The winter 2010 issue of A Short Fanzine About Rocking, is out now! It features interviews with Terror, Down To Nothing, Brutality Will Prevail, The Wonder Years, Comeback Kid, The Arteries, Death Before Dishonor, Throats, This Is Hell, Pettybone, Evergreen Terrace and Take Courage! You can order it here.
A Short Fanzine About Rocking #28 out now
The winter 2010 issue of A Short Fanzine About Rocking, is out now! It features interviews with Terror, Down To Nothing, Brutality Will Prevail, The Wonder Years, Comeback Kid, The Arteries, Death Before Dishonor, Throats, This Is Hell, Pettybone, Evergreen Terrace and Take Courage! You can order it here.
Ill Omen
Finland based Ill Omen don't play around when it comes to hardcore. Somewhere on this website I've said they're like the attitude of New York and the evil of Cleveland combined in one. Add a little bit of Detroit's coldness and you'll get the whole picture. The band has recently released 7" (read review) and split Ep with Get Stitches!
Finland based Ill Omen don't play around when it comes to hardcore. Somewhere on this website I've said they're like the attitude of New York and the evil of Cleveland combined in one. Add a little bit of Detroit's coldness and you'll get the whole picture. The band has recently released 7" (read review) and split Ep with Get Stitches!Things have been pretty busy for Ill Omen recently – you’ve got split with Get Stitches! just couple of months after your 7” came out. Are you satisfied with the way things been going so far?
Markus: The Split 7" was supposed originally to come out soon after our own 7", late 2009. We went into studio with a rush to get our songs tracked, but it turned out that Get Stitches! faced some problems and they recorded their songs in couple sessions, so it took a bit more time. I'm just happy that the record is finally out and that Get Stitches! are now getting back to active (they were in hiatus after they recorded their songs). Split turned out to be very good and we're happy with it, i hope that people will like the songs from both bands. With the split we kinda are showcasing also our hometown, Turku's hardcore scene.
I have to admit the new songs sound fucking reckless. How long did you spend on them in terms of writing and recording? Markus: I think that Dear Friends was written around time we got our "S/T" 7" released and we started thinking about writing some new songs. I had been talking about doing the split with Aku, original drummer of Get Stitches! (who plays on the Split and GS! demo) for awhile after our 7" came out. So when all the plans came reality and we decided to really do the split 7", we started working on our another song, TCHC. I think that the process was something like that.
Heikki and Teemu usually write the songs and then i write the lyrics and arrange them, but them we think of it together to make everything fit perfect. I think that TCHC was actually written little time before we had studio reserved and we rehearsed it quite a lot in very little time, but it's good since it turned out to be a real fucking bomb. Huge thanks to our brothers who came down to lay off some guest vocals, so Pirkka, Juuso and Oskari really made the song complete, bringing some true "Turku style" to the song.
We asked Ville from Breamgod to do some guest vocals on Dear Friends, couple weeks before we hit the studio and he was glad to come, so our side of the split shines because of our friends helping us out, haha. Tracking itself was done in one day, Teemu and Heikki laid down drum and guitar tracks, then all the vocals, gangshouts etc and after that Heikki did some guitar leads etc, it took one whole day. Big ups for Ansa Studios for making us sound great again and stretching their time to our use.
Your sound seem to mix up a different styles of hardcore, what are your biggest influences when writing?
Markus: I can say only behalf of lyrics, since Heikki is our main songwriter musicwise, but i think the overall sound comes from shit we all love, bands like Death Threat, Terror, Metallica, Cold As Life, Furious Styles, Merauder, Integrity and of course all the Finnish bands who have probably influenced us the most. I love so many hardcore bands, as you might have guessed, but things i write are mainly about what i see in life and what caughts my eye. I'm trying to say things i think need to be said, my view on things, good and bad. There's a lot "basic" issues about how our world is bound to go to hell. Humanity is the devil, that's the truth, we are our own devils and human's capability to doing evil is another endless inspiration, you see shit every day in news, you wouldn't ever even imagine could happen. I also draw influences from other stuff i'm into, graphic novels, horror literature, movies and things like that, there's a quote from perhaps the greatest graphic novel of all time, The Watchmen (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) on our song No One Watching Over Us, that's on our 7". There's also couple other quotes i've used, including something from bands i love like The Smiths, Machine Head, E-Town Concrete and so on. You'll see the contrast there, i mean we all got really broad tastes on music. Influences, quoting and loaning things are cool, but they can't be everything, so i'm just trying to have my say, you know.
