Parasitic Skies - The Descent

After the well received 7” for Seventh Dagger, Seattle based Parasitic Skies are back with the full length album, The Descent. For those not familiar with the band – they stand for straight edge and veganism and musically are leaning heavily towards metal sound. This album brings a lot of memories of the times when a lot of hardcore bands started incorporating death metal influences into their sound, but it was long before the deathcore plague and it still sounded legit.

That’s the deal with Parasitic Skies – their sound is down-tuned, heavy as fuck, with groovy riffing and deep, growling-like vocals but there are no silly pig squeals and no tempo changes every 15 seconds. The drumming is intense and on point, but thanks God there are no blast beats. Parasitic Skies knows what they’re good at and gets down to business without trying to get fancy. The songwriting on this album has a gritty yet sharp energy. That means the thin line between being cool metallic hardcore band and being lame death metal wannabes has not been crossed. And good, cause it sounds merciless and uncompromising enough without that fake shit. And while the regular songs never let down when it comes to intensity, the instrumental tracks make use of some sludgy, dissonant riffing which adds more depth to the album.

When it comes to lyrics, their approach is far from being straight forward. The overall tone is pretty dark and apocalyptical at times but you gotta dig deeper into what they’re saying to figure out the meaning. This aspect is very similar to now classic H8000 bands like Liar and Congress which also used images of warfare and demons to get their straight edge and political message out.

The Descent is a good album – if you want to hear the solid metallic hardcore but you’re fed up with the current state of the genre, it will give you the experience that you are looking for.

Review by Dloogi
Label: Seventh Dagger Records
Year: 2010
Band's website

Grizz Rock - Mental Abuse

I’ve never been a fan of hardcore kids doing rap thing simply because much of this stuff is garbage. You don’t have to be next Mobb Deep or Wu Tang but some of the rhymes and beats that came from the rappers with hardcore background has been an embarrassment to the game. Grizz Rock hasn’t been an active hardcore musician as far as I know but it seems he has some connection to the hardcore world. Not only Real Recognize Real, a label known for bridging the gap between hardcore and rap, is releasing this stuff, but you can also hear Lord Ezec now and then throughout the album.

Ok, so my expectations were not that high but surprisingly Grizz proved that he can hold his own as an emcee. He might not be the most technically gifted cat out there but with his forceful and vibrant delivery he knows how to grab your attention. It’s pretty apparent he really feels the passion behind his work. It's hard to define any one cut, the album as a whole is the one. Whether he spits some aggressive stuff like Victims Of Society or This Is My House, or goes more personal on joints like Just Like That or Just Another Days, the album is consistent and has a steady flow. Lyricswise, he goes from serious topics such as growing up in the streets and family issues to more relaxed, party oriented bangers. Well, you gotta chill but these sudden style shifts break the grimy flow of the album. These diversions, however, are few and far between thankfully. Grizz sounds much sharper and tighter when he sticks to the dark side of life. Once again listen to Victims Of Society or This Is My House – that’s some aggressive shit I want to hear more from him! Sure, sometimes his rhymes get , but overall he’s delivery stays sharp. On the musical side, it’s nothing groundbreaking, but the beats are solid with with elements like the sung background or acoustic guitar loops.

One of the cool things about this album is how Grizz Rock incorporates rock, sometimes even almost hardcore influences into some of the songs. Just listen to the beginning of the Darkness track – if this guy started a hardcore band that would be massive! Anyway, when Grizz focuses on the rawness, he’s really dope. I’d like to hear his rhymes over some more raw and vibrant beats.

Review by Dloogi
Label: Real Recognizes Real Records
Year: 2010
Grizz Rock's website

Skam Dust - Corona Drug Bust

The concept of bridging the gap between the hardcore and hip hop seems to be the driving force behind Real Recognize Real as their range of releases and distro items include artists from both of these worlds. Being a huge rap fan I can only admire the idea but there should be with no discussion that it doesn’t mean that rappers should be given a credit just because they have ties to the hardcore scene.

Hardcore kids should recognize Skam Dust for his involvement in the already classic Son Of Skam project where he laid down some pretty cool rhymes along with fellow DMS soldiers. Now, couple of years later, his full length album called Corona Drug Bust is out. After a completely passable intro the title song kicks in and it’s fire! The beat is fucking insane and the rhyme delivery by combined forces of Skam and Freddy Madball is reckless. Hands down, the best track on the album. Too bad it is followed by couple of completely passable tracks such as Godz Of War, Pray For Me or Out Of The Zoo. Most of these beats are lacking in bite and have zero personality. And that’s the main issue with this album – while there are couple of tracks here where Skam definitely holds his own, there are also tracks that would be better left out. When it comes to rapping, Skam is not the best lyricist out there but when provided with the right beat, his aggressive delivery make up for the lyrical drawbacks. His style brings to mind classic shouting rap acts like Onyx or MOP and while he’s not on that level yet, but he’s got enough charisma to make things interesting.

