MIND X CONTROL / HARDOUT - From the Alleys to the Valleys Split EP

Location: Cardiff / Eastbourne, UK

Release: Rites Of Passage / Speedowax, 2015
Artwork: Woody Troják

One of the last realeases of this year came out as a big surprise because I thought both bands were dead but was hoping to hear new material from them. 2 new songs each, MIND X CONTROL continues where they left off from their killer demo and HARDOUT shows improvements in music writing/recording and sounds much better than their previous stuff. Overall a solid split with plenty of dance parts to bust some moves and hard edge!

Speedowax together with a new label (Rites Of Passage) delivered a vinyl piece to feast your eyes on, super cool choice of colors, labels and artwork, nice job as usual Rich!

PRE-ORDER 7"

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VOICE OF REASON - Looking Back To The Way Things Were

Location: Connecticut, US

Release: Ear One Productions, 2014

VOICE OF REASON was a melodic youth crew band that was active between 1995 to 2001, influenced by the likes of Turning Point, Gorilla Biscuits and 7 Seconds. Back then they used to share the stage with other cool melodic acts such as Fastbreak, Saves The Day and Grey Area.

This discography album comes as digipack CD and it compiles 33 heartfelt, positive, west coast influenced youthcrew songs, including demos, compilation, unreleased tracks, and their full length album all remastered! After the band's demise, Jay Reason (vocals) started The Distance.

PURCHASE CD

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BELIEF - Two Songs Demo

Location: Dresden, Deutschland

Release: DIY, 2015

BELIEF is a new band that share members with other german hardcore acts such as Risk It! and The Heist. Two songs were uploaded yesterday as a teaser for the upcoming EP on Farewell Records! Already plenty of positive feedback, it's classic bursting energy youth crew in ya face!

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REFLECT - Demo

Location: Machester, UK

Release: DIY, 2015

REFLECT is a new project from the same dudes who brought us Survival and Insist but this time around with more melodies and intensity not unlike Battery, Outspoken and Have Heart. Recordings came out pretty solid, making it a very enjoyable 4-song demo that leaves you asking for more.

DOWNLOAD
[link provided by the band]

CORRECTIVE MEASURE - Demo 2015

Location: Maine, US

Release: Broke & Infamous Records, 2015
Artwork: Chris X

Fresh straight edge band hailing from the City of Bangor, playing that classic 80's hardcore in the vein of Straight Ahead, no frills! Braden (vocals) sent me the link a few weeks ago and now the Germany based label Broke & Infamous has the european version of this tape that sold fast on US soil. 

PURCHASE TAPE/MERCH

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Also be sure to check the small yet increasing Broke & Infamous' catalog, a label that is run by my buddy Athos (DisXease)!

HIGHER GIANT - The First Five + Al's Moustache

Location: New York

Release: Black Numbers/ Creep Records, 2009

I was just listening to Black Train Jack and started to remember about Ernie Parada's bands, one in special is somewhat underrated: HIGHER GIANT. This short lived super group produced 2 EPs and a total of 9 pop punk tracks in the vein of CIV and Black Train Jack.

The band was comprised of David W. (Kid Dynamite, Paint It Black), J-Sin (Warzone, Grey Area), Alex (The Arsons) and of course Ernie Parada (Token Entry, In Your Face,...). When it comes to melodic shit I'm very specific, there are only a few dudes that can lay down this kind of solid melodic punk and these heavywheights are definetely amongst them.

DOWNLOAD (both EPs)

HIGHER GIANT - Al's Moustache (Black Numbers Records, August 2009)

HIGHER GIANT - The First Five EP (Runner Up/ Creep Records, March 2009)

HUMAN GARBAGE - Guilty Of Being A Man

Location: Los Angeles, US

Release: 7th Circle Records, 2014

With Sleepwalkers on a hiatus, Aldo and his pals started another project last year: HUMAN GARBAGE, a no holds barred hardcore reminiscent of Think I Care, Slapshot. In their first and only record (so far), they came up with 7 tracks full of hostility, speed and intense tempo changes. Lace up and mosh on!  

