Matsuri - Endship

 listen to Cling to Your Lungs (Part III) by Matsuri

Matsuri (website) is a modern screamo  band, with a refreshing approach to the typical shifting between singing and screaming/melody and chaos. One moment they’re chanting some catchy lyrics with a sweet lullaby of melodic emo music, and the next everything  builds up, and eventually explodes, in a sonic chaos of manic screaming, hysterical percussion and wild guitars all clashing against eachother in an emotionally tormented cacophony of mathy screamo. Or the other way around. This band sounds like it’s a big step ahead of present-time 5KRAMZ bands, with elements that come much closer to the ancient and traditional TR00 screamo bands.

Last fm tags as screamo, usa, ambient, american, real screamo

buy this release or other stuff from their label via de link in the image above

Thou - The Archer And The Owle EP

 listen to Voices in the Wilderness by Thou, as a preview to this record

BWOOOOAAAAAHHHHH))))
Thou (site) play some uh-masing mix between drone, doom and sludge, with a melodic kind of groove that is  so catchy, it will guarantee to get heads a-boppin, but won’t get boring when stretched on for almost 10min. On this record, they included some covers from Pygmy Lush’s briljant sophomore record, to the point where the members from that band, themselves, would never recognise it.  The voice is down right gritty and create another layer of noise to this, otherwise minimalistic, raucous sound. This band has been my revelation for music coming out of the hardcore scene, for 2011. Although they have been active a lot longer. at least I got in to it in time to catch them live on tour.

Last fm tags as sludge, doom metal, drone, doom, sludge metal

too many records on too many labels, to track them all down. found most via the link in the image above

Loathus - Self Titled

listen to The Dream of The Fisherman's Wife by Loathus

kind of late, to post about a DIY band that has been defunct for so long, but Loathus (myspace) were a Belgian band that played the Screamo/Post-Hardcore splendor. apocalyptic and melodramatic down tempo Hardcore, like City Of Caterpillar or Funeral Diner. not the Envy post-rock, but the Mihai Edrisch epic screamo style. with only 3 members, they had dual-vocal elements, very diverse drum patterns and the guitar and bass sound very asymmetric, individually. the sum of these elements gave the band a very 'full' sound and would give today's bands in the broad spectrum of this style quite the run for their their money. 2 members went on to form a (modern) Post-Punk style band OLD WOUNDS (myspace)
Last fm tags as screamo, belgian, hardcore, need to download,real screamo

click above to order a copy that I found, online. I'd imagine that's extremely rare, by now. OBSCURE!

Out Of The Box On Sunday XVI

 listen to Thieves by The Funeral Pyre, as a preview to this record

With all the shoegazing black metal-influenced bands popping up, I start turning back tot his release. The Funeral Pyre (blog) is a long active band that had symphonic elements on their previous releases, but dropped those for an extra  guitarist and a butt-load of melodic influences. When bands, coming out of  some sort of black metal scene, turn to the melodic approach, they seem to lose most of their oomph, to make room for that very melody. Leave it tot his band, coming out of metalcore,  to discover and display a seemingly perfect compromise between grim black metal and dark melodic metal(core). No children of bodom guitar wankery or soilwork whining vocals. Just straight up blastbeats and 180 BPM tremolo picking, that occasionally blends into an atmospheric sound which could appeal to people who prefer that side of blackened metal. In their later releases, they added some sludgy downtempo interludes and build-ups to the mix. But this is surely the highlight of their oeuvre.
Last fm tags as melodic death metal, black metal, death metal, blackened death metal, metalcore  

click the image above to support this band, by buying stuff directly from them

Pills - Not About God

 listen to sterile by Pills

I found this band by checking what former members of Funeral Diner were all up to. Hardcore band Pills (facebook) features members from Funeral Diner, Takaru, Burial Year and Drowning With Our Anchors, forming a band that produces a fairly straight-forward chaotic hardcore sound. They parade with a frenzy of noise rock, chaotic hardcore and sometimes the mathy variant of screamo music. Hopping from rock 'n roll ETID style, to start/stop complex and uptempo excerpts from various branches of punk music. while hysterical vocals are the only glue holding the fickle elements into one consistent mass.

Last fm tags as: screamo, hardcore punk

Fallacies - Searching For Conviction

 listen to Out of This by Fallacies

MELODIC HARDCORE PUNK.

<- that was just to inform people not interrested in that genre they may want to stop reading.

Because Fallacies (facebook)  does little more than push the envelope fort hat branch of punk rock subdivisions. As if that’s not an accomplishment by itself. For a first release, made by a band that’s been active for little over a year at the time, this record shows some promising attempts at catchy melodies, heartfelt vocals/lyrics and clever songstructures. Everything you could expect is already there, but if you like basic elements in the genre; you’re bound to like their approach to them.

Last fm tags as: melodic hardcore, hardcore, progressive, melodic metalcore

click the image above to buy stuff directly from them!

Engineer - Crooked Voices

 listen to The Idiot's Theme by Engineer

This is the 7th release by (ex-The Minor Times band) Engineer (facebook). down-tempo hardcore with an amazing sludgy groove and their signature raw -even somewhat emotional- vocals, that both easily fit under a Post-Hardcore label. which I found interresting, since the label sludge is so often misplaced on downtempo Post-Hardcore bands, not that anyone should take such labels seriously, but this is a band that blends the trve with untr00 with the best from both worlds. nevermind. this is dark yet catchy stuff, with influences from all sorts of slow and extreme music, which always beats tapping from a single narrow source. as these guys proove.

Last fm tags as sludge, hardcore, mathcore, metalcore, metal 

click the image above to order merch from their label

Out Of The Box On Sunday XV

listen to Incomplete by Football, Etc

Football, etc (bandcamp) is an indie/emo rock band that takes me back to when I thought most of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate or Mineral. they take you on a trip to the late 90's emo sound, via the rather typical sound that is the standard for bands on the Count Your Lucky Stars label, like this band in particular. The vocals are hypnotizing and don't seem whiney, when the pace gets really really slow and the melodies would leave no one unmoved.
Last fm tags as emo, indie, indie emo, indiemo, indie rock

click the image above to order stuff directly from the band

Ed Gein - Bad Luck

listen to The Spectacle, by Ed Gein sur Myspace Music

You may have noticed that Ed Gein (myspace) is back! years after last showing any sign of life, they recorded Bad Luck and another year later it was actually released. this record shows only a hint of how you would remember Ed Gein, if you paid little attention to them, since around the time of their last release. it's a more hardcore metal approach of the modern kind. in stead of their signature chaotic structures, you only get a few odd timestructures but decent songs nonetheless! the only thing about the change I regret, is the lack of witty songtitles.

Last fm tags as grindcore, mathcore, hardcore, metalcore, metal 

 click the random image above to order merch directly from them

This Routine Is Hell - The Verve Crusade

 listen to Crooks & Robbers by ThisRoutineisHell, as a preview to this record

This Routine Is Hell (website) is another band that convinced me, when I checked out their live show. They have a varied yet recognizable sound, that fluently transcends from trashing and angry hardcore punk to more melodic or rather with a catchy groove, with seemingly great ease, poured into songs usually barely over a minute long. somewhere in between Panic and Ceremony, if you would feel the urge to locate their sound by comparing theirs with others. the name of the band is only a hint of what ethics they seek to pass on through their lyrics and music all together, which is another huge credit to the total package. I have high hopes for such young people in such an amazing band.

Last fm tags as hardcore, hardcore punk, netherlands, punk, thrashcore

click the image above to buy merch directly from them!