Parasitic Skies - Embers

I’ve been listening to Embers off and on for some time now and to be honest, it didn’t really jump out at me right away, but the more I listened to this, the more I liked it. The sound on the EP is raw and dirty, but at the same time pretty catchy, and I definitely like it that way.

Although this is a 4-song EP, Parasitic Skies succeed in making Embers an appealing effort. There are no fake moves here, from the start they’re getting right down to business and keeping it as hard as it should be. An Abcess is an appropriate starting point for the EP, setting the tone for what can be expected during the rest of the songs. Boasting raw and relentless riffs accompanied by a brutal drumming and deep growling vocals, the song embodies the kind of sound that was long absent in the scene. It could be best described as new school with a lot of inputs from death metal and it kind of reminds me of the 90’ when a lot of vegan straight edge bands were doing it like this. In many cases, it was plain boring and generic, and using the vegan and straight edge image seemed just like a poor excuse for lack of musical skills. Nonetheless, there was couple of bands that were doing this stuff right. Just remember names as Apostle, early Reprisal, Abnegation or Deformity and you’ll know what I mean.

The metal sounding songs featured on Embers definitely bring back memories of those days and even not being the biggest fan of this style, I can appreciate the amount of aggression and energy Parasitic Skied delivers. Mid-tempo grooves form the foundation of their music but the songs are also filled with parts where the tempo significantly increases. The tracks are detailed with good dose of breakdowns and changeups that keep them far from getting trivial and chaotic like a lot of deathcore bands today. I definitely rather listen to Parasitic Skies than to another lame ass deathcore band with squealing pig on the vocals.

It’s not the type of music that will appeal to the common taste nowadays when it comes to combining hardcore with death metal. There are no girly melodic parts in here, no clean vocals or bullshit lyrics. No cheap tricks here. Just an honest band that is serious about what they do and the message they’re trying to get across to the listener. If you are looking for a brutal and metallic hardcore give it a try.

Author: Dloogi

Label:Seventh Dagger
Year: 2009

Parasitic Skies at Myspace

Still Screaming are looking for shows in 2010

The band has just released punishing "From The Ashes Of A Dead Time" album and are looking for shows in 2010. Get in touch with them via their Myspace profile.

Label showcase: Clandestine Project / Retribution Records

From now on we will dedicate some space over here at Hardboiled to shed some light on hardcore labels that we feel are doing a great job giving quality bands chance to release their material. It will feature interviews with new and established labels from around the world and I think it might be an interesting to find out what folks who are providing us with all these thrilling albums think about the current state of hardcore, record sales etc. This might be also pretty informative for all the folks trying to launch their own label or bands trying to get noticed. We’ll start thing off with a chat with Hiro from Clandestine / Retribution Project.

From now on we will dedicate some space over here at Hardboiled to shed some light on hardcore labels that we feel are doing a great job giving quality bands chance to release their material. It will feature interviews with new and established labels from around the world and I think it might be an interesting to find out what folks who are providing us with all these thrilling albums think about the current state of hardcore, record sales etc. This might be also pretty informative for all the folks trying to launch their own label or bands trying to get noticed. We’ll start thing off with a chat with Hiro from Clandestine / Retribution Project.

What made you decide to start your own label? Did you have any initial vision how would it operate and what type of bands you would be putting out?

Yeah I was thinking there are more good bands in the world HxC scene but some of young bands hard to get deal with label. There is too much downloading but I’m sure pressing CD is much better than web site release. (Because of real cd with real booklet) So I started my label and hooked up my close band called DOGGY HOOD$.

What are some of the biggest obstacles you had to face when setting this thing off?

Yeah we are hailing from Japan, some of FOREIGN label or distributers are not interested in Japanese works, that’s bad but we can release great music through clandestine. I know too many bands are releasing in the world all time but hope to people from world gonna see what we are doing.

What are some of the albums you have released so far and what was the key to choose bands you want to work with?

I don’t care EXACT category for my label if the band is playing METALCORE or DEATHCORE or BEATDOWN or OLD SCHOOL or RAP SHIT but need to put HEAVY/BRUTAL shit through HxC theory. Also I’m big fun of HxC music so I listen to the music at first if we sign with new band.

What advice would you give to the upcoming bands when they’re trying to get labels interested in their shit? What most of them are doing wrong?

Yeah we gonna put VOW OF HATRED mid DEC. that’s will be totality SICK. Heavy as hell. Often we are getting requests from the band that wants put cd on label. Off course I can talk to something but most bands didn’t check my current release or latest band. That’s terrible. I need to know about yourself and you need to know about myself. That’s the most important thing on deal.

So besides your website, where can people find your records?

