New Sai Nam track posted at band's facebook

Head over to the Sai Nam facebook page to hear the new track "Live Fast" from the forth coming album "Crush". Some info about the band: Looking to start a new project in early 2011, New York Hardcore Stalwart guitarist, Mike Dijan (Breakdown, Crown Of Thornz, Skarhead) called on sonic co-conspriator drummer, Lou Medina (Breakdown, All Out War,District 9). The two long time friends and bandmates went right to work, hammering out a batch of blistering heavy material.. Dijan then reached out to acclaimed producer, Dean Baltulonis (Sick Of It All, Hope Conspiracy, Supertouch) about a vocalist for this unit. Dean strongly suggested (Trapped Under Ice) frontman Justice Tripp, with whom he had worked with on TUI’s breakthrough LP Secrets Of The World. As destiny would have it, TUI were headlining NYC’s Santos Party House that very week, where Dijan and Tripp talked about jamming together.

The fit seemed perfect and Tripp was fully up to the challenge. So without a single show or rehearsal, the band joined up with Baltulonis at Wild Arctic Recording Studio in NYC to record their debut 10 song LP, CRUSH. Right from the start, Sai Nam was firing on all cylinders. From Dijan’s heavy Rock-esque riffage to Tripp’s rapid fire vocal delivery, to Medina’s thunderous/chaotic drumming, to Baltulonis’ colorful production, and bass work, Crush promises to deliver the goods in stylish fashion. Hardcore icon, John Joseph (Cro-Mags) appears as guest vocalist on the album to ice the cake.

With their debut full-length in tow, Sai Nam is ready to hit the road and play shows across the globe, bridging the gap between two generations of hardcore music.

Plead The Fifth Interview

Sacramento, CA-based Plead The Fifth has just recently released their new seven inch, ‘Life Sentence’, on Arrest Records which a must hear for everyone into old school hardcore sound. Definitely one of the raddest records of 2011. I have caught up with Alex, the vocalist of Plead The Fifth, to talk about the release and what the band is up to now when the EP is out. !

Sacramento, CA-based Plead The Fifth has just recently released their new seven inch, ‘Life Sentence’, on Arrest Records which a must hear for everyone into old school hardcore sound. Definitely one of the raddest records of 2011. I have caught up with Alex, the vocalist of Plead The Fifth, to talk about the release and what the band is up to now when the EP is out.

Last time we spoke it was in 2009 and it seems there have been some changes in the band since then. Can you tell us what’s been happening with the band during that time?

Since then we have had a few member changes and have played all over the West Coast a bunch. With the new members I've felt that our song writing has grown quite a bit and our current songs blow anything of the previous stuff out of the water.

Tell us something about Life Sentence? How is it different from your previous recordings and why such title?

"Life Sentence" is different in the fact that we actually took the time to write the songs and think everything out and making them good. It wasn't just writing random parts and throwing them together. I also worked much harder on my lyrics than before. I just think it smokes everything else we've done, we're all super proud of it. as far as the title goes, it comes from one of the songs on the record with the same name. The song is basically about being stuck in your own head and thinking about everything too much. Not being able to forget bad shit from my past and carrying that around with me everyday.

In the previous interview you said the message is an important part of hardcore, as well as of your music. What are some of the topics you cover in these new songs?

There are a few. Personal stuff like what was mentioned in "Life Sentence", most of the songs are about stuff like that. A couple are about things I see in the world and in people that piss me off. I don't know if there is necessarily a message to any of them, but I feel like people could relate to them.

How did you hook up with Arrest Records and how does it feel to have your music released on vinyl?

We hooked up with Johnnie and Arrest Records when he and I were talking about his band Word for Word coming out to California for some shows. I was gonna help him book the shows and we were gonna play the shows with them. Around that time we were starting to write new songs that we wanted to be put out on a 7 inch. i just asked Johnnie if he was interested and he said he was and it pretty much went from there.It feels awesome having our stuff on vinyl. Of curse every hardcore band wants that to happen and now that it finally has it's fucking awesome.

What’s your opinion about current state of hardcore? Musically, it seems kids start to appreciate raw and fast hardcore bands, judging how much support acts like Rotting Out, Backtrack or Take Offense have been getting.

I think the current state of hardcore is awesome, best it has been in years. Besides the bands you've mentioned, which are all great, there are so many more from all over the country such as Expire, Soul Search, Downpresser, Minus, Ill Intent, Truth Inside, Kicked In, Incendiary, and a ton more. I could go on forever. Hardcore is fucking awesome right now.

