LAWFUL KILLING - Coin Toss

Location: London, UK

Release: DIY, 2020

This new generation of London rockers already showed what they are here for, dozens of UKHC groups are keeping it lit to worldwide audiences consistently! Yet another band joins the rank - LAWFUL KILLING - comprised by Ben (Frame Of Mind, Guidance), Joe (State Funeral, Imposter, Chubby & The Gang), Thad (Mastermind) plus Oscar and Olly complete the line-up.

They debuted in 2018 with a 8-track cassette on P.M.T. Records, their sound was very reminiscent to JERRY'S KIDS and GERMS which progressed to a more aggro crossover style while still maintaning some of the punk rawness, as you can check on this 2-song Promo "Coin Toss" that eventually will be part of a much bigger release on Advanced Perspective.

DOWNLOAD [+ extras!!]

TERMINAL CONFUSION - The Mangler Years

Location: New York, USA

Release: Mangler Records, 1990-1995

TERMINAL CONFUSION, another group taken from the URBAN STYLES Tape Compilation to be featured here. A band based in Queens from 1986 with deep connections in Graffiti and N.Y.H.C. Besides paiting walls and doing mad flyers -- led by VOYER -- they were consistently recording music until 1995 (most of which were recorded by legendary producer Don Fury), the year they released their best effort in my opinion, the 8-song "Earth. Evolution. Extiction" CD.

During the late 80's and early 90's TERMINAL CONFUSION put out half a dozen demo tapes which I couldn't find all the audio files for, just for the albums released on CD or 7" during the 90's that are complete for download here and on average quality, for quite some time now I've been looking for better material but even with the creation of a bandcamp I remain hopeless of ever achieving that, as they are ultra rare.

Also this may or may not have been featured on Blogged and Quartered before, if new stuff appears I will update the download link here. Along the way this band shared members with other dope acts like SECOND 2 NONE, UNHOLY ALLIANCE and SEIZURE CRYPT until they got back together in 2003 and disbanded for the second time not long after the release of their final CD "Scenes From Acts Of Violence".

UNHOLY ALLIANCE was a short lived NYHC band with only a self titled 6-song EP out in 1989, supposably they recorded a demo which sounds way cooler but I only found the EP.

SECOND 2 NONE (thanks to Fred who cleared things out) was another short lived Hardcore group from Queens, active in the late 80's with at least one demo out. I tracked down 4 songs from their 1990 Demo.

Then there was SECOND TO NONE (with no relation to Terminal Confusion whatsover) based in New Jersey, they were playing that 90's metallic beatdown sound not unlike FURY OF FIVE and later formed Shattered Realm. In 2009 they reunited for the Black N Blue Bowl and put out a compilation CD entitled Demo-ography 1995-1998 with all their early stuff.

SEIZURE CRYPT was just plain crazy, in a good way, a mix of No Reedeming Social Value and Sloppy Seconds, hardcore punk wild style. Pay a visit to their bandcamp as all their records are for free download.

Bonus: UNCLE AL is actually Alex Morris, one of the fouding members of NY legends in MURPHY'S LAW! Back in 1998 he recorded the album "Gangway, Stupid" and released it on CD the next year by the same label who released the Unholy Alliance EP, where Alex also played guitar, in 2014 it was re-released with a different artwork and made available as digital and on streaming platforms.

DOWNLOAD I contains:
Terminal Confusion - Pursuit Of Solutions EP (1990, Self-Released)
Terminal Confusion - Terminal Confusion 7" (1994, Mangler Records)
Terminal Confusion - Earth. Evolution. Extinction CD (1995, Mangler Records)
+ scattered demo songs

DOWNLOAD II contains:
Unholy Alliance - Unholy Alliance 7" (1989, Something Else Records)
Uncle Al - Gangwan, Stupid CD (1999, Something Else Records)
Second To None - Defeat CD (2002, Cartel Records)
Second To None - Demo-ography CD (2009, Self-Released)

DOWNLOAD III contains:
SECOND 2 NONE - 1990 DEMO

Credits: Freddy Alva, Hardcoreshowflyers.net and this blog.

