Hardcore – Page 21 – Wonderbox Metal

Climates – Body Clocks (Review)

Climates are from the UK and play Hardcore.

This is melodic Hardcore mixed with a bit of Metalcore for good measure.

The vocals are a mixture of screams and cleans, alternated in the usual style for a band like this. The screams are passionate and the cleans well performed. I like the fact that they’re not high enough in the mix to dominate everything, which gives the music the chance to take centre stage.

The songs are enjoyable cuts of lean Metalcore with good energy. They’re the kind of band that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the old Trustkill roster back in this style of music’s heyday, which is a pretty big compliment really.

Angular riffs are thrown out quite frequently and it’s good to see the band not always taking the easy route by using tired or recycled riffs. Instead, they offer up their own take on the genre and some of the riffs are atypical and quite inventive; some even having a bit of a Mathcore twist to them.

There’s a good amount of diversity on display on Body Clocks and the band are confident enough to explore quite a few interesting ideas in the songs. More power to them for this.

This is a quality release from a band who are not only sounding very good in the here and now but are also showing massive potential for the future if they continue to embrace their personality and stamp their identity on their music even more.

A recommended listen. Play loud and get swept away in the pit.

Rash Decision – Seaside Resort to Violence (Review)

Rash Decision are from the UK and play Crossover Thrash/Hardcore.

Fast songs with short tempers; Rash Decision play Hardcore mixed with Thrash in its Speed Metal guise.

I find this style of music can get really stale, really fast, but the nice thing about Rash Decision is they manage to avoid this pitfall.

How? A couple of reasons. The first is the sheer energy and enthusiasm that these songs have. They seem alive.

The second is that although the songs are short they’re still actually songs. The band know how to write a good tune and there are hooks and catchy moments spread throughout this album like bountiful gems.

The vocalist has a good voice with just the right amount of belligerence and charisma.

This is a thoroughly enjoyable release from a band that play with passion and know how to write a good Old-School Hardcore tune mixed with a bit of Speed Metal for good measure.

Check them out and play them loud.

Obliterations – Poison Everything (Review)

Obliterations are a Hardcore band from the US.

Obliterations play Punked-up, rage-fuelled Hardcore that spits and claws its way out of the speakers.

This is violent music that has an angry disposition and a bad attitude.

The Punk riffs are infected with energy and the music is a natural combination of the Old-School and New. The riffs themselves have an older flavour but the crushing production and fiery vocals are much more modern. Taken together they give Obliterations a very enjoyable sound.

Vocally the singer shreds his way through these high octane songs with the passion and intensity of a lifer committed to the cause.

This is a quality release that’s just under 30 minutes of heavy, angry Hardcore. It’s also a great way to start your day.

Play loud.

For fans of Poison Idea, Discharge, Black Flag, All Pigs Must Die and Converge.

Baptists – Bloodmines (Review)

Baptists are from Canada and this is their second album. They play Hardcore.

The band combine violent Hardcore, abrasive Punk and Noise Rock into just over 25 minutes of emotive music.

The vocals are savage and raw, perfectly capturing the intensity and feeling that Baptists wish to convey.

Bloodmines is drenched in feedback, so much so it’s sometimes like listening to Sludge sped up and fed through the Punk grinder. In fact, the Sludge influence/similarity also bleeds through to the band’s sound as it’s dirty, filthy and downright unhealthy. The slower songs cement this feeling.

This is a dark album that does fast, straight-to-the-bone as well as slow-and-malevolent and does them both equally well. Or, if anything it’s the slower tracks that come off even better than the high energy faster ones as the band’s sense of creeping moss-covered horror realises its apogee.

Heavy riffs are the bedrock of this album and there are some juicy dark melodies located among the granite-hard guitars.

This is a very strong release from a very enjoyable band. Baptists are onto a winner here.

Beaver – Cold Hands (Review)

Beaver are from Poland and play Hardcore.

This short 15 minute EP features 6 tracks of emotive Hardcore with Screamo-style vocals.

The Screamo style is not for everyone, of course, but here the vocals are ably performed and don’t cross the line into annoying as they can sometimes do with similar bands. They’re occasionally backed up with more traditional Hardcore gang vocals, although these are rare.

The songs are simple tunes that are written with maximal emotive power in mind rather than heaviness. It works well and the short songs manage to be sugar sweet whilst retaining a bit of bite.

I haven’t heard anything in this style for quite a while so I felt quite nostalgic listening to this release.

Have a listen.

Gust – Gust (Review)

Gust are from Sweden and play Hardcore. This is their second album.

This is violent and angry Hardcore that goes straight for the throat but isn’t afraid to do so in different ways.

There is a touch of the chaotic and dissonant about Gust. The band eschew the usual Hardcore clichés and generic guitar patterns and instead go for an atypical and the far more interesting take on hardcore.

As well as brutal and belligerent anger they also display a penchant for nuance in their riffing; it’s certainly not one-dimensional. There’s a creative flair at work here that makes Gust an absorbing listen.