Yeah Basically I’m doing distribution called RETRIBUTION NETWORK. I have tons young to big bands titles on our store and we can accept worldwide shipping. Especially I’m pushing the bands that haven’t release cd. We want to hook up such young bands on Clandestine but we need to recover pressing cost from current release and the money will be next pressing cost. We should distribute to more international distro but sometimes hard to send to USA distros. We should find more good way for distribution in whole world.

If any distribution or a label would like to carry some of your CDs, what should they do?

Yeah that’s honor thing so we can send to any country. Please contact me. Off course we can accept TRADE things with any label if want. We can spread each other. That’s perfect.

For all the vinyl collectors out there, how possible is a vinyl release from the Clandestine in the near future?

I Think vinyl format is not popular in here. People would love to take CDS. So actually we don’t have any vinyl release on clandestine but if we get good sales of future titles, I would love to release vinyl version too haha.

As someone who puts a lot of his hard work, dedication and money into making those hardcore records see the light of the day, what’s your opinion on mp3 downloading? Do you feel it can benefit you because some of the kids who download your music for free might actually want to support the band and buy the record?

Yeah I knew there are too many free down load on the blog or share wear. I told I thought real cd is better than mp3 format. BUT I see MP# is really useful. Because I also have IPOD and put tons mp3 on my iPod. We can’t stop such an illegal download system so really hard to sell cds in 5-10 years. But I’m trying / thinking what we can do in the best way to spreading CLANDESTINE RELEASE.

So how do you think hardcore labels can benefit from the use of Internet promotion and digital music distribution, things that seem to be shaping the overall music market nowadays?

Yeah I accepted few download deal ever for my other label RETRIBUTION ENTWORK. If I know and trust the person who can hook up this business, I can do something but we need to sell REAL AUDIO cd before starting download system. Its might be 6 to 8 months after release date. Not exactly but yeah I want to sell CDs first and we can do download thing if any people would like to work with me.

What’s happening in the Japan hardcore scene nowadays? Any good bands you would recommend?

Yeah there are good bands in Japan. And some of foreign bands came to here every month. I’m doing the band called LOYAL TO THE GRAVE and there are good bands around us like CRYSTAL LAKE, EXTIGUISH THE FIRE, DOGGYHOOD$, BIRTHPLACE or GENESIS, CANOPUS. Any kinds of music also there are good bands in Japan like NUMB, CREEPOUT, FIGHT IT OUT, AS WE LET GO, SILENCE KILLS THE REVOLUTION, ENDZWECK, SAND, CLOSER, SLAPDOWN and many more.

I’ve seen some show posters from Japan where you could see hardcore bands sharing a stage with some hip hop acts. What’s the relation between hardcore and hip hop scene in Japan and do you think it’s possible that you release a rap album in the future?

Yeah sometimes HARDCORE bands gonna play with HIPHOP unit as a good festival or shows. Some of HIPHOP group has good relationship with HxC bands but most famous HIPHOP group is not interested in kind of HxC music. Its maybe just noisy music haha. So I’m thinking hard to unite both music scenes perfectly. HIPHOP music is one of overground music in here because of Japanese lyric. But most hardcore bands around us are singing in English so stay in underground. But I’m sure there is great huge fes in here like FREESTYLE OUTRO, MURDER THEY FALL etc. I really like HIPHOP and HxC mix style music. So if we get chance to release such music on our label, I do it! Off course if the music would be pure hip-hop too.
 

Personally, what are your favorite hardcore and non-hardcore bands? What type of stuff you enjoy to listen?

Yeah difficult to answer this questions because I’m listening tons music because of my distro. I like any kind of most music off course HxC, METAL, HIPHOP or R/B, and J-pop. But I can tell my current fav music: Buried Alive, Earth Cirisis, Another Victim, All Out War, Section 8(troy), and Conviction. and I like such a current bands Reign Supreme, xRepresentx, Fatality, Bishop, Suicide Pact, Thick As Blood, Recon, Knock Em Dead, Heavy Hitters, Blackout Rage, Ghostxship, xProvidencex etc. also I’m listening current metalcore, deathcore stuff. About HIPHOP I like east coast 90's hip-hop. Especially QUEENS and south BRONX. MOBB DEEP is the rule. Also Kool G Rap, E-Money Bags, Tragedy Khadafi, Big Punisher and Raekwon.

What are some other future plans for the label? Any new bands or records in the working? 

Yeah next month, we will release VOW OF HATRED full-length! This will be the heaviest stuff heavy!! Original PAHC style. Please check on myspace. Also we are supporting many hardcore/metalcore bands in the world through RETRIBUTION NETWORK. Please check store and we can shipping to any country if you want. Also we would love to distribute to the world so please contact me if you can help distributing our titles. Trade/wholesale is ok!
http://retribution.ocnk.net/
http://myspace.com/clandestinehc

Cold Existence - Fueled By Hate

Old School Hate changed name to...