Was it important for you to have your music released on vinyl format?
Markus: For me it is, i think all of us love vinyl records, only our bass player Ode doesn't own record player, but i think he digs 'em still. It's the most impressive and most hands-on experience when you pick up an 7" or 12", check out the artwork, lyrics and take the record and drop the needle on the plate. Nothing beats listening music like that. I think it also sounds better, only downside it that it's really damn expensive to put out a 7" or LP. I hope we put out more vinyl releases in future, but it would be cool that our stuff would be available on CD as well and i'd like to have "digital download" -coupons included, if we in future put out another vinyl release.
Do you have any goals set for the band with the split? Like playing more shows or even tour Europe?
Markus: Most important point with this Split was to get some attention to both bands. Fuck YES we'd tour Europe, if there's any interest and we get things rolling right! So any show organizers, we're all ready to come and take a chance to check out how hardcore's doing in Europe, or anywhere else! I've been talking about getting something set up in Denmark and it's pretty solid as we speak, we are going to play probably 2 shows in there in January 2011, one in Copenhagen and one in Fredericia maybe, after those shows we're heading to Sweden to play Deadfest Winter Edition 2011. Please contact us if you are interested on helping us out and setting shows four us. Only downside it that Teemu, the drummer is going to study exchange to Belgium for couple months in February 2011, but after he comes back, we're down for anything! Another goal of course is to write more material and release stuff, there’s couple new songs already and we’re trying to write more all the time.
And when you started Ill Omen, did you have a distinct vision of what you wanted the band to be or you just go with the flow?
Markus: In the very, very start i think we had some kind of vision to play heavy hardcore, but no significant direction. After we started playing together, it all just came down to what Heikki had came up with, he's making all the riffs and as i said, they build up the songs together with Teemu. Ill Omen was my first proper band, so i was just really excited to get into this, trying just roll on with what would come, learning the ropes and all. I think we just wanted to play hardcore, that was only thing we knew when we started playing.
What’s happening in Finland in terms of hardcore?
Markus: It's going strong. I've been going to shows for some 8 years now and things have changed a lot, but nowdays the scene seems to be growing bigger. There's been quite little of trend shifting, but it has happened here as well. Couple years ago everyone was into really heavy, rugged, streetwise hardcore, but nowdays it's not very cool. Some kids seem to shift "what they are into", through the years in cycles andmost do found their own place eventually, some went away and dissappeared. We got punks, metalcore kids, melodic hardcore / emometalcorewhatever kids, beatdown kids, youth crew kids and so on, but most important is that we got true hardcore kids, who like stuff across the plate and stay true to their ways. Hardcore holds so many different styles under it's label nowdays and everywhere there's always different factions, but there's no fights at shows or anything stupid, people get along but some just tend on liking their own stuff and staying with their own crowd. I think our scene is really good, there's shows happening and people travel from city to city to see shows. There’s lot of independent labels putting out records and kids keep on setting shows, so I think we’re doing fine here, I’d hope that kids all around would check out more Finnish bands!
What are some of the bands from over there we should check out?
