Band Of The Week: Vircolac

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Contrary to popular assumption, I am not much of a metal head. Sure I’ve always got a bit of Carcass or Morbid Angel on my phone should the mood take me. I will defend Slayer’s Dittohead against all snipers and celebrate Carcass’s later material regardless of the grind elites scorn. But my explorations into ‘proper’ underground metal screeched to a halt around ten years ago. I had reached a point where I decided I simply couldn’t be arsed listening to much heavy music anymore. I was exhausted and it didn’t move me one way or the other and instead I fully indulged my appetite for twee/disturbed female singer/songwriters instead. Judge away.

Despite slowly succumbing to late 30’s apathy, I still like to check in on what friends with stronger stomachs than I are producing and every now and again something savage like Sacred Ritual or Moloch or Venom Prison grabs me by the throat and demands my attention. With that spirit in mind allow me to introduce Dublin’s Vircolac….
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Raw Sorcery: An Interview with Tom Hubbard of Hang The Bastard

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I have known Tom Hubbard for a few years, initially by reputation only but our paths eventually crossed when our bands at the time (Rot In Hell and Wayfarer) shared some wax and stage time together. Tom now  sings for the mighty Hang The Bastard, a monstrous doom metal monster currently crushing skulls worldwide. I was delighted to discover that Tom has a keen interest in tabletop gaming & Rpg’s and after I got a peek at his Araby project I knew we had to have a chat about the good stuff…..

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Feeding Chain – Parasites

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Four new songs from the South Easts Feeding Chain and once again they don’t disappoint. Feeding Chain only have two modes of function: fast and furious or slow and dirgey, an experience that’s not unlike moshing to Confront whilst wearing iron boots. Ponderous bone crunching intros drenched in ear splitting feedback crash into fast sections with pugnacious breakdowns pinched straight from the first couple of Think I Care records.
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Band Of The Week: Clandestine AD

10502191_328671617287969_204119790902352922_n After witnessing the crowd suck the energy right out of the room at the recent Quicksand show in London like a coven of Redwing bedecked Nostferatu’s, there was some doubt if I could ever bring myself to write about music on here again, such was the infectious wave of complete apathy and nausea that consumed me.The flipside to the whole turgid experience was that it made me accutely aware of how vital the current UKHC trip is and how fortunate I am to still get a kick out of a DIY hardcore show whilst many of my peer group seem content to turn out to reunion gigs every so often and schmooze the night away. Fuck that shit.

In an effort then to stave off the famished spectre of mosh yuppie vampirism I have sought out new music that posesses that crucial spark of vitae and an audience that will greet it with rabid enthusiasm and a voracious appetite. My garlic necklace, my supersoaker filled with holy water, my motherfucking Nanook, if you will, is a band from the incredibly fertile and productive South Wales hardcore scene: Clandestine AD. Continue reading

Three Unforgivable Curses: Beroth, Outrage, Ithaca

a0696476028_10Once again we’ve been slacking on the Core coverage so I figured we should do a bit of housekeeping and do a two part round up of the stuff we’ve kindly been sent for review. Most of us have been somewhat preoccupied of late, getting armies ready for Dark Throne (full report coming soon), working on the forthcoming CH fanzine and numerous other projects. Anyway enough excuses , lets get down to business.
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Bands Of The Week – Guidance, High Card & No Excuse

969735_445434728880873_539429673_nRight it’s the last day of the year and I’ve slacked off all through December with the BOTW articles, so this is going to be something of a clusterfuck. Moving into 2014 we’re going to change up the way in which we cover bands and music, rather than throwing up a brief overview of a new band each week we’ll be changing it to Band Of the Month. Each band will get a more thorough write up and a small interview to accompany the article. We’ll also be increasing the amount of reviews now so if you’ve owt you want us to look at drop us an email and we’ll give an honest review. We count knowledgable enthusiasts of most aspects of hardcore/punk/metal amongst our number, so you can be assured there will be someone with a clue assigned to each review. No funk metal though and no fucking grime or dubstep. Not Ever.

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Band Of The Week: Harrowed

574606_548568515194505_1312328427_nFor 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.

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Band Of The Week: In Tongues

photoA few years back I had a shortlived blog entitled Siege Perilous. I’d had the bug to do a fanzine again for a while at that point, but the reality of not only writing articles but then sitting down and cutting and pasting the whole thing together, forking out for the printing combined with having to get off my arse and sell the poxy thing was far too arduous a prospect to seriously consider. A blog was the compromise. Upon reflection it was fairly disjointed collection of ideas, reviews and rants, lacking the fluid cohesion and ruthless precision of the mighty Corehammer. Anyhow, back then I recieved a demo from a band of young chancers from Glasgow calling themselves In Tongues. Whilst the demo showed hints of promise (much like the blog that reviewed it) the songs were a disjointed mish mash of ideas and riffs. Some really cool, almost Abnegation type parts and harrowing vocals were diluted by the cheesy Strife’esque gang vocals they’d shoehorned in. Anyway, never heard much about them again after that, figured they’d packed it in which was a shame because like I said, they showed potential.

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Band Of The Week – Forsaken

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It ain’t easy starting a new chapter after the last band you were in enjoyed some success and caused a bit of a fuss, such is the case with South Wales crossover oiks Forsaken. With at least one member having cut their teeth in the short lived (but nigh on perfect) NYHC inspired Wardogs, the pressure to ensure you DON’T deliver a turkey must have weighed pretty heavily on those narrow shoulders and after a so-so demo and some average live shows I thought that’d probably be the case with these lads, thanks for playing have a nice life etc.
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Band Of The Week – Bang Bros

The Brotherhood Of Bang

The Brotherhood Of Bang

Last week the Corehammer Mournival very kindly gave me the week off from BOTW so that I could A) Focus upon my end of year project for University and B) Piss about with my mates at Outbreak Fest for the weekend. The Witch Hunter himself Chris Kaye held the fort and did a sterling job in my absence, introducing Nibiru who are a BIG favourite here amongst the inner circle pit, be sure to check out their new 7” on CTW, it’s a ripper.  Anyhow I’m now back in the saddle and suitably relieved/revived enough to continue telling you all about bands that you were probably already hip to long before I finally switched on and tuned in. We seem to be developing a theme here because this week I want to talk to you about ANOTHER class act from Dublin, Ireland. The mighty BANG BROS!!!
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