PURCHASE TAPE

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V/A - Tribute To BREAKDOWN

Not an official release (or even bootleg). The deal is... I'm gathering tracks for a covers only compilation and came across a bunch of Breakdown ones and damn, they are good! Classic bands playing classic hardcore plus a few underdogs makes this short but hard-hitting online comp a well deserved tribute to one of the most crucial bands out there: BREAKDOWN NYC.

Tracklist:
I. TERROR - Kickback
II. ILL BRIGADE - All I Ask
III. BITTER END - Don't Give Up
IV. KILL YOUR IDOLS - Vengeance
V. CATHARSIS - Sick People
VI. LOSING GRIP - Street Fight
VII. JUSTICE - Intro/Blacklisted
VIII. NO TURNING BACK - Vengeance
IX. CHOKEHOLD - Kickback
X. MENTAL OCTOPUS - Safe In a Crowd
XI. UNEASY PEACE - Sick People
BONUS: FLOORPUNCH - All I Ask (live)

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Notes: No Turning Back has also recorded the song Sick People. On a search for different BREAKDOWN covers I found that Power Trip played Jail Of Depression live but they didn't record it. The artwork (crappy collage) was done by me (Cesar PC) using the image archive from the band's facebook page.

MOVING ON - S/T EP

Location: Seattle, US

Release: Alternatives Label, 2015
Artwork: Nate Walters

Fast and to the point youth crew! 7 blasts clockin' under the 1 minute mark on the debut 7" from Seattle's young blood MOVING ON. They recently got back from tour with Red Scare and Clarity (new EP out as well). Vinyl has just been up for pre-order, scheduled to ship next week!

PURCHASE 7"/MERCH

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MEDEA - Doomed From Birth

Location: Stockholm, Sverige

Release: Injustice Records, 2015
Artwork: Staffan Tengnér

MEDEA is the swedish answer to nowadays Power Trip and Foreseen or even Violator, yeah it's that good. I'm guessing we will be hearing a lot more of them in 2016 as a full-length is being written!

Doomed From Birth is their debut EP on the german Injustice Records that sold about hundreds of copies worldwide in just a few weeks. This EP is already impressived, skilled rippin' fast thrash metal with heavy doses of crossover but... what they presented on the new Promo Tape I take my hat off, in fact the hat exploded, the first time I heard it I threw my chair out of the windown and smashed the keyboard on the pc screen. Gadem! I'm talking about possessed riffs, neckbreaking hooks and breakdowns (3 or 4 on each song) it will leave you like you spent the last 7 and a half minutes inside a hurricane or a laundry-machine, it will fuck you up. CAUGHT IN A MOSH!

PURCHASE 7"

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Caution! Before playing the Promo Tape, be advised we are not responsible of any injury it may cause to you or others nearby. Play at your own risk!

AWOL - Vision + Demos

Location: Newburgh, NY

Release: Back Again Records, 1990 (long out-of-print)

This is one of those posts that would be better suited in blogs like Blogged And Quartered or One Track To Hell because we are talking about here of one of those real obscure gems and its complete discography. A.W.O.L. was a band from the second wave of NYHC that lasted from '88 to '91 featuring Sam Carbone, Darryl Quirk and Tom Connelly from All Out War, basically they changed the vocalist (Rich to Mike Score) in 1991 and All Out War was born.

A.W.O.L. is higly recommended for those into that nostalgic late 80's/early 90's

hardcore in the vein of Social Justice, Visual Discrimination, Release and a bunch of others bands/records we grown to love uncovered to us by infamous Lost & Found in a time of need (pre-internet era)! Hence AWOL's records never got reissued,  their music started to fade in people's memories doomed to become only a footnote on AOW's wikipage and would remain so, if it weren't for a couple of dudes in the B9 board.

Discography:

1988 Two Faced Demo

1989 All This Confusion Demo

1990 Vision 7" (self-released)

1990 "Having a Ball" Compilation Tracks

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Acknowledgment: Vista Fanzine and B9board users: EscapedFromTheValley, cthc89, Henry 'unionwiththeabsolute'.

