ALL THINGS OLD SCHOOL AWARDS - The Best Of 2021

Ugly music for an ugly year... yet a very prolific one for many bands despite all the shitstorm pouring non-stop onto our heads through 2021 and that transpires very well in the music you will hear here, a selection of 47 rabid tracks that will drill your ears and melt any old wax that has been stuck for who knows how long!

This edition won't be featured on Spotify, there are too many bozos doing it already there, besides who needs another damn playlist? Back to what's important, this selection features bands hailing from all over (Indonesia, Morocco, Brazil, Russia, Germany, Norway, Spain, Greece, Australia...) with a decent variety concerning the Hardcore Punk and Metal spheres. The highlight goes to The Chisel, Arm's Reach, GAME, Tower 7, Jalang and, once again, DEAD HEAT.

To make your quarantine experience moshier, you can stream on YOUTUBE or download (below) to meet all your offline needs... and now, without further ado, the "winners" are:

SIDE PUNK (Total time 1h05m)

01. HEADCOUNT - Stolen Time

02. ARM'S REACH - Time

03. FIREWALKER - Forever

04. INTERNAL - Terminate

05. HACKER - MDK

06. GAME - Shard

07. STIFF MEDS - Under The Boot

08. SCOWL - Trophy Hunter

09. THE CHISEL - So Do I

10. OCCUPATION - Beware Of The Light

11. CRUCIAL RESPONSE - S.K.I.P.

12. HEADCHEESE - Kick The Bucket

13. DESCENDENTS - Nightage

14. STINGRAY - Feeding Time

15. GOODBYE WORLD - At The Graveyard

16. C4 - Health Freak HeadStomp

17. FANTASY WORLD - Rules Of The Game

18. XCELERATE - Life's a Risk

19. WRECKAGE - Face In The Crowd

20. STEDFAST - Wrong & Right

21. TIDES DENIED - When Worlds Collide

22. METHOD OF DOUBT - One Million Copies Sold

23. AGE OF APOCALYPSE - Ghost (Hart Island)

24. LIFE'S QUESTION - A Prayer For My Old Man

25. BIG BOY - A/X

26. DARE - Hard To Cope

27. THE OTHERS - Living In Fear

28. COMBUST - Pull The Hammer

29. EXHIBITION - Adapt Or Die

30. JALANG - Cops N Klan

31. SPY - Negative Mind Power

32. ACADEMY ORDER - The Glow

33. CHAIN CULT - Always A Mess

34. TAQBIR - Aisha Qandisha

SIDE METAL (Total time 47min)

35. TOWER 7 - Green Piece

36. SKOURGE - Metal Up Your Ass

37. EKULU - World Of Uncertainty

38. PEST CONTROL - Rat Race

39. FACE FIRST - Visions In Hell

40. CERBERUS ATTACK - Combatir Al Fascismo

41. KILLING FROST - Midsummers Eve

42. HEAVY SENTENCE - Capitoline Hill

43 . HITTER - Hitter

44. WRAITH - Gatemaster

45. NEKROMANTHEON - Seven Rules Of Fate

46. ANGELUS APATRIDA - Indoctrinate

47. DEAD HEAT - AGE OF DH

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HALFMAST - Together (LP Version)

Location: Buffalo, New York

Release: Conquer The World Records, 1995

Nowadays, when revisiting and old obscure band you never know what you will find on the internet, a new record? High quality rips on main streaming services? Unreleased material? Usually nothing much. Well, in this case here, for HALFMAST basically all of the previous!

Bandcamp has become a great outlet for independent music and it often surprise us with long forgotten bands/records, mostly due to the effort of the ones envolved in those groups, likely here the works of Nick Baran, singer of Halfmast, Poison Planet and the guy behind Third Party Records.

HALFMAST was already featured here in the Ambassador Records write-up, now they ressurected the Together EP in its original intended length with 16 songs, most of it unreleased!! If it wasn't enough all the bands rare Demos and EPs were also uploaded, including an unreleased split 7".

