New CDC record and Euro tour in 2011

PA´s one and only CDC is writing new songs for the follow-up of their 2009 MCD "Burn". On the second weekend in January 2011, the band will start with a practical recording session of the new songs. So far, CDC has written 7 new hard-hitting moshing anthems. Later the year in August 2011 CDC will return to Europe to play some bigger festivals for example Filled With Hate Festival. The booking of the tour will start in a few weeks. The feedback so far is awesome, so watch out for further information.

Defeater Announces Empty Days & Sleepless Nights - Available March 8, 2011

Official press release: Massachusetts-based Defeater is proud to announce the title and release date for their forthcoming album: Empty Days & Sleepless Nights, available March 8th, 2011 from Bridge Nine Records. The band's second full-length is a double LP, kicking off with ten of the heaviest and most intricately-written songs (Empty Days) Defeater has done to date. Following those ten tracks are four acoustic songs (Sleepless Nights) that sound a lot like Rocky Votolato and Ryan Adams.Guitarist Jay Maas said, "This new album was a very natural progression for us. We'd cut our teeth on an acoustic track on Travels ("Prophet in Plain Clothes") which is one of the most well-received songs we play live. And Derek (Defeater's vocalist) had written some lyrics that worked beautifully against an acoustic canvas so we decided to follow the heavier tracks on this new album up with these songs, resulting in a double LP release." Fans of heavy music should not fret - the first LP features 10 tracks that are incredibly dynamic and huge-sounding melodic hardcore songs. Maas continued, "Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is truly our most realized work yet. While we wrote this record, we really incorporated all of our musical tastes and creative talents. There are some surprises on this record for sure, but also plenty to love for fans of Defeater. We couldn't be more proud of how this album turned out."

Empty Days & Sleepless Nights carries on the narrative songwriting style the band has developed about a family set in post-WWII America in a working class town in New Jersey. We were first introduced to these characters in Defeater's debut LP, Travels, which was released back in 2008 and received great critical acclaim. The album was hailed with such bold accolades as "a new artistic peak for hardcore" (Punknews), "brilliant" (Absolutepunk) and "the perfect definition of modern hardcore" (Lambgoat). Travels was followed up in November of 2009 by the equally well-praised EP Lost Ground, which followed a man's (the "Prophet In Plain Clothes") journey from the military to post-war life. Empty Days & Sleepless Nights traces back to the family setting from Travels, but focuses on the older of the two sons and at times runs parallel to Travels, yet the events now unfold through the older sibling's eyes. Empty Days & Sleepless Nights is another chapter in the conceptual opus that is Defeater.

Empty Days & Sleepless Nights was once again recorded with Defeater's guitarist, Jay Maas, at his own Getaway Recording Studios in Wakefield, MA, throughout Fall of 2010. Maas commented on pulling double duty on the record as guitarist and producer by saying, "It's nice to be behind an idea all the way from it starting in your mind to actually shaping the way it will be heard as a final product. At the same time, there is an extreme level of stress that is reached when working so hard to both write AND record an album. But I wouldn't trade it for the world." Fortunately, Empty Days & Sleepless Nights has benefitted from such TLC and turned out to be an absolute masterpiece.

Check out two songs off of Empty Days & Sleepless Nights by pre-ordering the Dear Father EP, which features one acoustic track ("I Don't Mind") and one heavy track ("Dear Father") from the album now on B9Store.com. This album teaser hits streets on February 8th while the ED&SL full length will be available everywhere on March 8th, 2011. Defeater will tour Europe in February and March with Carpathian.

Colors to drop new 7" on Irish Voodoo Records

California hardcore band Colors new 7" titled Constant Struggle is on sale now - pre orders are up at Irish Voodoo Records. This record will have five different cover colors and the vinyl color is random mix of light purple with black and light pink swirls, every record different. First pressing is short run of 100. If you order four records, you get the next one free, so you get all colors.
If you order the set, Irish Voodoo Records will throw in a free All Your Might 7". A CD of the songs comes in this package!

JSS Designs

JSS Designs is a new hardcore brand which was established in 2010 by Roman Laris aka xJesusx nickname. They've got some nice, old school tattoo inspired shit put in their webstore. Here's a short description from Roman of what they're aiming for: "I dont like all this Ed Hardy shit, JSS Designs are bringing this culture back to underground, keeping the prices low and keeping the punk attitude/message alive! Its all about art not money - even we fucking need the money haha, but they are not the driving force here." There is no bullshit behind it - those are designs for all the lonely wolves out there!

Embrace Destruction to release new album on Strikedown Records

Embrace Destruction has joined the StrikeDown Records Family to release their 3rd full length called "Reign Of Terror". The album will be recorded and produced by Danny Giordana (European sound engineer of Madball, Hatebreed) at One Voice Studio (Italy) and Stevan Van Neerven (ex Born from Pain) at Heart Work studios (Holland) in March 2011. Reigh Of Terror will be released in a Cd version by StrikeDown Records in mid April 2011. Embrace Destruction will be on Tour across Europe from April 16th to May 1st to promote the new Album. A large number of Release Shows and week end shows are planned all over Europe to reinforce the promotion of "Reign of Terror",to check the dates please visit: Strikedown website and band's Myspace

