattest guy if you're out of shape. Priceless!

Eyes To The Sky - All Bets Are Off

The sound of this album makes me think of Throwdown and I just couldn’t escape this comparison. It is in the slow to mid-paced groove where the band feels most comfortable and the fast moments are really few and far between. While the band isn’t on the level of Throwdown in their prime, they still deliver some mean and uncompromising shit.

Lyricalwise, the album is filled with aggressiveness and the vocalist Ryan is dropping some seriously anti-social verses about self pride, brotherhood and bringing pain upon those who oppose him. This is the way I like it actually.

While I overall enjoyed the album, ETTS’s weak links seem to be the lack of good ideas to give their songs some variation. The band doesn’t try any new tricks and instead rely on a well set out formula of mosh driven hardcore. While they manifest some good ideas now and then , this is not enough to keep the album interesting for more than a couple of spins. I mean, they got what it takes to make a good music, whether it’s a solid musicianship or angry and convincing vocals, but somehow there aren’t many moments here that excite me. The albums opens up with some solid tracks and then the whole excitement seems to be disappearing somewhere along the way. Despite some strong moments early on, the album as a whole sounds relatively flat. They get my blood rushing again with the last song Live And Die Honor. Never mind its cheesy title , the band brings a lot more emotion out of this song with the right groove and nice guitar lines. It seems ETTS is finally starting to get things more vibrant and too bad it’s happening in the last song.

I know they’re working on a new record right now so I hope they will be able to carve out more of their own identity with the new songs. Overall, this is not a bad album and if you want just something to mosh to, it should play its part. I’ll be checking out another ETTS album for sure but it’s gonna need some more creativity to succeed.


Author: Dloogi
Label:Seventh Dagger
Year: 2008

Eyes To The Sky at Myspace

Hardcore Press Review

Reactions to EDGE documentary and other scene related stories from all around the web:

“Edge” Documentary Sets Audiences Straight - The Celebrity Cafe

The culture of sobriety: EDGE offers a broad perspective on the straight-edge movement - Vanguard

Palace Theatre in Syracuse to present "EDGE" documentary featuring Karl Buechner [+interview] - Syracuse.com

Hardcore Krishna: Veteran punk singer Don Foose returns with furious music and a spiritual message - Cleveland Scene

Greg Bennick of Trial Interview - Seventh Dagger blog

Top 5 Hardcore Albums by Jason Mazzola of Cloak/Dagger - Decibel Magazine

20 best: US hardcore - FACT Magazine

Straight Edge Music - myfoxboston.com

Ghost Town Interview - All Year Summer blog

Sheriffs developing gang task force: "ut Fernley has the heaviest population of Hispanic gang members, while the more rural areas in the south of the county are seeing an increase in Straight Edge or Hate Edge gang members made up of predominantly white school-aged teens who are anti-smoking, drugs and alcohol, but have no problem with using violence to spread their message." - Biker News

Straightedge: What Every Parent (and everyone else) Should Know - Idaho Falls Today

Extreme Flashbacks: CM Punk and Constructing The Underlying Straight Edge(s) - The Wrestling Daily

Juggalo Rydas vs. Straight Edge Militants - Spike

By Way Of Blood

"The reaction that the crowd shows a hardcore band compared to almost every other genre. The more they get into what were doing makes me that much more into it. "

Name: By Way Of Blood

Location: (jake)manchester,nh/(mark)not northern ma(a dig to those bands who lie)

Active since: Oct.07

How do you define your overall style?
Aggressive hardcore late 90's HARD hardcore(jake)

What’s your goal with this band?
Tour europe and make kids hurt each other. bring back that feeling from the late 90's scene.

What do you have recorded so far?
A couple demo tracks and an unreleased 5 song e.p.

Would you like to introduce yourselves to the readers who may not have heard of you, as well as a brief history?
Mark -drums Jake-guitar Mark l.-guitar Alex-vocals bass-????? (just Jake and Mark here now. drummer. no drummer. drummer no drummer. drummer no singer. band label no bassist. me and jake have been busting our asses for 2 years just to keep the band alive. i was the vocalist for the first year and a half and made the move to drums after having 3 disappointments with the ones we had. we are moving onto our 6th bassist. (i promise its not our fault) we found alex through a few friends who had a band with him that was on its way out. so we swooped in and grabbed him up. and couldn't be happier.

Congratulations on getting a label. How did the Demon-seed deal came about and does it mean that the debut album is coming soon?
We got offered to do a tour this december with blood-war, through our manager ED from graveyard booking and they checked us out and passed us on to the label and with the powers that be being kids from the mid to late 90's they jumped on us. Ed has been a HUGE part of the life of this band in the short time we have know him. Meshia and kyle always throwing down on the floor for us helps alot too!!!