Musically these newly uncovered songs are a bit rough on the edges, but given the time/period they were conceived they represent the resistance of the old school hardcore into the 90's where most were going post-hardcore or metalcore. I chose to upload here only the LP and the unreleased stuff, visit their site to fill your needs and donate at will.

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CASTIGO - Tu Caída

Location: Madrid, España

Release: Tambores De Guerra Discos, 2021

You may know Yoshi from Tambores De Guerra channel, but he also runs a label and plays in CASTIGO.

Boston hardcore by the way of Madrid, since 2017 they've been feeding us short blasts of rage sang in castellano, their debut EP Tu Caída just came out a few months back, 7 songs under 10 minutes. The title track taken from the 2020 promo was selected for last year's All Things Old School spotify thing.

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HARDCORE NEWS 15.5 "Demo Zone II"

More demos more demos more demos more demos more demos more demos more demos more demos more demos more demos demos more demos more demos more demos more demos... from the year 2021

BURNING LORD - Demo #1 (Tribe Dream)

Unsurprisingly, once again a huge amount of newer bands are being drawn by 90's metalcore and the beaten ol' path TERROR/Hatebreed formula, kids holding guns in the usual gang photo cover, the whole shenanigan repeating itself, like it was widely discussed in Zack Nelson's podcast: in the end of the day, it's a fun and easy to be attracted to style. So when bands like BURNING LORD come along and keep it raw and simple, in the true old school hardcore essence, not unlike that LAYBACK band featured here last time, they usually stand out from the pack. Demo #2 scheduled for 2022 with already a certain anticipation building.

S.M.I.L.E. - Just S.M.I.L.E. (Delayed Gratification)

These dudes, reppin' Rubber City hardcore (Ohio), also tried something slightly different in their sound and boom, I got hooked! Got me thinking of 2010's Detroit hardcore and the whole Ghoul Gang collective. Tapes can be ordered here.

BIG SHOT - Demo (Tambores De Guerra)

Hudson Valley group bringing the right amount of metal in their hardcore, rooted in the 80's, almost Crossover Thrash like Dead Heat. It would be a shame if they stopped here, more please!

SMASH N' GRAB - Buffalo Hardcore (Edgewood)

Edgewood Records managed to build a name around them with not many but steady solid releases over the years and their newest signing by these newcomers from Buffalo keeps it going strong, demo tape out now.

STEDFAST - Willing To Give (Core Club)

Crunchy guitars check, mean Mike Judge-ish vocals check, gang/sing-a-longs check, you moshing check, hooded edgeman drawing check, Tampa Youth Crew into 2022 and beyond check. 

DOWNLOAD [all demos]

HARDCORE NEWS 15 "Demo Zone"

Who remembers the great DEMO ZONE section hosted at Straight & Alert Records' website? In only a few minutes you were exposed to a bunch of cool new stuff coming from all corners of the globe. To save some time and sort of paying homage to Alex's label, here's a mini Demo Zone 2021:

LAYBACK - Demo (England)

I got a strong feel of NYHC: Where The Wild Things Are meets Leeds HC with this one, also couldn't help to compare them to fellow countryman in MASTERMIND. This project has the full old school hardcore package, including the raw production demo, very promising.

SUSPECT - Demo (Germany) 

 

Man... there's a new label/zine in Germany and they mean business! I'm talking about Collective Memory Records and their sick debut release with the also german dudes in SUSPECT followed by Tides Denied and Exhibition newest dope records, all killer no filler.

COSMIC JOKE - Demo (USA) 

 

This demo rocks hard, fast/short hardcore with slightly melodic parts not unlike Gorilla Biscuits and Kid Dynamite under a more modern take, it's COSMIC JOKE from Los Angeles.

OUTFACED - Demo (Germany)

From the same label that brought us Powerage comes OUTFACED, more quality raw pissed german hardcore. This one got me thinking of ALLxILL, fast with mean breakdowns.

SOUL HARVEST - "S/T" Demo (UK) 

 

Closing up this Demo Zone revival a tasty 3-song Crossover offering by SOUL HARVEST from Newcastle upon Tyne because Crossover bands are never too much... never enough!! All hail riffs galore!