...HARDBOILED!!! Hope you like the change. To cut long story short, I just couldn't relate to the old one no more so that was the reason for the change. I'm working to get this website better look with custom url and shit like that. We also teamed with some cool guys doing graphic work but I won't be getting into details for now. All I can say that this stuff gonna be mind blowing! Expect more interviews, reviews and other hardcore related shit in the future! Stay tuned for more hardcore goodness!

And don't hesitate to leave a feedback how you like the change! We'd really like to hear from you how you like the new name, artwork and the direction this site is going. What are some of the things you really like about this website and what we should work on to improve it?

Brooklyn’s Finest Trailer

This one is written by Michael C. Martin directed by Antoine Fuqua (their last project together was Training Day), starring Richard Gere, Wesley Snipes, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle.

Trailer:

22 bullets (L'Immortel) trailer

22 Bullets is upcoming crime thriller based on Franz-Olivier Giesbert’s bestselling novel of the same name. It's being directed by Richard Berry, an actor-turned-director, with Jean Reno starring in the main role. Actually, this might be just the first movie with this guy in a long time that doesn't suck!

Here's what it's all about:

After a long, brutal and successful career in the Marseille mafia, Charly Matteï has gone straight. For three years, he has lived a quiet life devoted to his wife and two young children. Then, one winter morning, he is left for dead on the docks of the old port with 22 bullets in his body. Somehow he survives. And goes looking for Tony Zacchia, the only man who would dare to try to kill him. Zacchia made just one mistake: he failed.

Precinct 13

"Like i said man, this shit isn't over-thought out...we just playin the music we wanna hear...we laugh a lot and we hate a lot so that's how our music is. i guess for me the music is just straight up tough guy hardcore...music to dance fuckin hard to.."

"Like i said man, this shit isn't over-thought out...we just playin the music we wanna hear...we laugh a lot and we hate a lot so that's how our music is. i guess for me the music is just straight up tough guy hardcore...music to dance fuckin hard to.."

Can you introduce yourselves for our readers and let us know where you are from? How did everything start and how long have you been in existence?

What. We're PRECINCT THIRTEEN, from the North West of England. The band really got started as a good laugh in january this year and has remained as such since hahaha

You guys ain’t really wasting no time. After just few months of existence the demo came out and landed you a deal for a debut album. What keeps you on such a pace and how hard is it to keep that up?

Haha yeah i guess it's just we got genius in our bloodlines...I dunno man, the tunes just happened real easy y'know...then we sent the demo out to everyone and anyone that wanted a copy... then a few good heads said they liked how we do...gave it to a few more heads and Swell Creek just came in outta nowhere haha seriously tho Bader@Swell Creek is a real sound guy that genuinely wants to help out a new band...he's like all of us in P13, no one is playin this music to make paper y'know. it all for the love hahaha


Your debut album is coming out February 2010 on Swell Creek. When did you start writing it and how far are you with the overall process of putting it together?

We're writing for it now...11 songs down, gonna do 13 total (blatantly haha)...we're gonna demo the whole lot the end of november then record it for real throughout december. overall we're just tryin our best not to over-think the whole thing...just let shit happen and leave it like dat. U2 or Neurosis we ain't...it's gritty, tough Northern UK hardcore..expect nothin less than the freshest, hardest record to come out in a while.


What do you feel you’re bringing to the hardcore music with the upcoming album and what separates you from the next new band in the scene?

Like i said man, this shit isn't over-thought out...we just playin the music we wanna hear...we laugh a lot and we hate a lot so that's how our music is. i guess for me the music is just straight up tough guy hardcore...music to dance fuckin hard to...then me n miller say what we gotta say over the top. there seems to be a glut of melody based, fake metal bands with "hardcore" written on their myspace profiles...all you get wit us is straight up thug hardcore.


Your style runs from hardcore to hip-hop – was it an idea from the start to merge different musical styles?

Not a very conscious one...the vocals just came out like dat...i'm a guitar player really.. miller hits up bass n guitar...we both like hardcore and hiphop and we never sung in bands properly before...not that we doin that proper now like haha


So who are some of your favorite artists from both hardcore and hip hop scene?

There's a question man, how long you got???? off the dome, how's onelifecrew, blood for blood, knuckledust, shattered realm? vast aire, diabolic n vinny paz? that's what i'm spinnin regularly.


You guys have been getting a lot of help from various distros and labels. How did you get hooked up with likes of Goodlife, FWH and Vindictive Nature distro to help to spread the word around?

Yeah man, we got big thanks for the help off a lot of real safe people...the guys at Rucktion i've known for a long time as they put out my old band blades of unity's record...edward goodlife just messaged us after we added goodlife on myspace and said he was feelin the tunes an that went from there. edward is a nice guy and has put out some of my all time favourite hardcore records so it was humbling to have him like how we do enough to help us out. the others i just messaged over the net, asked dem to check us out when they got time... all those people you mentioned had some real sound things to say to us, and we are truly grateful for their support and efforts.