Markus: Where do i start... let's see. St. Hood put out a new album and we were fortunate enough to play at their record release show, check that shit out it's on Combat Rock Industry and titled "For The Dead", heavy streetwise hardcore that has also cool heavy metal vibe going on. Then probably heaviest record ever came out from Helsinki is the new album Cutdown, "S/T" is out on Fullhouse Records, they are only getting better and better all the time, heavy shit for everyone who are into Dirty Jerzey shit and man do i love that sound! Last of the "bigger" bands, Bolt put out a stellar new full-length, "Behind Obstacles Lies Truth", Helsinki NYHC like they way it should be played, so good album, it's also out on Fullhouse Records. Then i gotta mention new Alley Gods album "Correcting Wrong Opinions", just out on Poolside Records and Psychedelica Records, it's hard as hell and fast as fuck old school hardcore, it's our drummer Teemu's first band, by the way. There's still more, man i could go on forever, then is You Can't Keep Me Down from Lohja, they play heavy, heavy beatdown hardcore with lotsa humor in it, not a joke band of anything, really good shit. YCKMD has a brand new split out just now with Helsinki's own H8 Inc., Third Man Down, who got little more punk-sound on the split, check both those bands out and pick the split, it's self-released. This years probably two hardest releases are Hammertime 12" and Become A Threat - Method In This Madness LP/CD, both out also on Fullhouse, check their whole catalogue! Foreseen from Helsinki (ex-In On Piece playing NYHC crossover) have gotten their 7" out too, as have Last Laugh and Remissions, so keep on checking out Killing The Legacy for latest great Finnish releases! I could go onforever dropping great names, haha. Peep also Poolside Record's catalogue from their MySpace here: http://www.myspace.com/poolsiderecs
I know you’re working on the first paper issue of the Killing The Legacy fanzine. How far are you with it and what should we expect to find in it?
Markus: First issue is pretty much done, but it's still in progress, graphics and shit need to be done, i think it's out this year, hahaha, at least i hope so. First issue will feature some really random shit by me and Toni (who's doing the graphics etc.), interviews with Trapped Under Ice, Hammertime and Become A Threat + new band Fit My Crime. Trying to make it so that next issue won't take too long after the first one is out. Killing The Legacy -blog is also back on track with reviews and downloads of Finnish bands and old classics, keep on checking it. We have also Killing The Legacy Fest 2011 coming up in Turku city, it's 7-8.1.2011 at S-Osis, Turku, two day fest with some of Finland's greatest bands: Become A Threat, Hammertime, End Begins, Last Laugh, Enemyblood, The Jacklads, The Random Sickos, Ill Omen, Get Stitches! & Ronskibiitti.
Best horror movie ever made? And what do you think about Halloween 2 from Rob Zombie and the guy in general?
Markus: This is a hard one, since i'm a huge horror fan. I'd say as a best horror movie, probably Evil Dead 1, that's it classic shit. I went to see Halloween By Rob Zombie on theater and when it came out and i gotta say it was brutal. The sense of violence was there and this is coming from a dude who loves to see gore fly and guts being spilled, i think Rob made the movie disturbing by purpose. It was a good movie thought, not too shocking but somehow too dull, don't know. I liked the Friday The 13th re-make more, even lots of people say it was crap. I think Rob doesn't make very good music, but House Of The 1000 Corpses and Devil's Rejects were really good movies and probably i'm gonna see Halloween 2 as well, but i'm not waiting very much of it. I love also zombie movies (there's zombie samples from George Romero's Day Of The Dead on our demo), check out Lucio Fulci's movies like City Of The Living Dead and Zombie Flesh Eaters, those are the shit, George A Romero is the man as well.
Tattoos, you’ve got a lot of them! What is your favorite one? Markus: Yeah of course gotta be inked, haha. Hard to say what is my favourite, most important ones i got are my first straight edge tattoo, x'd hand grabbing my arm, gangsta-ass penguins on my leg and my still in progress backpiece.
Working gloves or tight pants?
Markus: Working gloves, mother fuckers.
How realistic is Ill Omen putting out full length album in the near future?
Markus: We got three or four songs now ready and we've been playing two of them live for some time. We've been planning on putting out an mini cd or something as a next release, don't know yet what's going to happen, but a new release will come out eventually. Were writing new songs currently and hope to record something before Teemu leaves to exchange, but we'll see. Making a full-length is really hard, but we'll do our best, what may come and I hope it’ll come out good.
Anything you would like to add before we wrap it up?
Markus: Thank you a lot for showing interest on us and making this interview!
Ill Omen / Get Stitches! Split 7" is out and available and can be ordered from Poolside Records (http://www.myspace.com/poolsiderecs). Check out "Dear Friends" on our MySpace. Check out Get Stitches! and Poolside Records, thanks to everyone who's helped us out. Anyone interested on booking us to play at your area hit us up: illomenhc@gmail.com
We have a free 3-song sampler available for download, it features “Dear Friends” from the Split and two songs off our “S/T” 7”, so feel free to download it and spread the link: http://www.mediafire.com/?mx16t15rt24plc1
Coke Bust - Lines In The Sand
This is first time that Lines In The Sand by a band with one of the coolest names in hardcore is available on CD format. Six Weeks Records made sure the album is worth your hard earned buck. It comes with 17 tracks from Lines In The Sand LP, and if that ain’t enough, you get 16 additional tracks taken from various band’s releases and compilations, including Fuck The Bar Culture 7”, demo 7” and The Faith cover. 33 tracks in total!