DOWNLOAD [all demos]

PEST CONTROL - Infestation / Rat Race

Location: Leeds, UK

Release: Self-released, 2021

More PEST, more THRASH!! New single out in April.

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POWERAGE - Demo MMXXI

Location: Düsseldorf, Deutschland

Release: STTW Records, 2021

POWERAGE's 2019 full-length Introjektion was a real blast I reckon, feels like storming through a minefield during an air raid, trying to grab your limbs and shit as they fall apart. Just recently they presented this new DEMO with a glimpse of what's to come, an ugly af future that is!

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NEKROMANTHEON - Visions Of Trismegistos

Location: Kolbotn, Norge

Release: Hells Headbangers, 2021

Behold the beast of 2021, bringing inspiration from ancient Egypt and Greek mythology to their old school Death/Thrash harder-than-ever sound, NEKROMANTHEON is on top of their game after 9 years since the last album came out.

This thing is so damn evil that it can blow a priest's head off just by listening to the opening riff, a true shredding machine working 32 minutes at high voltage. It's even more maddening to think they're just 3 dudes raising all this hell, so how they came up with this monstrous album "all the sudden" you may wonder?

They first appeared on my radar after they were featured in the sick SPEED N' SPIKES split series by Relapse Records around 2008 alongside other select Thrash acts such as Abigail, Rammer and Toxic Holocaust. Besides the killer music, all 5 split 7-inches forms a nice zombie-themed cartoon painel.

After that they recorded 2 stellar full-lengths and won the Norwegian equivalent to Grammy in 2012, the Spellemann Awards! Taking in consideration this background plus the fact they started in 2005, it all falls into place when you listen to Visons Of Trismegistos. In 2019 Duplicate Records came forward and re-released their awesome first EP We're Rotting with a bunch of extra tracks from splits and compilations, which is the version you'll be getting here.

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[We're Rotting LP + Speed N' Spikes Series]

NO LONGER AT EASE - Demo

Location: Charlotte, USA

Release: Self-Released, 2021

Artwork: Haleigh Cunningham

More demos coming your way! This one was suggested by Devin from Rejection Pact, I'm talking about North Carolina's NO LONGER AT EASE and their 4-song debut work.

As the first track progress my expectations about the band's main influence (due to name choice) were confirmed, you get strong vibes of late BEYOND and BATTERY.

Their background consist of 2 bands: the youthcrew band Substance and the fast and pissed Fading Signal. They took a bit of that rage out and added some melodic riffs, a formula that had a secure home in labels like Rivalry Records, thus bringing a lot memories back.

Such a strong start always raise the bar for whatever comes next, let the folks at React! hear it to see it skyrocket!

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WRECKAGE - Both Demos

Location: Connecticut, USA

Release: Scheme Hardcore, 2021

Representing Connecticut Hardcore into the new decade comes WRECKAGE and their second demo playing fast and to-the-point hardcore with strong Youth Crew influences! The good stuff are starting to pop up in 2021.

Tape out on Scheme Hardcore, first demo got a limited run by Dead At Birth Fanzine.

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FANTASY WORLD - Rules Of The Game Demo

Location: Detroit, USA

Release: Self-released, 2021

Wasuuuuup?! For fans of Moshers Delight/Lockin' Out sound, meet FANTASY WORLD.

DOWNLOAD

More nasty music soon, don't die!!!!

WISH TO DREAM - Demo 2021

Location: Seattle, USA

Release: DIY, 2021

Age of Quarantine, day # 432 - Just got this little nice surprice in my inbox, the 4-song demo from Seattle's newest HC act WISH TO DREAM. Named after the coolest song in Uniform Choice's second album Staring Into The sun.

The reference is sick, sort of underrated album by Uniform Choice, which translates musically as having fair amounts of melodic hardcore into the Youth Crew formula. Either way this is a solid kick off by WISH TO DREAM and got me wondering what the future holds for them, a very promising project! Fav track "Strength In Anger".