Rise After Defeat - Maieutica

I have always had a soft spot for the Italian hardcore - no matter if it’s Negazione, Wretched, Reprisal, Da Sect or whatever. It seems that no matter what style of hardcore, Italian guys almost always get it done right. Rise After Defeat is from Cagliari and aims for heavy, metallic sound that bridges the intensity of hardcore and a good amount of metal. Despite being around just since the 2008, they already have released a full length in 2009 which I reviewed some time ago on this website. Ok, so I wasn’t blown away by their self titled debut but I still wanted to give Maieutica a try.
This EP has been released in October and contains 4 brand new tracks. What is immediately apparent is that the band has made a big progress since their previous album. I’m glad to say they’re moving into right direction - Rise After Defeat finally delivers a solid piece of hardcore and gives a valiant performance throughout the majority of this short MCD. Their sound has much more focus this time, something that lacked on the previous material. Maieutica demonstrates some good ideas backed by a foundation of solid technical skills. Maybe it's thanks to way better production, but the music is sounding much heavier. The band crafted a fair dose of decent thrashing riffs, double bass, breakdowns and creative drumming. This is metalcore, but the type of metalcore you'd listen to when going to war not when going to buy tight pants or get a douche haircut. For the fans of metallic hardcore sound, this is generally a EP to check out. And all the vinyl freaks keep in mind this shit has been released on 7 inch format!

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

Hold Down - Demo 2010

Honestly, I am pretty impressed by this demo. Hold Down is from Cologne, Germany plays hardcore that is both aggressive and very catchy. The band certainly has a flair for a proper hardcore sound without any cheap tricks. They stick to the basics of the genre but still keep it fresh and powerful. The guitar work is impressive and the rhythm section is tight as well. My favorite track would be Caught Inside - it sounds so good as almost taken from One Voice album. The quality and effort this band has managed to put into just their first demo is amazing and I can only hope they continue in this trend on their future releases. Download it!

Rehen - Bogota Beatdown

Bogota, Columbia is not the nicest place to live in so all the anger and hate that pours out of these songs is understandable. Rehen describes their music as beatdown and this is pretty accurate. There are a lot of metal influences and fast parts, which kind of stands out in breakdown-driven beatdown music of today. The songs are actually pretty well executed and there's a good balance and flow throughout the demo. Dual vocals also get the job done. Since all the info about the band is in Spanish, I don't know much about Rehen itself. They joined Myspace in 2007 and since this is usually the first things hardcore bands do nowadays when they form, I guess this is a year they started out. Download it!

Strike Hard

Strike Hard represents Connecticut hardcore scene and their style of choice is probably best described a beatdown hardcore. It took me ages to post this interview online so the big news is: the EP they're talking about here has been already recorded with Kurt Zikaras, the lead singer and guitar player of The Tired And True. I'd suggest you keep attention to what they're up to and when the EP drops, you check it out!

For those unfamiliar with the band - what do you want people to know about the band and your music or message?

We are all about having a good time and having fun! Regardless of how hateful our lyrics may be hahaha

How did you all meet and how long have you all been a band?

Well three of our members were in a previous band together.. That band ended and like 8 months down the road we decided to bring that band back but after listening to the songs again we figured we would just start a new band. We still play one song from when we were the previous band. But we have all been a band for around 8 months so far.

What's the toughest struggle for the band like yours? What's the biggest wall to get over?

Biggest struggle.. I would say sticking out from all the other bands out there right now. And I think our biggest wall is people saying we sound like Recon hahaha I think we are a bit different but personally I like Recon so its kind of a compliment..

For those who have not heard anything from you how would you describe band's playing sound?

This is a hard question to answer.. Beatdown hardcore I'd say.

What have you released so far?

So far we have only released a 3 song demo.

Who are your strongest musical influences and why?

Well our band draws influence from a ton of different bands but some are

Terror
Hatebreed
Death Before Dishonor
The Acacia Strain

I could go on forever but those are some of the main influences.. and all of those bands are just super awesome hahaha

And where do you draw your inspiration from when it comes to the lyrics?

From everyday life and all the people who surround me friends, family, and enemies too haha

Tell me about band's performance element – what should kids expect from your live show?

Lots of energy! Lots of fun! If you come out to one of our shows expect to laugh at some of the shit we do on stage haha and you might get rushed by our bassist if you're not moving and to most likely get hit if you're standing anywhere near the dance floor! hahaha

Tell us what you have coming up that we can check for. Plans, gigs and releases planned for the upcoming months?

Well we are recording our first EP in about a week with Keith Holuk of Ligeia.. Planning on some merch soon and lots of shows! We are really really stoked on a show we have coming up on January 21st with DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR, CASEY JONES, THE MONGOLOIDS, HUNDREDTH, AND MANNERS!

Any closing thoughts?

To anyone who has listened to us, watched our set, danced at a show, or even told us we suck! Thank you for giving us chance at least and checked us out! and to the kids GO SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL MUSIC SCENE!!!!

Upcoming 7" split featuring Black Friday 29 / For The Glory / Last Mile / City To City

Black Friday 29: Directly from Ruhrpott (Germany) they present their NYHC with a melodic edge riffs blended with its most raw, direct and strong riffs. Recently the band called it a day but left behind an interesting journey, one of the biggest German hardcore bands ever and one of the oldest in Europe. For fans of Death Before Dishonor. For The Glory: The Lisbon-Porto connection makes this project unique. Currently one of the older bands of the Portuguese hardcore scene launches this song as a preview of what will be in their next full length. Expect hardcore with loads of flow, good deal of balance and fast parts that will make you wanna dive and circle pit like hell. For fans of No Warning / Terror. Last Mile: Featuring members and former members of separate projects as Hatesphere / Barcode, these Danish guys do not give a truce in the intensity with which practice their hardcore. Fast, furious and with breakdowns that will make you go crazy for sure. For fans of bands like Sick Of It All / Madball. City To City: From the cold, gray streets of industrial Germany, they deliver a dose of heavy hardcore, with lyrics about everyday life and living in this society governed by money. With great flow and attitude, C2C can transport the listener into their reality ... For fans of Breakdown. Orders: info@hellxis.com.