Harder They Fall #4: Pre-Orders Up Now

Line Of Sight: Pic by Jeff Laisch

In a break from our scheduled programming, just a quick announcement that the latest issue of my very occasional punk fanzine Harder They Fall is now available for pre-order.  Issue 4 weighs in at 44 solid pages of content. No adverts, no filler. Interviews with Rancour from Wales, Ill Natured from Australia, Guilt Ritual from New England, xServitudex, Dan Duggan of Unholy Majesty/The Break In/Santa Carla and The Monster Merchants, Tom Pimlott of Arms Race/ Violent Reaction/Standpoint/ Marco Abiatello of Payday, Dan Capman from Firm Standing Law and Peter Falkous of Thirty Seconds Until Armageddon/ Grace/Vengeance Of Gaia/ Break It Up/ Jinn etc. Phew!

Alongside all that there’s the usual daft anecdotes and articles along with a slick layout courtesy of Falkous. This ones coming out via Static Age publishing so check it out HERE if you want to grab one!

New Year/ Same old shit it’s the January Mosh Round Up

Look, I don’t normally place much faith in statistics but according to the data analysis thing in the back end of WordPress, these hardcore round ups have become quite popular. I can only assume that the extreme music world has finally recognised my immense talent for discovering good bands and writing hilarious words about them for you, the little people. To capitalise upon that interest we’ll be shifting the monthly round ups to a bi-weekly schedule for as long as I can be arsed to write them. I tend to pick and choose stuff that I personally enjoy for publication here. If you want to read the mean reviews I suggest you head on over to my author feed at Apathy & Exhaustion

Ok to business, lets take a look at Hangman  from Long Island. Hadn’t checked out these guys before but they played some shows with Higher Power on their recent US tour and I heard good things so let’s give them a go. Vile Decree is the name of this new 7″ on Flatspot Records.  Hangman set out their stall on opening track Pesticide, mid paced chugging malevolence. There’s groove and scorn in abundance and when the mid paced break in Coming To shows up I challenge all of you not to screwface and bob your head like you’re mean mugging in a Biohazard video or some shit. Set a rubbish bin on fire, wear shades indoors, take a mean dog for a walk etc.

Abandoned crunches into view and for some reason I’m reminded of the Full Contact songs from the NY Hardest comp even though I havent thought about that record in fifteen years. Brian from Long Island miseries Neglect drops a guestie on this cut and his tombstone drawl provides a dynamic contrast to the Hangman vocalists cleaner style. Overall a pleasing listen, recommended for fans of mid nineties New York hardcore and urban fonts. You can listen to them HERE Continue reading

Drifts Get Deeper- December Mosh round up

The sky has taken on a bleaker quality than usual, the first proper snows of the season have arrived and that showy wanker round the corner has got his big Christmas lights up. Winter has finally come upon us. As I sit here during the seasonal perineum that squats between Christmas and New years I took the opportunity to stick on my wellies and wade through the tide of absolute shit that laps at my door 24/7 aka this months massive pile of demos and EP’s. Here’s three things I thought were good.. Continue reading

November Hardcore round up – Part 1

Let me tell ya readers, we are truly living in some coptic times. Maybe it’s the state of the world that’s got the youth riled up. Not a day goes by without some jackass banging another nail in the coffin of a hopeful outcome for this planet. Sucks for the world but hey great for angry music. My inbox has been inundated with so much fresh well executed hardcore, that it is almost getting boring to review it. With quality at such a consistently high standard it becomes very difficult for a writer, even one as erudite as I, to keep coming up with new ways to describe cool shit. To that end I actively encourage shitheel bands to get in touch with their ham fisted racket, so that I once again have a reason to hack up my scorn first thing of a morning. Anyway the hour is late and I’ve got shit to do so lets crack on with it shall we?

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Firm Standing Law – Unashamed 7″

South East straight edge outcasts Firm Standing Law follow up last years Unforgiving X demo with a new 7” entitled UNASHAMED on Carry The Weight Records. With a veteran lineup that boasts former (and current) members of Cold World, Repentance, Coldsnap, Never Again and many more, FSL may come with a nigh on flawless pedigree of straight edge hardcore but with that also comes the burden of expectation.
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Band Of The Week: Allfather

13413_474870599331274_322883935686994312_nHaving binned my label off, I still love to trawl Bandcamp for new music, so when Allfather bust out of the speakers I was into straight off the bat. So, why not use the blog to shout about new bands, and hear what they have to say? Have a listen, check out the little review, and read what they have to say.

