So recently I bought a ton of stuff from Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed on Depop including a bunch of old CTHC tapes, some from bands I've never heard of. One of these bands is called Torn Between. The tape I have sounds kind of post-hardcore oriented with some nu metal elements. Not a fan personally, but I'm still very interested in this band. There is very little info on them and the few nuggets I was able to find were in YouTube video descriptions and comments. There are some videos that seem like they were taken later in the band's run since they have a DJ and a somewhat more refined sound. Since I fancy myself a bit of a CTHC historian, I figured I would put the info I found here for posterity.
From MorseCodePro on YouTube:
TORN BETWEEN - Birth - Hanover House video description:
there was six versions of this band this was one of the 3rd to last.. after this show we kicked the singer out and had two more singers that were more death metal / Hardcore some dude BIG RED that pierced at Turnpike tattoo on the Berlin trpk that was SxE and some other dude that goes by the name of BiG E and smokes mad blunts.. friends divided, drummer quit, the band faded away and members are shattered all over the country. This version of the band had the least drug addicts.. glad some of the many members of this band are clean now.. some might be dead
This band was around from the mid 90's to early 2000's from Meriden, CT
Comment by kimgow7671:
I have tapes, I was almost married to bass player and he is still my bff to this day!! Ego killed this band, Shane's did actually! I love you Shane,you know that I do..... as nd respect you but you let yourself go and I tried having you on my new bands track That I wrote called "Degraded Me" and you didn't make it fire,that growl in Birth is the best growl I ever heard I loved when you moved outta your Moms to Queens bc your chick was punching you. But, we all got hit with the O.C. 80's and you in David's words looked like a rotten tomato, my manager wldnt let you do the part in the song I wrote for is to sing together but he said "you can do the same growls, so tell him no ty!!". I was so upset bc I knew that w/o your voice Torn Between was done and your ego was so blown up that you cldnt even see the ground. I also remember when you hit rock bottom. You will all eays be a part of the CTHC family an I wld love to know......... we both cld of taken our bands so f n far. Mine, were jealous bc I was getting all the attention but its bc I was a female!! I had a shaved head and I was like "I am a woman hear me growl!!! Unfortunately my pu$$y ass bandmate cldnt spell out something at a awards show, and blamed me I was sick off being blamed!! So went on to work behind the scenes and teach my children everything!! God bless Torn Between an Under Level!!❤🇱🇷💞
Comment on TORN BETWEEN - Rivers End - Hanover House by SammyGirl888:
Do you have any of the demo music. I had 2.cassettes that I loved...
That's all I can find. If it weren't for the many videos posted by MorseCodePro, I would have absolutely zero information on this band. Another cassette I got from Jasta was from a band called Bloodwork and I loved it, but I can't find anything about them online. I'm going to have to ask some of the oldheads in person if they can shed any light on Bloodwork and maybe Torn Between as well.
So two days ago, I turned 26. And yesterday I went to see my friends in Anxious play a show in New Haven while they were on tour with pop-punk giants The Wonder Years, who were celebrating the 10 year anniversary of their album The Greatest Generation. There was one bizarrely relevant incident for every band that played and I feel like I have to write about it just to document how weird it was. A band called Action Adventure kicked things off. During their set, their vocalist made a remark about stretching before moshing and followed it up by saying that he "wasn't 26 anymore". I smirked and thought it was funny. Next, a band called Sweet Pill took the stage. According to their guitarist, the band's vocalist also had her birthday the day before and since they didn't play a show then, he had the whole venue wish her a happy birthday. I stood there and thought "yo, birthday twin!" and had another laugh. When Anxious played next, they closed with Growing Up Song, which I knew would probably be the case because they always finish with that song but even still it felt more relevant than usual for me. Lastly, The Wonder Years came on and started playing The Greatest Generation, but the second track on that album is literally about being 26 and feeling like you've fallen behind in life. I had no idea this was the case and I was dumbstruck at the coincidence. If nothing else, I'm comforted that I'm in a better spot than many others were at my age, such as The Wonder Years guy. That's all I have for now, I just wanted to get all of this weirdness out of my head and on a page.
So in the immediate aftermath of Christmas, I received a large amount of CDs. Most of these came from 641distro, who had a massive 60% off everything sale for the holiday season. I also got a few CDs through orders on Discogs in addition to picking a couple up at a recent trip to Redscroll Records in Wallingford. Since it had been a while since I had a fat stack of CDs to go through, I figured I would make another big haul post going over what I got and quickly reviewing every release.