Also representing the US-Northwest Hardcore and, from what I believe, has members of Wish To Dream in it, comes REAL and their debut album "2019", very well produced straight forward hardcore, mastering signed by Killingsworth.

 

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Shoegazin' On a Sunday Afternoon (Sampler)

Age Of Quarantine, day # 424 - As I turn 40 this month, one day before Fiddlehead releases their newest effort to be more precise, I came up with a song collection of very recent stuff from the Post-hardcore/Shoegaze world scene.

Post-hardcore was always something I had a hard time enjoying and wondered if I got older that would change, like I witnessed my whole life: near 30's scene dudes going "soft" (aka loafer shoes, lattes and Bauhaus). Absolutely nothing wrong with that and even though it feels like a natural path to follow I couldn't see myself fitting that cliché... but, as you age, you learn to appreciate other forms of music.

The fact is this transition isn't new to anyone, blaming on Hüsker Dü or not, how many cool Post-whatever projects were born after Hardcore Punk bands? Besides all those 90's Revelation Records and Dischord bands it were groups like GYPSY and Westpoint that really got the ball rolling for me and planted the seed of "            " (fill the gap with either 80's Emo, Indie Rock, Grunge, Shoegaze, Power Pop, Post-punk,...) in my brain.

The following is a suggested soundtrack for those longing for a summer trip or for those blue moments because I feel post music is about both:

A-side  "fresh releases"

01. WORLD VIEW - What's There To Do (from What A Trip EP, 2019)

02. GLITTERER - Bodies (from Life Is Not A Lesson, 2021)

03. GUMM - Swallowed Whole (from Piece It Together, 2020)

04. PINWHEEL - Stone Heart (Single, 2020)

05. MAGIC GHRELIN - Magic Ensues (from Drye Eyes, 2020)

06. UTMOST - Big Dose (Single, 2021)

07. STAGES IN FAITH - Keep My Name Clean (Single, 2020)

08. FIDDLEHEAD - The Years (from Between The Richness, 2021)

09. SOUVENIRS - Ribbon (from Love For The Lack Of It, 2020) 

10. GLARE - Passing Dream (Single, 2021)

11. RAW PLASTIC - Car Parks and Recreation (from Waiting Till Summer EP, 2021)

12. DRUG CHURCH - Tawny (from Tawny EP, 2021)

13. SWEET SOUL - Some Nerve (from So Far No Further, 2021)

14. MOTHER - Dillydallying (from Dillydallying EP, 2021)

B-side  "mini tribute"

15. ONE STEP CLOSER - Broken (Turning Point)

16. WESTPOINT - Undead (Memorial Day)

17. SUNTITLE - As Your Ghost Takes Flight (Saves The Day)

18. ANXIOUS - Bled White (Elliott Smith)

19. MOONKISSER - Kid Candy (Seaweed)

20. SUNSTROKE - Under Your Influence (Dag Nasty)

21. GENERATION - By a Thread (Inside Out)

22. NARROW HEAD - Holy Snappers (Beastie Boys)

 

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Two (relatively) new labels that are rockin' the underground scene lately are New Morality Zine and Sunday Drive Records, pay them a visit to fill your urge for more quality melodic music.

Floorpunch's mosh guy art used in the cover was originally made for UTMOST, order their merch here.

1984: Punk Is Dead, Metal Up Your Ass!

Age of Quarantine, day # 408 - (Heavy) Metal is for the 80's as Grunge is for the 90's, two Rock 'N' Roll sub-genres responsibles for undermine other rock-related youth movements, the Punks (1977-1983) and then Metal itself (both Thrash and Glam metal-heads) in the 90's. In this write-up we are going to revisit the first Punk bands that embarked on the newfound Metal trend and the subsequent development of CROSSOVER that followed, highlighting some obscure albums that succeded, not comercially but by withstanding the test of time.

The biggest example of a band crossing over sub-genres is probably the Boston pioneers in SSD, with the general decreasing interest in Punk by '83, they quickly adopted a new sound in the following year with the How We Rock LP but we know how it turned out for them, a big disrupt in their audience and an unappealing album. That was the case for many other groups but the outcome were certainly diverse.

