Forged By Hate- s/t EP review

Forged By Hate- s/t EP review

Metalcore-influenced hardcore is often not a genre I enjoy, but I'll be damned if this isn't one fucking badass EP. The vocals are ferocious, the guitars are heavy as hell, the songs all flow naturally (no blatantly inserted fight riff/spinkick breakdown moments), and the lyrics are catchy, relatable, and not at all cheesy. I was impressed with this- not a bad moment on it. It manages to have hardcore riffs and headbang moments without diving into full-on metalcore, and the stylistic output of the band is pretty gnarly too. Music to swing a microphone stand at your friend to- I fuckin' dig it.

-Aunty Social

Iron Youth- 7" review

Iron Youth- 7” review

What if the singer from GLUE was really bent out of shape and the band was on Youth Attack?  Tortured, agitated, sludgy, driving, dirty hardcore that sounds like a bad day in the making.  Repeated words, repeated thoughts, angry sighs, Xanax bars chased by bottom shelf whiskey at 2 in the afternoon, My War’s shorter-songed cousin, trying to forget who you are or that you’re even alive… that, is this record.

-Aunty Social

Corrupt Leaders- s/t 7" review

Corrupt Leaders- self titled 7” review

Heavy grindy hardcore a la Dead In The Dirt, Napalm Death, and a little Carcass here and there.  Usual fare for lyrics- anti-authoritarian, pro-individuality stuff; nothing new, nothing bad.  This errs more on the side of heavy, though, and rightfully so- not enough grindcore is able to do that; it’s all fast-fast-fast and although that formula can work in hardcore punk, it gets boring really fast in anything else.  Not too shabby.
-Aunty Social

Asylum- s/t 7" review

Asylum- self titled 7” review

Primitive D-beat with some heavily reverbed vocals and cryptic lyrics.  Has a heavy grindcore/classic anarcho punk layout on the inside of the record.  Definitely a headbanger from front to back; feels like a couple of long songs, being kind of hard to tell them apart with no distinct riffs or choruses.  Still, a nice slab of wax from some East coast cats.  ABC D-beat.

-Aunty Social

Corrupt Leaders- Grindmother 5" review

Corrupt Leaders- Grindmother 5” review

This is definitely pure grindcore.  I don’t know if it’s your grandmother’s grindcore, but it sure is loud, abrasive, fast, heavy, and appropriately annoying.  A definite departure from their DOOM/Extreme Noise Terror vibe they gave off on their self-titled 7”.  It’s short enough that it’s no harm done if you’re not into it, cuz the worst thing that happens is two minutes gone.  Best thing that happens is you get 120 seconds of headbanging in.  I’ll bet on the latter being more likely.

-Aunty Social

Earth Girls- Wrong Side of History 7" review

Earth Girls- Wrong Side of History 7” review

This is high quality, fast paced garage-y punk rock with a big pop element to it- imagine the Ramones with a female singer (not that different a sound, honestly) and slightly less intense instrument volume.  This is catchy, melodic, well-written, well-recorded, jangly music with a “soft side of punk” vibe.  This could almost be pop punk if not for the fact that this is no doubt a record written from a chronological vision before pop and punk were ever fused together.  For anyone who understands where punk came from originally, sound-wise, or wants to.  Excellent.

Green Beret- The Cult of State 7" review

Green Beret- The Cult of State 7” review

Boston hardcore plus old-school D-beat equals one of my favorite current bands.  With a slightly different approach than their 12” but with the same hard-as-nails anti-war vibe, they plow through six ragers in as many minutes, commanding attention with a droning, bleating voice that sounds like the voice on an air raid siren.  The drums are no doubt in the front seat driving the song, but everything flows together so well that it’s difficult to say which is more important, in terms of instruments.  This is everything a hardcore punk 7” should be.

-Aunty Social

Detain- State of Emergency 7" review

Detain- State of Emergency 7” review

Simple knuckle-dragging hardcore with riffs for days; take Madball, mix it up with modern hardcore/metalcore, and you’ve got Detain.  Mid-tempo heavy beat, gruff vocals, simple lyrics, well-recorded; everything about this EP screams simple- music for lifting weights, drinking heavily, fighting (although it isn’t as good as Neanderthal’s Fighting Music), fucking (if you can find a mutant willing to do so), or taking out your anger on a bad day.  Make no mistake, Detain is among the best at what they do- if you want to sweat in any way, Detain is for you.  Just bear in mind that it resonates much more with the id rather than the ego or superego.  It’s nothing new, just something good.

