No Time To Lose

Man, fucking Gat-Rot. Totally unknown and playing massively better shit than anyone else was at the time except Hatebreed (who were fucking forefronting the scene so cut 'em some slack)... their dry desert brand of Arizonian crossover metalcore should have been totally on everyone's metal mix CDs in the early 90's. Sounding like someone blended Internal Suffering with a Korn demo, it's a tad under-produced, the exact sound the aforementioned Hatebreed was trying to escape from after their Under The Knife demo, but it takes what Biohazard was kinda polishing up (pre their industrial-ish days) and makes it just that excessively bit heavier. For a bunch of West Coasters they really tapped into that Brooklyn back-and-forth lyricist vibe... token NYC accent and fucking all. There's a little token scritch-scratch DJ-ing/white-boy hip hop here and there trying to tap in to what Korn and Limp Bizkit were doing at the time and it's only confusing because it's mixed so weirdly... and kinda unnecessary... like it's an overdub to appeal to idiots. But enough old-man proselytizing, Strength Through Struggle fucking kills. "Equilibrium" is easily akin to the fucking pissed off shit in today's hardcore scene (personally I'd love to re-record this song bare-bones), "Down" has the most ridiculously chant-y bridge breakdown (bass break included), "I Resist" oozes an addictive crossover vibe; there's a weird-ass rolling groove to their songs that just makes you want to jump into your own personal mosh pit. Sure there is a little Bio-worship here and there ("Backfire" especially) but you wouldn't be listening to this band if you weren't quasi-familiar with the old school so whaddya expect? Check their other pre-Us Vs. Them record here and I think they actually get together and play locally - their window to the interweb is here. Enjoy.

I Will Resist

loud. noisy. grating.

Sweet fucking debut EP from a bunch of insane Austrian grinders; this is not the same defunct post-metal Brooklyn, NY two-piece I raved about a few years ago. Instead Orphan blasts forth from the middle of nowhere (actually Linz, Austria) and are a blistering amalgam of metalcore (Burnt By The Sun maybe?) grind, and insane break-heavy hardcore à la the first See You Next Tuesday record. Of course the noisy nonsense is all over in about 15 manic minutes but it never gets tiring and most bands wish they could fit so many grooves into a single record. The band is actively touring around eastern Europe this summer so catch these crazy fuckers if at all possible. Facebook here. Bandcamp there. Enjoy.

grow. shine. wither. die.

Fingered

Not much out there about this Buffalo metalcore-ish deathcore four-piece - I'm not sure what spurred my discovery of this LP on iTunes but regardless, I went and downloaded it just the same. This record is a compilation of their two 2004 EPs The Hatred Spreads and Three Minutes Of Hate. Apparently self-released and completely obscure (were there actual CDs pressed?) it sounds well-rehearsed, well-produced and totally surprising that the band didn't seem to go anywhere. While there are moments that are token and tired, some parts are simply fucking awesome (the last 30 seconds of "Bloodlet" and "In The End" for example). And for being 10 years old, the fact that they sound even remotely pertinent today is a "win" in my book. Looks like most of the group stayed together long enough to reinvent themselves as a silly-named doom/death metal outfit called Darkapathy in 2012 who's bandcamp page got almost a minute of my fleeting attention. Enjoy.

3mh

This Is Revenge

Solid debut album from Bergen County, NJ. Don't get these guys confused with the Kalamazoo indie rock trio or roots rock L.A. outfit with the same name, this is straight up screaming fucking deathcore that will make you want to punch yourself or someone else in the face. While there's nothing terribly original here, the record has enough gritty vehemence that will make you forget there are bands like Carnifex and Whitechapel playing the exact same shit. There's even some 7-string Korn-esque licks here and there for the old school losers like myself. The opening of "Panty Sniffer Does Porn" is highlight of the album for me - the blast of riffage is simply awesome. The guys seem to have recently released a long-in-the-works followup EP - check out their shit here.

Break Shit

Choke

After their dissatisfaction with Imprint and Roadrunner Records (the band felt it was hastily recorded and the label mismanaged its release - a shame because I think it's a fucking amazing record), Long Island metalcore outfit Vision Of Disorder spent the end of the 90's off the major label radar. They re-recorded a bunch of tracks from their demo days and released them on indie label Go Kart Records. The result is For The Bleeders and is easily my favorite in their catalog. Recorded rough (8-track maybe?) and channeling the underground rawness of the originals, nearly every song is a keeper. I absolutely love "Adelaide" - the breakdowns in that song are simply epic. "Watch Out" and "Beneath The Green" are up there as well. V.O.D. eventually got back onto a major and released the so-so From Bliss To Devastation in 2001.

You Should Fuck Yourself

Y-Town's Stompcore Pimp Daddies

From waaay up north in Ypsilanti, MI (home of the EMU Eagles - thanks NCAA Football 09!) comes the working man's deathcore outfit Kitchen Knife Conspiracy. I discovered them many a year ago while desperately perusing the painfully now-obsolete mp3fiesta.com in search of any metalcore band I hadn't yet heard (little did I know my discovery of PtDB was only weeks away but that's another story). In comes KKC and their fourth (and final?) album, the witty A Friend In Need... Is A Friend To Kill. While some of the movie samples go on way too long, the album is a fun walk down death metal memory lane and stays pretty listenable today. I mean it's almost a decade old and completely derivative of Vision Of Disorder/Carnifex but who back then wasn't? The token humorous song titles belay the groovy breakdowns and tight riffs of generally good tunes. My only complaint is the low vocals seem to be mixed a tad high - the obvious overdub can be distracting. Other than that, a solid thirty minutes by a band stuck in a shitty college town worshipping My Chemical Romance and the Foo Fighters. They still seem to be around and are re-releasing remastered versions of their stuff soon so show some Michigan respect and keep up with 'em here.

