Maniac instantly takes charge, blasting raw energy at the frontline that is your poor ears. Every track comes in hot and every track ends like a smoking gun. When the smoke settles, War & Insanity leaves you with that pelted with 200 pounds of hardcore shrapnel feeling. It's a feeling that leaves no weight on your chest but, rather, leaves you content.
Maniac understands the war we all fight; the fight with sanity. Listen below and feel a little better:
Similar acts/sounds: Pummel, Antagonize, Magnitude, Restraining Order, Mindforce, hardcore.
Kidnapped from CT play quick and violent grindcore. Charged with tight drums and start-stop blasts of chaos, Hungry is meant to be listened to 6 times in a row as loud as possible in your parents' basement.
At 2 a.m.
Similar acts/sounds: Iron Lung, Spazz, Exposed as Rot, Dropdead, SIEGE, Jarhead Fertilizer, Mind Eraser
Vaulted have been sharpening their teeth since I went on hiatus and are only getting heavier and more pissed off. I first caught wind of Vaulted back in 2016 with their Better Days EP and was really impressed - so impressed that they were on my must-see list when I moved to Boston two Summers ago. A few months back, I finally caught Vaulted open for Fórn and I knew that this new 10-track ripper, Distaste would be on constant rotation.
Disaste is about giving the big fuck-you middle finger to Fox News, Big Pharma, and the punch clock. Disaste is also about staying afloat despite all the bullshit in life. Simply put, Disaste is aggression; aggression through stomping hardcore and riffing metal that actually helps you get through the day.
Similar acts/sounds: Lunglust, I Have Become Death, Converge, Integrity, Phantom Glue, All Pigs Must Die
Ultimate is a new DC drug free hardcore project from members of Rashomon, Never Relaxed, and Corrective Measure. Frontman Zechariah Ghostribe previously of Never Relaxed keeps the raw energy going while upping the ante on in-your-face aggression. Plus, the boxing gloves are no joke, this is Jiu Jitsu fueled, takedown and drag 'em out hardcore.
Not for posers. Not for punishers.
Similar sounds/acts - Never Relaxed, Rashomon, Kombat, Corrective Measure, Strung Along, Line of Sight.
Monoliths. play some experimental hardcore from Medway, Mass.
Black Santa Rides The Fire Train includes six different covers from some of Monoliths.' biggest influences. There's Botch's "Transitions from Persona to Object" from the legendary album, We Are The Romans, Converge's intoxicating metal-banger "Sadness Comes Home", Infest's fastcore number "Terminal Nation", and one of my favorites by Self Defense Family, "I'm Going Through Some Shit". Hell, there's even a Cursive and The National cover that are both listenable and don't remind me of my embarrassing mixtapes I made in the 8th grade. Then there's the Death Grips cover. Probably the stand-out track, Monoliths. rendition of "No Love" featuring Charlie Mansion (not to be confused with Charlie Manson from that other DG song), is a reminder of just how powerful MC Ride's "noided" yell-rapping is and how well it can be turned in to a hardcore track. It might not be the same without Zach Hill's stomping electric drums, but it an interesting interpretation nevertheless.
Dying are an incredibly powerful metallic hardcore band from Philly. The four tracks here on this new release, Broken are heavily fueled by vegan/straight-edge/anti-lust views that make this already one-hundred-bricks-on-your-chest ripper even more chest-crushing. These views might not necessarily reflect my own, but when music is fueled with fire this strong, you know it's going to be intense. This is a must listen for fans of Converge, Cursed, Harm's Way, Full of Hell, etc.
Bastro was a late 80's/early 90's post-hardcore band from the hot-spot for experimental hardcore music, Washington, DC. The band was started by David Grubbs who previously lived in another hot-spot for experimental hardcore music at the time, Louisville, Kentucky where he was the first singer and guitarist for Squirrel Bait. With Grubbs' experience and the eventual addition of John McEntire (a percussion major at the time) replacing a drum machine, Bastro became a somewhat short-lived but incredibly skilled hardcore band.