CRUSADE - First Cassette

Location: Missouri, USA

Release: I HATE I SKATE, 2017

Hard to top the previous post, in an effort to keep the level high I dug a hidden treasure from Springfield (MO), the demo tape by CRUSADE.

The record blasts off with shredding metallic riffs, preparing the terrain for their full scale crossover assault over the course of the cassette, 4 songs is just too damn short! They still play gigs so a sequel to this is probably not out of question.



I believe this is the second time a group from I HATE I SKATE is featured here, first one was The Real Cost, which later signed to Pop Wig for a record that never came out. This label has some hard af bands under their host, be sure to check them.

Another band worth checking is Overload Of Natural Energy (O.N.E.) which is comprised by dudes in CRUSADE as well. They've put out a demo with Advanced Perspective in 2017 and a few months back they self-released a new 4-song EP "Psychoactivation". They progressed a lot from the demo, still raw but way improved NYHC sound. 

DOWNLOAD [Crusade + O.N.E]

BATTLE RUINS - IV​.​XIII​.​MMXIX

Location: Boston, USA

Release: DIY, 2019

April.13.2019, the lastest offering from the Ruins. 3 new songs glorious Oi anthem style. A few hundred copies of cassette were produced, long vanished.

DOWNLOAD

In a couple of weeks the blog completes 10 years, after that the future is blurry, if you have any request please do it now!!

BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT - Blackout Demo

Location: Tokyo, 日本

Release: Bowl Head Inc, 2019
Artwork: YOYO Tome

Every other year comes a band from Japan that totally rocks my socks off, straight outta Tokyo surges BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT (not to be confused with the australian one).

Fresh demo with 5 hard tracks to be reckoned with, influences goes from NYHC in Madball and Outburst to more contemporary sounds that I relate to BACK TO BACK RECORDS hosted groups, such as Blind Justice and Violent Situation.

Speaking of that label, another japanese band comes to mind: SOUL VICE, a project from Tome (Bowl Head owner) that was suppose to release a record through Back To Back around 2015, unfortunately that never happened. As I suspected they share members with BLOW YOUR BRAINS OUT and with another Nippon band that I dig a lot called Stand United.

On a side note, TRIPLE B RECORDS just signed another Bowl Head band, SAIGAN TERROR, which is more Ratos de Porão type of hardcore.

DOWNLOAD [+ surprise extras!!]

LIKE IT OR NOT - The Street Passion Mixtape

Location: Los Angeles, USA

Release: Lockin' Out, 2019

Not too long after the Demo Revisited came out, the infamous LIKE IT OR NOT full-length finally got released, more than 10 years delayed.

At first, recorded by Nick Jett back in the late 00's, he showed me some of these tracks years ago and some of these were circulating on the web. After a couple of live appearances and lots of merch out the project got folded. Fast foward to 2019 et voilà! Re-recorded or remastered, this 9-track album is finally out on CD by Lockin' Out.

DOWNLOAD

Another exclusive from yours truly!

SUBLIMINAL EXCESS - 2020

Location: Chicago, USA

Release: 11 PM Records, 2020

It's past mid January already, time to feature something released in 2020. Now enters SUBLIMINAL EXCESS with their demo debut cassette on 11PM Records, the same label that released GAZM and ARMOR.

This demo concept is based on the first Blade Runner movie, which took place last year, its funny to think all these novels predicted this dark future so nearby (Akira and Running Man also happened in a futuristic 2019), anyway that was a good call by the band! Sonically they rock pretty hard, it's ugly, bouncy and addictive altogether.

GET A COPY

DOWNLOAD

The band share members with countless other Chicago groups from the past and present, but the ones that surely helped shape the sound of Subliminal Excess are 86 Gemini and AFFRONT!
  

LIVING IN FEAR - Wrong Side Of Another Day (Deluxe Edition)

Location: Atlanta, USA

Release: Personal Best Records, 2019

One of the sickest new bands I heard in 2019, their new LP "Wrong Side Of Another Day" put them right on top of my list of best current crossover acts out there!

