Video: Human Animal - Dark Days



Human Animal have released visuals for Dark Days:

"The video features many of our favorite spots in our beloved city of Erie, PA. The vacant lot where all of the band footage was shot is actually the former location of an old venue called Shooters. Many of us saw some of our first live Erie hardcore shows there over 2 decades ago. Now we can say we played there as well even if there’s no walls or floor!"

This is a title track from their debut ep - if you like it, you can download it for free from band's website or cop it from Holy Mountain Music. Eire hardcore in your face!

Assorted News

Some recent relevant news from the wonderful world of hardcore:

Ressurection from UK got a new album out. 8 tracks of old school hardcore, you can cop it here.

Backtrack will drop new album via Bridge 9 in early 2014. It will be called 'Lost In Life'.

From S&A: CLEAN BREAK is Faro’s new Straight Edge sensation, formed in the summer of 2013. After a handful of practices, David and Armando decided to record a demo at the band’s practice room with the 4 songs they’ve been working on. The demo tape was released in August 2013 on Salad Days Records. The band is now working on 7 new songs for an upcoming release. Behind this new band are Faro / portuguese hardcore veterans who used to play in Broken Distance, Critical Point, Pointing Finger, The New Blood or Pressure. Straight & Alert records will team up with David’s label Salad Days records (Portugal) to repress CLEAN BREAK demo tape on a one sided 7″ limited to 200 copies.


Grim will drop a new record called The Seeds Of Love. Shit's gonna be heavy! You can pre-order it from Open Up Recs.

Flatspot Recs are running pre-orders for the upcoming Cold Stare 7" called The Circus. Order your copy here.

Tacoma, Washington’s Cowardice have called it quits. Check out Rat Path though, which has members of Cowardice and already Mean Streets 7" out!

Toe To Toe have announced a new 7 inch titled “Still Fighting” to be released on the Old School Cartel. It will have guest appearances from Madball’s Freddy Cricien and Sick Of It All’s Lou Koller and Craig Setari.



Friend Or Foe - Outsider 7" is out via Trible B Recs! Check out the stream here.

Behind The Camera: Interview with Taylor Rambo

Taylor Rambo is a talented photographer from upstate New York responsible for tons of great pics from random hardcore shows. The dude was so kind to let me use his photos for the Concrete interview, and I was so impressed with his work that I thought it would be dope to follow up with a short interview where he could shed some light on his work. So, here it is! Plus, check out the cool pics of TUI, Backtrack, Malfunction, Vehement Serenade and couple other dope bands.

Review: Clearview - Pure Mayhem


Clearview - Pure Mayhem (Caustic) - Holy shit, this is powerful! Clearview reps Brazil hardcore scene and comes from the school of angry and aggressive hardcore that goes heavy but never too much metal.

'Scared To Death' by King Nine coming soon via Mass Movement Recs


I've already posted about it, but since then some new info surfaced to shed a little more light on the beast that is the upcoming debut full length from Long Island's hardest, King Nine. Mass Movement records have started taking pre-orders for "Scared To Death" that will drop on November 12th so if you dig no bullshit metallic hardcore and got couple bucks to spare, order your copy now. Release show will take place 11/24 at SRC (Sayville Republican Club) in Sayville, NY. Also, check out new track - Still Anticipating...:

Demo Daze: Big Contest, High Card, Chains

High Card - Demo 2013

Hardcore punk from Long Island, New York

DOWNLOAD | FACEBOOK



Big Contest - Demo 2013

Hardcore out of Boston and Wilkes-Barre in vein of Warzone, Negative Approach, Krakdown, Breakdown and such!

DOWNLOAD

Chains - Trapped In Chains

Bologna, Italy straight edge commando playing rugged '80s American hardcore punk.

DOWNLOAD | FACEBOOK

Video: Naysayer - Infiltrator



I kinda missed it when this video came out in late August, but since Naysayer is one of my fav bands, I gonna post it anyway.

Check out new Deadly Visions track!

