Demo Daze: Existence - Into the Furnace
Some uncheap stuff here! Sweden's Existance plays metallic sounding hardcore with best quality chugging riffs and manic vocals. You have to applaud band ’s work ethic here – 4 tracks and each one is beefed up to the fullest. It all sounds intense and aggressive, but there's also a strong feeling of grim and cold in the music. Just check out the lyrics that are so on point capturing the zeitgeist of the times. This stuff is made to contemplate all the fucked up things in the world. A strong candidate for my favorite demo of 2017.
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Review: Wisdom In Chains - Nothing in Nature Respects Weakness
One of the most solid bands that blessed this scene is back with new material. No doubt this was the most anticipated record of the year for me. Now when it has finally dropped and after a considerable amount of time spent nodding my head to these tracks I know this will be high on my best of 2018 list. Straight off the bat, I think it’s their strongest release since Class War. They hooked my ass after just the first track and there was no letting go till the final.
Wisdom’s core sound stayed the same and Nothing… fits well with the overall evolution of the band, but the album is somehow a return to form after disappointing The God Rhythm. For sure it’s way heavier and sharper. Over the years they moved from the aggressive in-your-face style of their early work into a more vibing sound that takes from diverse styles like punk rock, oi! or even straight up rock. No way this made them sound weak, but on the previous record, man, they took a few strange turns that made me skip through some of the tracks. This time the focus is on intensity.
Already Dead and Duck Down Stay Down are the hard stuff. On the other side of the spectrum are Slow Down and Turn My Back, both have a nostalgic feel to them that gives you a chance to contemplate that hard life of yours. Why do bad things happen to good people? Seems that life is just a constant war between good and evil. These odd elements and moods flow together perfectly. With all the diversity on this album, you must be crazy not to find something for yourself.
Special props to Mad Joe cause he must be the best lyricist in hardcore right now. Dude can write painfully real stories so rooted in life that if they don’t click with you then what’s wrong with you? If you’re caught up in the daily struggles trying to keep trouble from the door you can relate. This is grown man trying to make sense of this chaos. No fake thug posturing or cliches, just honest perspective on the world today without having to make shit up.
This album is all pro. I have listened to it maybe a hundred times already and it is one of those albums I can just put on and feel the same way about every time. Cop this shit and let the music diffuse all the tension.
Demons Run Amok Entertainment / Fastbreak
Video: Wisdom In Chains - Already Dead
New Wisdom In Chains is great as always. This one sees Mad Joe trading verses with that dude from Noi!se while the music is nothing short of epic. Taken from the new album 'Nothing In Nature Respects Weakness' which deserves to be album of the year just based on the title.
Review: Take Offense -Tensions On High
It's been 5 years since the previous Take Offense record, United States Of Mind, which is like forever in the music biz. They were on top of the game back then but then, disappearing for that long usually means line up changes or other drama that tend to make good bands go bad. So TO dropping new music now makes you think if they still got it? After few listen I gotta say hell yeah they do. I don't know what's the story behind them being lost all that time and why they're not on Reaper anymore, all I know Tensions On High don't suck. Definitely not a half-assed attempt to cash in on the old material but a legit heavy hitter.
Tensions On High is built more or less on all the elements that made TO famous. By that I mean taking a deep dive into 80' grittiness and putting their own mark on it. The band's progress is about expanding their sound within that arena. So apart from straight up crossover sound on A-side tracks you get nostalgic short instrumental Ometeotl that serves as a build up to epic Just Because You Believe. This last song is a stand out with a mid-paced groove and hard rock riffing that will haunt your ass for days.
It's a short ep with 4 tracks in total but each one of them delivers sheer density and force. There's no ego in their delivery, instead they keep it raw and keep it loose. Take Offense always had tons of badass ideas going to the studio and technical prowess to pull them off, but they never overcomplicate their shit and make sure these records have real balls.
Demons Run Amok / Flatspot Records
New Blood: Last Wishes
The promo tracks Last Wishes dropped earlier this year couldn't hit me harder. Ruthless hardcore with levels of energy that could be only a result of having to deal with some serious struggles in your life. The fact they're from Belfast makes me believe this could be true cause god knows this city has its shady side. Irish hardcore tends to be overlooked which could be working against them but these dudes could easily kick their feet up with European hardcore's elite. I hope Last Wishes get the credit they deserve and can’t wait to see what’s next for the band.