UNION OF FAITH - S/T Demo

Location: North Carolina, US

Release: DIY, 2015

Allriiiight, fasten your seatbelts, Stephen and The First Step crew are back!!

PURCHASE TAPE [Europe]

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]



First show takes place in two weeks. This also marks one of the last shows from MINDSET.

Thanx to the Garcia Bros. for the heads-up yesterday, which allowed to get a limited free download on bandcamp itself.

BUSTED OUTLOOK - Grand Slam Sessions

Location: Bay Area

Release: Layin' Waste Records, 2015

This band is rad af!! From aesthetics to the urgent music, BUSTED OUTLOOK has all the elements that hardcore punk were initially established upon, not just all that mindless rage and reppin' your local crew we are becoming used to.

They play a mix of youth crew and fastcore with riffs galore and provokative lyrics, featuring members from dozens of other cali groups, such as: Permanent Ruin, In Digust, Condition, Ritual Control, Scalped, and the list goes on.

B.O. has plans for an US tour (with some dates already confirmed) and also Europe for 2016, for that matter they demoed some songs in "grand slam sessions" that will appear on the upcoming full-length by REFUSE RECORDS, scheduled for July. I believe this is their second promo tape, first one was for their debut EP on Warthog and sold on a festival last year, the demo "plagued in horder" was recently issued in vinyl by Speedowax!

SUPPORT:
 2015 Promo Tape [Layin' Waste Records]
Spitting Wind EP [Warthog Speak Records]
Plagued Hoarder 7" [Speedowax]

DOWNLOAD

[includes '15 promo tape, demo and zine w/ lyrics commented by Rich] 

if your lyrics lack substance / while you are talking about being hardcore / me and my friends will show you the door
- scholastic deth

LAYIN' WASTE RECORDS

New label in da house! Primarily focused on cassettes, Jeremy B.O. has just started Layin' Waste showcasing 5 of the finest Bay Area's hardcore groups and they are all new to me (except Busted Outlook). If you are down with that retro sound New Breed Comp. meets UK82 you may want to watch this label closely, it's raw and hard.

Tapes (and possibly a webstore) are promised to be available early november.

PROFILE - 2015 Promo

Members of Scalped, No Sir and Stressor. SFHC back on the map.

DOWNLOAD

SUBTLE VIOLENCE - Criminales

Members of Spinebreakers and Bad Times Crew. South Bay Oi punx.

DOWNLOAD

WINTER HILL GANG - Demo

Members of Scalped, Profile and Provos. Boston homage. San Fran Mob Stomp!

DOWNLOAD

TUNDRA HOGS - Demo 

Wild music for wild people. Bay Area's Alaska enthusiasts. 
 

DOWNLOAD


I skipped B.O. on purpose because I was already writing an article about'em and they are up next!

--------------- layinwasterecords@gmail.com --------------

KID ARMOR - The Outcome Replays

Location: Orange County, US

Release: DIY, 2014

One year after the well received Better Days EP, KID ARMOR presented in 2014 their second album The Outcome Replays. This time around the punk O.C. influences speaks even louder, more crafted/thought-through and harder then previous compositions, it also features a kickass Adolescents cover.

The first EP was love at first sight, high energy youth crew cali style. The latest EP is one of those records that grows on you and asks for second or third replay as they got really creative with breakdowns and skankin' parts. However, almost a year after its release I can't figure out why there's still no label backing this up!

FFO: Rotting Out, late Down To Nothing, 90's Epitaph Records. 

PURCHASE CD/MERCH

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]

xxx

SOS - S/T EP + Demo

Location: Boston, US

Release: Lockin' Out / Perfect Victim, 2003-2004

Lots of bands named after SOS and at least 2 in hardcore alone. The one in question is from Boston, led by guitarist and producer Eric Lomon and existed for no longer than a year. They recorded 2 albums, each with its own style and shared members with CRUNCH TIME.

The 2003 Demo must be the weirdest release on the LOC host, strange looking artwork and pretty hard to come by. Musically it's that classic early 2000's LOC Sound Boston style.

