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!!!

Review: Gatherer: "Postcards" EP (2012, self-released)

Genre: Post Hardcore

Location: NJ, USA

Band Website: Bandcamp 

Label: - (self-released)

I just want to throw it on the table, that I am not such a big fan of post hardcore. However, when records are THAT GOOD, I can't help but get in line and accept the fact that some post HC bands out there are really doing something great, and something new.

Gatherer belongs in this category of bands who are pushing the agenda and are making music that is truly great. This EP of theirs contains 4 songs, each one of them displaying its own personality and conveying a unique set of feelings. The overall atmosphere Gatherer creates is one of desolation, loneliness, even despair. But they manage to escape the melodramatic, sad bastard category that so many other bands inevitably fall into. And this is because Gatherer gives off an air of intelligence, intricacy and progression. All the songs are short, beautiful and straight to the point, in and out before you know it and leave you wanting more.

The production sound throughout this EP is very nice and clear, with mildly distorted guitars doing their discordant thing, while the bass fills all the gaps with a warm and rounded sound. Indeed, this is how to do stuff. By paying meticulous attention to their sound, Gatherer succeed to present their work without being lost in translation (i.e. a bad recording or a sound that belongs to a different style). The drumming is also very well placed, changing a lot of rhythms but mainly staying on the slow to mid tempo, with clever patterns sticking to that aforementioned post HC notion. Last but not least, the vocals have a lot of personality and speak directly to you, letting all bottled up feelings out (but without trying to much to sound like the problem child on behalf of the vocalist). Just straight out HC kids doing a different thing, that's all.

Summing up, it's a rare thing these days to put a record on and get the feeling that it ended to soon. This is when you want to stop whatever you're doing at the moment and play the record again. This is what I've been doing in this case, and I am very glad about it!

M.O.R.A. - S/T (full length, self-released)

Genre: Thraschore/Crust/NYHC

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Band Websites: Sterokiller, Bandcamp

Label: -

Finland's M.O.R.A. deliver the fucking fear with the 9 songs of their incendiary debut album which lasts a grinding 16 minutes! There is a lot of interesting stuff about this band, and I will lay it down here for ya: judging from the cover artwork and layout, you'd be expecting something along the lines of Finnish hardcore (namely barbaric crust). But to great surprise, what you get instead is some no-compromise metallic hardcore with dual female vox, sounding like a mix between thunderous thrash and pitbull-style, old school NYHC.

What M.O.R.A busts out is a tight blend of some rarely mixed styles, like having the Cro-Mags team up with Hoods in a fight against Totalitar and Skitsystem. Metal riffs of all types come and go and give way to the more punk stuff, while the exchange of fast and groovy parts keeps the edge tight throughout the whole recording. The two female vocalists have each locked down their vocal style and manage to create a no-BS blend of two totally punishing vocal deliveries. Their approaches are kinda similar since they both have a hoarse screech that will haunt your thoughts, but a description could be as such: one vocalist sounds more adolescent and punky, while the other has a characteristically evil and mean growl.

Since I don't know a word in Finnish, I can't really explain anything about the lyrical themes M.O.R.A sings about, but I wouldn't expect that they sing about no happy stuff. I'd guess something along the lines of modern socio-political punk? Hate against society and normality? Something like that. Last but not least, this Finnish hardcore powerhouse packs an awesome and very tight production that puts many professional recordings to shame. The guitars are nice and heavy, but I want to point out how good the rhythm section is; it showcases a gurgling bass, and drums that have a sharp and metallic but also organic feel.

To sum it up, this band is not a bunch of crusty punx just doing the dbeat  rehash; they have their sights set forward, they know their influences, and have created something new and modern out of the basic elements of the music we adore. Thus, they are oldschool and progressive at the same time. We need more bands like this!

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?

Featured Band: Holodomor

Holodomor was a man-made famine that violently took the lives of  millions of people in Ukrainia back in 1932. Also known as the "terror famine", Holodomor has often been compared to the Holocaust in terms of its violent extent and severity.

Based on the above concept, one can easily imagine that a band which goes with the name Holodomor won't be singing about no happy stuff. This extreme death/thrash/crust outfit from the UK puts its name on the map with its EP Temoignages de la Gnose Terrestre. What you'll get by listening to this recording is 5 tracks of unholy, heretical deathly modern thrash with some subtle post crustcore touches. Clearly going out like an extreme metal band, but with the extra modernity and straighforwardness that fans of metallic hardcore will surely appreciate, this is a band to keep an eye out for. Their songs need a bit of getting used to, but in our book this is a good thing, and Holodomor will reward you by wanting to listen to this self-released EP again and again.

Listen to the song below if you feel like being treated with some vile thrash riffs, harsh death/crust vox and unholy oldschool blastbeats that will crush your head like it ain't no thing! Negative metallic mayhem, here we go!

www.facebook.com/Holodomor

www.holodomor.co.uk

Black Coffee - 2012 Demo Tape Review (Self-Released)

Black Coffee! What a name fro this no-frills hardcore outfit from Australia, which has released a demo of nasty punk waiting to rip at your throat. BC follow the uber old school approach of 0% metal hardcore in the vein of other current hardcore bands like Noose and Another Mistake.

