Blood & Ink will release Figure Four on vinyl

From the official press release: Blood & Ink Records is extremely pleased to announce we have started working on a vinyl pressing of FIGURE FOUR’s seminal hardcore album Suffering The Loss! Details are still coming together, but we plan to have the LP out in time for their planned reunion at Rain Fest 2011 in May, if not earlier. That’s right! They’ve announced plans to play Rain Fest in Seattle the last weekend of May alongside Trial, Madball, Most Precious Blood and many more awesome bands!

For those unfamiliar with Figure Four, the band still stand as one of the heaviest hardcore bands to ever come out of the Spirit-filled scene. Featuring members who would later form such fan favorites as Comeback Kid and Grave Maker, Figure Four were distinctly treading their own path with previous releases on Facedown Records and Solid State Records. Stay tuned for more details and pre-order information to be announced soon.

United Blood 2011

United Blood Fest 2011 will take place on Friday, April 1st and Saturday, April 2nd at Canal Club in Richmond, VA. Admission is $55 for a weekend pass, or $30 for an individual day pass. Go to www.thecanalclub.com to order tickets. Once they're gone they're gone. Bands announced thus far are as follows: Terror, Piece By Piece, Down To Nothing, H20, Bracewar, Backtrack, Foundation, Rival Mob, Swamp Thing, Death Threat, No Values, Dry Spell, Stick Together, Mother of Mercy, Alpha & Omega, Fire and Ice, Dead End Path, Heathens, Naysayer, Born Low, Rotting Out, Lockdown, Soul Search,
Take Offense and Mindset.

Mountain Man "Grief" pre-orders are underway

Get the limited vinyl before it's all gone! For the collector-nerds Think Fast! have discounted packages which feature all 3 of the colored-vinyl variations. All pre-orders come with a digital download coupon and a free Mountain Man poster!

Strike Hard - Demo 2010

I've posted an interview with the band couple of days ago and it's time to share their first demo now. There are 3 songs in total here with style that can be described as beatdown, but with enough twist to keep it interesting. The band acts in the mid-tempo range mainly with vocals spitting some hard and pissed off lines. There is some work to do in terms of songwriting skills and sound, but all the right influences are here and this demo is a pretty solid effort to get their name out there. Download it!

Hardside - Born To Lose

Here's the new Hardside song from the upcoming Crucified EP. This is the heaviest shit they've recorded so far and if you're into bands like Merauder or Biohazard, make sure you pre-order the new EP at at the Hellfish Family webstore.

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.