And beside hardcore what are your favorite tunes to bump?

Everyone in the band listens to all sorts of different stuff. Lately when I'm not listening to hardcore/punk/Oi I've been listening to a lot of hip hop.

Any new and upcoming bands from your area that we should be aware of?

Shambles from Sacramento is a really good new band. We share a couple members with them. Really rock/grunge influenced hardcore, it's really cool.

What’s the best show you played in 2011?

We played a lot of awesome shows in last year. If I had to narrow it down, it would be a tie between, the Rotting Out record release show, Sound and Fury Fest, and Trapped Under Ice/Backtrack/Take Offense at my house. That last one wasn't really a full blown set, we hopped up during our boys' Pressure Point's set and played 3 songs, but it was fucking awesome.

Finally, what are you looking forward to for the band this year?

Looking forward to playing a lot more, touring a lot more. I wanna go all over the place this year. We're also writing some songs right now that are coming out really fucking great. I'm not sure what they'll turn into but I'm really excited about them.

World Of Pain - World Of Pain

Not much time has passed since the bone-crushing three-way split with Xibalba and Ruckus, and the debut full length from World Of Pain album drops at BDHW Records. I’ve been following the band since their first demo and it’s good to see them getting the attention they deserve. This self titled album is a logical continuation of what they did on their previous releases.

It begins with a heavy-ass intro to get the mood started which provides a good build up to the Running Thin, the opening track, which is rather fast paced compared to some other parts of the album with massive riffs and menacing low-pitched vocals that sounds almost death metal. The rest of the tracks on the album continue in similar fashion bringing a great balance between groove and heaviness. Not that the band can’t hold it down on their own, but somehow the tracks with guest appearances are the ones I like the best on the album. Third Rail has insane flow with Noah, vocalist of World Of Pain, trading verses with no one else but Gonzales of Billy Club Sandwich. This collaboration was bound to be a success and the result is nothing but dope. The other memorable moment is Consequence with guest appearance from Tad of Stout fame. His sinister vocals definitely have a uniqueness to them that help this song to sound truly sinister and evil.

Overall, World Of Pain definitely brings the in-your-face aggression, but there’s also a lot of substance in what the they do. The album on a whole sounds really cohesive, they build on what they do best but aren’t afraid to explore new territories as well. Highly recommended stuff.

BDHW, 2011
Review by Dloogi

Ghost X Ship - The Comeback

Ghost Ship video for "The Comeback" featuring footage from their 2012 tour.

Bridge 9 to release Terror live album , 'No Regrets No Shame: The Bridge Nine Day'

Bridge 9 has announced plan to release live Terror live album entitled 'No Regrets No Shame: The Bridge Nine Day'. The footage was done when Terror performed at the Showcase Theater in Corona, CA in January, 2003. Bonus features like the "Push It Away" music video and a full set from Terror's Headline Records in-store performance from the same timeframe are also included, and this CD/DVD (& LP with all remastered Showcase Theater audio tracks) release hits stores on April 24th, 2012.

Pre-orders for the War Charge 7" Have Started

Demons Run Amok has launched pre-orders for the War Charge self titled 7" ep. The Edinburgh based hardcore band was formed in early February, 2011 influenced by bands like: Down To Nothing, Bitter End, Trapped Under Ice. Releasedate is the 7th of April. Check out their song 'Cold' here. Over the past six months War Charge have recorded their ep and played shows across Scotland and England. War Charge are looking forward to playing their release show in Germany and then continuing on to the rest of Europe for their European Tour with xRisk Itx in April of this year. So don't miss these guys. There will be: 100 on white, 100 on blue and 300 on black.

Guilty Of Being Diy, European Hardcore & Punk Compilation

Guilty Of Being Diy, European Hardcore & Punk Compilation, is an excellent compilation of 22 European hardcore & punk bands released by Filferro records (Barcelona) in collaboration with Tu Pa Tu Tu Pa records. The compilation was released in a 12" vinyl format and the label offers it just for 8€. You can order it here. The album includes songs from bands like The Capaces, Sniffing Glue, Drama, Adrenalized, El Punto Devil, Siamese Triplet and others!

Face Your Enemy Interview

The first thing that you immediately notice about this band is how dedicated those guys are – without a big label behind their back and with limited resources they managed to record couple of albums, make couple of videos and got facebook page filled with some high quality pictures. Sure, I agree, hardcore goes much deeper than visual appearance, but it still tells you something about the band and how serious their attitude is. Check out the previous interview we did to learn more about the basic info on the band, this one has been done after their last album ‘Message In A Bomb’ dropped. Even thought it might have taken me some time to finally put it online, it’s still a good read!

