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

Congenital Death- From My Hands 7" review

Congenital Death- From My Hands 7” review

Short, sharp, and sinister, this EP is a crafty blend of powerviolence and hardcore carried forth by a shrill voice and a fast, off-kilter drum beat.  The lyrics, while nonspecific and indirect, still hit pretty hard, just as much as the intense music pouring from both sides of the stereo.  I have been listening to this semi-regularly since it came out, with no sign of stopping.  It hits that careful blend of unique and familiar that many punk and hardcore bands strive to hit but do not.  Some of Philly’s finest here, folks.  This would be an ideal opener for This Is Hardcore, because Congenital Death does for speed and energy what hardcore bands do in slow and heavy.

-Aunty Social

Crosscheck- Over Analyzed EP review

Crosscheck- Over Analyzed EP review

The Shining intro is a nice touch to the beginning of this EP- an underappreciated film, no doubt; off to a good start.  The lead break in “Held Back” before the breakdown is… interesting- not sure if it fits the tone of the music, but I’ll let it slide because it sounds cool.  The song itself was alright- Lockin’ Out core/new age of hardcore in the vein of Backtrack, Build and Destroy, Agitator, Intent, Rival Mob, and the like.  “Live Through Lies” continues this trend, while “Overlooked” sounds a little more like 90s metalcore a la Earth Crisis, Strife, Earthmover, shit like that- very guitar-driven and heavy.  “Confined”, too, is like this, emphasizing the very slow end of hardcore bordering on doom or classic metal, being mid-tempo and kind of drony.  The title track managed to incorporate some crossover-style riffs while keeping an explicitly new-age hardcore sound- cool, but a departure from conventional nonetheless.  I’m not wowed, but for a new band, this is a decent start.  The crossover stuff is cool, and some of the breakdowns are good; however, I’d like to see the band lean more towards metal than hardcore, because the hardcore end of this EP is dull, thoughtless new age hardcore, but the metal end of this is actually pretty good.  The lyrics could use some more imagination, too, but if the music got reworked, the lyrics can be dull as ever, provided it was worked into newer song with proper flow.  Good first effort- hoping for more next time, though.  Don’t give it up.

-Aunty Social

Salvation- House of the Beating Hell 7" review

Salvation- House of the Beating Hell 7” review

This is some dissonant, dark, blackened, bleak hardcore with the slightest of metal and gothic rock influences (moreso in the heavy but not too low-sounding guitar) and a truly unhinged freak of a vocalist.  Though only four tracks long, the EP is maddening, both in its ability to evoke anger and rage and in its deliberately slower tempo that sounds like a man being subjected to a slow, torturous, painful death  at the hands of a freak on the loose.
“The Tethered Man” is the song that sets the tempo for the record, holding one in place and capturing them.  It’s impossible to evade the sinister shrieks of singer Matthew Adis, who also does the lyrics and the art/layout for the record sleeve.  “Twice the Vision” is the introduction of recitable lyrics, and even a chorus, which is something (standard song structure, that is) that the band very much avoids.  The parallelism between Salvation and even something as close as hardcore punk, however, is small and difficult to take note of.  This is the second part of what I feel is a story, this song being the narrative of an insane man, a deranged but moralistic killer.
“Intake” is the third song, and though it is a song unto itself, it almost serves better as the independent introduction to the last song.  In this chapter, there is an exchange between this “tethered man” and the narrator, being some sort of pleading and reasoning, and the ultimatum of deranged rants and screams from the moralistic killer.  As the song fades out, the most menacing, hopeless, deranged, dark introduction for a song rings out, and the madman begins his work on the “tethered man”, signified by the title “House of the Beating Hell”.  The intro fades into the first verse of the song, a short, creepy guitar riff of only a few notes that resonates deep within the mind as the song of an utterly hopeless and bleak setting- the swansong of a serial killer, if you will.  This is the epilogue, the climax, and the decline all in one.  Undoubtedly the best song on the record, the song is memorable for its riff, if not the jagged, deranged words and sounds of the singer.  There “tethered man” is butchered and bloodied, and the killer’s needs are satisfied.  This is not unlike a story by Edgar Allan Poe, modernized and put to music.

This is the darkest music one will have heard to date.  It is not without hope, but it’s certainly lacking in it.  For those who can conceive a vision of a world abandoned and its will capitulated, this is a simultaneously simple and complex EP that’s ultimately fucking great.

-Aunty Social

Congenital Death- demo CS review

Congenital Death- demo CS review

This band has perfectly encased a vocal style that I adore- a shrieking, fast-paced, hoarse female voice that I will now call the “shrieking bitch” vocal style.  Not meant as an insult, it’s actually one of my favorite vocal styles when it’s done right.  So, I definitely dig the vocals- what about the music?  It’s somewhere between 80s hardcore and powerviolence, kind of like Knee Deep in Shit, U.D.I., and maybe Coke Bust or Citizen’s Arrest.  Not the newest style, but this is everything you could want from a band playing punk/ hardcore.  Fine jogging music for the hardcore runner in all of us- a fine demo indeed.  I want more.

-Aunty Social

Stockpile- s/t 7" review

Stockpile- s/t 7” review

I discovered this band (and this record) by a random happening; it was a short notice punk show at the Trumbullplex, and I hadn’t heard a peep about it or the band until less than a week before the show.  However, after hearing about it and learning that my friends in the band Live to Kill were opening, I made my way out to the show, and suffice it to say that I walked out with two of these 7” records and a cassette (one 7” was for contributor Brian, who was unable to make the show).

There’s quite a few D-beat bands, but not one with this odd sound- tribal drums, lower-tuned guitars on a strange time pattern, and a sort of raspy whispered vocal that at times annoys and at others works well.  The sound persists through the six songs on the record, laced with politically-driven words that inspired the music; the only thing I really cannot get over about this record is the leveling of the vocal tracks.  It isn’t the style of singing, but the volume of it, and it leaves one’s head thumped by the thought of this.  Beyond the vocal levels, this is droning, delectable, D-beat destruction.  Stockpile this record in your collection if you can find a copy.

-Aunty Social

The Orphans- Raise the Youth review- by Scum of Discrumt

The Orphans-"Raise The Youth"


(Fistolo Records)

5 out of 10

This band here takes me back. This discography cd has all 21 tracks released by these then teenagers from, the suburbs Philadelphia,PA. The most notable thing about this band is this was Erik Petersen's (Mischief Brew) project, long before becoming the king of the east coast folk punk scene. Equal parts skate punk, street rock, and folk-ish riffs. Memories aside, this is not really a must have record. Production quality is pretty rough in some parts, they never really solidify a solid sound, and the passable record tracks are not really all that catchy. It is worth a listen and, hell if you find it in the discount bin, you would not feel ripped off. -The Scum of Discrumt