Australia-based Deadly Visions will be featured on an upcoming Sydney hardcore compilation along bands like Toe To Toe, Throwdown, Boneles and more. The band is sharing one of the songs they recorded for this project - The Blind Leading The Lost. I consider this track straight up dope, the fast part is tight and the breakdown at the end goes hard as it should. The vocals get the job done as well. You can download it by clicking this link.

Video: Rust Proof - All Or Nothing Days



Rust Proof hails from Australia and features members of local bands like Tenth Dan, Blood Money and Speartackle. If you like this song, head to their bandcamp for couple more tracks.

Cut Loose - Straight Edge pride from Paris


I gotta give props to my ma Alexis from Straight & Alert distro for this one: Cut Loose have just recently dropped a demo which is available in a stricly limited quantity here. If you're not into tapes, bust still want to check out this band, go to this link where you can listen to all the songs and even download it for free. They advertise it as youth crew hardcore in vein of Youth Of Today, Step Forward and Minority Unit. The band has been around since the beginning of this year and features SxE dudes who play or used to play in Get Lost, First Failure, Last Quiet Time, Black Spirals, Jack Move or DIG.

HB Radio #11 - Hard Times

New issue with cool bands like Bluesbreaker, Raw Justice, Honesty, Wretched, Blind Justice, Ego Trip, Guidance and more. Don't miss Australia's Blood Money who come ripping with the cover of the classic tune by Grim Reality. If you like any of these bands, I encourage you to dig more info about them, cop their album or show support in any other way! You can click at the song name below and jump around playlist. It wasn't easy to make it do it, so take advantage! You can also open it in a pop-up window for more convenience.

Break Of Chain Interview

When it comes to Japan and hardcore, I mostly associate the scene over there with beatdown or edge-metal bands that I have come across over the years. Names like Creepout, TJ Maxx, Dying Grace, Numb or 43 Urban certainly ring a bell. But truth be told, I don’t really follow what’s happening over there on regular basis. So when I got contacted by Break Of Chain, I had no idea who they were. My mistake, cause it turns out the band has been doing their brand of rugged old-school hardcore for over 10 years now and got couple of releases, comps and splits under their belt. If you’re into heavy-ass hardcore with a NYHC-twist, check them out! Here’s the interview with Danzaki, who handles the vocals for the band.

Coldburn - D.T.E. / Love Left Me



Pretty rad track from Coldburn.

Upcoming Compilation with Sao Paulo Hardcore

The Only Way, my peeps from Brazil, have just posted new song called No Tolerance which musically rips and lyrically deals with religious freaks who try to force their beliefs on others. The track will be part of a compilation LP containing 12 bands of the São Paulo scene. More about the project here. Other bands involved in the project are Still X Strong, Final Round, Sentenced, Direct Shot and more!

Video: Cruel Hand - 3S



Brand new vid from Cruel Hand for 3S, which is a new track from the upcoming 7" Born Into Debt, We All Owe A Death. I still can't decide if it's rad or not, but you do your judgement anyway.

Demo Daze: Higher Power Trife Life, Pulled Under



Higher Power - Higher Power Demo

Melbourne hardcore, members of Most Precious Blood, 50 Lions, Hit List & Outsiders Code. Dirty and rugged hardcore with punk vibe.

DOWNLOAD | FACEBOOK


Trife Life - Neighborhood Watch

... got me thinking like an animal. NY hardcore, pretty dope cause they don't mess around and keep it aggressive and straight to the throat all the time.

DOWNLOAD | FACEBOOK


Pulled Under - Demo 2013

Hardcore from Dallas-Forth Worth area with a mission to go back in time and bring back that 90' metallic hardcore back to life. Fans of Disembodied or Martyr AD check it out!

DOWNLOAD|FACEBOOK

Reviews: Last Dayz, Life After Death, No Second Chance, Isolated


Last Dayz - Fatality (Ratel) - One of the Poland’s finest hardcore bands comes back with yet another dope ep. After the split ep with Cornered which was already great, these new tunes shows a lot of progression. The basic formula on Fatality remains the same - the tracks are as arrogant and grisly as you would expect but everything just sounds better and harder. The band seems even more focused and forceful than on the previous eps. The lyrics span from personal to general topics like life and hardcore scene, everyone can relate to it. I saw these dudes live on couple occasions and every time it was a crazy experience with people throwing random stuff around and beating crap out of each other. Shit is real! Fatality is one of the slickest hardcore releases this year, no doubt.

