NEVER-TRUST: Bomb the Fucking System!

BAND: Never-Trust

RECORDING: "Bomb Da System" EP

STYLE: Metallic Thrash/Thrashcore

LOCATION: Athens. Greece

Label: Self Released

Website: FB // Youtube

Hell yes! One of my favorite things is the hellish mix of metallic thrash and groovy, no-frills hardcore. I am not talking about no party-thrash punkers who copycat Suicidal, early Slayer and DRI; and I am definitely NOT talking about those brutal hardcore bands who incorporate 1 thrash riff whenever they think it's the cool thing to do.

What I am talking about is bands like Never-Trust, who can write some mean fucking riffs all the way through, and bring the pure thrash aggression with a "straight from the heart" hardcore touch. Ouch! These Athenian badasses pack a ton of mosh but don't forget to kick it with some pure breakneck thrash speed. On the other side, they are not afraid to make a solid hardcore song, but are always careful to pack it with a certain metal/thrash coating. It's up to you to find out which is their style exactly, but one thing's for sure: they know how to do what they do.

From what I know, these fellas have changed singers recently, which - judging from a live performance I saw them at recently - can be a good thing. The guy on this recording has a nice growl but doesn't totally have that "extra something" compared to the many hardcore/metal singers of today. What Never-Trust need is a frontman whose voice and style can really match the sheer intensity and streetwise aggression that their music already produces. However, I am sure they are now on the right track with this!

Keep an eye out for this up & coming thrashcore machine because they're gonna hit u hard!!!

Eden Demise - "Retaliation" (Official Video)

BAND: EDEN DEMISE

STYLE: BEATDOWN HC/METAL

LOCATION: ATHENS, GREECE!

WEBSITE: Facebook

LABEL: ON THE ATTACK / ?

 

So you must already know that Greece has a long history in brutal, metallic hardcore! No matter the trends of today (full of PC and fake DIY mentalities), I also remember the days that hardcore kids weren't afraid of mosh parts and bands with harder attitudes. Oh well..

One of the bands that did not stray from their own path is Eden Demise. These guys stuck with the heavy metallic 'core, and I guess now that this sound is coming back everywhere (with bands like Warhound, Xibalba, Incendiary etc), these guys are the lucky ones.

Eden Demise recently released a video from their upcoming album. What we have here a video of clean "in your face", just as it happens in the streets of Athens every day. I have to add that for me Eden Demise has taken that big step up musically, making a new sound of their own which incorporates modern beatdown and extreme metal (i.e. prog deathcore, black metal) ingredients... The band had their bassist move to guitar duties recently, and that is the wisest choice they could have made, since the dude can churn out stompy riffs like a motherfucker. You gotta hear it to believe it!

Now check this video and don't forget to RETALIATE!

I LOVE MOSH: HEAVYWEIGHT COMPILATION VOL. 1

Good news for all you kids into brutal and beatdown hardcore!

I Love Mosh, one of the most active and popular hardcore download blogs around, has just issued a comp filled with 40 (!) songs of heavy-ass, brutal/beatdown hardcore! Some bands are already established names in the HC scene, but you will also get into a lot of new stuff thru this comp. The production level stays pretty good all the way through,which very vital for underground moves like this!

The comp also contains two songs from two of Greece's best hardcore bands: Senseless and Overpain!

Now go over to I Love Mosh's bandcamp page and heck that shit out!

Overpain - "Underrated Overhated" preview (coming late 2012)

Hell yes! Greece has always been a place for harder, brutal hardcore bands. A tradition that is kind of fading nowadays, but Overpain are here to reaffirm their city's (proud members of the Salonica Hardcore Cew - SHC) and country's legacy in brutal, heavy ass street hardcore.

I have to say that I've been very positively surprised with Overpain's new stuff, which sounds totally brutal but still has that definite old school approach. This is not the shitty, overproduced metalcore beatdown shit that most bands churn out these days; no, this is real hardcore with a metallic edge, slow 'n' heavy breaks, but the 'core' is definitely here (both attitude and music-wise).

Overpain's music brings me back to older times, when the harder street attitude was definitely mixed with hardcore, when throwing mosh parts in your music wasn't a crime, when bands were competing for who makes the grooviest and heaviest shit, and not who is the most politically correct.

