For many reasons the hardcore/punk scene of South East Kent remains very near and dear to my heart. Despite having departed it’s promethean shores for the frozen north some eight years ago, I try to maintain strong bonds with the punk community down there and it is connection will always be a source of great personal pride and affection to me.

East Kent has produced a strong lineage of HC bands since the late 90’s. In recent years we’ve witnessed some real diversity from the region with the likes of Final Rage, Lich, Unholy Majesty, Mooseblood, Sacred Ritual, Cosmic Thoughts, Ego Trip, Man Hands etc all releasing exciting music and putting their own spin on an old sound. Harrowed have been quietly seething in Kent’s forgotten backwaters and seaside ghost towns for the better part of two years. Formed by a shadowy cabal with membership drawn from various stalwart outfits of the South East hardcore & metal scenes and pooling their considerable resources with the intent to create something truly monolithic. The bitter fruit of this last 18 months of brooding industry? Into Inferno, their debut LP on Feast Of Tentacles, rising from the depths of Thanet’s black, stygian waters like a cyclopean behemoth from a forgotten age, back to wreak its vengeance upon the faithless bovine masses.

Straight out the gate Harrowed unleash a blizzard of down tuned metal shards, reminiscent of Trap Them’s frenzied assault or even the bruising chaos once wielded by the mighty Coalesce in their prime. It’s a shrieking, howling storm of metallic hardcore in the old sense of the phrase, a relentless barrage of focused rage, indeed the level of sustained violence on this record is truly staggering. It reminds us just how terrifying the wrath of the true outsider is. Seb’s sneering vocals boil with contempt and preach a vitriolic sermon against the sins and failings of his fellow man, sounding not unlike Ringworm’s Human Furnace. Much like last weeks BOTW In Tongues, Harrowed have gestated in a vacuum of sorts. Far removed from the tides of trend or cool, they are summoning up primal sounds that manifest themselves refreshingly free of contrivance or gimmick, simply because that’s what comes out when three blokes lock themselves in a practice room in Margate for hours on end.There’s a distinct atmosphere of brooding tension that runs throughout the course of this album, an impending sense of doom that is almost suffocating until it’s shattered by moments of extreme violence, like repeatedly having your face pushed into a bucket of tar then given a good hiding.

But don’t just take my word for it, the band have 9 songs available to stream on their bandcamp page so go and have a listen for yourself HERE. There’s something disturbingly Lovecraftian about Harrowed so it’s somewhat fitting that they are releasing their album via Feast Of Tentacles Records, a consistently solid and prolific Nottingham based label who put out great stuff by Thou, Moloch, Column Of Heaven, Closure and a man with whom I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of times during my hardcore ‘career’. My man Chris Braddock pours his blood and sweat into FOT and we’ll be featuring a few of the other awesome bands on his roster in coming weeks.