Usually at this point we'd say that even though these guys are loyal to the old school tradition, they have their own sound and they stand out because of this and that, but... there is no need to do that here. Black Coffee has a clear task at hand, and that is to recreate a much loved (but also kind of extinct), true sound that is generally known as the roots of hardcore. The closer thing I can think of is SSD with a bit more extra speed and spite (if the latter is actually possible). All early, snotty, thrashy early US hardcore is a reference here, like Jerry's Kids, Necro, and all that good stuff. Hell, there is even an Urban Waste cover to seal the deal.

There are 8 songs in this demo, and every instrument is played in an abrupt and unforgiving manner, while hints of Aussie accent arise here and there as the cherry on the cake. It's good that we live in times modern enough to allow a good production sound even for demos. Here the production is not perfect but it doesn't need to be, as long as everything sounds kind of clear -- which does. Also, I personally I have to note that demos often have some of the best and most original artwork out of all extreme music releases. That's before the opinionated labels come in to influence and change everything (a sad fact of life). This is also the case with Black Coffee. Their whole demo - physically released only on tape - has a super neat layout, as their black & white artwork is simply irresistible and perfectly matches their dry, pissed off, tornado hardcore style.

What is there to not like about a band which plays fast-paced hardcore like the good ol' times? This is the real deal for every hardcore bum who hasn't mellowed out, or the skater kid who is ready to step out and find the original spirit of this music.

P.S. Black Coffee is a side project of other Aussie HC/punk acts (Hard Luck, Faux Hawks + others) and I can't seem to find any band pages on the net, aside from this post at Rest Assured Zine. The demo can be downloaded for free from the abovementioned link. Enjoy!

Record Review: Forever Young Victoria - "The Hardest Part of Ending is Starting Again"

Genre: Post Hardcore/Other

Country: Ruhrarea Gelsenkirchen, Germany

Band Website: bandcamp

Label: -

I'll be 100% honest with you: FYV's cover didn't exactly motivate me to listen to their album, at first. I find it a bit outdated, maybe too simple, if there is such a thing. But as the saying goes, we should never judge a book by its cover and, dear lord, was it the case with this German post hardcore band. As soon as I hit the play button, I was immersed in a world of beautiful discordance and artful dissonance that really struck a nerve with my already damaged nervous system.

FYV jump around with ease between the post hardcore, screamo and post rock genres, painting a mid-paced but pretty harsh and chaotic sonic landscape. The band has paid meticulous attention to its sound, with a warm 'n' fuzzy guitar tone, a treble-absorbing bass, as well as unpredictable and offbeat drum patterns to accompany the general chaos. Things are topped off with a crazy vocalist whose tortured wail balances between Bad Brains' HR and general screamo insanity.

Throughout the 9 songs of this recording, FYV keeps it fresh and manages to come off as a pretty underground band. There is nothing polished, pretentious or premeditated about FYV's harsh post  hardcore, even though the general outcome is cleverly coated with an overall, basic rock feeling. What you essentially get is the archetype rock band going for something different, and using the basic instruments in an interesting albeit not excessively technical manner. You wont find any sung choruses here, but if you are up for some Refused action going backwards to meet some Bad Brains rock, you won't be disappointed.

P.S. An extra thumbs up goes to the final track, which is a slow, ambient, instrumental rock anthem with beautiful post touches. I will be looking to hear more of that in intertwined with FYV's heavy riffs in the future.

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.

Mental Waste - "Meltdown" (self-released)

Genre: Raw hardcore/Fastcore

Country: Salinas, USA

Band website: bandcamp

Label: -

Mental Waste is the type of band that brings a wonderful combination of the extreme and the catchy; and I don't only mean that as far as the music goes, but also in relation to the artwork and the overall feel they give off as a band. Even though they play some pretty mean fastcore with grindcore passages, they manage to come off as listenable, straightforward and rather punky overall.

Usually when we use the terms grind and/or fastcore in this zine we are talking of crusty bands who usually flirt - even a little - with metal. This is not the case with Mental Waste, who deliver their short hardcore blasts without even giving a nod to the metal format. What we have here are simple but effective riffs backed by machine gun drumming and an pissed of vocalist. All of the 10 songs in this recording (except the last number) are below the one-minute mark, but they are so potent and so much stuff happens, that you think they have lasted for more.

As I mentioned above, the vocals sound pretty fucking angry but while the vocalist screams and shouts, he doesn't exactly growl. This is another fact about Mental Waste being closer to punky thrash and of course another clue as to whether this is your type of stuff. Fans of he Maximum RNR-school, who call fasctore "thrash" will definitely dig this record and will play it loud on their mp3s, while biking down the road going to the DIY show. But rest assured, there are many interesting ideas, especially in those slow, mini mosh parts which last only for a few seconds before the insanity starts again!

Essentially, this is pissed off hardcore for pissed of HC kids who have escaped the chugga-chugga (which I love, personally) sound and are looking for something rawer and unprocessed. The good thing about Mental Waste is that they don't copy any of the famous bands of the genre, but actually do their own thing while paying respect to the roots (Heresy, Siege, Ripcord, Dropdead etc), and of course with a newer, fatter sound! Eat this up, vegan thraskids with bikes!

- Fotis.TYS