Bastro took their early post-hardcore sound and gave it a twist by adding piano and horns to create the sounds of their 1989 release, Diablo Guapo ~ Handsome Devil. Diablo Guapo today would probably be described more like noise rock or math rock with its many time signatures and twisted guitar sounds not always heard in punk music at the time. Back in '89 though, I would imagine they were considered more of hardcore band with too many ideas and not enough problems.
Similar sounds/acts: Squirrel Bait, early Slint, Bitch Magnet, Sweep the Leg Johnny, Rodan, Uzeda, Shellac, Tortoise, Evergreen, and all the other bands McEntire and Grubbs went on to create music in.
Prayer For Terrene is an off the walls and almost John Zorn-esque hardcore album from Australia's Idylls. The album includes two tracks that were rerecorded from Idylls' 2013 release Indian Circle, but it's hard to notice them without looking at the titles as the tracks have been polished up and sound much fuller. After all, this album did take Kurt Ballou and a whole engineering team to get the noise that is Prayer For Terrene just right. All in all, this album is sure to open your eyes as much as it does pry open your ears. It's certainly not for everyone but if you are a fan of overly aggressive and noisy hardcore this is a trip worth taking.
From my notes it looks like New York for one reason or another was putting out bands that were catching my attention the most in 2014. While I had heard about Big Neck Police through blogs like Gimme Tinnitus, I actually heard the other half of this album, Dog, through word of mouth. When I went looking for a band with such a simple name, I came up empty-handed. Luckily, I just checked back in with Big Neck Police in November and found this incredibly interesting split with both cats... err, I mean dogs. These two bands almost sound more like they belong in the Washington, DC Dischord days with the way they use their guitars like little knives guarding obscure vocals.
Some more obscure music... this time from my home state of Maine. Family Planning is Billy Carr's full band now featuring Jesse Heasly on bass and Peter McLaughlin on every inch of the drum kit he could find. What makes John Wayne Frankenstein so interesting to me is how eerily addictive I find Carr's vocals. Reminding me of the mysteries that were my cousin's house or how to eat with my mouth closed, this album brings me back memories I haven't thought up in years.
John Wayne Frankenstein was one of a few albums from Portland that was released on Peter McLaughlin's very cool new record label, Pretty Purgatory. Check out that label and the "pledge" system that goes along with it!
While Salem's Pot wasn't the only Sabbath worshiping band to release lengthy epics this year - I'm looking at a you, Pallbearer - Salem's Pot are, as you can probably guess from the name, a bit more on the psychedelic side. With that advantage and the obvious influence of early doom music, Salem Pot probably make the most interesting Sabbath-inspired music today.
If you were like me this year the most Jazz you listened to was that jazz-drum-solo Birdman soundtrack. I did however listen to Jizue of Japan's new release Shiori, which might not have been straight jazz, but included everything from jazzy math rock to coffee house pop to math rap. Some of what Jizue might sound like Mouse on the Keys at first as it's heavily piano-driven math rock, but where Mouse on the Keys tends to be a bit stomp-y, Jizue is much more light on their feet (ex. "Wind"). Still, Jizue are not playing around, this is not feathery or lightweight music by any stretch of the imagination.
Shiori features Shing02 (who rapped on the Samurai Champloo intro by Nujabes) and Ikkyu Nakajima (from Tricot).
Along with recording probably my favorite cover song of this year (Slint's Breadcrumb Trail), SLOTHS have a super emotional and intense release out right now called Twenty Years. It may only be three songs, but in that 12 minutes you will definitely feel the passion that these guys possess. Yeah, the name of this Portland, Oregon band is SLOTHS, but this is not a meme; this is genuine music.