  The 2004 Self-Titled EP shows the band taking a different path with vocals resembling to R'N'R and musically to The Suicide File, nothing groundbreaking here but very interesting neverthless. My favorite track is the last one, an instrumental trippy song, always listen to it more than once when I put it for a spin.

The EP features an even stranger artwork, they ended up being referred as the SOS of unicorns. I got my copy on CD format ages ago.

To complete SOS' discography, there is an exclusive track on the notorious Sweet Vision compilaton by Lockin' Out and that's that. For the other SOS hardcore band (Scott Vogel, Nick Jett, Matt Henderson) I asked Nick if they were going to record more under that name and he said there's no chance of that happening but Scott has another thing coming with Sammy Siegel, Walter Schreifels and Andrew Kline: WORLD BE FREE! 

PURCHASE EP [last few!]

DOWNLOAD [+ scanned inlay & lyrics]

HEF - Wont' Rain Forever

Location: La Plata, Argentina

Release: DIY, 2015

I've just read an article on Noisey about a youth crew group from Peru! It blew my mind just to think people overseas are starting to grow interest in our region's hardcore punk productions.

The main issue for me here is that we live a big dilemma: to be a punk kid in the third world means, in most cases, you come from a (very) low income family, therefore you won't have access to decent instruments and minimum standard recording/practicing facilities. On the other hand IF you can afford a few upgrades, most local punks will turn their backs on you! So we are caught in a vicious circle, lots of bands playing 'outdated' punk rock and a few others trying a different path striving just to get local support, it often splits the scene and weakness us all. The attitude is there, alive and should not be related to someones aqquisition power but the output is often undesirable (aka boring).

Maybe, as a result, it's been quite a while I don't hear such an exciting band hailing from Argentina, since JUSTIFY I guess. A quick search showed that a new wave of bands are emerging and on the epicenter of that tsunami is HEF! Their debut album Won't Rain Forever doesn't have a dull moment, 9 tracks of positive and fast old school hardcore. You can tell they spent some effort on production, potent guitar tones, vigorous rhythm section and well balanced vocals between shouting and melodic parts. At the end, can't help to compare them with the formidable We Ride but HEF is more down my lane. Check'em!!

ps.: once I found out when and which label will be doing physical copies, I will update here. Digital version was just released 6 days ago.

DOWNLOAD

porque sempre que llovió, paró

RHYTHM OF FEAR - Mass Illusion

Location: Florida, US

Release: Injustice Records, 2015

HOLY FUCK! This record already sounds like a classic! Mass Illusion is actually RHYTHM OF FEAR's promo tape on Injustice Recs for their upcoming LP Maze Of Confusion. They developed more of a technical crossover sound than the one presented on the demo, more tight and heavier with a strong retro feeling, sounding like it could have been released by Combat Core or Roadrunner back in the days!

Highly recommend for appreciators of Crumbsuckers, Morbid Saint, Kreator and D.R.I.    

PURCHASE TAPE/MERCH

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]

EXPIRED YOUTH - Where We Stand [+3 unreleased songs]

Location: Chicago, US

Release: Think Fast! Records, 2005 - 2007

If this was released today a bunch of kids would be all over it, wearing shirts, figuring on top 'whatever' lists and so on. In reality they did get a certain attention when the EP came out but with social media nowadays it would reach different scales. Ironically, the other day, as I was putting this record for a spin I decided to google for EXPIRED YOUTH, for my suprise they are now part of social medias and even launched a bandcamp recently with 3 UNRELEASED SONGS (demos for an upcoming LP that didn't come through)!

Expired Youth were all about fast Youth Crew with nods to Uniform Choice that are more apparent on the Where We Stand EP from 2006, it starts off with Win Or Lose a song so energetic that makes you fell like your ears touched a socket, you get wired up! The demo is more raw and sort of generic Youth Crew but even so it's freaking solid, filled with punch-through-a-wall type of breakdowns, I wish they re-recorded those.

After EY broke up in 2007 you can find them on other 2 hardcore projects: One Foot In The Grave (Third x Party records) and DECLINE with dudes from Noose, both great acts!