Some memorable songs also include Ready To Rock where Skam teams up with Grizz Rock to unleash lyrical mayhem over some heavy ass, guitar-led beat. In Wild Style Life Style Skam dives into hardcore territory proving that he could easily front straight up NYHC band. One Time is also ok, kind of classic New York hip hop song with strong, fat beat. The album also includes couple of Son Of Skam songs – if you don’t have Five Borough Manhunt cd, it might be a treat.

Overall, this album suffers from way too many mediocre filler songs that are so flat and lack character. It has its good share of moments, but the highlights are being dimmed by the mediocre or plain whack tracks. And it’s kinda shame because couple of times here Skam proves that when the beat is right, he can spit fire.

Review by Dloogi
Label: Real Recognizes Real Records
Year: 2010
Skam Dust's website

Left Behind - Skin Deep

Left Behind is LA based hardcore/metal band with influences ranging from His Hero Is Gone to Sepultura to Entombed.

Ill Omen - Dead Friends

Here's the new track of this promising Finnish band taken straight from the still hot split with Get Stitches! Check out what they're about here.

Reason To Fight / Chesty Malone And The Slice'em Ups split 7" on Uniter Riot Records

Rhode Island's best HC band Reason To Fight are back with some ripping New tunes of Working Class Hardcore. In the vein of SSD, Blood For Blood, Last Rites, Slapshot, FU'S these guys keep HC alive. On the flipside from NYC you got Chesty Malone And The Slice'em Ups on vinyl for the fist time ever. There style of HC/Punk is Misfits meets Lunachicks meets Sheer Terror. Some balls out NYHC with female vocals. A classic split on limited edition color vinyl.

Misanthropy, new album from Go For It!, out soon

The Oldschool-Hardcore outfit from the Ruhrpott area in Germany will hit the studio from 08. – 14.11.2010, to record the subsequent album to the debut "Reading between the front lines" from 2009. The album will be entitled "Misanthropy" and deliver enough explosive content with a total of 14 songs. Go For It! raised the Punk line in the song writing process in favour of melodic-weight-bearing moments, up to atmospheric-depressive arrangements perceptibly drawn.

Furthermore, Bud from SCORE THE SETTLE and Cindy from ALL FOR NOTHING will appear on “Misanthropy” as a special feature. Under which label GO FOR IT! will release the album, is not clear yet and up to this date GO FOR IT! keeps covered about a concrete
date and co-laborations.

Purification's Animal Liberation shirt back in stock

Hurry Up! Records has restocked the classic Animal Liberation t-shirt from Purification. If you're down for reppin' the vegan cause, you can place your order here.

Stillborn Fest dates announced

Hatebreed have announced a fist full of east coast headlining shows this winter as Stillborn Fest. “We're excited to continue with our Holiday tradition of doing Stillborn Fest. It's going to be great to play for all of our diehards in the North East.” The band will celebrate the 15 year anniversary of the release of “Under The Knife” which came out on cassette & 7" in 1995’. Jasta adds, “We'll definitely be adding some old jams back into the set. See you there!”

Supporting on this short run are FOUR YEAR STRONG (Allentown & Poughkeepsie), H20 (Allentown only), A LIFE ONCE LOST, THIS IS HELL, TRAPPED UNDER ICE & Stillborn Recording Artists THY WILL BE DONE, THE WORLD WE KNEW & STRENGTH FOR A REASON (where noted.)

12/27 Syracuse, NY @ Lost Horizon
w/ A Life Once Lost, Thy Will Be Done, The World We Knew & Hate Your Guts

12/28 Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock
w/ Four Year Strong, H2O, Trapped Under Ice, This Is Hell, Thy Will Be Done, The World We Knew & Strength For A Reason

12/29 Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance
w/ Four Year Strong, A Life Once Lost, Trapped Under Ice, Fireworks, This Is Hell, Thy Will Be Done, The World We Knew & Strength For A Reason

12/30 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
w/ A Life Once Lost, This Is Hell, Thy Will Be Done, Hate Your Guts,
The World We Knew & Strength For A Reason

No Redeeming Social Value to release compilation of old albums

New York’s DIY record label, Dead City Records, and fellow Empire City hardcore punk legend, No Redeeming Social Value, have teamed up to release No Redeeming Social Value’s entire back catalog of classic albums in digital form for the first time ever. Hardcore fans can finally download some of the definitive releases in NYHC history - Rocks The Party, Hardcore Your Lousy Ass Off, THC, and the Drunken Chicken Style EP - each featuring bonus tracks and other special surprises. The digital releases are available through most online retailers, including iTunes and Amazon.com, while CD versions are also available through the Dead City webstore at: www.deadcityny.com/DCReleasespage.htm, offering fans a plethora of options to enjoy NRSV’s classic party anthems.