For those who don’t know - tell the history of the band. How and when it all started?
When we started in 2015 there wasn't really any active heavier sounding bands around apart from Stronghold & Frustration(one of the best modern bands ever) and not to leave out older bands like Crowd Control/2000 Strong etc. We just wanted to play straight up hardcore for the moshers. Our first show was actually Frustrations last one with Risk It from Germany playing too, abut 200 people showed up for them , it was nuts and was sick seeing them go out with such a bang cuz they deserved it! Originally we started with a different line up as well but didn't do much so really the band only started in 2016/17.
Teaser: H8000 Documentary
Liar, Congress, Regression, Length Of Time, Spirit Of Youth, Vitality - these bands took European metalcore into another stratosphere. Back in the days H8000 cats brimmed with force and confidence, showing off serious musical skills, but also versatility as they had style from all over the hardcore spectrum - be it metalcore, tough guy hardcore or youth crew or whatever. Liar and Congress for sure were at the forefront of the movement, Invictus and Blackened Persistance were damn near magic, but every band had their own thing happening. If these names say nothing to you do some fucking research.
This teaser was posted just few days but I don't have any details for you except I hope it's gonna be finally out (if it isn't already). Check out this facebook page for possible updates.
Burn The Idol Of The White Messiah
I got mail from my man Nikolay:
Ugly and Proud Records presents the second press of "Burn The Idol of The White Messiah" by Racetraitor. The first and only full-length from one the 1990s most radically political and powerful bands from Chicago, IL is packed with a metallic sound that mixed grindcore and powerviolence. It was originally released by Uprising back in 1998. The LP has been re-mixed by Dallas Thomas (Asschapel, Pelican) and remastered by Brad Boatright (Nails, Obituary, Iron Reagan, Gatekeeper). The first press on Carry The Weight Records from the UK is now long sold out and the band teamed up with U&P and a yet to be revealed US label for the second repress of this record.
'Burn The Idol...' sounds heavier and darker than ever while remaining totally true to the original. The LP includes a special zine containing the history of the band.
Racetraitor was one of the most controversial political bands of the 1990s hardcore scene. It made it to the covers of both Maximumrocknroll and HeartattaCk before recording a single track. The name Racetraitor was in reference to using one's social and economic privilege to create a more egalitarian world. The idea was to take the pejorative term "race traitor" used by white American racists and claim it as a positive self-chosen label. The band is known for aggressively challenging audiences to confront the ways they might help perpetuate or buy into racist and exploitative social and economic systems. Many of their shows turned into heated arguments and Racetraitor were quick to become one of the most talked about political hardcore bands of their time.
Order from: www.uglyandproudrecords.net
Review: World Of Pain - No Utopia
First time World Of Pain caught my attention was when they dropped that split cd with Xibalba and Ruckus. All three bands sounded killer back then if metallic hardcore is your thing. Since then World has been steadily putting new material that I had fun listening to and I hoped No Utopia would be just as good.
Truth be told, I had to suffer through first two tracks, Knee Deep and Internal Warfare, cause this is the slowed down, double bass heavy shit that annoyed me too many times already. These two just don’t move me at all. The guitars sound artificial and the groove is absent. To me it is just the complete opposite of all the elements that made Bulldoze or Next Step Up so ruthless and moving. But, despite the record’s lousy beginning, it is not an ordeal and next tracks offer a glimmer of hope Leech is nice with an old school beatdown feel to it opposed to the double bass slam of some of the previous tracks. This is the type of shit this world needs more of. Definitely my favorite one on the album. Apocalypse Now is aggressive and raw, Losing Sight hits you hard with tight groove and sharp riffs and Buden is slow burn teror with the meanest vocals. "Set me free from this war inside of me / face your demons, face yourself. Conquering / no utopia, not on this earth." Hard as nails!
Lyrically it goes from personal stuff to ranting about the corrupt and hypocritical system. Whatever the topic, the vocals enforce the message in a manner that’s far from subtle. It might not go down in history as the defining voice of how fucked up the world was in 2018 but still sounds strong without going too dramatic.
It’s not often that I’m confused by my feelings for a hardcoe record. I thought this album was merely alright when I first heard it, but it has since grown on me. It’s slightly held back by few tracks that don’t rip, but all in all No Utopia turned out to be more killer than filler.
BDHW, 2017