-Aunty Social

Demolition- World Gone Mad 7" review

Demolition- World Gone Mad 7” review

It’s cliché to say the demo is better than the EP/LP, but here it rings true.  The raw production compared to the slick one on this is the difference.  This IS a very clean sounding hardcore record; the songs all have distinct instrument sounds, as opposed to a wall-of-sound where everything is more or less lumped together.  The songs are there- I can hear the energy in the performance, but it feels like something got misplaced in the shuffle between performance and this recording.  It’s clean-cut mid-to-fast tempo modern hardcore, with a very cool layout and great artwork, leave your doubts behind there.  I have a feeling that some of the imperfections the demo had were boiled out on this recording, and although I believe it is those same imperfections that make hardcore and punk what it is, the record itself is still not bad.  This being said, it is these imperfect people who decided to go their own way, not take society’s shit, and make the music that only weirdoes and freaks enjoy.  I can’t knock that.

-Aunty Social

Discourse- Curse of Consciousness EP review

Discourse- Curse of Consciousness 7” review

This is pure 90s hardcore with heavy, crunchy riffs, a bass mixed in well, crisp/clear drums, and a hoarse voice wreathing out some harsh lyrics that keep you thinking.  Groovy and moshable as it is, it is a thinking man’s hardcore 7”.  The theory of the curse of consciousness is fascinating- once you are inundated with the awareness of what our world is, it’s impossible to forget it.  It is a gift to be given this knowledge, because nothing is more important than the truth, but too, the truth will weigh on you.  All the comforts of ignorance cannot unseat you from the throne of the truth, and this band is able to condense that feeling and transform it into an auditory format.  Excellent.

-Aunty Social

Forced Order- Eternal War 7" review

Forced Order- Eternal War 7” review

It’s like youth crew breakdowns with metal riffs, periodically picking up the pace, but mostly remaining at mid-tempo or the slower end of a fast tempo.  It’s a metal band with a bunch of breakdowns and a hardcore singer.  The short lead breaks are indicative that these guys like early 90s death metal a lot, and it does add an element not usually seen in hardcore (at least the hardcore I’m listening to- word is death metal-core is the hot thing on the block right now).  This is the kind of hardcore you circle pit and headbang to- 90s death metal riffs, a hardcore singer, plentiful breakdowns, and a lot of the fat of those death metal songs trimmed out, and for the better.  Cyrus poses the question “Can you dig it?” to which I can easily answer “Yes”.

-Aunty Social

Out of Hand- Visions of Death EP review

Out of Hand- Visions of Death EP review

These guys have two parts of a traditional hardcore song down- the riff, and the breakdown.  The problem is that that’s all their songs are, a killer riff played over a minute long breakdown (90 seconds, whatever).  Imagine a rubric for some kind of school project- there are five areas judged on this rubric, and this band completes three of them, passing with flying colors (the vocals are pretty good, lyrics are alright).  But the other two are just… absent.  It’s like they aren’t there.  I’m all for asymmetrical song structure, but I can’t help but feel like there’s a verse or chorus missing here.  It reminds me of forgetting to videotape something but remembering midway through the show and having to catch up on what you missed, or maybe a mixtape that gets cut off mid-song because the tape ends.  Three out of five elements are there and good, but it’s incomplete, and I can’t shake that feeling.  Keep writing those heavy metal riffs, though.

-Aunty Social

Ill Blood- Prisoner of Life tape review

Ill Blood- Prisoner of Life EP review

Mid-tempo hardcore definitely taking a few cues from 90s bands (both hardcore and non-hardcore bands), especially given the sort of groovy riffs the guitar player rings out.  Mix in a few mosh riffs, a few breakdowns, and some simplistic though decipherable lyrics, you’ve got this group, Toledo’s Ill Blood.  The vocals for this kind of music are usually more guttural and low, and here, they are more often than not shrill and high; it’s not different in terms of quality.  The guitar work here is very good; it’s distinct and clicks in your brain right away.  I wish there were more memorable riffs on here, but that’s not to say they’re bad.  In fact, the guitar is the best thing about this band.  The bass is cleverly disguised between the guitar and drum sounds, though it rings out independently a couple of times.  The drums are clear and well-played, you’ve gotta love the smoothness here.  For fans of mid-2000s era Bridge Nine bands, no doubt.  I’m not feeling it as much as I anticipate others might be, but this is worth a jam.  Now, let’s hope for a split 7” and see what they can do when backed with a completely different band’s sound.  I feel like this is a lot like the movie Shaft- definitely an acquired taste, kind of cheesy and campy, but you can dig it.