Support this Greek band that has paid its dues and is still continuing to put out quality hardcore and perseveres an almost forgotten legacy!

http://www.facebook.com/overpainhxc

I Want The Moon - s/t Demo

What I find interesting about some Greek punk and hardcore bands, is the fact that their influences are  not so direct and harder to trace. And this is something that's good in a world of copycats and tried gimmicks. This is also the case with I Want The Moon, a Athenian melodic hardcore band made up of real old schoolers of the local scene (learn more about their bio at their reverbnation page).

With that said, I guess that we could say that I Want The Moon pay their respect to an older, slower, and proudly harsh form of melodic hardcore. It borrows inspiration equally from Leatherface as it does from Mudhoney and even Deus. I don't even know if one could actually term this music as "melodic", since the vocals are pretty rough and the melodies are on the pessimistic side but without a single hint of mainstream, romantic punk rock melancholy. Just grim, weird music with nicely accentuated and discordant guitar work. Also, it is not necessary to term IWTM "hardcore" as such, since there is no fast hardcore drums here; but I guess post hardcore is the only genre that could serve as a home for these lonely punk souls.

The reality of the matter is that the potent melodies that these guys have thrown in their songs have their own antisocial brand of melody and catchiness, and have something that grows on you with every time you listen to this demo. I should also mention that this demo is a live recording, and that's something that has worked very well on this occasion: a prefectly rough sound with a high impact on your ears (in fact, it all sounds very decent and 'clear'). There is nothing pretentious in what this band plays at all; and that is a good reason to start liking them a lot.

To sum this review up... IWTM's music is good at painting pictures of introspection, ferociousness and loneliness... a strange mix indeed. We have to do with that sort of matured ferocity that accompanies much of the good Leatherface-isnpired punk. it's like a bunch of angry bears giving you a lesson in irony, apathy and bitterness. Very nicely done!

Eternal Hated - New Song June 2012

Since we've been on the subject of current Greek hardcore recently, it shall be good to take things a step further and dive into the progressive metal/hardcore world of Eternal Hated. We'll do that through their new promo song they uploaded only a few days ago. Just press play & listen now!

So these guys are still freaking young but with an early start at making awesome music, they have already made 2 full lengths. At this point in their history, Eternal Hated are coming off the ultra-experimental 26:48 Minutes of Life, which was a somewhat risky and garage-y approach to metalcore. However now EH are down one member (i.e. the singer is gone) and in this promo song the vocals are shared between the guitarist and the bassist. And you what...? Good for them! They are back on the heavy side of things, which for me is obviously a good thing. They are darker, meaner, heavier and more pissed off. They still keep the experimental side, but without losing focus of what should be done and the fact that music like this must always be accessible. This song fucking grows on you with every time you play it.

Eternal Hated definitely belong to the new generation of modern alternative musicians who have taken things to the next level. They combine the knowledge of the music we all know (hardcore/metal etc), but give it the extra twist that only fresh and talented minds can bring. I am just so curious what their next step will be.

Gutter - "Modern Decay" demo (self-released)

Today is a good chance to take a peek at the current state of Greek hardcore and what better way to do this than with Gutter's Modern Decay demo.

Gutter is a band that doesn't fuck around at all and plays some truly aggravated hardcore punk. These guys know what to do and how to play for sure, as they are all  experienced by playing in other bands (Sarabante, Antimob, Jaggernaut a.o.). This 9-song demo is a very nice example of real punk music: snotty as fuck, paying respect to the mid/fast tempo, proto-HC sound. If this sounds like your thing, check this Athens-based band right now! The record also contains two covers (of Void and Reagan Youth) and has a pretty decent production. The originality factor is not extremely high, but I don't mind, and after all this is something that will shine through on their next recordings I'm sure.

Last but not least, I would like to add that in my opinion, Gutter also gives off a real anarcho-punk vibe, even if the music itself is closer to US hardcore. Somehow, in my ears, this music fits nicely with dirty squats and dreadlocks hanging from caps with patches :)

Find Gutter at http://gutterhxc.blogspot.gr/ and also stream the songs below!!!

Dirty Wombs: "We Rise" Demo Review

Genre: metallic punk

Location: Patras, Greece

Band Website: bandcamp

Label: (-) self released

The Greek scene has a lot bands breaking out right now, and they are doing it in style and with ferocity. I am happy to say that some of these young fellas aim very high and really raise the bar, thus creating some music that's totally worth the attention of the worldwide metal/punk/hc world.

