Nervous Breakdown - Thrash FM

This is pretty fuck up mix of hardcore, grindcore, jazz and other stuff I can't even name. I don't know if I'm really this type of stuff but I'm sore someone might be. Nervous Breakdown are from Jakarta, Indonesia and already have released Never Green EP (2008) and God Save The Freak EP (2010).

Take Offense - Tables Will Turn

Here's some NYHC worship. A definite '90s Crossover feel - but more AF than Ludichrist. Leeway, Cro-Mags and Crumbsuckers nods. Then you get the '85 - '87 Suicidal Tendencies feel - direct emulation of M Muir's crooning and all. There is a SubZero influence; and the riff writing comes in straight off of an Inhuman Best "of...". So here is a band that loves its NYC Crossover. You can bang your head, you can mosh to it. All bases are covered.

All that said - you can think contemporary bands as well; Naysayer, Rival Mob, Trapped Under Ice, Alpha & Omega, Bitter End, Mind Eraser, etc. So the stomp is there. Big riffs to plod along to and a few straight ahead parts, but not two-step here *(short of a small bit in "Beware the Path" and "Can I Do It?") - fast parts are for circle pits abound! They can write a gang vocal cheer like their peers, so the kids will have a chance to finger point. But the focus is the gee-tar - with dive bomb squeals and lots of scrambling leads.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"In the Face of Disaster"
"Hand of Time" - especially with its breakdown. This is destined to be a classic.
"Beware the Path" - strongest song
"What Goes Around" Anthrax intro and all! Super tight riffing into big chords to chug to - then a solo.

FOR FANS OF:
Late '80s Crossover NYHC.
2010 American Hardcore bands that worship Late '80s Crossover NYHC.
Inhuman
Suicidal Tendencies (he sounds exactly like Cyco Myko - this is the album from 1987 that ST should have made to garner maintain HC kids' respect!)

BOTTOM LINE:
If Mike Muir sang for Inhuman.

Review by Hutch (Empty Hands blog)
Label: Reaper Records
Year: 2010
Band's website

I've Lost All Faith In Myself EP by Venia available at Blood & Ink

Venia’s “I’ve Lost All Faith In Myself” EP is now available on 7″ or as a digital download at Blood & Ink Webstore. All 7″ versions of the EP come with a download code for the four songs on the record plus one bonus outtake track as well. While there, check out new shirt designs available for Thirtyseven and Thin Ice, plus tons of new distro items (with more added almost daily)!

If the digital route is more your thing, Blood & Ink has launched a Bandcamp where you can buy the new Venia EP, as well as most of the other B&I titles (all should be available soon). Or, if you’d rather, you can buy the EP on iTunes.

During a relentless tour schedule over the past year (including runs with Bitter End, The Mongoloids, Donnybrook, Grave Maker, and Call To Preserve), VENIA crafted 4 new songs of intense hardcore that once and for all prove their genuine tenacity. Drawing influence from the likes of Buried Alive, Madball, and Merauder, this newest taste of VENIA's musical direction will impress both fans new and old. Recorded by Mike Reaves (Swamp Thing, Bracewar, Down To Nothing), mixed by Chris Dowhan (Down To Nothing, Bracewar, See You Next Tuesday, Worn In Red), and mastered by Kim Rosen (La Dispute, Capital, Jeremy Enigk, Saints Never Surrender) plus featuring guest vocals by original Strongarm singer Jason Berggren.

Word For Word design from Joey South Side

Original description from the Arrest Records webstore: I am proud to finally launch the Joey South Side/Word For Word design! This is his interpretation of Word For Word; a angry skinhead, GT/VC banner, and our death bird logo redesigned. We hope you enjoy the design(and tees) as much as us! This shirt is available in Small-XL. Anyone who needs a larger size please feel free to message us and I will gladly accommodate you on our next merch order.

New merch at Bridge 9 webstore

Bridge 9 got some new merch in their webstore. Here's what to expect: "New shirts from H2O - as most of you know, due to inclement (to say the least) weather on the east coast the last couple of weeks, H2O had to cancel the shows they had planned there. Unlucky for H2O, they were stuck with a ton of merch they didn't get to sell. Lucky for you, we have it available on our webstore! New shirts from Polar Bear Club - some old designs and some new designs for your purchasing pleasure! PS we'll have some exciting PBC-related announcements for 2011 coming soon! New shirts from DYS - DYS! What more needs to be said? Scope the new shirt. I love it. I also love dogs.

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