1. Intro
2. Ignite the Fury
3. The Wraith
4. Confessions of a Self-Righteous Mind

Intro tracks are a great way to set the scene for an album, and often give the listener a feeling that something epic to behold will ensue. Why on earth you need an intro track before just 3 other tracks is beyond me. From this intro it seemed I may be treated to a wad of Cradle of Filth type black metal, but it wasn’t to be. Instead it’s a standard metalcore EP full of the same ripped-off guitar riffs, harmonics and breakdowns from any other generic band of this style. The vocals have some good power behind them, but the contour of the lines often bear little relation to the syntax therein, with emphasis either on words in unusual places (by means of changing from low growls to demonic screams) or on none at all, making for monotonous, sad times.

The pace of the songs are pretty good, with nicely structured arrangements of each verse and breakdown, but the melodies and chord sequences are uninspiring, unoriginal and don’t feel like they’re leading anywhere, there’s no tension and no excitement.

www.myspace.com/echoesfall

1. Paid in Puke
2. Bikini Killa!!!!!!!
3. GET it GRRRL!!!
4. Spring Breaks
5. s k a n k
6. F.Y.I- i wil (spew burrito chunks)
7. BLoodYFUN [live]
8. Devist8or (live in Seattle)
9. Bikini Killa (amphetamine virus remix)

I’ve not listened to much digital hardcore for a while, but this album popped up as a recommendation so I thought I’d tell you about it.

It’s got the beats and energy of Atari Teenage Riot and the screaming distorted vocals of Ec8or, all put together with a ultra feminist twist, especially with tracks like “Bikini Killa”, with it’s angry verses taking a swipe at everything that is today’s idea of sexuality.

The drum breaks are harsh and roll like a bitch, while the overdriven synths and gabber kick drums pound away, ever changing, never getting boring, while occasionally feeling the nudge in the ribs of hip-hop and dubstep. Even the little 1 minute tracks have substance, whereas on many albums these could easily turn out to be fillers. The final remix track is an insane breakcore thrash through the original and is a real smack in the face after the two live tracks.

This is a dark album, and if you want to blow some cobwebs away, download this from the D-Trash Records website and put it on full blast, if you can handle it.

http://www.myspace.com/juliedstroy

1. Crooked Hands
2. Misery King
3. Her Casket Holds No Bones
4. Nausea
5. Matriarch
6. Sea of Teeth/Bleak Eyes
7. Heir of the Dog

I was not prepared for such anger and volume of screaming and passion. You can’t fault the performance in this album, they’re bleeding every drop of sound out of every song and I love and appreciate this more than anything else in a band. The massively downtuned guitars create a dark backdrop to this hardcore rock and they have a neverending cache of effects and ideas to create their original sound: from the ringing minor 3rd in the guitar over most of “Her Casket Holds No Bones”, the polyrhythms of the vocals against the drums in “Nausea” and stop time stabs between the punched out vocals in the breakdown of “Misery King”, Bastions certainly are creative.

If you listen to this, actually, when you listen to this (because you really should) you’ll be sure to be blown away by those vocals, which crack and roar with an anger seldom heard. Unlike many hardcore vocalists who seem happy to scream at the same level through every song, the singer of Bastions manages to exert expression yet never yield in the brutality of the sound.

http://www.myspace.com/bstns

1. Lost the Magic
2. Broken Sound

This is pretty damn loud recording, there’s so much compression it’s untrue! I suppose this is all a symptom of the “loudness wars”. Oddly enough though, everything is still audible and mixed well, just a shame some of the treble got distorted during the mastering. Down to the music though, which is a post-hardcore/alt-rock combo with convulsing, throbbing riffs and vocals that are jabbed into the music like a stanley knife into a shaken-up can of ginger beer, each line fizzing with a bitterness of self belief and energy.

It’s nice to hear this kind of music done without too many over-the-top and pretentious lyrics and song titles. In fact, it’s precisely because Hold Your Horse Is stick to some more standard song structures that makes them quite accessible in that respect. There’s the occasional breakout into a quiet, non-distorted build-up or a dark disco beat (!) that keeps the sound from being stale. If they could possibly give a massive slap to the person who mastered the recording then these guys have a bright future.

http://www.hyhi.co.uk

1. Fuck Your Deja Vu
2. Baby, You Are My Ammunition Dump
3. I Have the Jigsaw Man’s Hands

I sometimes wonder what people think of me when I’m at the gym, on the cross-trainer listening to experimental hardcore on my mp3 player while head-banging in multiple time signatures. It generally makes for a more interesting time than listening to godawful Ladyboy GaGa and Black Eyed Piss they pump over the sound system.