A good example of such bands is Dirty Wombs, an awesome metallic punk band based in Patras. Now people may want to call this style they're playing "japcore" and make comparisons with all kinds of crazy underground punk bands that I am sure the band listens to in order to craft their sound... however, since I am not too big on Japanese HC, I will break it down for you in a more simple way. What DW really do on this one is take the tight metallic basis of old school thrashy punk and combine it with crazy-ass solos, memorable double-guitar harmonies and barbarous crust vocals. Their style is all go no slow, and maintains its character throughout all the 6 songs of this self-released demo. This band could go down well with crust/dbeat fans but also with thrash freaks, and of course the more open-minded and underground-loving metal kids.

Anyways, so DW has just released this incendiary demo (which was a long time in the making) on a nicely presented, limited cassette release. What we got here is a neat little package with cool artwork that is loyal to the band's style, accompanied by a nice layout with lyrics, drawings etc made by the infamous Jerboa Illustrations. The production is ultra tight to the point I am quite amazed. The mixing brings the  flaming guitar leads at the fore, while the organic-sounding drums, rhythm guitars and truly distorted bass make this mother sound tight and mean. I want to give an extra point for the vocals, which are heavy but sound really clear (you can make out the words and everything) and go back and forth between english and greek.

All in all, this is a very solid piece of work by this Greek band and I am sure the underground will catch up on it fast. Won't you?

FAITHREAT - "Thrashing with the Stars" EP Review

Genre: Crossover/Thrashcore

Location: Volos, Greece

Band Website: Bandcamp, Facebook

Label Websites: n/a

Released in the middle of fuckin' winter, here comes a 7inch release from the 5 stooges of Faithreat that reminds us there's still summer in our hearts!!

Co-released by 4 labels in 350 hand-numbered copies, there're no real words to describe this ep of theirs (I'd say PENIKUFESIN, ha-ha!), with the band to be inducted to Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame after all the fuss ends! Rumors are circulating that, initially, Chuck Norris and Steven Seagal were to write the review for the 7", but due to insurmountable differences and terrible disagreement they started trashing everything up with roundhouse kicks, so the band called on me to salvage the situation once again!

Let's get a little serious there for a while... The 8-song ep is aptly titled Thrashing with the Stars. Ιt consists of musical leftovers from the band's auditions for "Dancing with the Stars" [-We said, serious!!-Oh, ok…]. As you can tell, it's dedicated to movie characters who marked our childhood and continue to haunt our lives, such as Steven Seagal ("Unstoppable Force"), Chuck Norris ("Man or God?"), Mitch Buchannon and Robocop ("Iron Bin"). It also contains a Christmas debunking of the myth of Santa Claus, this corporate-created bearded man, a fuck-off to posers ("Meatballs") and my personal best, "Hairless Charm", dedicated to mighty fuckin' Tsakonas, the favorite 80's cult Greek comedian! No need to explain about him, he's already a legend!

Regarding the music: We got eight fierce short songs that really take no prisoners!! Straight to the face, kick-ass thrashcore / crossover that leaves you begging for more. Fast and intense, riffs cut like a razor, vocals sound just right and the production kills! Thumbs up also for the collage cover and gremlin artwork, courtesy once more of the notorious P. Ntolas. Overall, the ep is a nice foretaste of the band's full length to come, hopefully after the end of the world (12-12-12). Yeah you jive turkeys, Faithreat will survive the blast, cause they are approved by Chuck Norris himself! Highly recommended for fans of Suicidal Tendencies, D.R.I., Vitamin X, R.A.M.B.O. and the like.

That's pretty much all. I'd like to suggest that a free copy of the 7” along with a thank-you letter be sent to mr. Tsakonas, for the endless laughter he's been offering us all this time with his hilarious acting!

Enjoy life and thrash' em all,

Leonidas "For Those About to Mosh" (again)

Record Review: I Want You Dead: "ΑΩ" 7" Review (7 Inch Distro / W.A.K. Records)

Genre: Dark/Brutal Hardcore

Country: Greece

Band Website: bandcamp

Label Website:7 Inch Distro / W.A.K.