I'm assuming LIVING IN FEAR began in 2017 and after a few EPs and demos they dropped this bomb in form of a LP, consisting of 7 tracks plus 3 bonus songs in the (Deluxe) download version, including covers by Cro-Mags and Nuclear Assault, pure fire!!

DOWNLOAD

 

Start the year ripping heads off shaking dat booty!

CRIVITS - Rotterdam Posse (1990 - 1998)

CRIVITS was a band I got into very early on while I was still a teenager, around 1999, bought the Eye To Eye CD out on LOST AND FOUND Records and used to skip the slow songs (lol). Then I had a hard time trying to find the rest of their releases for years! Surely there must be others on the pursuit as well so it's time for another discography from the vaults.

Hailing from Rotterdam (NL) they started in 1987 and has become a legend in the European hardcore scene, influenced by Lärm and US-bands like Gorilla Biscuits, Unity and Turning Point, CRIVITS kept the Dutch straightedge alive for another decade. They stopped recording albums in 1998 but live appearances happens occasionally.

At the time the band was active they shared members with other cool bands such as X-MEN and Guidingline. Afterwards they could be found playing in new projects such as ECHOES, BIRDS OF A FEATHER and more recently in ONCE I CRY.

For download I got hold of virtually everything in the highest quality, the 4 LPs plus the 2 EPs that were later added in the Eye To Eye album, a compilation of their first 3 albums.
 Musically they progressed from a raw old school youthcrew (making Pressure from 1992 their best record to many fans) to melodic hardcore already on their 3rd album Drive (1993) which, in times, can even be considered as post-hardcore. As I aged these post tunes became much more pleasant to my ears as opposed to my younger me.

Nevertheless they still produced some hard edge tunes even in the so called "melodic-phase", tracks like Point Of View, Live Your Life and Rotterdam Posse are memorable!

DOWNLOAD the following records:

199X - Live In Berlin 7" (Old World Records)
1995 - Stare LP (Lost And Found Records)
1996 - Once Again LP (Lost And Found Records)
1997 - Eye To Eye : Contains "Pressure" LP, "Back With a Message!" EP and "Drive" EP (Lost And Found Records)
1998 - The More The Truth Hurts... The More I Learn About Myself LP (Ignition Records)

For unreleased CRIVITS stuff, like demos and live versions, go to this post on OLD FAST AND LOUD!!


I attended the old school
Remembering all that is said
Still holds true to what feels right
The Rotterdam posse is NOT DEAD!

ALL THINGS OLD SCHOOL AWARDS - The Best Of 2019

Photo: Angela Owens

For starters this whole thing of "Best Of" can be a very personal matter (empathy vs talent), is hard not to take sides. That's why this year I decided to do more of a retrospective of all releases that got my attention in Hardcore, Punk, Thrash and some stuff in between! (Probably the last one I will ever be doing)

Of course there were some highlights this year that I have to point out like WHO THE HELL IS WILD SIDE? Man what a record, the exact kind why I still listen to hardcore, stoked that they pulled it off after many years of wait. In general, the crossover scene dominated again this year with great releases by DOMINANT FORCE, HIGH COMMAND, SPIRIT CRUSHER and DEAD HEAT to name a few. Other highlight would be the Hungarians in TOUCH with their new album The Darkness Reflects (tip from my buddy Pingua), a powerful hardcore masterpiece, not to mention the new albums by B'URST!, GAZM and BATTLE RUINS.

Some labels ruled the old school music business this year with plenty of strong releases, headed by TRIPLE B and Quality Control HQ and a good amount of albums were out in late november and december, making it out of many best lists out there, for instance SKOURGE on Lockin' Out Records.

To improve this journey through all these releases plus many more here's a Spotify Playlist (naysayers flip-out!), bad grammer included. Selected bands coming from all corners of the globe, from Indonesia to Peru, Canada to South Korea! Of course not everything is on that platform, albums by RATED X, SUBVERSIVE RITE and MURO were left out along some other new albums. As they are added in I will be updating as I did for the 2018 playlist.

There should have been more post surprises before the year ended but my PC stopped working, eventually they will be up in January/February.