Before the tides turned in '84, there were 2 groups that defied logic with their ultra-fast music back in 1982: VOID and DISCHARGE. With the release of their seminal albums that year, new standards were raised for both punks and metalheads.

Aware of the ongoing changes, many Punk & Hardcore bands around 1984-1985 either changed names or scrapped their initial material to encorporate METAL. Trailblazers in UK and US started to pop up, shaping the yet-to-be coined Crossover Thrash sound: ENGLISH DOGS - To The Ends Of The Earth (1984), SACRILEGE - Behind The Realms Of Madness (1985), CARNIVORE - Nuclear Warriors "Demo" (1984), CORROSION OF CONFORMITY - Animosity (1985), CRO-MAGS - Age Of Quarrel "Demo" (1985), YDI - Black Dust (1985) and S.O.D. - Speak English Or Die (1985).

By 1986 the underground rock scenes around the globe was already taken, mohawks and spikes were replaced by long hairs and camo pants, followed by an avalanche of Crossover productions, specially in NY with Combat Core's most notable releases: CRUMBSUCKERS - Life Of Dreams and AGNOSTIC FRONT - Cause For Alarm . Other highlights with big shifts in their sound for that year includes Seattle's THE ACCÜSED - The Return of... Martha Splatterhead, Houston's VERBAL ABUSE - Rocks Your Liver and Toronto's SUDDEN IMPACT - No Rest For The Wicked. Also, both groundbreaking CRYPTIC SLAUGHTER - Convicted and CONCRETE SOX - Your Turn Next that didn't switch their sounds per se but indeed were adding more Metal up in their punk veins, or asses.

From 1987 to 1991 things got real busy, a kid could get lost in a record store spending loads of cash to acquire a dozen Crossover releases and still wouldn't scratch the surface, in the shopping bag you would probably find one of these game-changer albums: EXCEL - Split Image (1987), D.R.I. - Crossover (1987), BROKEN BONES - F.O.A.D. (1987), AMEBIX - Monolith (1987), LEEWAY - Born To Expire (1988), SUICIDAL TENDENCIES - How Will I Laugh Tomorrow... (1988), R.D.P. - Brasil (1989), PRONG - Beg To Differ (1989), GANG GREEN - Older... Budweiser (1989), THE EXPLOITED - The Massacre (1990), HOGAN'S HEROES - S/T (1990) and BIOHAZARD - S/T (1990).

Now... looking for what got lost in the haystay during these years of Metal reign, bands with a decent amount of followers that, like SSD, are most known for their earlier punk work but have, at one point, released (usually just before breaking up) these ugly monsters that deserve a second spin, true Frankensteins of an era:

WASTED YOUTH - Black Daze (Medusa, 1988)

Starting by the cover, this and the following records have pieces of art that screams the 80's in the best way possible! From Punk to Thrashers, representing LA, Black Daze and its 8 tracks (including a Van Halen cover) are on constant spinning in my boombox for years already, recommended for fans of Welcome To Venice compilation.

LOST GENERATION - Midnight Meat Train (Anthrax, 1989)

This Connecticut group has a fairly rich output in punk productions, including collaborations with HR in '83. Further on they even flerted with goth in their great '88 album Censored but it was not until '89 that they took the higher risk by fully embracing Metal and delivering the thrashy beauty that is Midnight Meat Train, whose title was inspired by Clive Barker's story.

The album also includes a cover song by Merryweather's classic Kryptonite and featured two different artworks for USA and European markets, due to graphic content in the original one (seen above).

ENGLISH DOGS - Where Legend Began / Metalmorphosis (Combat, 1986)

The first time I saw something related to them was on my teenage days in a magazine featuring an early Sepultura band photo in which one of them was wearing a English Dogs t-shirt, that image stuck on my mind for eternity for some reason. Years later I came to know their music that evolved from Oi!-Hardcore to Metal Punk quite rapidly, making their '85 album Forward Into Battle their most notorious work but they've put other records out during their called Metal Years that are worth giving it a try.