Held Under - The Catastrophe of Creation
Okay, so I saw this on the 641distro site and couldn't find any info on the band or any of their songs. Judging by what I was able to find, I knew it would be metalcore and figured it would be either shitty scene-core or maybe semi-decent Myspace deathcore since it came out in 2006. but I couldn't find a review or a sample anywhere, not even on YouTube. I was so curious I ended up picking up this CD to hear for myself. It ended up only being a couple bucks due to the sale so I figured it was worth it. The Catastrophe of Creation is a very interesting metalcore/deathcore release. It's basically mid noughties metalcore with strong elements of deathcore and traditional heavy metal/power metal influenced clean vocals. I was surprised at how unique it sounded compared to what was coming out at the time. It's not going to blow anyone away, but it was solid enough to keep me engaged through the 55 minute run time. A neat little barely known release I happened to stumble upon by chance.
Ancestor - Koalacaust
This EP was a free bonus from 641 that I assume was thrown in due to the volume of my order. Koalacaust is the first EP from Pennsylvania mathcore/deathcore group Ancestor, released in 2008. It's a pretty solid release that lines up with what you would expect from a technical core band from this era with crazy tempo changes, hard breakdowns, distorted deathcore vocals, and tongue in cheek song titles. There is definitely a strong influence from The Dillinger Escape Plan that can plainly be heard throughout the EP, but the overall sound is much more Myspace-core than DEP. Again, nothing remarkable, but a rock solid release mathcore connoisseurs should definitely check it out.
Upheaval - Testimony To The Atrocities
Here we have a killer old-school deathcore release from 2001. The death metal influence is especially strong on this full-length, which sounds like the end result of a bunch of hardcore kids discovering Suffocation. The vocals for the most part are consistent with that raspy metalcore style that is prevalent among bands like this, but the music itself borrows heavily from technical death metal and brutal death metal, even more so than on their excellent debut EP. There are a lot of technical guitar riffs and constant blast beats that make this lean much more toward metal than Upheaval's previous outing. That being said, they didn't quite pull an Abnegation and go full on brutal death. There are still plenty of core elements like the vocals and plenty of breakdowns. I was able to get a sealed copy of this on Discogs for around $20, which was a good deal considering this is a cult classic from 20 years ago.
Immortal Dominion - Endure
The debut full-length album from a relatively unknown extreme metal group. 1998's Endure is a neat death/groove metal romp that isn't afraid to throw a few curveballs. The album is mostly mid-tempo, but has a good amount of tempo changes with some thrashier bits and offbeat stuff thrown in for good measure. There are also some enjoyable breakdowns and plenty of stop-start riffage throughout the album that I dig. It actually reminds me a bit of Pissing Razors. The vocals are very good, sounding like a cross between Phil Anselmo and Jamey Jasta. There are occassional death growls that are performed very well and there is one song, Brighter Days, that has southern rockish cleans that don't really land for me. There are more cleans in Piece of Meat that are a bit better but still not great. It's a bit weaker toward the middle, but the strong start and finish are enough to make me happy I picked this up from the same seller that sold me the Upheaval album.
Immortal Dominion - Awakening
Here we have the 2005 follow up to Immortal Dominion's Endure, which I got from 641distro. The band doubled down on the death metal elements this time around as the album is heavier, faster, and more technical than it's predecessor while still retaining a strong groove metal feel. The vocals are a lot more varied, with a raspy high pitched snarl being introduced along with the Anselmo/Jasta style vocals and more frequent death growls. There are even some decent Anselmo-style cleans mixed in. The most obvious improvement here is the drumming. I don't know whether the band got a new drummer or if he just got a lot better in the 7 years between albums but the drums are fucking nuts on this album in comparison to the pretty basic drumming on Endure. There are plenty of catchy riffs on this album and even some metalcore style mosh parts. I like this one a lot and I'm really glad I decided to take a chance on this band. They put out one more album after this which is unfortunately just shitty dad metal but hey, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.
Nothing Sacred - Nothing Sacred
This is another one I got from 641distro. Some solid heavy hardcore, if not at all original. Sounds very 2005. Expect tough guy vocals, downtuned but very HxC riffs, and simple drumming. This band eventually evolved into the Holy Terror band Unreal City, who I think are a little better.
