Witch Cult - Witch Cult

Burnt Flags by Witch Cult

Witch Cult (facebook) is a Powerviolence band, leaning more toward metallic Grind and Hardcore Metal. Which apparent influences are heard in both extremes of the tempos that they play, meaning both when the pace gets extremely slow, is when they pull the sludgy Hardcore card, as well as when it’s extremely fast, by way of almost classic Grindcore. This self titled release would be a welcome addition to a collection of modern Grind, as well as to the modern Entombed or Holy Terror style Hardcore bands.
Last fm tags as powerviolence, doom, sludge, grindcore, slow

click the image above to go to their record label's online store and buy their stuff directly from it!

Hexis - XI

Procella by Hexis

Post-Hardcore with even vague Black Metal influences hardly goes down this smooth. Hexis (facebook) is a metallic Hardcore band that takes an approach to their Metal influences not unlike both Celeste and The Secret did before them, layered in feedback, sometimes dissonant sometimes melodic tremollo picking and a compromise between epic and complex structures. When looking at the continuity in quality of their songs, it’s obvious this band is tapping from a wide array of influences, mixing them to a cocktail that could very well deliver (at least equally) amazing songs for a looong time to come.
Last Fm tags as post-metal, post-hardcore, black metal, chaotic hardcore, hardcore

click the image above to buy stuff directly from the band

I Am A Curse - Prequel for an Unforgiving Wreckage : Barren Lands

The Wreck by I Am A Curse

epic hardcore band I Am A Curse (website) needs only 5 songs to make a release that comes across as perfectly fulfilling. Nearly continuously playing their style of of heartfelt yet dissonant down-tempo punk rock music, the band builds momentum to the point of near oversaturation, only to break it down again. Dark and eerie music of exponentially epic proportions, reminding of Down Tempo Post-Hardcore bands from their respective country of origin. As well as hints of dark Hardcore Punk (not unlike Birds In Row, unless that’s a biased assumption).
Last Fm tags as screamo, crust, hardcore, le mans, french

you can find an online copy for sale by clicking the image above, or contacting the band at http://www.iamacurse.com/ink.html

out Of The Box On Sunday XXXIII

Two Years by Tancred

Tancred (blog) is Now Now's Jess' solo music. This project sounds as sweet and precious as her band's music, only the minimalism of little more than her voice and an acoustic guitar creates an amazing cozy atmosphere. As always, the voice sounds angelic and moving, hovering over not too fancy-recorded acoustic guitars, to give it a hint of a lo-fi kind of sound.

Last fm tags as acoustic, indie, alternative, female vocalists,midwest

be sure to buy the record by clicking the image above!

Social Amputees Forever zine #1

the first week of 2012 saw the release of my zine!

it features articles, reviews and  and interviews with bands. 

check it out by clicking the images above!

Iskra/Doom Siren Split

Privileged Morality by Iskra

Gun Drone by Doom Siren

Crusts do it better. Doom Siren (myspace) is a death metal band I just can’t imagine not slam dancing to, and Iskra (website) bring some of the most awesome blackened tremolo-picking riffs that graced your ears. The latter have recorded their finest work to date, for this split, and on the other side of it Doom Siren brings you amazing, yet simplistic and old school yet melodic metal.
Last fm tags as crust, blackened crust, black metal, hardcore,anarchist black metal, grindcore, crust, crustcore, punk, hardcore 

click the image above to be redirected to the label that released this record, and email them here to order it!

Maths - Descent

To Be Frozen by Maths

Another contender for screamo release of the year, and judging the other bands and releases that’s gotta count for something. Especially if you consider what a name the other ones have long made for themselves. Maths (facebook) has always been a tribute to the most antique of screamo bands, taking hints from both the typical American as well as European bands, from the tremolo post-rocking to the violent, up-tempo and weeping guitars. Forging into a combo that makes them compare to other current hardcore bands like a Megazord compares to that whimpy blue Power Ranger. Epic. I could never decide which song is best, on this release.
Last fm tags as screamo, hardcore, british, real screamo, post-hardcore

click the image above for your opportunity to buy this record directly from its label

birthday post

so since today is my birthday, I'll post about whatever I want.
my top posts of albums released in 2011:

1. Thou - The Archer And The Owle
2. Wu Lyf - Go Tell Fire To The Mountain
3. Ampere – Like Shadows
4. Matt Bauer - The Jessamine County Book Of The Living
5. Circle Takes The Square - Decompositions Vol I. Chapter 1. Rites of Initiation
6. Football, Etc - The Draft
7. Birds In Row - Cottbus
8. Pulling Teeth – Funerary
9. Beau Navire - Hours
10. We Had A Deal - Three Songs
11. Kerouac/The Long Haul split
12. Light Bearer - Lapsus
13. Weekend Nachos - Worthless
14. Ghostlimb – Infrastructure
15. Young And In The Way – V. Eternal Depression
16. Momentum - Whetting Occam's Razor
17. Former Thieves - The Language That We Speak
18. Accept The Change - Escapism Is A Dying Art
19. Take Courage - Winter Sessions
20. Neige Morte - Neige Morte
21. Hessian - Hessian
22. Engineer - Crooked Voices
23. Heathens - II
24. Hourvari – 2011 EP
25. Lich/Resurrectionists split

out Of The Box On Sunday XXXII

Belgian math-rock with some post-hardcore, Terraformer (facebook) is a heavy-hitting complexely-structured instrumental band. Start/stop, tapping, dissonant and tremolo riffing with occasional hardcore breakdowns and punk rock or power chords desperately being tamed by erratic drumming, while the bass guitar loosely jams, both often in polyrythms.
Last fm tags as math rock, post-rock, instrumental,experimental, post-metal

Deathrats - S/T 7" + Give Up

Girl Style by Deathrats

Deathrats (blog) brings poorly/DIY recorded lightning-speed hardcore punk music. that double the awesomeness already! their pissed off powerviolence often focuses about the vocalists very personal frustrations, her feminist opinions like body policing and people's bullshit, hysterically screaming out about them from the top of her lungs. +1. the messy bass and guitar and the drum with that tin-like sound trash and pummel through mosh-parts as well as parts too fast to dance anything but spastically to. but upon listening, dance you will. it's just not optional. they will be playing their last show ever in the middle of January, on some show of which the flyer said something in the trend of "Wimps and posers leave the hall" which seems really obnoxious, but oh well.

Last fm tags as  hardcore punk, hardcore, punk, crust punk, female vocals 

get Give Up directly from it's distributer, right here

The Love And Terror Cult - We Are You On Fire

◻ by The Love And Terror Cult

The Love And Terror Cult (facebook) was a chaotic hardcore band that seem to have taken even more cues from The Jesus Lizard's style of noise rock music, than Daughter's later records. only with a more hardcore approach than either band, without losing any of the structural madness. the female vocals sound like the person behind the mic has long been driven far over the edge of insanity, adding to the psychological tormented atmosphere of this record. it's hard to wrap your head around the chaos of start/stop elements, guitar feedback and haunting ambience of the songs in their entirity, as well as the individual elements, but if you let it slide, sit back and try not to lose your mind, the overall product of their music almost seems harmonic in an entirely different way.

Last fm tags as chaotic hardcore, mathcore, canadian, female vocalist, hardcore

Landverraad - songs from split with Sloth

Forget Shorter Showers by Landverraad

the other side of the split that I recently talked about here, Landverraad (website) is your new favourite band. a radical crustpunk-influenced fast hardcore band with dual female vocals, that sound incredibly pissed of, and lyrics like a punch to the teeth, that question just about anything. a song in my native language, a few in english and one in russian (I wonder what the story behind that is). underneath all that is some of your new favourite fast hardcore tunes you've heard in a damn long time.

click the image above to contact the band about ordering the split. they deserve it and I bet they'd appreciate it.

Siamese Twins - 2011 demo

Siamese Twins - Illusion

Siamese Twins (blog) is a shoegazy post-punkish band with dual female vocals, with a bucketload of delay over them, overlayering extremely contorted guitars and a very goth-like bass sound, by way of that typical The Cure sound. this dreamy music is incredibly soothing and unsettling at the same time. alternating between haunting and mellow/oversweet atmospheres, while the drums often stay upbeat. pushing the tempo of the slower voices. eerie and bittersweet, but extremely brilliant for a demo recording.

Heart On My Sleeve - Blood Is Not Thicker Than Wine + split with состояние птиц

Carry On Carry Me by Heart On My Sleeve

Heart On My Sleeve (facebook) is a fairly new band, with the same female that sang in the band Hope And Failure (old post of that band), and does so in this band with the same intensity I expected. If you must compare, this band's sound is much more uptempo in a melodic/passionate hardcore punk kind of way. A way that actually reminds of a couple of scandinavian hardcore bands, with a huge scoop of emotional torment and/or passion added, making up my mourning over the loss of bands like Meleeh, Suffocate For Fucks Sake, JR Ewing and Dominic. ace stuff, really!