PURCHASE 7"/CD

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]

 

[Tracks 1-5 Where We Stand 7", 2006 / Tracks 6-9 Demo, 2005 / Tracks 10-12 Unreleased, 2007]

HANGIN' TOUGH | STATEMENT X - Split 7"

Location: Köln / Hannover, Deutschland

Release: Street Survival Records, 2015
Artwork: Dude Of Death

Street Survival main release in 2015 thus far, a split 7" between two german youth crew groups. They made about 3 or 4 different covers for pre-orders and such, paying homage to Brotherhood and Stop & Think. Record release show happened last week and to celebrate they put the whole thing for free download!

A Side brings HANGIN' TOUGH in their 3rd release with their customary wisecrack lyrics and envolving 2-steps sound: hangin' tough. la vida loca. just without the booze and the fuckin' coca. sippin' on juice without the gin. the HT crew is out to win!

B Side has STATEMENT X, a recent group from Hannover City that appeared on this blog's 2015 Sampler, no tongue-in-cheek lyrics here, just punk attitude and straight edge stomps! Best track: foundation of doubt.

PURCHASE 7"/MERCH

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WARBOX - Demo 2

Location: New England, US

Release: Bossdog Records, 2015

A cover can say a lot about a band, specially a new one. This art shouts the 80's, sega®, uproar and slam dance! WARBOX sound stick to those attributes, totally rooted on the first wave of Boston/NY hardcore, raw and wild! The ragga-dub samples make it even more fun and distinct, keeping the same vibe they presented on the 1st demo, the hard way!!

PURCHASE '14 DEMO TAPE [Demo II available soon]

DOWNLOAD [both demos]

NO THANKS - No Thanks EP

Location: Oklahoma, US

Release: Commitment Records, 2015
Artwork: Ev Wivell (Mindset)

BUST IT! Oklahoma Straight Edge back on the map
If you didn't know well now you do
We're taking out the trash

There are a few things you can always rely on when it comes to hardcore and that's Youth Crew and Commitment Records! For long as I remember they are putting out pieces of vinyl from bands worldwide, from South to North America to Scandinavia and so on, hardcore without boundaries.

This time around, their latest output is NOxTHANKS with a 7" that bursts energy and righteousness. Favorite tracks are University Ave. and Creep, first one stressing the sick mentality and behaviour of most men upon women, killer tune! Also, for the EP, they re-recorded 3 songs from their 2013 Demo which I also added in the link below.

PURCHASE 7"/MERCH

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]

TOXIC SHOCK - Some Record Labels Are Pretentious Assholes On Record Store Day

Location: Antwerp, België

Release: Fat Kat / Toxic Waste Records, 2015

Two words: F U C K  Y E A H ! !

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[2-song Record Store Day 7"]

RIP JAY ADAMS

GONE TO WASTE - Barking Dogs Don't Bite

Location: Warburg, Deutschland

Release: Powertrip Records, 2014

I've been on the lookout for this release in high quality for over a year now and for that, you can't beat free legal downloads.

GONE TO WASTE debut full-length on PTR is out for that long already, their best stuff! The good combination of heaviness, grooviness and kickass production resulted in a blustering hardcore record that helped settle their name in the european scene with constant touring alongside Demonwomb, Slope, Benchpress and most recently w/ Guns Up! 

PURCHASE LP/MERCH
[2nd press]

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]

HOLLOW TRUTH - The War Economy

Location: Bray Area, Ireland

Release: Powertrip Records, 2015

No bullshiting here, one of my favorite releases in 2015 so far! HOLLOW TRUTH stepped up big time since the 2014's EP The Power To Endure.

In The War Economy they reached that perfect balance between thrash metal and hardcore punk, it's highly addictive and mosh-inducing crossover! The only downside (as usual) it has only 4 tracks.. but they are writing new ones. May the Celtic deities, Raybeez and Cliff Burton enlighten their minds once again during this process!

PURCHASE 7" / MERCH

DOWNLOAD [320kbps]