Serene - Inward Flowering

 listen to The Immortal Emo-Kids by Serene

This is Children Of Gaia before they were called so. Melody-driven hardcore and screamo punk music from a decade ago. A swedish band with one of the the most recognisable sounds out of most European emocore bands. From down to up tempo and everything in between structures, the melodies are always stirring and the mood continuously wholehearted.

Last fm tags as screamo, hardcore, emo violence, punk, indie  

I found this site had this album for sale. Genet records is more of a distro now, so...

Former Thieves - The Language That We Speak

Trust Fund Kids by FormerThieves

As promised, here you have the sophomore record and debut full album by American band Former Thieves (Myspace). For this record they stripped down their sound and dispatched an (even) more refreshing style. An even more peculiar –leaning towards chaotic structured- approach to a variety of punk-influences. Casually juggling between punk-like strumming patterns in the vein of melodic/passionate hardcore bands and peculiar Post-Hardcoreish alternate picking, still somewhat in the vein of The Minor Times. These guys are touring with Gold Kids, somewhere late summer and I'm more than excited for those two bands joining on a european tour!

Last fm tags as hardcore, heavy, punk, blues, american hardcore

order this record by clicking the bandpicture above

Out of the box on sunday V

 listen to I Don't Hate Fags, God Does by All Leather

Everything Justin Pearson touches turns to gold. Just sayin. together with members from Some Girls and Maniqui Lazer, he delivers us  All Leather (Myspace), and they bring the most discordant electronic punk music since Holy Molar. Leave it to these guys to make it something you could awkwardly dance to.  When you throw in JP’s signature yelp, to these swampy distorted beats and synthesized guitar-driven electro, these guys’ sound might just open some doors for you. perhaps to the Dim Mak Records electro sound.

Btw, this is no music for the politically correct uptights, because of their intentionally provocative and over the top sarcastic lyrics concerning various touchy subjects.
Last fm tags as experimental, punk, hardcore, digital hardcore, threeoneg

buy their stuff directly from their record label, here

On The Might Of Princes - Where You Are And Where You Want To Be

 listen to For Meg by On The Might Of Princes

ahhhh, ye olde american emo/screamo bands. On The Might Of Princes (Myspace) has everything that I liked best about screamo when I first got into it. I was hooked since first listen, to the melow guitars, like emotional post-rock, that transit into their more discordant peak as the vocals do the same, from whiny yet radiant to screeching and utterly tormented. I adore the bittersweet sound from this wave of screamo bands(like Indian Summer, Kite Flying Society, ...) which seem musically closest to the french screamo breed at its peak.
Last fm tags as screamo, emo, post-hardcore, indie, real screamo

a bit weird, but this is where I found the most merch and records by this band: interpunk (wut?)

12XU - The SIngle Series 1+2+3+4

 listen to La Rouille by 12XU

12XU (as in the Minor Threat song) (Blog) is a french (pop) punkrock band –with a hint of emo- that features members of Daïtro. Entirely sung in french, the catchy melodies make up for the fact that I don’t understand one iota of the words.  With very distinct and crystal clear yet crunchy sounding guitars and straight-forward groovy percussions , this band’s foremost asset is the tight and earnest songwriting. How else could they have me singing along to words I don’t comprehend?

Note to self: look for translations of the lyrics

Last fm tags as emo, punk rock, punk, french, 90s emo

click the image above to e-mail the band and directly order merch or records from them

Lands - Subtitles

 listen to the song I by Lands

Brittish band Lands (Facebook page) is an ambient post-hardcore band that extracts from all the post- rock, metal and hardcore influences. It seems to be a compromise between these genres that pushes the edge further as far as both ambience and passion goes. From this album, one could get the same feel to it like when first listening to the more early Poison The Well albums without the whining/singing parts. Especially their more elaborate songs, only, -as I said- with a more atmospheric (Cult Of Luna) sound to it.  Gracefully shifting from ambient post-rock to the profound post-hardcore/hardcore. Like back when that wasn’t a unicum for such a label to be put on band’s sound in a positive way.

no merch found. give them a lot of love, shares and likes!

out of the box on sunday IV

Let the record show that I am (and have been ever since discovering it altogether) hugely into the darkest of Black Metal bands. Lurker Of Chalice, Weakling, Deathspell Omega, Vehementer Nos, Blut Aus Nord, Dragged Into Sunlight, ... they just rev my engine.
German one-man studio project The Ruins of Beverast (too kvlt for the interwebz) is the pinnacle of said breed of blackened metal. I imagine that this project is the outcome of one man's uncompromised outtake on what music should sound like. without other bandmembers sticking their nose in his creative proces, telling him what to do what not to do, or any compromise in between. these songs are pure and uncut soundtracks to a bunch of musicnerds roleplaying a satanic ritual. you can just feel Beelzebub knocking on the floor, directly underneath your feet as every pulsing resonance lurks him closer, while thinking "Bring. It. On" as it adrenalizes you as well.
Last fm tags as black metal, atmospheric black metal, ambient black metal, depressive black metal, german

too kvlt for the internet

Isaïah - Ils consomment, tuent et prient mais ne pensent pas

 listen to Des enfants, j'aurais dû le tuer deux fois by Isaïah

Isaïah (Bandcamp) is an epic(-sounding) screamo band from the southern french-speaking part of Belgium (yes, french is not every belgian's native language), with a lot of influences from the french skram bands. in stead of the ambient twinkly sound of most screamo bands that build their sound around post rock with long soundscapes, these guys also master a more down-tempo dissonant post-metal style and juggle with both succesfully. with those twinkly bands like Envy, Heaven In Her Arms and Pianos Become The Teeth, that seem so popular, I always get a feeling of 'hit or miss' with every song. with this band's style each song hovers somewhere in between at worst.

Last fm tags as screamo, belgian, progressive rock

click the image above to buy this record

Failures - S/T

 listen to Cheer Up by Failures

I'm not going to state the obvious, but just so you didn't know: Mark McCoy of Das Oath and Charles Bronson is the vocalist in this band. Failures (band Blog) could very wel be the summum of what anyone could expect from a Youth Attack band. ADHD guitars, lightningspeed drums that would have Shiva have to catch her breath and vocals that sound like Mark's long out of breath from the first second. but, when and where you least expect it, the rythm builds up this amazing groove, and everything sounds like the soundtrack to a surf documentary at 999 Bpm or every single member of the Dead Kennedys having a bad trip on amphetamines. if that wouldn't appeal to you, you need to check the experation date to your music taste.

Last fm tags as hardcore, hardcore punk, thrashcore, chaotic hardcore, mark mccoy

buy the 7" repress on Painkiller Records, by clicking the image above!

Le Pré Ou Je Suis Mort

 listen to Une Fois De Plus by Le Pré Ou Je Suis Mort

French/Swiss band Le Pré Ou Je Suis Mort(Myspace) ,that had the same name as a french dub of a The X-Files episode, is probably the most 'active' band within the french screamo sound. they excell in building ambient elements to an equally smooth climax, only with a lot more oomph superimposed on the already harmonic yet layered sound. a mix of post-rock and french screamo that portrays the very best of what both have to offer.

they joined La Dispute on that band's first European tour btw!

click the image above to buy the cd from Denovali Records!