Anyhow, I can see Battle for Paris hitting my workout playlist soon, as they mix that kind of style with something softer and more tuneful. It’s a shame though that the songs seem to be in a painting-by-riffs structure, with a lack of consistency in each one, making it difficult to work out what binds each track together. Perhaps if I had the lyrics in front of me it might make more sense, as the titles are somewhat abstract, although in places the vocals seem something of an afterthought. The more melodic sections are refreshing though, and serve as a comfy distraction between the more complex shouty bits.

Having said that, it’s quite a lot of fun and easy to listen to without going to over the top on the hardcore front, certainly not as much so as Daughters or The Locust. It’s easy to get immersed in the technicality and enjoy the grinding spazzcore rhythms, overlaid with distorted screams and funky single note lines that duet tightly between the guitar and bass.

Now if I could convince my local gym to put this over the sound system…

http://www.myspace.com/battleforparisuk

1. Descent into Chaos
2. Devil with Angel Wings
3. War Drums
4. Crack Addict Logic

Firstly, I’m pleased that Red Mist have opted for their tracks to be based around chord sequences and guitar licks rather than the endless heavy riffing adopted by loser-metal bands like Lamb of God. Not that the sound that Red Mist have got is original, it’s kind of an amalgam of all the doom and hardcore metal you can conjure up from In Flames’ vocals and rolling drums to Slayer’s dual guitar lines.

The variation in the vocals is actually pretty nice, he’s got a fair few different tones in there, adopting different timbres to match the intensity of the lyrics or backing, but always throwing it out hard and rough without pretense.

There’s enough breakdowns in the tracks to keep metalheads rocking out without going over the top and the tracks are well structured without a feeling that they’re going on too long (which can often be a gripe of mine towards this kind of metal).

I can rock to this, it’s kind of safe and balanced but I’m not sure it’s massively memorable.

www.myspace.com/redmistuk

1. Empires
2. Paint the Sky
3. Worlds Apart

I love it when CDs start with a real kick in the teeth, the challenge, though, is making the rest of the music live up to the standard set at the beginning. Heights set the scene with an epic combination of soaring guitar and synth solos set over grinding guitar chords and leave us crashing down to Earth with a gutteral, screaming heap of hardcore metal.

A good range of varied articulations of different riffs keeps the sound interesting and when when the brutality meets the calm, surprisingly it works, and the layers of different emotions and feelings within the music are powerful.

A passionate and moderately high-pitched, Converge-like scream is often interspersed with understated, post-hardcore-esque melodic vocals with a few gang-shouts in there to hammer the odd chorus home.

With this little 3-tracker of a CD, it’s all about those various distinct level of music that have been carefully constructed so that on each listen there’s a new element to notice, a new tune or effect to prick up your ears.

Strong and compelling stuff.

http://www.myspace.com/weareheights

1. Resistance
2. Dependence or Faith
3. Make your Spirit Burn
4. In the Dark
5. Blue Smoke and Mirrors
6. Words
7. Fourty Two

Endzweck have a great sound – that good blend of hardcore vocals and melodic guitar that made all hardcore bands from Shai Hulud to Comeback Kid endlessly popular, although with Endzweck their chord sequences perhaps owe more to skatepunk and screamo than hardcore.

The progressions don’t have a lot of direction and don’t create much tension within the music, this means that the feel of the music can be a little flat on some of the tracks. Ok, I might be getting a little bit technical for what is essentially hardcore punk, but this mini album isn’t as thrilling as it could be and I’ve been trying to work out why; all the ingredients are there for an amazing album of music, but my attention wanders somewhat.

There are some real high points on the album – the breakdown in “Dependence or Faith” has a proper fresh change of mood which builds up back up into double speed with relentless energy, and the one minute of mayhem that is “Words” manages to cram in loads of sections while still remaining coherent and emotional.

Good stuff this with nice production and cracking blend of sounds, have a listen and see how you enjoy it, but for me it did drag somewhat.

http://www.myspace.com/endzweck