-Aunty Social

Correction- Weaken the Stronghold EP review

Correction- Weaken the Stronghold EP review

The power of the riff and the drum beat are strong with these ones- the title and band name track and unquestionable signs of this.  The one epic track is the last one, and the most memorable, and the first five are burly bruiser boy straight edge hardcore punk out of France.  The singer has an extraordinarily deep growling grunt to his vocals, the guitars are beefy but still chop pretty fast, and the drums are much the same, strong in both fast and slow parts.  This is good shit right here.

-Aunty Social

Collapse- Apocalyptic Key EP review

Collapse- Apocalyptic Key EP review

What an EP!  A jarring mixture of genres with unique and fascinating words shouted over top of it, Collapse’s second effort is no doubt both an expansion and an improvement from their previous EP.  The music hits hard, a perfect anthem to capture the anger underlined in the lyrics written by the band.  These words are not only well-written, they are a breath of fresh air (even if you disagree with what they have to say, you will wind up agreeing with this).  Songs about suicide, friendship, the government, and drugs are all interesting at times, but they can also get blasé rather rapidly.  This is something different, and it’s sure as hell worth your time.  They call it hardcoredoompunx, and although this isn’t very snappy or catchy, it’s accurate.  Read the words, jam the songs, and experience something new.

-Aunty Social

Bad People- Pearls Before Swine EP review

Bad People- Pearls Before Swine EP review

Garage-y punk with a sneery tune and an unending drive of tuneless fidgety weirdness.  It’s organized, but only enough to stitch together the essential parts of a song and even then, it’s stretching it.  However spacey the idea of the song is, the energy to drive that forward is there- in the modern day, it seems like an art project, but in days past, this would have fit right next to Lydia Lunch, the Dead Boys, Cinecyde, or most of the bands on the New York Thrash compilation LP.  Very weird, very good.

-Aunty Social

Back to Back- Of Flesh and Bone EP review

Back to Back- Of Flesh and Bone EP review

Every modern Texas punk band seem to have the same recording guy, it’s odd; still, the songs are absolutely there.  Low-fi hardcore punk with some spacey garage elements here and there, hard to go wrong.  Amongst the Texas bands getting attention, this one seems to be getting overlooked, although this is just as hard-hitting as Glue’s second 7” or Blotter’s demo.  I wasn’t big on the last song with the everlasting outro, but beyond that, it’s tough hardcore punk modernized and filtered through an analog sound.  Like a pair of small pants on an oversized scene kid of yesteryear, it’s tight.

-Aunty Social

Another Mistake- Life's Noose EP review

Another Mistake- Life’s Noose EP review

This is classic youth crew with a slightly more menacing undertone and faster beat.  It’s a good ole’ Midwest Blood style hardcore EP; short, staunch, and danceable.  A new-fashioned take on old-fashioned music.

-Aunty Social

Raw Justice- Artificial Peace 7" review

Raw Justice- Artificial Peace 7” review

The band’s first EP set the stage for some good old brutal straight edge hardcore punk- I didn’t think that they could improve on it, yet they did.  I didn’t think that one guy belting out some angry shouts backed with thundering drum rhythms could make me want to get violent and mosh, but it did.  To top it all off, this record is named after (inadvertently or not) a lesser-known 80s hardcore band from Washington, D.C.  The only thing that might have made this record better is if Raw Justice had covered one of their songs.  Barring that, this can’t get any better.  The guitars are goddamned brutal, the bass chugs along with all the force of a fucking train, the drums are crushing whether they’re fast or slow, and even though the vocalist sounds like Peewee Herman singing Infest songs, I fucking love it.  This is one of the best EPs I’ve heard all year.  Jaw shattered.

-Aunty Social

Old Wounds- Death Projection EP review

Old Wounds- Death Projection 7” review

The opening riff on the first song is enough to get this EP a review- it’s one of the hardest and most brutal riffs I’ve heard this side of the 80s.  ‘Dead Beat Blues’ hits hard all the way through, ending with the prophetic line “Life is pain, death is release”.  ‘Ritual’ is a unique song that blends just about every kind of extreme music into one (save for harsh noise).  ‘Bloodpact’ is much the same, and is notable for the fact that the vocals are abrasive yet distinct, clear enough to discern the lyrics the singer is uttering.  The last song ‘Epilogue of a Possession’ is the epitome of a long 90s hardcore song- melodic and cacophonous at different times, and reaches epic proportions at times as well.  The lyrics of the band are largely on another level- I do not understand some of them.  They’re a mix of storytelling and a rhythmic blend of philosophical musings from a strange, interesting fellow with a lot of heart and even more charisma.  This band is one I admit that I do not fully grasp, but it’s pretty fucking good, much more intelligent than most 90s-influenced hardcore and metalcore jocked today.  Through the sheer application of hard work, this band DESERVES your attention.  Donkey kick your neighbor and dwell on the deeper elements of your life.

-Aunty Social