Many kids tend to turn to hardcore as an outlet from something that they’re dealing with in their regular lives. What is it with you, why did you lean towards this type of music?
Jake-fat scene chicks!! haha umm.. the reaction that the crowd shows a hardcore band compared to almost every other genre. the more they get into what were doing makes me that much more into it.
mark-same old story felt out casted to my "peers" haha im gonna cry. no i was into like "heavy" radio shit and then i went to my first show (xproclamationx, big jon stud, ever-down, and strike 3) and i was instantly consumed by the whole feeling of what the scene was then.(1996)

I’m really feeling the All Family Here track, both musically and lyrically. Tell us how that song came about…
Well we have a song called kinsman that was more of a direct anthem to our close friends and family and we noticed that we were starting to make new good friends and fans and wanted to address them, and we thought what better way than a "kinsman part 2".

What bands do you think had the biggest influence on your sound?
Terror (old), no warning, to kill, buried alive, shai hulud, madball, death before dishonor, hoods, agnostic front, indecision, one king down, snapcase, gwar, gorilla biscuits, suffocate faster,earth crisis, helmet, the miles between, reign supreme,down to nothing, think i care, integrity, and ringworm. i guess haha

One of the purpose of the band is to resurrect the New Hampshire hardcore scene. So do you think it’s moving in the right direction right now?
Not really. the kids who care right now only care to be seen and the ones we want are so fed up with the way the scene is they don't bother but its moving forward. it will take time to make people remember why they need to give a shit.

How would you describe the climate of the scene over there? Are the kids working together to make it work or they rather sit and do nothing but talking shit? 
Cold and doing nothing. but there are a SMALL handful of kids and people doing their part!!

So what are some classic acts from NH and what are some of the newer bands everybody should pay attention to?
Ever-down, strike 3, distrust(the hardcore one),enough said, word for word, trials, relentless we stand, yellow stitches.


What are the future plans for the band?
Not be to drunk to play. haha. tour europe. just have fun and play. thats what its always been about.

Thanks for taking your time to do this? Anything you would like to add?
Check out demon-seed records! blood war!! graveyard booking(ed we owe you so much!!!) trials!! enough said!! and relentless we stand!! full length record coming out spring/summer 2010

Band's Myspace profile.

Two horror comic books to be released shortly

Hairy Things is a three issue limited series written by Jay Carvajal with Marc Borstel providing the visual side of the project. The first issue will be out January 13, 2010. You can order it here.

The Wild West can be a scary place, as four unlikely friends discover, when they stumble upon a remote town deep in the Colorado Rockies that is being attacked by big hairy creatures. Sadly, for this gang, these hairy things may be the least of their worries! Ships Weekly in January!

The Waking was written by Raven Gregory, penciled by Vic Durichio and olored by Garry Henderson. The story is all about the zombies, fucked up scary kids and big breasted women.

In the big city, four police detectives investigating two routine murders discover that the victims of these crimes are coming back from the dead in search of those responsible for taking their lives. Now the detectives are in a race against time to find the source of the recent "awakenings" and will be torn between doing their jobs or allowing the victims to find their own justice. Meanwhile, a father with an incredible ability must choose between avenging his daughter's death or losing her forever.

Metal pick of the week: Musica Diablo

Musica Diablo is Sao Paolo based thrash project having Derrick Green of later day Sepultura fame on vocals. I haven't been following Sepultura for the last couple of albums so the fact that is doing all the shouting here wasn't really of a big importance. What matters is that this stuff is really good. With powerful chugging riffs, brutal vocals and a tight rhythm section they immediately managed to grab my attention. The band throws down some grimy but aggressive vibes. It's raw and energetic with a lot of good things going on. The song writing is great as the transitions from straight up fast and some more experimental parts goes naturally and the whole deal is very organic and flowing. Musica Diablo is working on the new album which is about to be released in early 2010 so let's hope it's gonna be as good as the songs on their myspace profile

This is pretty scary actually....

Face Your Enemy - Hard To Forget

Cold Hard Truth - Reflect The Conflict

In a time where "beatdown" style bands are a dime a dozen and attention spans are that of birds, it's the right mix of attitude, aggression, and (sometimes) relatability that makes a band truly stand out. Cold Hard Truth have that concept nailed to the wall with a sharpened leg bone and let me tell you, sleeping on these guys would be like resting your head on railroad tracks.

Expect a new cd in the coming months loaded with more stake-driving, stomping brutality. For now, "Reflect The Conflict" remains a staple in my cd-players diet and stands above and beyond most of the current crop. Their uncompromising style immediately evokes the essence of such old-time heavyweights as Clubber Lang, Next Step Up, Bulldoze, and Fury of Five. So if you like your hardcore to the point, mean, and dirty, then this needs to find it's way into your collection fast!

Lyrically, expect straight up tales of vengeance and contempt-for-stupidity which we all encounter at some point or another. They don't go too deep so the relatability factor is on point.

Author: Jay Vindictive
Label:IWO
Year: 2008

Cold Hard Truth at Myspace

Deflectime - Prepain For Pain