The first thing that you immediately notice about this band is how dedicated those guys are – without a big label behind their back and with limited resources they managed to record couple of albums, make couple of videos and got facebook page filled with some high quality pictures. Sure, I agree, hardcore goes much deeper than visual appearance, but it still tells you something about the band and how serious their attitude is. Check out the previous interview we did to learn more about the basic info on the band, this one has been done after their last album ‘Message In A Bomb’ dropped. Even thought it might have taken me some time to finally put it online, it’s still a good read!

Could you tell us what’s been happening with Face Your Enemy Since we last talked?
Hi Bro, I'm really happy to hear from you again! It's unbelievable, but during only one year many things are changed in FYE. It would be difficult to explain the entire story in few words but I'll try anyway:
new drummer, new tattoos, new energy, new shit.

So the Message In A Bomb is finally out. What can you tell us about this album? How does it differ from your previous albums?
We are so proud of “Message in a Bomb”! I think that the title describes very well the sound and the lyrics. In this album we've reached a more personal groove than the previous ones.


Lyrically, what are some of the things you sing about on the album?
We don't like intellectual stuff. We sing about the typical hardcore themes: life experiences, hardcore scene, friendship and loyalty but in a personal style. Through our words we push to face life in a positive way. Don't forget that the energy to survive in this fuckin' hell is within yourself.

What is CBC about?
CBC means Caserta Beatdown Commando. Caserta is the city where we come from, Beatdown is our attitude and Commando is a crew about 30 persons, who believe in the same values. We organize shows, make parties and we play in different bands: Face your Enemy, Still in Da Game, Da 4th, One Shall Stand. CBC is not only about music, but also about writing, photography and tattoos (Rockin' ink, Deep Down Empire). Check it out!

How did the Beastie Boys and rap in general influences come about?
I think that rap and hardcore are very similar, especially in the message and the attitude. When we started to listen music, we didn't care if it was metal, hardcore or rap, so a lot of influences came from Beastie Boys ,from Madball or Slayer as well.

You guys did an European tour last year with Embrace Destruction. What do you remember the most from this experience?
It's been a wonderful experience, thanks to Luca from Embrace Destruction, we'll remember it forever. 25 gigs in 25 days across the Europe. It has been difficult but the pleasure to play every single day demonstrating our own style and attitude, have no price.

Any plans for more shows in Europe in the upcoming months?
We've just shared the stage with Terror and Madball last summer, and played some gig in Belgium and Netherlands. We are planning some shows in Europe and maybe in Russia. We really wanna come back in Poland! There is a very cool scene.

What’s your opinion about the Italian hardcore scene nowadays? Bands like Vendetta, Purification or Rise Or Defeat are real good and making noise on the international level…
In my opinion the worldwide hardcore scene is in crisis. The eye of the music trend is now on other scenes. I love this situation because only the true bands survive, and also in Italy there are some bands that have dedication and passion. I know Carlo and Rise after Defeat and they are really good, but we like and support also other italian bands like Straight Opposition, Embrace Destruction, As A Drop Of Blood, Don't Forget, Attitude, To Ed Gein(RIP), Sikspak, Behind The Mask...check them on the web;)


And are you into classic Italian hardcore like Wretched or Raw Power?
Oh! Cool man! Italy has a big tradition in hardcore! We love a lots of bands from 80's and 90's, Negazione and Raw Power first of all! Also in Caserta there is a veteran band called Bandiera dell'Odio, we know and respect them. Without this kind of bands maybe we will never have existed.

Thanks for the interview. Anything you’d like to add before we wrap it up?
I wanna thanks you for the support and good luck with Hard Boiled. Like Mogwai say “hardcore will never die but you will”! Face your enemy remember the name!

More about the band: http://faceyourenemycbc.blogspot.com

Crowd Deterrent - Certain Death

Music video for "Certain Death" by Crowd Deterrent. Produced by Downpour Creative and Crowd Deterrent. Special effects by Dead Art Inc.

9th Step - Stay True Demo

9th Step is a new band from Salem, Oregon, which delivers mean and aggressive style of hardcore. The demo has pretty rough sound quality but you can hear what's going on and some of these tunes are really good. They say to be influenced by bands like Blood For Blood, Madball, Descipline, Agnostic Front or Judge and it ain't that far from the truth. I never have problems with bands that keep it rugged and raw so I totally recommend this shit to anybody who's into this type of stuff. Download it!