Hell fucking yes! What we have here is a very unique concoction of dark hardcore/metal for people who don't like their hardcore termed as 'posi'. Fans who are not afraid to step into lesser trodden paths of bleak musical landscapes, better gather round to witness what this brutal band from Greece is doing. Right now, it is unforgettably carving its name  on the bleak musical territory we call dark hardcore.

We have actually had the chance of following I Want You Dead since the beginning (check here and here), but this 7" ep exceeds all expectations created before; the band has truly reached its highest so far peak, with a totally crushing, thick and surprisingly catchy sound. Elements and influences are drawn from all over the fucking place, primarily black metal (the true BM sound, not today's hipster shit), crust and old school hardcore. All this is encoffinated within the overall Holy Terror badge that many want to obtain but just can't. At times slow and sludgy, at times fast as fuck, IWYD deliver four blasts of negative hardcore energy that definitely won't go unnoticed in today's timid hardcore scene. These four tracks land on your head mercilessly, reminding the new jacks how hardcore rightfully blends with metal to create some of the most heavy, provoking, negative music ever made.

The production is really heavy and well-layered, with the guitars creating an interesting and unholy web of nastiness, while the distorted bass is ever present throughout the whole ep. Every painful drum hit can be heard clearly -- even the noisy cymbal action which accompanies a lot of the slow, moshy parts. Finally, the vocals fill everything with their one dimensional but also very thick and scorching effect. What you hear is four dudes giving it their all, creating passionate and aggressive music that grabs the listener and doesn't let go until the record is over.

I can't imagine what's next for IWYD. Probably a well-deserved record contract with one of more established hardcore labels out there, as well as more touring around Europe and elsewhere. This noise unit shall produce a lot more bleak music, artwork and words! Good fucking stuff.

Books: Think. "A Compilation of Cheap Poetry, Lyrical Crap, Words and Images"

Compared to the amount of countless records and demos constantly coming out from the hardcore scene, there is definitely a lack of zines and books coming out of that same scene. Think. is an independent publication emerging from the Greek HC punk scene which breathes some fresh air in this music-oriented scene.

Think. is a small book which features short poems, lyrics, opinion articles and photos. It falls under the personal publication category, and while some of the abovementioned features are in one way or another related to hardcore, most are purely personal and introspective. In fact, I'd say that most of the material in this book is a way of the author venting his emotions on personal issues like friendship, relationships, depression, loneliness, money, politics, growing up, bittersweet feelings about the scene, etc. I happen to personally know this guy and hardcore is his whole life, so it is kind of interesting to read and find out what kind of mark some 10 years in the scene have left on him.

The opinion articles in this zine are more positive in relation to the poems; they are mostly guest articles written for friends' zines trhoughout recent years (including an article featured in Take Your Shot #4!). They are uplifiting and sometimes pissed off articles about getting active in hardcore, maintaing your integrity and passion, and acting with sincerity and common sense. The zines that the articles were published in are scattered pretty much all across the world, so here is a nice way to think about how hardcore can take your words and thoughts, and pass them on around the globe.

This book is a hardback edition, printed in black & white and even though the layout is quite artistic and minimal, THINK. looks more like the type of peace anarchist publication you'd find on a DIY merch table at a crustcore show. That's cool! In fact, the author makes a point about avoiding any form of artsy/hipster wannabe status and I couldn't agree more.

Like I said the author is a friend and a long time colleague in hardcore activities, so it's hard to take these words in without thinking who's behind it all. I have to pretend I am someone else reading some guy's I don't know work, so that the words speak straight to my heart (and indeed, that's how I read this book). Maybe in a way I don't want to accept that a stand up guy I know has his own issues and anxieties, so even bigger thumbs up to him for making such an all-out, honest and fearless expression of his thoughts.

 

http://thinkisforthinkers.tumblr.com/

RIVALS! - Make Your Own Path

Rivals! is a modern youth crew hardcore band from Athens, Greece, and possibly one of the best HC bands to come out of this country. These dudes have a strong Champion / Have Heart influence, bouncing back and forth between melodic youth crew and harder straight edge hardcore. They also manage to add some new school elements (some intelligent mosh parts etc), but without sounding lame or emo.

