Bleeding - The End?! 7"

Bleeding from Viersen in the Ruhrpott area of Germany were a short-lived band that released their only record, the 'The End?!' 7", on Dead Soil Records in 1998. Bleeding played a great mix between metalcore and deathmetal with 'evil' screeched vocals. The band shared members with other metalcore bands from Viersen at the time like Drift and Bloodstring (Dead Soil also released a split 7" of Bloodstring and Furnace). They quit sometime in 1999 I believe. Dead Soil Records was co-run by Bleeding's drummer Matthias and it mostly released stuff by bands they were playing in or were from the Viersen area, such as a split 7" between Bloodstring and Furnace.

Members of the band later went on to bands like The Ice, Born From Pain and more pure metal bands like Coronation and Battlesword.

Bleeding - The End?! 7"

Timescape Zero

There are bands that are obscure for a reason, and then there are the obscure bands that this blog is all about. Timescape Zero is one such band that more than deserves to be heard. I remember reading about the band in old Inside Front zines, and I loved their contributions to the 'Over The Edge II' comp as well as one of the Inside Front comps. But their own records were always really hard to get over here, I don't recall ever seeing a record of theirs at a distro here until I picked up the re-release of their 1993 split 7" with Subliminal Criminal a few years ago at a recordfair.

So it was a really nice surprise when their singer, Adel 156, emailed me a few days ago to inform me the band's recordings are now on bandcamp! Awesome news that will hopefully bring this band some more attention. From Wikipedia:

Timescape Zero is an American metalcore band from Miami, Florida formed in 1991, they are seen as one of the lesser known bands which helped start the metalcore scene. The band formed after the break-up of Hangman (who released only one song on a 7" compilation on Youthbus Records), when they replaced the original lead singer with Adel Souto of Feast of Hate and Fear fanzine. Lyrical themes include social issues, religion, politics, mental illness, individualism and self-awareness. Influenced by late 80s straight edge hardcore, Sheer Terror, Killing Time, Sick of It All, Charles Manson and Anton LaVey. Though they played reunion shows in 2004 and again in 2010, they officially broke up in 1998.

While the band definitely was one of the first metalcore bands, their old school influences are also very clear in their sound (to me the fast parts together with Adel's voice somehow remind me of Face Value). And now that I finally get to hear a ton more TZ songs, I am even sadder this band never seemed to get the recognition they deserved. So fuckin' good. So... Do yourself a favor, and check out this band. They were awesome, and now you can find out for yourself as well.

Timescape Zero bandcamp

Bloodstone - Blindless Salvation 7"

Yet another random 90s 7" from my collection that I picked up at some distro table in the 2nd half of the 90s. With a cover like that, how could I not? Anyways, Bloodstone were a shortlived band from the St. Louis, Missouri area. They were formed out of the ashes of early 90s band Tolerance and aside from demo's I am pretty sure this 'Blindless Salvation' 7" was their only proper release. The 7" was recorded in late 1993 and released on Ad.Mis.Sion Records in 1994, which I believe was run by someone in the band. Bloodstone played awesome mid-tempo 90s hardcore with a slightly metallic/chugga edge, sorta like the (incredibly underrated) Billingsgate LP. Definitely prime OnexPath material! After Bloodstone folded members moved on to Fuse 12.

Some funny things in regards to the 7". The layout was done by Dan Askew of Second Nature fanzine & Sean Ingram (this was before he joined Coalesce). In fact, Sean is listed on the thankslist but also 'Jes and Breach'. Breach was the bandname of Coalesce before Sean joined them (to replace previous singer Jes). Anyways, that's all the random trivia I could dig up. Enjoy!

If anybody has any non-7" Bloodstone recordings, or Tolerance recordings (I know they did at least one demo), please share!

Bloodstone - Blindless Salvation 7"

New blood: Life Betrays Us

UK hardcore has had strong bands since forever, but there are so many awesome bands coming out of the UK these days, it's mind-blowing... Here's yet another new band, Life Betrays Us from London. With members from bands like Crippler LBU and Bun Dem Out, it's no surprise this band doesn't play poppunk. Heavy, hard-hitting hardcore, with some occasional melodic singing thrown in to mix things up a bit. They just released a demo, and it's awesome. I hope somebody picks up these guys for an EP or something. Check them out! FFO: Lifeless, Life Or Death.

Mindset - State Of Mind 7"

Here's another request, Mindset's 'State Of Mind' 7". Mindset from Queens, NYC started out under the name Downfall sometime in 1996. They quickly changed their name to Mindset, and did a first recording which ended up on a demo and a compilation. That got them on Rick Ta Life's Back Ta Basics Records, leading to the 'State Of Mind' 7" which was released in 1998. Around that time another Mindset was making waves, so another name change was in order. They finally settled on the name Sworn Enemy in 1999, which they have kept since, and they are still going strong! I've seen Sworn Enemy a number of times on their Euro tours and they're always great, definitely check them out if you haven't yet!

Anyways, the Mindset 7" is awesome, if yer familiar with the early Sworn Enemy material, you'll recognize the sound, hard and heavy beatdown-ish metallic hardcore. Some Mindset songs including 'Never' from this 7", would be re-recorded for Sworn Enemy's 'Negative Outlook' MCD. Sworn Enemy would later on add way more metal influences to their sound, this is still straight up hardcore tho. As per usual with BTB's 7"s, the covers & inserts are photocopied, and in this case, my copy doesn't even have a folded sleeve, but the front and back are separate pieces of paper, cut rather crudely into squares. DIY baby! Gotta love it, I know I do. Enjoy!

Mindset - State Of Mind 7"

Grin - Part Of Me 7"

Someone requested Grin's 'Part Of Me' 7" from 1989 recently, so here it is. It's not quite 90s but hey, I'm a nice guy, haha... Grin from Massachussets was formed out of the ashes of Apology, who did an EP on Wishingwell Records. As far as I know the 'Part Of Me' 7" is Grin's only recording. It was recorded in late 1988 and released the following year on Italian label Break Even Point Records (Endpoint, Naked Angels, Backlash, Growing Concern). Grin's 7" is in the vein of bands like Dag Nasty and some Endpoint, maybe adding some DC/emo influences here and there? In any case, decent stuff. Their singer, and also Apology's, was Mike Gitter who used to do XXX zine and who currently works as Vice President of A&R at Century Media Records! The always awesome NoEcho.net did an interview with him recently, definitely check it out.

Members moved on to bands like Karate, Jones Very and Alloy.

Grin - Part Of Me 7"

State Of Mind - Original Hate 7"

State Of Mind was a hardcore band from the Brunswick, Ohio area, and I have no idea if they did anything else besides this 'Original Hate' 7", heh... Information on this band is scarce, to put it mildly. Decent mid-tempo heavy and somewhat metallic hardcore with those semi-sung/semi-screamed vocals that are so typical of this era. They're far from the best of the bunch, bands like Trial By Jury and Betrayed that I've posted before did it much better. But it's still decent enough to give it a listen if yer into this style. The 7" was recorded and released in 1993, on Smog Veil Records, who also released records from other Ohio bands like The Spudmonsters and Face Value.

If anybody has any additional info on this band, please leave a comment. Thank you!

State Of Mind - Original Hate 7"