The strength of Coke Bust is that they while steadily dropping bombs of blasting hardcore, they maintain a decent level of groove. Their style can be described as an early 80's hardcore not unlike SSD or Negative Approach. The standout aspect of this album is that the band makes sure that the action never dies down. While most of the songs doesn’t even reach the 1 minute mark, they pack them with enough hooks, leads, breakdowns and neck breaking speed to keep things interesting and maintain a very high energy level. The lyrics is other thing that I like here. They touch many topics, both on socio-political and personal level, and ale delivered in a little bold, but always smart way. Far from preaching or cliché, but at the same make you can relate to the stuff they sing about.Ok, I might not be into couple of the songs, but the majority is great. As the CD includes material from different releases from the band, song vary in terms of sound quality. And while it’s certainly a style of music that needs to be that slickly recorded, overall the production is decent with every instrument hearable most of the time. While I’m not the biggest fun of this type of sound, I appreciate seeing a band that knows their strengths and stick to what they’re best at.
Review by Dloogi
Label: Six Weeks Records
Year: 2010
Band's website
Hammer Bros - Sleep Forever
I’ve been hearing a lot about this band lately and was eager to check what’s this hype is all about. As far as I know, the band has a couple of releases out already but this 7” is actually the first thing I’ve heard from them. So, does it live up to the attention they’ve been getting? Honestly, this stuff is straight up mind blowing. Heavily influenced by a classic, straight forward hardcore sound, Hammer Bros take things to another, more brutal level.
This 7” is a perfect representation of the gritty hardcore that is practiced as it was originally intended - raw and uncompromising. You get five songs full of anger, violence and manic destructive ways. This album works because band proves they’ve got their own way of doing things and can make a good use of classic hardcore moves to create something fresh and powerful. The breakdowns are crushing, the vocals insane and the adrenaline level never comes down. The best tracks here are mid-paced New Found Ends and thrash fused Sleep Forever, but all in all, every song here makes for a good listen. Check this album and their other releases!Review by Dloogi
Label: Arrest Records
Year: 2010
Band's website
Ill Omen - S/t
I remember posting their first demo on this website and now, when I listen to this new 7”, I am pretty much impressed with the progress this band has made. Ill Omen brings four tracks of heavy, reckless hardcore with a slick, metallic edge that puts them somewhere between New York and Cleveland sound.
There are a lot of good things to be found here and all the songs come with a solid dose of exciting hooks, dope riffs and there are even solos from time to time. The rhythm section is on point and provide the right amount of groove. Their biggest strength is how they easily mix up different influences while staying focused on straight up in your face hardcore executed with a lot of energy and finesse. There’s nothing forced here, it can be heard they know what they want to achieve with their sound and how to get there.Putting any more dopeness into these songs would probably result in exploding as this is some high-quality stuff. I definitely hope to hear more from these guys in the future. In the meantime, I am gonna cop their new split they’re putting out with Get Stitches!. I hope Ill Omen will be soon picked up by some serious label for their debut album so they will have the opportunity to finally connect with a wider hardcore audience.
Review by Dloogi
Label: Poolside Records / Killing The Legacy Records
Year: 2010
Band's website
Turn Away - To The Open Sea
At first I didn’t know quite what to make of this album. I mean, ‘Just a Little smile on your face, could save my day’ is not a best line to open a hardcore album. It helps that the band displays some decent skills, the music is detailed and the songs are well crafted, but it still seems poor and lacking in bite. Each time I have feel for some exciting material it never happens.
Even if some of the songs sound decent, they never follow through with some strong hook that would strike an emotional chord in me. This isn’t helped by the fact that the songs rarely stand out from each other. It might have something to do with the production, which is way too polished in my opinion. The vocals are also disappointing, both in charisma and effectiveness. I mean, even if some of the lyrics are well written, the way they are delivered is pretty much disappointing. I am not into hardcore because of the self pity, I’m here because I angry and I when I pick up a hardcore album I want to hear the kids who are as mad at this world as I am. On the bright side, the songs that grabbed my attention are Leaving The Town and Second Chances, both with its nice riffing and decent melodies. If only they had spiced it up a little it would be dope.