The most obscure and underrated one (before going on their first hiatus) must be the Where Legend Began, this album resonates Metal all over, leaving little to no space for hardcore or punk in it, headbangin' alert! As a bonus the 3-song EP Metalmorphosis, released the same year, was also added here. Very fitting EP title by the way.

DR. KNOW - Wreckage In Flesh (Metal Blade, 1988)

Even Nardcore's mainstays wanted a piece of the pie, before splitting for good and following constant line-up changes they assembled a Metal squad and went out with style! Just begin by the artwork, similar to stuff found on latin automotive workshop facades. Jokes apart Wreckage In Flesh is, in reality, my personal favorite album by them, I strongly recommend you to take a chance on this one!

The LP came with a cover sticker that said the following about this release "DR. KNOW CONQUERS IT ALL FROM BLUDGEONING YOUR SENSES WITH POWER, TO THRASHING IT WITH SPEED... ON THEIR NEW VOYAGE DR. KNOW TAKES YOU ON A TRIP THROUGH THE STONNED SIDE OF REALITY. IMAGINE A WORLD WITH THIRD DEGREE BURNS, IMAGINE WRECKAGE IN FLESH! FEATURES A BRUTAL VERSION OF INTO THE VOID." Convincing huh?! ...and yeah they covered Black Sabbath.

DISCHARGE - The Price Of Silence 12" (Vap, 1984)

These guys needs no introduction, or shouldn't need, the originators of D-beat, changed the course of extreme music for good. The influence they exerted on Metal eventually came back around on their own music, this "reversed" influence can already by heard in their '83 EP Warning: Her Majesty's Government boosted by line-up changes on guitar duties (which later resulted in the creation of Broken Bones). The rare Japanese-only album The Price Of Silence compiles the EP with the same name plus the Warning EP and more.

In '85 they dropped another EP called Ignorance that clearly shows them going furhter in a (tragic) sonic collision with Heavy Metal/Hard Rock. By '86, with the release of their second full-length Grave New World, they already sounded something entirely different (0% D-beat, 100% Glam), turned out to be a huge disaster. Passed that and with a new formation in '91 they presented something way more decent in Massacre Divine, but the damage was done.

ATTITUDE ADJUSTMENT - Out Of Hand (In Your Face, 1991)

San Francisco thrashers, best known for their first full-length American Paranoia (out on Pushead's label) was and still is recognized as a major staple in the HC community but their follow-up album Out Of Hand is rarely brought to mention, out on Heresy's bass player label - In Your Face Records. Influenced by everything that was happening at the time they stepped up the metal intake without damaging their style.

WHITE PIGS - Songs Of Sin (Walkthrufyre, 1989)

The ugliest of them all, another Connecticut's munster: WHITE PIGS and their farewell album. They started as a no-frills hardcore band similar to early Poison Idea with an EP released by Super Seven/Mystic Records (later featured in a compilation). By '85 they recorded the demo for Songs Of Sin, going through a Speed Metal makeover, which caught Combat Records' attention and six songs ended up on the label's Boot Camp EP Series in '86.

The full-length was only released 3 years later on Walkthrufyre, right after the band split. This label has a few and mostly obscure releases but the ones by Life Sentence standout!

WARZONE - S/T "Demos" (Caroline, 1989)

Before wrapping up, this album shouldn't go unmentioned, another drastic change in the wrong direction, NYHC legends S/T LP reunited the worst of both worlds, which later even Raybeez disregarded the album. Then why is it here? Well, the demo sessions for this album leaked sometime ago, a less metallic version with some different (and better) songs that didn't make to the final cut.

Other hardcore legends that put out something almost as weird but in the long run I learned to enjoy them were CRO-MAGS' rapmetal album Alpha Omega from '92 and UNIFORM CHOICE's The Cult worship in Staring Into The Sun from '88, nothing but shaved long hairs and cowboy hats.

CREDITS: DTS-Metal.com, METALLIpromo.com, PUSHEAD and SEAN TAGGART for doing amazing artwork for nearly half of these bands.