Members of Rivals! were in a more forward straight edge band named xFor No Reasonx, and after their demise in 2008, Rivals! was created with the same ideals more or less: to play honest, driving hardcore with a strong sXe feel. They have an awesome recording that will be released soon after a lot of anticipation, as I really feel the world needs to hear this. Their ep entitled Make Your Own Path contains a bunch of hard-hitting hardcore songs with layers of melody, aggression, melancholy, and great vocals and guitar work.

The thing I like about Rivals! is that they are doing it old school: they are a bunch of kids who are friends and they love hardcore. You'll spot these dudes in hardcore shows in Athens and elsewhere keeping it clean and buying merch with a smile on their faces. I am glad to call these guys friends and I think the time has come for the world to get to know more about this band!

Rivals! Facebook Page

CENSORED SOUND - 'Shadows' Album Review

These scene has awaited a long time for Censored Sound's new album, entitled Shadows. We should not forget that these guys are no rookies in the scene, being the oldest (and for a long time, the only) Greek band which played old school hardcore with lyrics in English. Therefore it is nice to see that they are back with another album of pure old school intensity, which remains pretty much uninfluenced by the trends of today. In these 15 songs, what we get is fast and aggressive US style hardcore with some Champion-esque / neo youth crew touches on the guitar, as well as hints of rock n roll and crust.

To be honest it took me a while for this album to grow on me, as it is 100% ferocious and the vocals are rather extreme, screeched in your face to the point you start to feel sorry for the dude probably destroying his voice. However, when you put some time in this album, it starts paying you back. As it is not overly catchy, it needs some attention to get the most out of it. Then the underlying melodies (especially on the guitar - great work!) start to come out and grab you, making the experience more enjoyable with every listen. I personally find this album is best heard when you're alone in your room, with the lyric sheet in front of you and your thoughts all gathered in one place.

To sum up, this is not the easy listening hardcore record that is suited for 'cool' kids' parties and BBQs. It is dark, heavy, serious, pissed off and in a sense this is the way hardcore music is meant to be. Shadows is really filled with passionate music, wall grinding riffs, high-thinking lyrical ideas and a lot more that presents the listener with a challenge and an exceptional listening experience.

P.S. We should also mention that this is a totally DIY release (you wont find no label names, sponsored studios and shops here), which is great. There are also some guest vocals by the cream of the crop of the Athens punk scene (including Vodka Jrs and Despite Everything). This is Greek HC2011, so you better get a slice of it!

www.myspace.com/censoredsound

NOW HERE ZINE #01 Review

If there was a prize for 2011's best new punk zine, then NowHere would surely win it! This is as punk as zines get these days, but at the same time there is something trashpop about it, which sets it apart from the heap of punk zines in your local distro zine box! Apparently making this zine took Lydia (the girl who puts it all together) a good two years, but it is definitely worth the wait now that this 94 (wow!)  page zine is out.

This zine is neatly put together and balances between music, art and punk politix. There are band interviews, cartoon strips, illustrations, opinion articles, record reviews, zine reviews, poems, slogans, ads created by Lydia herself, plus more stuff to keep your punk ass busy for hours on end! At least it got me staying up till 3am last night reading! NowHere covers a wide range of music, from dirty punk to hardcore to lo-fi to garage stuff and it's a good, interesting mix which escapes the hardcore/punk monotony.

I also can't pretend I'm not stoked about the fact that the band I play guitar for (My Turn) is interviewed in this zine, as well as for the fact that I've contributed a small article. It is just great to share a space with  a bunch of punx who have their own, personal, great style of writing. Lydia herself definitely owns it, I mean the lady should (and probably will) be an author someday. She uses the rarest. weirdest, coolest words out there so thumbs up!

You can reach NowHere at: info [at] nemesisknox.com, and check this site: www.nemesisknox.com

This Time The Keys Are Broken - "What About Tomorrow" EP Review

Yeah! Here at TYS we are down with the Greek hardcore bands who dare to follow a fresher approach of the music we love. TTTKAB is one of those bands, a bunch of young hardcore fellas whose influence by newer forms of hardcore definitely shows in their sound. What is important, however, is that they still keep the energy levels running high, which is the mostly essential aspect in hardcore music. So let's see what's up with this awesomely named 'new wave' hardcore outlet and the fuss they've created since their brief existence!