‘The gang swore a blood oath to destroy Precinct 13... and every kid in it!’ – so what makes this John Carpenter’s flick so significant to you that you named your band after it?

Haha it was actually the first name we had for my old band blades of unity, and i always liked the film a lot...again it was just a temporary thing at first for this band but it kinda stuck this time

What are some other movies you’re into? Maybe some more of this 80's cheese?

Of recent years i liked "the wrestler" a hella lot...aranofsky made one awesome movie there...todd solandz's "happiness" is one of my all time favourites...i like english-made movies like "wilderness", "dead mans shoes", "twin town"...i watched "red road" recently which is well worth checkin out...cheesy movies? yeah i fuckin love anythin from "the warriors" and "top gun" to "toolbox murders" and "last house on the left"....favourite all time movies gotta be outta "once were warriors" and its sequel "what becomes of the broken hearted", "chopper" and "requiem for a dream".


You guys seem to be real wrestling fans. Who’s the biggest and baddest mother fucker out there?

Me.


If you could get in the ring with anybody, who would it be?

We had a question along these lines in another interview and miller answered "uri geller"...sorry man, i can't better that...would love to beat that guy to death..haha..scoop out his eyes with a bent fuckin spoon hahaha


Could you tell me about what or who got you interested in hardcore scene? What did you grow up listening to?

The main person that got me into mad different hardcore bands was a guy that used to be known to a few uk kids as millitant mike. him and his wife were really the first people in the hardcore scene that really made an effort to be friendly and shit. real as fuck people. and now like fuckin 12 years later we still fucking well tight wit each other. mike was spinnin the darkest, most evil vegan straight edge records way before anyone else i knew.
i was real lucky growing up as my old man is a mad music head...always played me all sorts of different shit from as early as i can remember...always told me to judge music simply on whether it moved me or not...not what fucking genre box it fits into, or how much ink the lead singer has....guns n roses were definately my first big rock band...but at that time i was also being played don cherry, duke ellington, t bone walker, motown shit...so on. my dad deffo got a lot to answer for haha


What goals would you like to achieve with the band in the future? What's next for you before and after the CD hits the streets?

I be straight wit you man, we really wanna get over to an Euro festival or 2 next summer, so if anyone is readin this that can help hook us up please holla at us....precinctthirteenhxc@hotmail.co.uk we hopefully book a lot more uk shows in the meantime...especially once the record it out.


Thanks for taking time to do this. You want to leave any shout outs ?

Seriously mate thank you for this interview. its great that you liked how we do enough to wanna do this interview. hit us up on myspace.com/precinctthirteen...book us for shows!!! word to family, good friends, weed and southern comfort. thanks man.

Jungle Juice vs. Afflictive Nature - Split Tape

There are many bands trying to bring back those days when anger was a big part of hardcore, but few ever nail it the way Jungle Juice does. Compared to their previous release they slowed things down and the music seem to be a lot darker this time.

The breakdowns parts are menacing and skillfully executed. That doesn’t mean the band got slow or weak or forgot what it’s all about. Songs are still driven by sheer aggression and they still got that straight forward to your face style made for kicking some serious ass in the pit. The band is on top form with their tight and aggressive delivery full of raw energy and catchy hooks. Tracks like Hole In The Wall or Riverside Blues are anthems.

In the second part of the album, it’s time for Afflictive Nature to pick up the slack. The first song I’ve heard from them had me hooked instantly. Just as Jungle Juice, they deliver some seriously pissed off tunes. I don’t know much about the band except they’re from Texas, got the demo posted for free download on their myspace profile and shared stage with likes of Folsom, Naysayer, Hoods and countless other. The pace is usually unrelenting but Afflictive Nature can cut a catchy tune here and there and never miss a chance to knock out good breakdown for your mosh needs. Each of the band’s tracks feels like they wanna jump out of your speakers and punch you in the eye. I can't even listen to it outside cause this shit makes me want to steal candy from the kids and other stupid shit. I like the fact that this anger comes naturally and it’s nothing forced like with many bands who make angry faces but their shit is just whack. That’s not the deal here. You can sense just how pissed off they were when writing these songs.

That two bands feel with an energy that you won't find easily in today’s scene. These songs are tied together by the concept of getting shit kicked out of you and it may sound weird, but I’m liking it! If you’re into fast and no bullshit hardcore you will be into this record.

PS. This is not actually the artwork of the split but I had to post something!


Author: Dloogi
Label:Thrash Mouth
Year: 2009



Jungle Juice at Myspace
Afflictive Nature at Myspace

Reduction - World In Conflict