To The Open Sea is a standard effort that very rarely seems to take off. I hope that with the next album they will be able to craft a more aggressive songs. They got the skills, but they need to ante it up a bit.
Label: Lucifers Legions Record
Year: 2010
Band's website
Decades - Cigarette Burns
New song from Decades, Fort Worth, Texas based hardcore with a dirty punk rock twist.Show Of Force - Pressure
This is new song from Show Of Force and it's tough as f&*k. Those guys obviously know how to play NYHC influenced tunes and I wish more kids would pay attention to what they're doing!Edge Of Spirit - Destroy
Edge Of Spirit is one of the best hardcore bands that Japan got currently to offer. This is Destroy - a new song off their 4th album "Edge Of Spirit" which will be out on December. Stay tuned!Overlord
I've never been into 'ex-members of' hype but when you got guys from one of the most respected bands in European hardcore teaming up for a heavy, mosh driven hardcore, you gotta pay attention. Overlord is made up of people who played previously in Born From Pain, The Setup, Diablo Boulevard and Leng Tch'e. Their mission is to deliver the heavy, metallic hardcore sound the way it was played when Under The Knife came out.
Introduce yourself to the world… who is who and how did Overlord come about?Nicolas: I'm Nicolas and I play bass in Leng Tch'e and Overlord. I joined because all the guys in the band are longtime friends of mine and I thought it would be fun to play in a no-nonsense straight up hardcore band for shits and giggles. And what do you know, people actually enjoy it.
Dries: Overlord is also Andries (guitar+backings), formerly The Setup (co-founder) and Born From Pain and currently main songwriter in Diablo Boulevard. We’ve got Serch on drums (and also hitting hard in The Setup and Bear) and myselfs on vocals (I used to do vocals in The Setup). Actually Overlord was already formed about 4 years ago when Andries, Serch and Nicolas wanted to do a no-nonsense heavy hardcoreband together. At the time Kris (who now sings for The Setup) was doing vocals. They rehearsed for a while and even recorded about ten songs but those never were released and the project never really took off. Last winter we decided to breath some new life in the project and I (who at the time had decided to quit The Setup) was asked to do vocals. Right now we’re finishing off 4 songs from the old recordings but with the vocals from Dries and we hope to release them as a 7” or MCD pretty soon. We’re also playing some shows to get out there and kick some serious butt.
Born From Pain, The Setup, Diablo Boulevard, Leng Tch’e – this list is pretty impressive. How Overlord is different from what you did in your previous bands?Dries: I think the biggest difference is the way we see Overlord. It’s a spontaneous project without any pressure, ambitions or “musts”. Most of the guys play in bands with heavy touring shedules so we play whenever we can but most importantly whenever we feel like it, without any pressure. The band’s got simple rules: we want to play heavy hardcore, it has to be real good but we keep it simple and we don’t over-rationalize when we write songs. That keeps it all really fresh and fun.
Do you feel any pressure because people might expect more from you because of your past bands?
Nicolas: Personally I don't because my other band plays in a radically different scene and I don't see those two scenes (extreme deathmetal/grindcore and hardcore) crossing paths anytime soon.
Dries: of course people got expectations when they learn about the people involved in this band. Because of our past and current or previous bands we owe it to ourselves to try at least NOT TO SUCK?. But since this is a project we do just because we love hardcore and we don’t feel the need to prove anything to anyone we just enjoy it and don’t care too much about expectations and what not..
Your music doesn’t bullshit around anything and is pretty much delivered in a raw and straight up heavy way. What inspired you to play this kind of music?
Overlord: We all have our roots in hardcore, most of us got into the scene more then a decade ago and we all share a mutual love for heavy hardcore and heavy music in general. We draw influences from the heavy NYHC bands, Hatebreed (Under the knife, Satisfaction, Perseverance-era) but also metalbands like Crowbar, Down.. We just wanted to do a band without too many frills, a band that’s just straight-up heavy. We enjoy playing together and it’s just a great outlet for all of us.