What About Tomorrow is the band's first recording, a 4-song EP which blasts through some very good melodic, melancholic modern hardcore. Fans of Modern Life is War, Comeback Kid, Give Up the Ghost etc take note! This band is a serious force to be reckoned with! The production sound is awesome and can easily be compared to US and whatever bands. And to be sure, this band is not some soft-ass hardcore like the type that is circulating a lot these days; their solid breakdowns are mean as hell and heavy as fuck, while the majority of the vocals are pretty harsh (not in the metal but more in the screamo style)! So forget what you might be thinking about pop parts, feelgood college style pop punk etc. This is hardcore, even if it is new age!

I could do with a bit more memorable and catchy tunes in this EP, but I am confident that this is something that will spring up in their next release for sure! After all, this band has members who might be young of age but they have all played (or play) in other notable bands, so they have a lot of potential to make a good name for themselves. At the end of the day, they pioneer a form of hardcore that's pretty much unheard of here in Greece, so thumbs up to them. We'll be here waiting for their next move!

Tardive Dyskinesia HD video on You Tube!

Photo by Petros Koublis

If you're like most people, then you probably spend hours on end checking out videos on You Tube. But if you're on the lookout for something cool and notoriously heavy, then there's something that will keep you interested for quite a while. It's Tradive Dyskinesia's new, HD video of their show supporting Dillinger Espace Plan in Athens (13 Nov 2010).

The Greek mathcore old timers have recently uploaded the whole show online, so now all of us can sit back and enjoy for free a hell of a performance on HD from the comfort of our home. It's about 40 minutes of blistering technical hardcore/metal shot from at least 6 camera angles. For your convenience, the show's been split into 4 equally mosh-isnpiring parts. So what else can we say? Head over to http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=279FFC4A43066C6F and start watching, or just click below for the 1st part!

Credits:

Directed and edited by Fotis Tsakos

Mixed and mastered by Steve Lado

Filmed by Manos (universe 217)

Live engineering by Alex / Unreal studioz

http://www.tardivedyskinesiaband.com

http://www.myspace.com/tardivedyskinesia

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tardive-Dyskinesia/166396600597

I Want You Dead - "We are the Legions of Scums" Review (2010)

OK people, it's time to get serious, cause this band is surely not joking around with their core. Hailing from Patras/Greece, I Want You Dead is a dark heavy hardcore outfit that has hit the premises of our country (and beyond) with such force and ferocity that you won't believe your ears when you listen to them. This is their 1st full-length (self-released on vinyl, free download), entitled "We are the Legions of Scums" and it is here to destroy all our ears.

IWYD plays a form of hardcore that incorporates both ultra-heavy and oldschool HC sounds. It may be based on old school hardcore (let's say some Boston stuff comes to mind), but is definitely layered with heavy and dark modernity which pushes the whole thing forward into another direction. You can hear some Integrity type mosh, some Cursed style crustcore sensibilites, some drone/doom and a fair bit of plain death metal (especially on the vocals). When I saw them live recently, I had thought it is dark post-metal with a hardcore side; now I see that it's the opposite: it is actually all hardcore, but with a post-apocalyptic metal side to it.

I Want You Dead: happy stuff

The riffs are all epic and stick to your mind, and so do the vocals which have some pretty nice catchphrases thrown at the listener's face. In this way, the chaotic element actually becomes a tool for IWYD without leading their whole sound. Clever shit. The rhythm section follows through in a manic style, with hardcore drumming blasts that just go crazy and give you the impression that the dude is having the time of his life doing this. It is perfect to hear some heavy hardcore grooves matched with straight on hardcore drumming. I had missed that!

Special edition vinyl

Another reason to take our hats off for this band is the perfect production sound they got on this album. They've done a very good job, escpecially on the combination of the razor-sharp guitars with the natural sounding drums and the huge old school hardcore shoutalongs. That's some quality stuff right there. IWYD is now leading the way with a professional sound that at the same time doesn't sound overly big or fake (a common trap). It's just the right balance between going pro and going down to the basement. Thus, I Want You Dead manages to provide the feeling that accompanies their music: a suffocating, dark and angry feeling, like a caver buried alive two miles below surface.

Give these guys their props while they're returning from their 1st ever European tour, and catch them on the print version of TYS!!! Get this album and listen to their awesome, almost unrecognizable cover of Slapshot's "Old School Hardcore"!