Life After Death - Cuffed And Cursed (DIY) - It seems like every few years I come across a beatdown album that avoids the impulse to sound remotely modern. Instead of double bass and constant breakdowns, Life After Death comes through with that classic Bulldoze/Merauder/Hatebreed shit. I can't imagine any fan of these bands not liking this album. All the tracks on here are really dope. You get a handful of songs with that classic 90’ east coast metallic hardcore feel as well as a few that stray a bit outside of this lane. The topics of the songs are all about the stresses and bullshit of everyday life, kind of standard shit but always relevant. It’s probably the first time I paid for mp3 files but this ep is so good and the money goes to one of their folks who got himself in trouble with the law. So, help the brother out and get yourself some good hardcore music by buying it here. I wish it would be out on cd or vinyl one day.

No Second Chance - Face Reality (Rucktion) - No Second Chance is a London-based act that delivers some mosh-worthy hardcore tunes that blend chugging riffs with tons of breakdowns and vicious vocals. Generally the music carries the style of bands like Throwdown or One Nation Under, but my only problem is that it all sounds just like your average album of this style. It’s not entirely terrible, but nothing to write home about. It doesn’t help that I was never that much of a fan of this particular sound, and I can’t fight impression that it just lacks purpose and is just playing hardcore for the sake of playing music. There’s nothing pissed off, negative, or hateful about it. On the other hand, it might be due to very polished sound on this one, some more dirt would definitely give it some more force. This record is over and I can't remember this shit even playing in my speakers, that's how much of an impression it leaves.

Isolated - This is Q-Town not LA (District Records)
- As much as I love eurocore bands like Only Attitude Counts, Ryker’s or Backfire, I just can’t get into this stuff. It’s mediocre and uninspired hardcore with punk and metal leanings which totally lacks the aggression hardcore should have. I would expect something more from a band which have been about 20 years in existence. Damn, sometimes I think it’s even worse than any Crushing Caspars album, but then I remember how terrible CC albums are. I'm only feelin' one or two songs on here, with most ranging from just ok to plain terrible. I'll probably never listen to this stuff again. Next.

Iron Reagan - Cycle of Violence



Not really a fan of all the weird metal stuff A389 Recordings are putting out, but I gotta admit when they drop something more in line of traditional hardcore it's always a blast. Iron Reagan is one of the bands that got my respect and this is their new clip - Cycle of Violence off of Worse Than Dead album.

New Blood: Cold Reality

Cold Reality is a new band from Budapest, Hungary that plays hardcore with tight vocals and heavy-ass grooves. They got one demo already, which came out earlier this year and I advice everyone to check it out cause it’s dope. I they keep it this way I expect cool things from these dudes in the future. Here’s interview with Balázs who handles vocal duties for the band.

Stout to cancel European tour



Bad news - due to car accident involving the singer Tad the band has to cancel their upcoming European tour. Hope its nothing serious and the guy will get well fast! And of course hope to see the band in Europe when he gets better.

Grim Reality - Reunion Show in 2014

Grim Reality, one of my three fav bands from Australia (with none of them being Deez Nuts) is reuniting for a show in March, 2014. You can find the facebook event for the show here. For those who don't know - these are some crazy-ass Australians who seem to get a lot of respect from everyone down under who know what's up, but they also seem to be kind of unknown to the outside world. I got their To The Death album that combines all of their releases and it is a true masterpiece in reckless and ignorant hardcore, with lyrical content ranging from hardcore pride to taking revenge on your foes. The band was active in 1990' and left the legacy of 7" 'Out To Win' (Trial and Error Records) and bunch of tracks on various comps. As far as I know, the band played their last show in 1999. It's a pity there's no chance I can even think about affording plane tickets to Australia...

Demo Daze: Bad Attitude, Unfinished Life, Bluesbreaker


Bad Attitude - Brainfreeze
Bad Attitude are dudes from Cornered, Pantah and other local bands from Leeuwarden, the Netherlands area who teamed up for some old styled hardcore action. The demo is slated to get vinyl treatment later this year via War Inside Records (NL) and 46 Records (IER).


