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

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!

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.

Young And In The Way – V. Eternal Depression

The Great Blue Norther by Young And In The Way

This is a band who, on previous releases, reminded a lot of the blackened crust subdivision, with only hints of hardcore music. On this release, Young And In The Way (website) seem to have shed any links to any form of punk music to play an all out blackened metal style of auditory onslaught. From the uptempo crispy but still melodic tremolo-picking guitars to the suicidal atmospheric style of ambience, they pull out all the stops and give a genuine signature touch to all of the above. The growling vocals are straight up nasty and the varying tempos in between songs pulls you back and forth like a bungee-cord.
Last fm tags as crust, hardcore, blackened crust, black metal,sludge

click the image above to buy this record directly from their record label!

Mediocracy – ASOMA

Age Of War by Mediocracy

This is a melodic thrashing metal band with hardcore influences, so basically metalcore, that came out of crust, from what I’ve been told. The songtitles,and the lyrics seem to support this statement(at least ethic-wise). This is Mediocracy (facebook) from Bucharest. Extremely catchy melodies at constantly t(h)rashing fast rythms, unhindered by the always generic breakdowns and whining clean vocals that bands in this genre desperately cling to. This leaves you wishing this was the norm for the metalcore genre in stead of what it once was and, even worse, has become.
Last fm tags as crust, hardcore, sludge, neocrust, dark hardcore

Trainwreck - If There’s Light, It Will Find You

listen to Smaller Than Smaller by Trainwreck, as a preview to this EP

There has been some sort of shift in this band’s sound, during the process of this record. It shows Trainwreck (facebook) without most of their rough edges and with a more elegant style of modern melodic hardcore. Still their own take on it, which they displayed since day one, but this time that aspect is much more prominent with little to no raw metalpunk inbetween. as they did before. First time I saw them was their first show abroad and on this edition of Fluff fest they showed they did not lose their gritty musicianship ever since. It’s probably just succesful experimentation that severs the continuity between from this record and their earlier ones.

click the image above, which I am in, to contact the band and ask them for merch. 

Plague Town - Antverp Smög

Plague Town by Plague Town

When a narrow branch of music gets overflown with a very distinct style of said branch, it can get difficult to see the forest from the trees. When that Entombed-sound was suddenly the touchstone for a new breed of metallic hardcore, a lot of bands popped up that might never get the recognition because too many others are hogging the attention. (all-star bands, the bigger label bands, …) While most of the outstanding names pulled through, there comes a band who deserves all of it, and more. Plague Town (facebook) is a band with members from The Setup, Bliksem and Millions Of Them that have a melodic groove off the richter. While having only played a few shows, they put out this demo to help spread the word and everyone should take note.

click the image above to buy the demo cd-r

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

Martyrdöd – In Extremis

 listen to In Extremis by Martyrdöd

Martyrdöd (myspace) a Swedish hardcore band with a broad spectrum of black metal -influences added to their crusty metal sound. ambient and haunting metallic melodies clashing with that  stenchore OOMPH! the pitch black darkness of atmospheric black metal compliments the dark hardcore brand of crust music as . making for the most interesting sound in the latest musically progressive waves in the anarcho scene. these swedes had released a self-titled record before this one, and the album 'Sekt', more recently.
Last fm tags as crust, blackened crust, d-beat, hardcore, black metal 

click the image above to order this album or some of their shirts.

Alpinist - Lichtlærm

 listen to AIDT by Alpinist

German band Alpinist (Myspace) is the pinnacle of all melodic crust music. With influences from dark hardcore and screamo, this release will have all kinds of  sentiments soaring right past you from every direction, sometimes within a single song, each so vividly represented that barely any will leave you uncompelled. Angry as hell, pitch black desperation, reflective skepticism, .... This record is an emotional battlefield which eventually results in a bloody massacre.

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

click the image above to e-mail the band about buying merch and/or records!

Ictus - Compilation

 listen to Hambrientos De Un Sol Distinto by Ictus

Ictus (Myspace) was a Spanish crust band that piqued my interest in the genre altogether. combining melodic metal with hardcore punk structures and crust punk ethics, they sounded unlike anything ever before and inspired a whole new breed of bands to the genre, who have ever since tried to succeed at creating such a layered (which is also quite rare or extremely progressive for crust bands) yet harmonic sound. when you strip it down, this may just be some damn good and extremly (progressive-)political metalcore with some lengthy build-ups smoothly transcending into blast-beat metalpunk. hopping back and forth between high-pitched screams and guttural low belching, I probably couldn't understand a word even if I knew spanish, but I read the translations to these lyrics, somewhere sometime, and it was some tought-provoking excellence. 

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

too underground. no merch on the internet. lol.