Their riffs also have an apocalyptic feel to them and they’re almost tinged with a slight Black Metal feel as they drip with darkness and malevolent intent.

With largely short songs you’d be forgiven for thinking they were largely taken up with pure aggression; while they do have aggression in spades this is tempered by melodic walls of guitars and dynamic leads.

The end result is an album that mixes the creativity and energy of bands like Every Time I Die and Converge with the occasional slight nod to some of the extreme elements of bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Zao. Smother all of this in a Crusty, apocalyptic delivery and Gust are onto a winner.

A highly rewarding listen.

Bettyœtker – Barricades (Review)

Bettyœtker are from Germany and play Hardcore.

I have to say I like the cover, so that’s a good start.

The music itself is well recorded with a sound that accentuates the emotive nature of the band.

Angular riffs and chuggy, expressive guitars chop and change their way through the playing time. This would have been at home in the late 90’s/early 00’s Metallic Hardcore scene which spawned the likes of Botch, Zao, Norma Jean, Poison the Well, Nora, etc.

The songs here are wonderfully constructed and boast lots of ideas and interesting riffs to keep the listener hooked.

The singer performs with great gusto and has a voice that’s somewhere between a shout and a scream. He complements and suits the songs well and provides a warmer human side to the band; the music is emotive in its own right of course, but it has a cold, harsh edge to it that the vocals compensate for. Taken together these tracks are dangerously addictive.

This is a class EP full of the kind of meaty Hardcore Metal that’s in much shorter supply these days than it once was.

They’ve made a fan of me and I can’t wait for a full album now. Bettyœtker are here to stay.

Iron Reagan – The Tyranny of Will (Review)

Iron Reagan are from the US and this is their second album. They play Metallic Crossover and feature members of bands such as Municipal Waste, Darkest Hour and Cannabis Corpse.

I have enjoyed Iron Reagan’s previous work so I was expecting good things from this album. It doesn’t disappoint.

Iron Reagan play Hardcore and Thrash mixed in a blender and shat out at escape velocity. It’s highly aggressive and kicks your door down looking for a scrap. There’s no hiding.

The songs are short, heavy and usually exceedingly violent. Iron Reagan have a nice malevolent streak to some of their riffs that keeps things gritty.

The band play tight and fast, and some short, sharp guitar solos are also included in their spiky package.

Vocally the shouts straddle that rarely seen line where you can imagine them being transposed into either an 80’s Thrash band or an 80’s Hardcore band with equal ease. They inhabit both worlds flawlessly and effectively represent both.

A quality album. 24 blasts of anarchy in just under 32 minutes. Play loud.

Great Reversals – Natural Burial (Review)

Great Reversals are from the US and play Hardcore/Post-Hardcore. This is their latest EP.

The band boast quite the immense sound with guitar riffs sounding like great slabs of granite falling from the sky.

A charismatic vocalist instantly draws the attention and hooks you in. His voice pierces the combination of heavy Metallic Hardcore and the more restrained Post-Hardcore influences to create an aural experience that’s quite invigorating.

This strikes me as the kind of band that would have done very well in the late 90’s/early 00’s; think of a charismatic band from this era, (maybe bits of bands like Skycamefalling and Shai Hulud), and then update the sound with a relatively subtle Post-Hardcore influence and Great Reversals are the result.

This is an impressive EP and I was expecting something less individual and less…striking than this. Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but this is a great little EP and I’m pleasantly surprised by how good it is.

It’s time to show your support – check out Great Reversals and get their EP. Definitely worth a listen.

As We Draw – Mirages (Review)

As We Draw are from France and this is their second album.

As We Draw have developed over the years from a noisy Hardcore band to their current incarnation, which is a combination of Post-Hardcore and Post-Metal. They still have the heavy, angry side to their sound but this has become more expansive and the songs on this album are more varied and atmospheric than ever before.

Their longest song opens the album and it’s a good microcosm for the album as a whole. Aggressive screams ring out over Post-Hardcore music that develops over time to create an angular piece with both aggression and restraint, heaviness and light.

The band appear to have set out to challenge themselves and the listener on this album by creating dark, heavy music that’s no longer confined to the older restrictions that they used to place on themselves by sticking to a more restrained genre than the more woolly one they now work in. Whether you term their music Post-Hardcore, Post-Metal, Progressive Hardcore or whatever, the key thing is that the band have become bolder, bigger and better because of it.

The songs on this album are a joy to listen to and they are the sound of a band embracing their potential and living up to it remarkably. The older As We Draw material was always very good but Mirages is something else. The band truly have taken themselves up to an entirely new level.

This is not to say, of course, that fans of their old material will find this album unrecognisable. Far from it. They’re still the same band; it’s just that now they have turned a corner, so to speak, and they’ve become more than they once were. The foundations that they laid with their previous work have been built on, added to and enhanced. Mirages is the resulting creation and its time is now.

Impressive and far reaching. Fans of stand-out heavy music take note.