Grazes – Myths

Rex Anglorum by Grazes

Bringing the old school mosh, are the Brits from Grazes (facebook). These guys blend nearly classic hardcore punk with the right amounts of thrashing metal. It almost becomes hard to place them in a contemporary hardcore environment but, at least sound-wise, they’d give any band they share the stage with (supporting or headlining) quite the run for their money. This sounds way more pissed off than modern bands with any fancy gimmicks or catchy hooks and less macho, but more mosh-worthy, than chugging mosh-praising bands.
Last fm tags as hardcore, under 2000 listeners, punk, hardcore punk, spotify

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

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

We’ll Die Smiling – Avant Garde

We’ll Die Smiling (myspace) plays chaotic punk music with angsty screaming vocals like it hasn’t been done in ages. The spastic start/stop dissonant guitar-patterns are wielded to the point of perfection, quickly changing to mellow clean parts or violent chugs, and back again, while the vocals constantly harshly soar above the end product. This reminds a lot of what smaller bands did within the confinements of term ‘mathcore’ around the time we bridged from the 20th to the 21st century. Somewhat like Shoemaker Levy 9, Path Of No Return or As The Sun Sets, to give a few examples that won’t mean anything to most people. But there, I said it anyway.

Out Of The Box On Sunday XXVII

listen to Hate, Rain on me by Andrew Jackson Jihad

Andrew Jackson Jihad's Knife Man is my favourite AJJ record to date. the basic principles remain the same, campy folk music with radical lyrics. intro- or extraverted, the messages in every song are allways very profound and generally brilliantly relevant. it's 70% all about the lyrics!

Last fm tags as: folk punk, acoustic, folk, punk, plan-it-x 

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

The Hope And The Failure – The Lights Are On But This Dance Never Ends

Embrace by The Hope And The Failure

The Hope And The Failure is the name of a band that got split up because of deportation regulations. Which is the most fucked up reason for a band-breakup ever. Sonic Youth’s guitarist and vocalist get divorced and that even gets Belgian tv-broadcast on the news. Some poor sucker gets denied a simple formality by some white-collar fuckups and suddenly this band loses a key-member! Anyway, wether you’d call them defunct, on hiatus or in a temporary setback, The Hope And The Failure (myspace) is a Scandinavian band with a lot of post- rock and hardcore influences and intense female screamo vocals at the climax that built up from spoken word in the build-ups. The lyrics are on the verge of too dramatic, straight-forward and cheesy, but who can blame anyone who’s not a native english speaker yet has english lyrics.

HeWhoCorrupts – The Discographer

Master Of Profits by Hewhocorrupts

All praise sarcastic comic powerviolence, I think I’ve read about the term ‘jokesterviolence’ somewhere. Delivering relevant messages hinted in random, sarcastic and generally funny ways is Hewhocorrupts (myspace). This is the discography record they put out, which really shows how the band has developed. From more metallic grinding hardcore punk, probably early on, to the distinct screeching powerviolence style they have come to be known for. Note their cover of ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and the songs from their record ‘master of profits’, an album in which every song was a referrence to a Metallica song, only with their signature capitalist/corporatist thematics. Which you can’t debate is a brilliant concept.

Momentum - Whetting Occam's Razor

 listen to Culture by Momentum

for argument's sake, I will not namedrop any of this band's members past musical projects. needless to say, it would be reason enough to take note. altough, unlike the discussions around this band favors, it wouldn't be 100% fair to deny this has influences from those respective bands' styles and genres. Momentum (facebook) plays dark hardcore punk with melodic powerchord-driven guitars and pumping, usually d-beat, drum patterns. the lyrics are fairly straight-forward but very creative and , together with spoken-word samples, they hover around "the ideals of Carl Sagan and other luminary thinkers, to forward atheism, animal rights and feminist politics". And one sample of the movie Home Alone, followed by the catchiest punk rock song played in their signature style. good fun.

Out Of The Box On Sunday XXVI

 listen to 'Poking Fun' by Flashlights

There is room for progress in Emo music... Flashlights (facebook) isn't easy to define, as they portray a curious combo of a specific style of indie music (not unlike Wavves or Best Coast) and a wide variety of the branches of emo music. the end product is always upbeat, 'pleasant' and sometimes wild music. genuinely both awesome and progressive feel good music to please enthusiasts of the midwest emotional punk as well as the dreamy hipster music!

Flashlights - "Choking!" from Stephen Marsh on Vimeo.

Towers with Take Down Your Art

Words From The Doctor by Towers

Towers (Bandcamp) do something entirely different with chaotic music. Influences from hardcore metal, screamo or punk are only traceable to the very basic elements of their songs. Everything else is just screeching and/or discordant guitars, frantic screaming and versatile percussions that all seem to be doing their own thing, rather than dictate the rythm to the guitars , or vice versa. When you listen to the total package, it’s amazing how it all sounds consistent and in sync.

click the image above for another website with downloads to all their music (or get them from their personal Bandcamp)

Good Teeth/Gold Teeth - We Are Bound, All of Us, by Suffering, Even More Than by Joy

We Are Bound, All of Us, by Suffering, Even More Than by Joy by by Good Teeth/Gold Teeth

This starts off with a minute and a half of guitar feedback and vocals with bucketloads of angst, supported by a pummeling bass. From there on out, Good Teeth/Gold Teeth (facebook) have paved the way for raw and heavy hardcore music, with heartbreaking -tortured even- vocals. Their mix of passionate with dark and tumultuous elements and moving in between various tempos of their extreme music, make this band approachable for people who prefer various styles of hardcore. Without squeezing themselves in an all too narrow subdivision, thus succesfully transcending the division in music that is supposed to be about unity, to begin with.

click the image above to see their merch. it's not stated how to order it, so contact them on either of their websites, k?