Finisterre - BItter Songs

 listen to drama in 3 akten by Finisterre

GOD-DAMN! I was introduced to this band through their split with Alpinist, which was both bands' first release, after I had seen Alpinist live a few times. I was so caught up with that band that I kind of looked passed these guys, until we booked them for a show and they completely blew me away. I mean 'like a hurricane passing through a straw' -blowing me away. this is the sequal to the aforementioned split and almost undermines it by the exponential growth they've shown since that release. hair-raising and profound metallic punk dealing with highly contemporary political and more introvert issues, hollered variably by a female and male vocalist. must hear! must see!
Last fm tags as: neocrust, crust, dark hardcore

click the image above to buy it online!

Iron Hand - Demo + Usurper Divine

 listen to Product Endorsement by Iron Hand

Iron Hand (website) is a Crust band from the US. they display brilliant melodies in their metallic riffs which top off this crust punk sound. they have a demo out, since 2008, on tape and recently brought a new one-song EP Usurper Divine and maybe the fact that the demo is on a tape, could be the reason they haven't been noticed on a large scale. because this band's sound hits like an avalanche of bricks and makes you feel sorry when it's over much too soon.

another landmark in how awesome rebellion sounds.

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

click the image above to contact the band, and support them any way you can

Reflections Of Internal Rain - Last Flood

 listen to Sunset Of The End by Reflections Of Internal Rain

so finaly a post of a band that's not from West-Europe, in or around North America or Melbourne Australia. this is Reflections Of Internal Rain (Myspace), from Serbia!
Since I noticed the explosion of screamo-influenced bands in the crusty punk/hardcore scene, this band is the first to get me really excited about that certain phenomena. the brutality of (granted the more melodic variant (I'm not saying neocrust)) dark hardcore and crust punk with the passion and intensity of screamo. since the declining of that last genre, there is no better place I could have hoped for it to re-emerge in than the anarcho squat-infesting punk scene, and with bands like this it could very well surpass its glory days.
Last fm tags as: neocrust, screamo, hardcore, dark hardcore,crust 

the record is available through this website, but my Serbian is a little off so I wasn't able to figure out just HOW to purchase it. just check these guys out, keep an eye out when they're anywhere near you and just get it straight from them!

The Spectacle - I Fail

there may be some time between this post and the next. I'm fairly new to this, and I am still reaching around in the dark when it comes to estimating wether or not this blog is getting picked up. every post so far has been posted daily at 18h00, because I queue every blogpost to do so. there's quite a few waiting in line, ready to be queued themselves. the next could be tomorrow at 18h00 Central European Time (that's UTC/GMT +1h) or any other day at that hour.

 listen to self and other by The Spectacle all the way through. 

it may take until the very end of the song to sink in, like it did with me.

The Spectacle (Myspace) was a Norwegian band on the fabulous anarchist recordlabel Crimethinc records!
still unmatched in all slow tempo music in the crusty scene, these guys played profound and passionate hardcore/ crust punk with the most breathtaking Godspeed You Black Emperor -esque atmospheres in their looooong build-ups and intermezzo's. I can not praise this release enough, for anyone that appreciates post-rock influences in hardcore music from afar. the lyrics are heavy and thought-provoking. mostly against capitalism, but always very profound. mayor plus, if you ask me! the revolution never sounded so good!
Last fm tags as: hardcore, screamo, norwegian, crust, punk

Makiladoras - Discography

 listen to Dagelijks brood by Makiladoras, as a preview

Makiladoras (website) was a dutch crust band, that has still found no equal in musicianship. this metalpunk is a vulgar display of power, with unimaginable sweet drums and the tightest metallic riffs the genre has seen to date. the kind that makes your hand do this, while you're enjoying it :

most people's first impression is the awkward vocals- so did I- but after you get over that, no one could think of any vocals that would do the band's sound more justice. usually when someone tells me I need to get used to vocals I don't like, I tell them they're full of shit and the vocalist just sucks. so far, this band is the only exception with awesomeness to spare.

I added some demo songs that normally aren't on the discography. dunno why, but now they are to make the Discography complete (so it's the disco cd +in eigen hand 12"+ niemandsland LP in one file). enjoy!

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

click the picture above to check where you can buy anything left of this band's merch

Worst Case Scenario - songs from Split with Nada X Liberar

(songs by WCS only, sorry)

listen to They who condemn by Worst Case Scenario, as a preview to this album

The labels redirected to this, now defunct, Swedish band (Myspace), are usually what it takes for a band in the crust habitat to get my personal attention. usually, I then proceed by checking song for song with not too high expectations. what can I say, I find the majority in it to be very decent at best. only once in a full moon, I get acquinted with bands like this and GOD-DAMN that's the kind of band that rejuvenates my faith in music all-together! swamping with sociopolitical views I take to heart in combination with fleshripping melodies. the only flaw to this band is that it had a far too short lifespan or number of releases in that lifetime.

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