Is there any lyrical theme behind Overlord? Do you feel that playing in a hardcore bands is like some kind of mission to get your message across to the listener?Dries: The lyrics are the music and vice versa so don’t expect any lightness or happiness there? Overlord is an outlet for anger, the more dark emotions. That can of course mean anger about socio-political issues but also stuff that’s coming from a personal point of view. I mostly write about the world I know but in Overlord I sometimes experiment with the lyrics and more specifically with the point of view and address some issues that aren’t necessarily mine. It’s not all too artistic but for instance I wrote a lyric about the mind of serial killer, which was damn fun to do and a lyric that can also be a metaphor for other issues but a lyric that doesn’t mean I wrestle with same thoughts?
You guys have been here for some time now, I wonder how do you feel about the hardcore scene in Europe nowadays?
Overlord: When you’ve been around as long as we are you notice (big cliché coming up) things go in cycles. We had amazing times with local European bands drawing tons of people to shows and shit going through the roof but right now, for instance in Belgium, less people are involved in the scene, there are not that many shows and only big festival-shows (like the Persistance-tour) or really big bands like Terror, Madball or Hatebreed draw a big crowd. It’s not something to worry about. Young kids will always be attracted to hardcore cause face it, not everyone can relate to the world portrayed in popsongs or R&B or whatever. People are looking for stuff that says something about their live and hardcore will always be there for kids looking for an alternative, an outlet, a positive way to channel anger and frustration about stuff. Hardcore and punk will always bounce back.
The lamest thing about hardcore nowadays is…
Maybe it’s more superficial than it used to be. Kids nowadays don’t have to put in the effort to learn about hardcore and his history. It’s like you can become a hardcore-kid overnight. It’s all there on youtube, the internet.. Maybe that’s the reason why most of them don’t stick around for more than a few years. Maybe they get more easily bored, loose interest because they’re not really touched by the essence of what hardcore means…But then again, this could also be the talk of a jaded old bore so maybe all of this is just plain BS?
What are some European hardcore bands you would recommend?Overlord: In our region (Antwerp) there are still a bunch of cool bands in all areas of hardcore: Your Highness (think High On Fire), Johnny Unstoppable and Pushed Too Far (both mosh/tuffguy), Bear (mathcore), …Other Belgian young guns like Poison my Blood (metalcore), Hessian (a bit like old Rise and Fall but with a twist), Black Haven (clevo meets sludgy metal), Violent City (NYHC), Get Wise (old school), Generation84 (melodic HC), Golden Bullet (Length Of Time, Congress), Midnight Souls (on Reflections),Trail Of Hope (old school).. Other cool and promising bands: All for nothing, Blood Trial, By My Hand, we all love State of Mind (underrated!), No Turning back (best european hardcoreband), Deal With It, For The glory, of course The Setup and Born From Pain ... Luckily there’s still a lot going on in Europe and luckily all sorts of bands..
What’s your opinion on the new Madball and Terror albums?
Dries: I totally love KOTF! I think it’s a brilliant record. Unlike a lot of people I know I also loved The Damned, The Shamed and I think KOTF is the ultimate mix between that album and the older stuff. It’s one big rush of adrenaline, energy and power but with enough influences to keep it edgy and interesting. The embodiment of the true hardcore-spirit. Like most of us I totally love Madball but I’m just plain honest with you: I don’t listen that often to the more recent albums. Not because those aren’t good or even great albums but it’s a curse for an iconic band like Madball: you get to know them with the classics and you seem to stick to those because they represent a certain era in your life, a certain feeling you associate with those records and unfortunately the new records never seem to grasp that same feeling. But nevertheless, I’ll be checking out the new record anyway.
Hardest hardcore band ever?
Hatebreed (especially end 90’s early 2K) and the usual suspects Cro Mags, Madball. Today Terror.
What can we expect from you guys in the future?
We’re finishing our first 7”/MCD as we speak so expect that one to drop pretty soon. We will keep on playing shows whenever we can and we’ll be writing new stuff. But knowing the agenda of all members we will never be the most productive band on the planet. Our main goal remains: kicking it hard on stage, having a great time doing so and enjoying hardcore to the fullest.
Check out band's Myspace