Nnamdi's sooper dooper secret side project. Bootie Noir includes a number of incredibly well crafted and sometimes bizarre pop songs feature all sorts of great musicians including Alicia Waters (Oshwa) on track 4, Nate Kinsella (the Kinsella cousin from Birthmark and Make Believe) on track 11, Dave Davison (Maps & Atlases) on track 17, Bobby Burg (Make Believe/Joan of Arc), Peter Helmis (Algernon Cadwallader) on track 18, just to name a few. Check out all the guest stars here and sample Bootie Noir down here:
Picking right up where In Heaven left off, Lovechild's Migraine Music sounds like the final boss of all circle pit battles. From modern hardcore to old school in-your-face punk rock n roll, this is some refreshing punk music you do not want to be sleeping on if you wanna stage dive at a Joyce Manor concert.
Various Artists - Casa de Diversion Covers Vol. 3 (2014)
Here's a cool cover compilation put together by the hardcore/punk/metal loving blog, Toxicbreed's Funhouse. It features 24 up-and-coming loud-mouths playing their favorite songs by bands ranging from The Misfits to Slowdive to Le Tigre to GG Allin to Mazzy Star . My personal favorite has to be Sloths's rendition of Slint's Breadcrumb Trails - putting the hardcore back into Slint's post hardcore masterpiece.
Part insect, Part superhero, all chaos - his is UltraMantis Black's long awaited gospel.
Indy pro wrestler and leader of the Spectral Envoy of the Final Judgment has teamed up with the noisy crew of Pissed Jeans to unleash an ultra slick yet ultimately brutal Extended Play of hardcore scriptures. The hasty, out of control soundscape over UMB's piercing vocals heavily echo late 90's-early 00's noisecore and hardcore acts such as Deadguy, The Locust, Daughters, and Gaza. Plus, you have the wrestling influence that not only comes from the Chikara Pro Wrestling alum himself but from Pissed Jeans who, before getting into noise rock, where playing wrestling-inspired powerviolence in a band known as The Ultimate Warriors. The Ultimate Warriors were smart fans or "smart marks" as the internet would call it as they not only watched good ol' WWE (or WWF at the time) but also Japanese wrestling (puroresu) companies like Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling and Big Japan Pro Wreslting as well as American Independent promotions such as Combat Zone Wrestling. That being said, it's really no surprise that the first song off this album is titled after a villainous creature from FMW, Biomonster DNA.
Being a fan of both wrestling and hardcore music, UltraMantis Black as a whole is a super gratifying experience. This release definitely blows that other wrestler with a band's new album out of the water *cough* Chris Jericho *cough*.
Highlights: "Biomonster DNA", "Prescription Culture", "Oil and Gas", Stockpiling Graves", and "West Serbian Plain".
Similar acts/sounds: The Ultimate Warriors, Pissed Jeans, Antiseen, Deadguy, Daughters, The Locust, Gaza, Yautja, Weekend Nachos, Cult Leader, Mutoid Man, and other noisy hardcore that probably don't have a masked frontman.
Similar acts/sounds: Ampere, Failures, Vaccine, Iron Lung, Extortion, Charles Manson, Ignominy, Loma Prieta, and other powerviolence acts at half-speed.
Free To Think are a hardcore band from my third home, Bangor, Maine. Much like my buds Never Relaxed, they are keeping this whole hardcore scene in Maine alive and well. They also happen to be wrestling fans like myself, so I can't not talk about them. This here is their '014 demo which includes a real American outro that can't be missed:
Dark and dreary pop punk rock from Olympia. A three piece possibly possessed by ghosts or some sort of modern-day witch (if that's PC). Margy Pepper are very reminiscent of another band from Olympia that I have talked about before and that band would be RAGANA. This is no coincidence either as they are best buds and do tour together.
Margy Pepper did happen to make it to Mayo Street in Portland a few months sans RAGANA.
Windmill of Corpses are a three-piece crust metal band out of Arizona. With punchy drums and demonic howls, these guys are a guaranteed slap right smack in your little baby face. Get on this if you want to live with your beautiful baby face no more.