Last fm tags as screamo, melodic hardcore, hardcore, female screamo, swedish

click the image above to also get their split, with their best work to date.

Sailing On - Hinterland

Ishmael by Sailing On

Sailing On (blog) is a modern hardcore band, obviously paying close attention to big names in the genre. Especially the darker and/or melodic subdivision of it. The guitar melodies come across as vaguely familiair , with such a recognisable sound, while the female screaming and the percussions + bass are pummeling their way through, adding the nuances that set this band apart. thus giving this band an accesible sound with plenty originality presented on the figurative table.
Last fm tags as hardcore, live, karlsruhe, female fronted hardcore, female vocalist

click the image above to buy stuff directly from the band!

Mahria - Self Titled

Ghost Limb by Mahria

Twinkle daddies playing upbeat emo-influenced post-hardcore music with a radical mama shouting at the mic. Mahria (facebook) bring the twinkly/noodly music with a great sense of melody, guiding the always complex plucking and tapping patterns to punk-rock and powerchord strumming and back again. The shouted-from-the-top-of-her-lungs vocals add to the sheer distress coming from this band’s sound, taking the emotional atmosphere to greater heights rather than come off whining and at the same time compromising the raw with the approachable aspects.
Last fm tags as  screamo, hardcore, canada, edmonton, female vocal

click the image above to buy a copy of the tape!

Out Of The Box On Sunday XXXI

Trailer Park Boneyard by The Coathanger

The Coathangers (blog) is a radical all-female rock band. every single member takes on vocal duties, beside their respective instrumentation, thus adding more variety to their already versatile sound. this is more noise than melody, bringin (post-)punkish and very obnoxious noisy rock together. turns out this band started off as a joke, explaining why they would choose such a name as a ghoulish and ironic reference to abortion, and songtitles like "Nestle In My Boobies". hehe. yeah...

get the band's stuff from their record label, right here

Lich/Resurrectionists split

Dreadguard by Lich

In den Abgrund by Resurrectionists

Raunchy and swamping/grinding hardcore music done right, by two of the style’s leading bands on a single split record. They both have female vocals, and Resurrectionists (blog) mix it up with an extra vocalist for a male/female combo of voice abuse done the right way. As quickly as that band’s vocalists scream back and forth, such is how sudden the pace of this record changes from metal-influenced punk and grind to sludgy, almost droning, hardcore downtempo music. Lich (myspace) usually sticks with hella heavy powerchords, while the other band occasionally takes refuge to melodic tremolo picking that reminds both of raw black metal, as well as dark screamo music from those crazy German’s respective regions. Both bands their finest work to date, combined into one release. This is exactly what you have been waiting for. Go for it.
Last fm tags as  crust, screamo, hardcore, punk,  screamo, emo violence, hardcore, power violence, emoviolence

click the image above to go to React With Protest's store, to find this record among other things.

Sloth – songs from split with Landverraad

The Art of Tearing Down Mountains by Sloth

Metalpunk with only hints of hardcore influences, the dutch band Sloth (blog) places their lyrical content before their already awesome music, and makes no compromises what so ever in either. The band takes their name from the feeling of powerlessness that comes with a radical state of mind, in an apathetic environment. The female vocals shout out messages of animal liberation, anti-capitalism, media and the state of absolutist control, we are supporting so painfully. This straight foward crust type of music may not appeal immediately to anyone not already familiar with the style, but is sure to please anyone even remotely in the know.

Wolf Down - MMXI

Rat Race by Wolf Down

vegan, straight edge and anarcho-sympathists Wolf Down (facebook) are a welcome addition to their style. the message takes the edge (not an intentional pun) off of the straight (again, I'm noticing this as I re-read it) forward metalcore style, overladen with beat/break-down(s). these German radicals bring a breath of fresh air into revamped elements of hardcore metal music that would be too easily overlooked as cliché, were it not for the exciting musical nuances and the  idea that the lyrics are of topical brilliance.

How come you call this entire shit life?

we're living for wagework - like in a hive 

I WANT TO BREAK FREE! 

9 to 5 is not a deal for me 

many toil for a few's greed 

9 to 5 is modern slavery 

i claim life deluxe for all

Last fm tags as hardcore, straight edge, vegan, straight edge hardcore, female fronted hardcore 

click the image above to buy stuff directly from the band!