I was familiar with Drain thanks to them being name-dropped by fellow Santa Cruz Hardcore outfit Scowl, whose Psychic Dance Routine EP I had the good fortune of reviewing recently. Therefore when the promo list came round and I spotted Living Proof (Epitaph Records) on there, it was simply too good an opportunity to pass up.
Napalm Death’s Shane Embury is a musician who seemingly never rests! After spending the best part of four decades playing the earth-shattering bass in the world’s premiere Death / Grindcore band, he has also dabbled in a seemingly endless succession of side projects and guest appearances. In 2021 he created one of the albums of the year by returning to Blood From The Soul and bringing in Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon for the journey, and in 2022 he provided music of a more obscure and experimental electronic persuasion, with Dark Sky Burial.
“Understanding death as transformation could probably lead us to a better world, ecologically and socially speaking” says Stormo frontman; Luca Rocca. Over the previous year, Stormo have been causing chaos in their live shows in Europe, culminating with the band signing to Prosthetic Records at the end of 2022. With an album name like Endocannibalismo (The tribal act of eating relatives as a form of mourning), there’s only really one type of music that would be expected of the four-piece: chaotic & heavy. Stormo delivers on that in all areas.
LHHC, baby.
Singer Rob Watson is one of the most adept frontmen in hardcore when it comes to being able to both hype up a crowd and tell grim, streetwise lyrical tales over bouncy grooves. Nothing has changed with their latest release, Welcome To The West Coast III (Arising Empire). While the series of ‘Welcome…’ releases started with an EP, it is now halfway to keeping pace with Lil Wayne‘s Tha Carter albums. “Welcome” implies an introduction, but ironically the band no longer need one. Think of the title as more akin to an ongoing episodic documentary at this point.
Music is routinely used as an avenue to either express one’s feelings or to make sense of them. Oftentimes used as a crutch in our darkest of hours, it’s safe to say music has helped countless people crawl out of their lowest of lows, both through listening and writingContinue reading
While Georgian five-piece Vatican may name-check Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape Plan, their roots are firmly planted in (the original type of) metalcore, owing as much to Earth Crisis and Vision of Disorder (et al) as the latter-day spearheads of discordant “popular” heavy music. Ultra (UNFD) may be the band’s second full-length overall, however with a focus on the sound and style, and with the smooth integration of new vocalist Mike Sugars, it feels like a milestone moment in the definition of what Vatican is as a band, and who they are as an artist.
Carcass is closing the books on their Spring tour with Immolation and Creeping Death this week. Starting out in Austin, Texas and culminating at what might be the final Maryland Deathfest, I caught up to them at The Vogue in Indianapolis.
An interesting release from Killswitch Engage, metalcore royalty who at the beginning of 2020 had just commenced touring their latest album Atonement. But found themselves heading home as the pandemic struck, licking their wounds and unable to take one of their strongest records out on the road, for shows that included support from former vocalist Howard Jones’s band Light The Torch; Atonement featuring the crushing track (‘The Signal Fire’) which saw Jones trading vocals with current (and original) singer Jesse Leach, and the tour providing the perfect opportunity for both frontmen to hit the stage together. Continue reading
Twenty-plus years into a career doing anything in the world might make you take your foot off the gas pedal, especially an industry as brutal as the music industry. However, Manitoba’s Comeback Kid continue to challenge themselves to keep refining their sound, and sharpening their focus over a series of releases. The bands’ new album Heavy Steps (Nuclear Blast/New Damage) shows the veteran band of the scene lifting up the rest of us up with defiant music set on highlighting what makes life worth fighting for. uniting us.
TxWxR, also known as – Third World Rise is a brutal new hardcore/metal project from brothers Marcus D’Angelo and Caio D’Angelo of Brazilian extreme music act Claustrofobia. The band alsi features scene veterans Thiago Monstrinho (Fucking Violence /ex.Worst/ex Presto), the renowned music producer Tiago Hospede (Under the Knife/Mark of Honor/Ex Worst/ Ex Dead Fish), and Tadeu Dias (Simoninha, Celso Pixinga, Lino Krizz, Harppia, Ex-Oitão, Medellin, Sabotage, Dexter, Mano Brown). Check out the bands’ new single and video – a cover of the 1990s Hardcore/Metal classic “Punishment” by Biohazard! Continue reading