Ittō play real basement hardcore, you know, as opposed to that fake stuff. This is their first album. Get to know this album and then check these spazzers out on the new 4-way dance coming out entitled The Sound of Young America. The split will include three other bands that aren't tied down to just being another "contemporary" hardcore or screamo band - Capacities, Innards, and Calculator.
Bird-influenced math rock from Ontario. An Ode to... is a follow-up to Dore Mear Beon's 2012 self-titled EP which included a very cool song that sampled the Richard Linklater film, Waking Life. Dore Mear Beon is definitely for fans of Time Columns, Enemies, Zefs Chasing Cara, The Bulletproof Tiger, as well as other one-person math rock acts.
Never Relaxed are some Portland dudes playing music and getting mad about some stuff.
This is a demo I was really looking forward to listening to for some time now, and have been for the past few months. It's the debut for the four-man hardcore punk outfit out of Portland and it's certainly true to the growing hardcore scene in Maine.
The unique vocals of lead-yeller, Zech is fueled by new and old school hardcore acts from Bad Brains to Bane to Portland's Cruel Hand. Then there's the other guys who, in such a serious genre, are never taking themselves too seriously. Mix it all together and you have a very fresh hardcore band that fits not just in legion halls and VFW posts but also in punk houses and underground jam spots.
Yautji are a mix of all sorts of pissed off sludgy hardcore and metal noise all tangled up in a big sharp clump and ready for you to step on it late at night as you quietly-as-possible walk to the bathroom. Your foot will bleed and you will be shouting, waking your girlfriend up and her drunk roommate. In this short yet excruciatingly painful moment you will confess your hatred for your shitty job and your mundane life. The next day you will buy a motorcycle and drive it far, far away. Eventually, you will ride it into the sun and mesh your skin and bones with the motorcycle's shiny metal and leather, becoming apart of it as much as it will be apart of you and you will ride the solar system from there on out as a mecha-humanoid motorcycle bounty hunter.
Never to return.
Highlights: "Denihilist", "Tar and Blindness", "Faith Resigned", "A Crawl", and "Of Decent".
Similar acts/sounds: Coliseum, Legion, Nameless Cults, Gnarwhal, Mutoid Man, Harm's Way, Mammoth Grinder, Nails, Black Breath, and eating dessert first... and last... and for all the other meals.
When an album starts with an emotional Jason Segel as Eric from Undeclared sample, you know that you at least have to give this a try. It's definitely something you'll regret that you never put on a mixtape for your ex-girlfriend in high school.
This is Free Throw's second release, entitled, Lavender Town, yes just like that town in Pokemon Red that drove you into a deep depression as a child. The album's pretty much right where their self titled left off except instead of Boy Meets World samples we get Undeclared samples. That being said, this is a hell of a growing up album by a growing up band. You might think you are done growing up, but that's not the case... no one ever grows up.
Free Throw recently signed to Count Your Lucky Stars and Lavender Town is now physically available for pre-order with some new artwork and either choice of black or piss yellow vinyl. Check it out!
Hannibal Montana are a cleverly named instrumental math rock band from New York. Off the ways, dim-lit room filling the atmosphere with spiraling guitars, and structure kicked out the door is the best way I can describe the sounds Hannibal Montana make. Very reminiscent of Zefs Chasing Cara, Battles, Time Columns, Antarctic, and The Bulletproof Tiger.
Slint are back if you may or may not have heard and they return baring gifts as the new documentary about how awesome they are was made in their honor of awesomeness. If are around the Portland, Maine area tonight at 7:30, you should definitely stop by the Space Gallery on Congress Street and check out the documentary followed by a Q & A with the filmmaker, Lance Bangs. I was pretty bummed that I couldn't make it to this event, until Slint also announced a reunion tour starting the day I get out from finals. It's not too often that I get to leave Maine for a sweet show, but that's what is happening May 29th when I go down to Boston to these guys play the awesomeness out of their instruments live and in concert.