Unfinished Life - Expose My Demons
UKHC with tons of groove and force, all five tracks here are ripping hard!


Bluesbreaker - Arcanum
I saw this band life they were dope. Metallic hardcore with its own unique twist, you gotta check it out!

Detroit Hardcore Comp - Interview with Mike from Lost Time Recs

Lost Time Records are about to release a 7” compilation to feature couple of up and coming hardcore bands that represent Detroit hardcore scene. The bands involved in this project are Freedom, From Hell, True Love, One by One, and Retribution. Each band is contributing a brand new track! Check out the interview we did with Mike, the man behind Lost Time Recs, who shares some info about this project!!

Iron Chains - Live @ Budapest



Dope live set from this Hungarian band playing at their home turf. I posted their demo some time ago so check it out if you haven't already. Iron Chains, fff: Merauder, Dead End Path, 25 ta Life, Stigmata...

Disrespect - Live at Core Tex Fest



Now that's a blast from the past! Disrespect reunited for the Core Tex Fest 2013 at legendary SO36 club in Berlin. I remember being into this band when their Hit The Ceiling album came out, and I totally admired the sense of fashion they exhibited on the backcover of the 7" split with Sidekick. Everyone into 90' chugga chugga hardcore should do their homework on this band. Truth be said, I haven't listened to their music since ages, but looking at the video it's cool to see they still got it.

16/09 Reviews: Cheech, Violent Reaction, Schizma, Sike...


Reviews of latest Cheech, Schizma, Sike, Violent Reaction, One Life One Sentence and couple more.

Assorted News: Death Threat, Down To Nothing, Brawl, Long Island Hardcore documentary...

Some cool stuff that happened in hardcore recently:

Finally, you can listen to the entire Death Threat and Rude Awakening split at Trible B's bandcamp. Order your copy here.

New Empire Of Rats is streaming here. Self titled full length album coming soon via A389 Records!

Life On The James by Down To Nothing is officially out! iTunes link here.

A documentary on the Long Island Hardcore scene is in the works. More info here.

NY's King Nine will drop new record called "Scared To Death" on November 12th via Mass Movement Records.

Backtrack teamed up with Bridge 9 for a new album. The band is working with producer Nick Jett (Terror) so the shit gonna sound like it should!

Boise, Idaho based hardcore band Brawl, has released a new single entitled “Contention”, which is the first taste of the bands upcoming new 7″ called “Back Biter”. The ep is scheduled for late 2013 and will follow suit with the band’s previous effort “Punishment” with an EP release via Westcoast Worldwide Records, and the 7 inch being handled by Irish Voodoo Records.



Seventh Dagger have launched pre-orders for new GhostXShip ep called Carry The Flame. You can order your copy here.

Cali heavyweights Sworn Vengeance are back and ready to drop new album.

Cheech Interview

I guess everyone should be familiar with this band so I gonna skip the introduction. The band got new album out, called Beast From The East, via WTF Records. I talked with them just after it came out but it took about two months for my lazy ass to post the interview. My apologies! Anyway, here it is. I just gonna say the album is dope, the review coming soon!

HB Radio #11 - Ground Zero

Some more hardcore for all the kids who like when hardcore is raw and rugged. 30 mins of blasting hardcore, includes bands like Friend Or Foe, Set Astray, Iron Chains, Plus Minus, Black Coffee (funny band name, but I double checked that they ain't hipsters), Enforcers, Street War and some more. Pay attention to Down My Throat song, this is old one but still dope. And for the kids who r slow - you can click at the song name below and jump around playlist. It wasn't easy to make it do it, so take advantage! You can also open it in a pop-up window for more convenience.

Only The Lawless Remain



As some of you already know, Death Threat will be releasing split 12" with Rude Awakening. The record will be out via Triple B Records.

New ep by For The Glory


New For The Glory is called Lisbon Blues and marks 10 years of the band. You can order your copy here. Musically it has the right groove and aggro I need from a hardcore band, but if you heard their previous albums you basically know what to expect. Lyrically, it deals with hardships of life when you have to make ends meet working your ass off for scraps. No Colors deals morons who think they're better based on the color of their skin - fuck racism is a basic rule of hardcore but it's always good to see bands setting the record straight.