What do I think of them? Basically, take the best Black Sabbath riffs, add in a crunchy metallic hardcore stomp, with a punk boot to the throat, and you’re somewhere there. A real melting pot of ideas. If you’re looking for that lazy pigeonhole, then I guess the easiest comparison to make would be Hang The Bastard, who like their peers Crowbar, easily cross the divide of metal and hardcore. Allfather wear their influences on their sleeves, they’re not re-inventing the wheel, it does what it says on the tin, but it does it really well. So head over to Bandcamp, and if you like what you hear, chuck a few quid in the pot and have one less spiced pumpkin latte or whatever bullshit people drink these days. Headbang, raise a fist or go wild and do a Bushwacker in the pit!

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Game Changers: The Reptile House EP

the_reptile_house_epYou do realise, don’t you, that goth came from punk? If you were transported back to 1984 you wouldn’t recognise the goths. And they’d laugh at you. Particularly if you told them how everyone would revere the Sisters as the One True Goth Band.
– The Box of Delights

This isn’t an origin story. This isn’t the first record I ever bought (it’s actually a couple of years older than I am, for one thing), not is it the first thing I ever heard by Leeds’ finest export. This is not the “I heard this for the first time and it totally blew my mind” post. This is the “I heard this for the first time and it made up my mind” post.

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Review : xRepentancex – The Sickness Of Eden

PromoImageWell, how about this? An Album Of The Year  2015 contender, already. 19 days into the new year. Before we’ve barely even started.

I know, I know. It’s a ridiculous thing to say, right? But have you heard this thing? Have you even heard it? It’s rare to think of a UKHC record as ‘eagerly anticipated’, but that’s certainly the case here. We’ve all been gobbling up whatever morsels this vegan-edge whirlwind of hatred throws our way, be it their marvellous debut EP In Violation Of Asa from 2013 or a handful of work-in-progress tracks that have appeared on Bandcamp since then. It’s all been excellent, and has always left us clamouring for more. Well, now it’s here. The Sickness Of Eden is xRepentancex‘s debut LP and it is a fucking belter.

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Unlistenable Racket End Of Year Special – The Best Punk, Hardcore and Metal of 2014

2014 saw a bunch of bands record some music. Some of it was shit, some of it was excellent. Here’s a list I done which features 20 of the best ones. Have a look with your eyes.


pbtt

1. Pianos Become The Teeth – Keep You (Epitaph Records)

No, I wouldn’t have thought so either. That hectic screamo nonsense is dialled right down and replaced with gentle melancholic rock with the effect being simply breathtaking. Low-key, elegant and comprising of all the feels.

The-Banner-Greying-cover

2. The Banner – Greying (Good Fight Music)

New Jersey’s finest return to reclaim their crown and deliver a surprisingly complex record. Gigantic mosh rubs shoulders with gothic synth-pop and the result is a brave and nuanced set of tracks; caressing with one hand, smashing your face in with the other.

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Unlistenable Racket vol.2 – November 2014

An incestuous month this time around, ladies and gents, with two pairs out of the four bands featured here sharing members between them. I think that sentence just about makes sense. We have the mysterious figure of Umberto releasing the latest addition to his solo SESSOVIOLENTO pantheon of ugly whilst also taking on guitar duties for the new release from transcendent nightmare-peddlers Ewige Schlankengraft. While on the slightly less horrific side we have Pianos Become The Teeth, who (reportedly) share a member with hardcore uber-super-group United Nations. The author Jess C Scott once said of incest in her novel Wicked Lovely that ” I felt like an animal, and animals don’t know sin, do they?”. Now, I don’t know much about that, so let’s talk about some fucking music, alright?


EwigeEwige Schlangenkraft – Enlightened Violence (COF Records)

As delightfully repugnant as ever, Ewige Schlangenkraft have traversed the comsos once again to deliver another collection of ‘songs’ that test the limits of human perception. Or, in other words, members of Cease To Exist and SESSOVIOLENTO (all part of the expanding Yamabushi ‘family’ of bands, London’s answer to Les Légions Noires ) jamming on tunes that sound like inter-dimensional horrors unleashed.
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