Envy The Dead

Boiling Point

New school Massachusetts hardcore from J. Geils' hometown of Worcester is definitely influenced by the then-dominant metalcore sound of Hatebreed, Red Chord and that ilk but has enough of a Sheer Terror influence to differentiate it from the rest of the Jasta clones. "Choke" is my favorite track on this 10" - fifteen minutes of angry fucking fast groove-heavy hardcore. Good shit.

Nothing Means Nothing

How To Survive A Vicious Cock Fight

Pretty decent mathcore/screamo debut from Bay City, MI denizens See You Next Tuesday (C-U-N... aw, you get it). Solid über tempo-change deathcore all pulled off at a breakneck pace, the songs are mercifully short (the entire album running time is a scant 20 minutes) so the schizophrenic cacophony never gets a chance to really fray your nerves. The band recorded a second album, the surprisingly typical death metal-ish Intervals in 2008, a disappointing musical departure from their debut. They promptly disbanded within a year.

Insert Witty Song Title Here

Holy fuck!!! A new post!!!

Yay for me - got a new fucking post up. About time - no? Well, I won't bore you with any long slavish idol-worship of American Violence - aside from a great name they play the tightest beatdown deathcore I've heard since Gat-Rot sadly vanished from the planet (or have they? I just updated their post... bwah hah hahhhhhh). No but seriously, the three minutes of anger in AV's 2012 Demonstration is fucking awesome. Christ it's taken twenty years but someone finally honed the downtuned 7-string B sound like Korn circa '92. Brutal. Angry. No fucking guitar solos. Facebook. Bandcamp.

Ignore False Idols

Currently watching: Through The Looking Glass

Currently listening to: Jimi Hendrix Live At The Fillmore East

Shooter McGavin

New Jersey's Burnt By The Sun dropped their sick-ass 2002 full-length Soundtrack To The Personal Revolution right as I was losing faith in the whole metalcore world. Everything was getting too melodic, too math-metal, and I was getting tired of the whole "remain steadfast / strength through solitude" positivity Hatebreed was pushing. Thankfully one of my fellow night shift workers dropped this CD in my lap and it was pretty much the only thing I listened to for 3 weeks straight. A great vocalist over wicked fast technical heavy grooves (and fucking hilarious song titles before it was annoyingly schtick), they've released some pretty solid stuff since Soundtrack but nowhere near as good. The band both broke up and reformed during the late 2000's but, alas, it looks like the outlook for new music is slim. Enjoy what we gots...

Worst. Movie. Ever.

 
Currently watching: Howling IV: The Original Nightmare

Currently listening to: Christ Inversion Christ Inversion

This Is Scary....

 

Screamo metalcore pioneers Eighteen Visions' second full-length Until The Ink Runs Out is still one of the best heavy albums of the last decade. Sounding nothing like their later alternative nonsense, the album is fast, brutal and angry. A unintentionally hilarious statement from a "later on" fan sums it up: "well, i like 18V, but this is like....wow....scarrrrry.....itz like way different." Thank you, 12-year-old idiot.

Insert Witty Song Title Here

Your Mind Is A Weapon

 

Who knows why Gat-Rot never hit it big. Maybe they missed the Hatebreed/metalcore wave just a tad before it morphed into deathcore. Regardless, the third album by these sadly ignored Tuscon, AZ grinders is well worth a listen. Huge breakdowns, chugga-chugga riffage throughout, well-produced anger. Lyrics are in the straight-edge "stand up for yourself" vein so if you're a tad over-the-hardcore-hill like me a few eyerolls will surely accompany but no biggie. One of the best beatdown albums I've ever heard. Evidently they're still together so hopefully they'll release something else someday!

UPDATE 4.10.13: The boys got a facebook page going and are making their old-school shit available on Bandcamp! Check it out and drop the boys some fucking duckets!!!

THEM!

Currently watching: Run! Bitch Run!

Currently listening to: The Black Keys Attack & Release

Stabwoundz..... with a "Z"

 

Netherlands' 37 Stabwoundz was born in the early summer of 2001 after Servé Olieslagers (guitarist) parted ways with the successful band Born From Pain. With a sound similar to Hatebreed, Superjoint Ritual and other metalcore acts, it took until 2003 for the band to finally release its first LP, Embrace Solitude. While sporting nothing hugely original, the album definitely has its own hook and eclipses most of the other Hatebreed clones out there. They've since broke up (2007) and the band members have gone onto other things... too bad. It would have been nice to see what the future could have brought.

Downloaden

Essential

Yeah, I know you can find this album everywhere and that everyone thinks Jamey Jasta is a sellout clown. What the fuck ever. If it wasn't for him and this album, nü metal, Taproot and Limp Bizkit would still be what everyone calls "heavy". Label it whatever you want: hardcore, metalcore, metallic hardcore, melodic metalcore, technical thrashcore.... this album fucking rules.

Revisit