Psycorepaths - "Your Entropia Has Arrived" Promo CD (2010) Review

Hey everyone and welcome to the December 2010 edition of TYS webzine. This month is really important for us, because it is the month we will -finally- release our 4th print issue. It is done and all we have to do is send it to the printers and this bastard will be over and done with. Expect nothing but pure hardcore as usual!

OK so I will start this month's reviews with the notorious Greek deathcore band from Corfu, Psycorepaths, and their awesome 3 song promo entitled Your Entropia Has Arrived. 

We all know that many bands out there claim the label deathcore, but these dudes really deserve it. They play fucking heavy and base their sound around metallic riffs that are molded in such a way that the outcome is loyal to hardcore. The vocals are varied throughout the whole brutal (death metal and hardcore) spectrum, and the drumming in the background keeps on pummeling all the way throughout these 3 songs. There is a lot of beatdown and a lot of breakneck moshing, too. Very good!

It's been a long time since I heard a band with such a nice, solid groove to it. Most bands follow the 'thrash path' these days, but Psycorepaths really groove! If you mix 90s style metal with modern day beatdown hardcore and a meaty 00s production, you get Your Entropia Has Arrived. I hope it doesn't sound like an insult to say that these guys must have listened to a lot of Pantera when they were young. Song 3 has an closing riff that makes me wanna mosh and smash everything around here with no afterthought! I am talking about some proper phat Pantera gangsta grooves!

Psycorepaths: Earth Crisis meets Pantera!?

Another thing I want to mention is that Psycorepaths stand out lyrically. In Greece, we don't have many bands if any at all that play deathcore with straight edge themed lyrics. Yes, these guys leave aside the dark, intelligent themes (duh), and talk about the destruction of the environment and of our own bodies by modern society's marketing plans for monetary gain. This is exactly what we need: heavy bands with their minds in the right places, and not afraid to speak them!

So all respect to xThug15x and his crew of moshers, I hope they will do great in the future. I had heard a lot about this band, and now I am glad that I finally checked them out and realized how good they are. I will give them extra points for having the guts to be different lyrically and aesthetically.

[8/10]

Just a Reminder

So it's been sort of quiet here at TYS for a week or so, as I was crazy busy and also out of town with My Turn for a weekend show in Sofia (will report on that laters); but now we're back and I am personally hungry for more hardcore, and definitely ready for action.

This Wednesday we got the "Locals Only" show hosted by WAK, with a bunch of Greek bands playing covering the wider spectrum of hardcore and its musical divisions. So (starting from the way down), we'll warm up the crowd with My Turn , it will be our first ever show here in beloved hometown Athens. We're playing at 9 pm, so if you're coming then come early so you can check us out! We'll blast out our entire brand-new demo plus a couple of covers.

Next up we got Against All Odds, these guys play straight up old school (maybe a little Oi-influenced) hardcore. Hard stuff, no shit indeed. Next band on the bill is Eternal Hated, metalcore kids from Volos with an extra dose of talent and brand new ideas. Melody combined with youthful energy and fucking in your face metal. Finally, personal faves & heavy beatdown champs Eden Demise will groove your freakin head off with their stomping brutal hardcore. 

Yo yo yo so check it out, the show's gonna be a blast, lots of friends are coming, it should turn into a big party and if the turn out is good there will be a DJ set afterwards.

Xeimeria Narki (Hibernation), Riistetyt, Sotatila, Slavebreed - Sun 05 Sept - Lofos Strefi

Another perfect line-up, another perfect poster, another perfect DIY occasion. I was pretty sure I had a good feeling about the shows coming back on full effect this fall...  

The names of the bands speak for themselves, no introductions needed here. Xeimeria Narki, Riistetyt, Sotatila and Slavebreed. Altogether a thorough, ear-bleeding mix of dark hardcore/punk, dbeat and grind insanity. And let's not leave unnoticed the fact that Xeimeria Narki hold a somewhat legendary status in the worldwide punk scene, sometimes better known as Hibernation. They got the years behind them and they got the cult factor going on. So I'd dare to say that this will be an 'epic' show.

What better way to spend your Sunday than this! The show is out in the open, just perfect for these hot days, so take your beers or ice teas and see you up on the hill!