UPDATE: Today I got tip from the band that Lisbon Story is actually a full length album, not ep. Well, that's even better!

Down To Nothing - No Leash



I am pretty much sure every hardcore kid smart enough to turn on their computer/smartphone/tablet has seen it already, but still gonna post it cause the song and vid are so good! New album out soon!

Providence / Hoods split coming soon!


Knives Out started out as a way for Providence to release their music, but after years of hiatus the label seems to be back in business. The label has announced their new release will be a 7" split between Paris heaviest Providence and Sacto Hoods. There will be 300, hand-numbered picture discs available, and the pre-orders are already up here. Due out in September!

"Back at it once again and ready to pile some new stones in this hardcore scene. A couple of releases are on the way. First to come is the PROVIDENCE / HOODS "Aces" collector split. Paris PROVIDENCE - Sacramento HOODS teaming up for the realz and not for the trendy fakes !!! This vinyl comes as limited 300 hand-numbered picture 7" artworked by Dave Quiggle (Shai Hulud, All Out War, Thick As Blood, Facedown Records...) and TONR."

Demo Daze: Break'em, Harsh Reality, Blind Justice, Mind Trap


Break'em - Demo II

Heavy and grooved out hardcore from Sweden with obvious NYHC influences. I could drop some band names for reference, but just download it and check it out for yourself.

DOWNLOAD


Harsh Reality - No Hope- No Faith

Cali hardcore at its best, if you're into bands like Donnybrook, Blood Stands Still or Skare Tactic, Harsh Reality is your thing. One song features dude from Runamok, which is another dope new band.

DOWNLOAD


Blind Justice - Mischief

This one is available on 7" vinyl here, but the band is cool with people downloading it for free. New Jersey hardcore in your face, the ep came out couple of months ago but it's just recently I came across this band. A perfect mix of fast parts and heavy breakdowns, nothing less than a straight up in your face agression.

DOWNLOAD


Mind Trap - Demo 2013

Features dudes from Short Fuse, Rearranged, Government Flu, Highscore, Vitamin X and some other cool bands. As to be expected, it's just some good, raw hardcore punk. They got 7" out on Carry The Weight records.

DOWNLOAD

Race Riot set from Summer Of Hate '13



Downpour Creative is streaming Race Riot 59 set from this yers's Summer Of Hate fest. Since it's currently my fav punk rock band, it would be cool to share it with both fans and for all the suckers not familiar. See also Letters, Smash Nazis and Wolves Amongst Men.

Redemption Denied to drop new ep!


So, the Belgian heavyweights Redemption Denied are dropping new ep soon - it's called Nothing Remains and judging from the new track they posted just recently, it's gonna crush! One of the songs that can make every serious hardcore kid go nuts. I remember seeing them play in Warsaw and they were dope - the amount of energy and vibe was off the hook. Plus, they seem like a legit dudes so give them so support and check out the new ep when it comes out.

Dynasty - Death Solution



New video from Dynasty from their recent album "Beyond Measure". The track is damn hard and the clip is nicely put together featuring some cool live action and some dude running around - there must be a deeper meaning to it but figure it out for yourself. Anyway, enjoy!

Hardcore Lessons #1


Why should you go around bashing one another
If they look or think different, why let it bother
Everyones got their own style, their own thoughts
Don't let it bother you, don't let it get caught

New Blood: Reapers Path

Heavy ass hardcore from Kiel / Schleswig area of Germany. I have posted their demo for download some time ago so check it out here if you haven't already. Fans of Shattered Realm, Merauder and Cold World should be on the lookout!

Video: War Charge - New World Justice



Don’t run your mouth around me and my crew.
Don’t give a fuck about who knows you.
You’re just another sucka acting the fool.
You look for trouble, shit we’ll give it to you.

UK's War Charge has just dropped this vid for New World Justice. It contains some dope live action taken from their set in Glasgow and Icebreaker Festival in Birmingham.