The screamo meets post rock meets art outfit from Cleveland are back with a new album out called Rodin. Like Locktender's previous release, Kafka, this is somewhat of a concept album - this time about the works of Auguste Rodin, a French sculptor best known for "The Thinker, "The Age of Bronze", "The Burghers of Calais", and probably that nude sculpture from the art museum that made you feel weird things when you were a kid.
So, what do songs about sculptures sound like? Well, in a way, they sound like the history behind these large scale figures. For instance, the opening track, "The Burghers of Calais" depicts the scene of six persons of the town of Calais, France stepping up to King Edward III with nooses around their necks to be sacrificed so the rest of the town could live. The track is a lengthy one that echoes the Hundred Year's War in a way. "The Thinker" as a song is filled with a feeling of sorrow and pain delivered by always powerful Locktender vocals.
The second track is about Rodin's most famous piece, The Thinker. The Thinker is a sculpture of a man, well, thinking. He's seated with his chin resting on his arm as if deep in thought. The Thinker was originally apart of the Gates of Hell, a detailed group piece that was based on Dante's Inferno. Locktender take this piece and turn it into a gripping emotional hardcore track that deals with "a modern world built on a tired titans back".
Who knew sculptures could sound so cool?
Locktender are a band that do not settle with one genre and call it a day. Their work is always different depending on the subject material. Take a listen to the third track about the "Eternal Springtime" sculpture and you will see how much range these folks have. Locktender aren't just another band playing loud music, they do their homework (lame, right), but in the end it comes off so much more like an experience than just one sided music. One sided music not about sculptures.
Some straight-up no filter hardcore punk rock from Boston, Mass. Some of the coolest sounding hardcore I have ever laid my ears on. I'm really digging this stuff especially the track, "Perfectionist (Perfectionism)" as it features a sample of J. Robert Oppenheimer on the first atomic bomb where he quotes a line from the Hindu Scripture, Bhagavad Gita: "Now I have become death, the destroyer of worlds". Even if the other parts of the song weren't top notch, I would still listen to it just for that sample. Luckily, Lovechild is top notch.
Sometimes there's releases I miss and than there's some that I really miss. This is one of those releases that I completely miss for a whole year of its existence. Well, it's here now and sounds just like what I remember Father Figure sounding like: emotional, messy, screechy, and down-right depressing.
Father Figure grows on you if you let it, like a cold that you really don't want to deal with right now but it makes you sound so much cooler now that you have it.
Innards meets Two Knights (and their side project Flesh Born).
Bearcubbin'! are a loop happy math rock band from Portland, Oregon. This album in particular bares (or show I say bears?) a slight resembling sound to that of post hardcore band, These Arms are Snakes. This is no coincidence as this album, Get Your Heavies Out was the bands' effort at making a something sound like bands such as These Arms are Snakes and Young Widow.
Bearcubbin' also have a new album called Girls With Fun Haircuts out now! I'll probably be writing up something for that album once I get a good chance to. From what I have heard so far, everyone should check it out!
Stone Titan is some pretty nasty doom metal. Almost every riff is drenched in greasy filth that intoxicates the air. From just listening to Stone Titan's summer of 2013 release, Scratch 'N Sniff, I can smell the all too familiar small of musty basements, sweaty punks, cheap-ass beer, and skunk weed, lots and lots of skunk weed. This album brings me back to some of the coolest times I've ever had without exactly being there and interacting with people. It's like one of those candles you smell at the mall that have all those different scents but what you really end up smelling is your friend's house from 2nd grade that you don't talk to anymore... except, you know, it's music. Dirty sludgy doom metal music.
Highlights: "I Wish I Was Fucking Dead", "Alaskan Thunderfuck", "Faul", Can 'O Worms", and "A Brief History of Overweight Men"
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
