A† DAGGERS DRAWN - New Bruises

Old Motions by At Daggers Drawn

This record, by At Daggers Drawn (website), is all about the building of momentum. Overall, in the 5 songs on this release, the ambient build-ups unleash distortion-layered havoc  with rather uptempo drumpatterns only for about 2 brief moments. Everything else is twinkly or sludgy guitars, spoken/screamed vocals and marching drums that seem to be moving towards a climax, that in 3 out of 5 songs just doesn’t show up. Much like intermezzo songs on hardcore releases, this is dreamy yet heavy punk rock music that creates an emotional and atmospheric ambience, meant to pump you up for the songs that follow. With these clever songstructures, the absence of said climax does not necessarily resolve in leaving you with an appetite for it, they hold their ground just as they are.

last fm tags as hardcore, melodic hardcore 

click the image above to go to the band's merchstore

Tempest - Passages

Death Rattle by Tempest

This must be the most apocalyptic music ever*. Tempest (myspace) play a combination of dark and straight-forward sludge with nuances of that shoegazing -Deafheaven- kind of black metal and frequently some grinding hardcore passages. The vocals are animalistic, almost like Geoff Rickley, and the final product has an intense emotive feel to it, like the breakneck-paced screamo bands of yore. Throw in some profound spoken soundsamples (The Great Dictator speech!) and this immense music would convert you from a nihilist into a darnright suicidal misanthropist. If the world hasn’t already done so.

*together with Thou

no merch yet, but you can always donate to the bandcamp via the link above

Masakari – Eden Compromised

VII. The War Within by Masakari

With this American band’s split with the Germans in Alpinist coming up, I feel everyone should know about both bands. Masakari (blog) is a hardcore/metalpunk band that leans toward the melodic crust branch. Still adding D-Beat to the mix, this is as close as that modern sound gets to the classic oversaturated anarcho metal and punk concept. Probably the most exciting thing about them is that you can’t pinpoint their influences, they just make something new out of the broad spectrum of the genres they incorporate in their sound.  With great succes!

Last fm tags as hardcore, crust, neocrust, dark hardcore,hardcore punk 

click the image above to order merch directly from them

Out Of The Box On Sunday XVII

THE PLOT TO BLOW UP THE EIFFEL TOWER "Exile On Vain Street"

Three One G spearhead The Plot To Blow Up The Eiffel Tower (myspace) were not only the greatest and bestest bandname ever, it was also a group that represents the golden age of what was then labeled as ‘ Post-Hardcore’. The band could very well blend in with the sound of bands like Ian Svenonius’ Nation Of Ulysses, the band Antioch Arrow and later even Q And Not U or some other 31G or even the experimental Dischord bands. Out of all chaotic/complex and spastic bands in their branch of extreme music, they gradually developed into a sound that was surprisingly approachable, moving gradually from seizure-inflicting screaming music to a blend of John Zorn-esque jazz and funk-incorporating hardcore/post-hardcore music.

This, sadly, is another band that broke up shortly before a significant album-release, which never saw the light of day because of that band’s sudden inactivity.

Last fm tags as experimental, post-hardcore, hardcore, punk,indie 

support the record label via the link in the image above