Smackdown - Harder Than Hate
This is an old lesser known CTHC release from 1998 that I was able to track down at Redscroll Records. The only reason I knew this band existed was due to an old CTHC tripod site I found randomly. I'm glad I found it though because it's actually pretty damn good. Smackdown played heavy, mostly midtempo chugga-chugga hardcore. There is a lot of groove in these songs, even to the point where I detect a noticeable Machine Head or Exhorder influence in the guitar work. They also have more traditional 2-step parts and faster moments that sound more akin to old-school hardcore. Definitely a good find and fine addition to my CT band catalog.
Lariat/At War With Shadows - Split
Cool split from 2 early 2000s metalcore bands I got from 641distro. Lariat have a very dark, dissonant, and technical metalcore sound that borrows heavily from early mathcore. It's a little like Deadguy meets Acme. Very intense and intricate, but still remains rhythmic and moshy. At War With Shadows have a somewhat similar sound, but without the dissonant, dark tone and an even stronger mathcore influence. AWWS also incorporate a decent amount of melody into their music and are able to make it work alongside their chaotic breakdowns. Overall an excellent effort from both bands. They each also have their own full lengths that are also worth checking out.
Sarcasm - Burial Dimensions
This is a compilation I picked up at Redscroll that consists of the album of the same name plus a ton of demos from the Swedish death metal group Sarcasm. Apparently, the full length was recorded in 1994 but didn't see the light of day until 2011 as part of a different compilation as the band disbanded before it was released. Now, the band is back together recording music and have been since 2015. The album is a very good slab of black metal influenced 90s HM2 death metal with a surprising amount of melody. A majority of the demos included sound great for early 90s death metal demos. though I am sure that they were cleaned up a bit before being included here. The earlier demos have a much more raw Swedeath vibe to them, really dig those as well. $11 for over 2 hours of great death metal. Can't complain.
Red Tide - Themes Of The Cosmic Consciousness
This is the debut full length from another CT band, Red Tide. Much like with Sarcasm, this full length came to fruition after the band recorded like half a dozen demos over a period of years. Red Tide are a different breed. This band plays a weird hybrid of death metal, hardcore, progressive rock, and free jazz. They're essentially a crazier version of Candiria. I honestly really dig it. It's very different, especially from what was coming out at the time, and shows that there is some very creative stuff that flies under the radar. This was released on CD back in 1997, so it's pretty hard to come by. It's actually the only disk on this list that I paid a significant amount of money for. I got it off Discogs for around $60 and I normally don't spend that kind of money on CDs but I collect Connecticut metal and hardcore releases and this band is just so different I couldn't resist.
Red Tide - Type II
Okay, so I'm not quite sure what happened here. Red Tide went from being a super experimental prog death metal band to a metalcore band with some prog rock elements. It's still pretty good, but nowhere close to their first album. This was very jarring to listen to. The music is much more direct and much more "core" with some more proggy passages and some clean vocals that sound kind of buttrockish and aren't that great. I got this from 641distro and it's generally much cheaper than Themes of the Cosmic Conciousness, probably due to a larger quantity made and the overall musical quality not being quite the same. Overall, still a very solid release but definitely leaves one wanting.
Sea Of Thousand - The Church Of Total Collapse
This is another cool one from 641. The cover led me to believe that this would be a straight up metalcore record but it's actually a blend of hardcore and sludge metal. Frantic, high pitched vocals with some death growls, a style that kind of reminds me of Randy from Lamb of God. Plenty of those brooding, heavy, almost southern-tinged guitar riffs you see in sludge metal. here as well. I love finding more interesting releases like this amidst the sea of Hatebreed, Terror, and Bane clones that populated the hardcore scene in the mid to late 2000s.
What Weapons Bring War - What Weapons Bring War
This was another free bonus from 641 and a pretty sweet one at that. This is really good deathcore heavily influenced by mathcore and grindcore. Chaotic and high pitched vocals, skronky guitar parts, deathcore breakdowns, blast beats, the whole package is here. I keep seeing this band labeled as "brutal death metal" on what few pages of info I can find on them but this is very clearly old-school deathcore. What's more, this band is actually from Bristol, Connecticut. I've never heard of them but I'm glad this was included because it adds to my ever growing Connecticut collection.
Light is the Language - The Void Falls Silent
Rounding out this list is yet another CD from 641distro. More good shit. Great chaotic metalcore from Massachusetts. Definitely detect a mathcore vibe, but retains the tightness of more straight up metalcore. Kind of reminds me of old Converge. Highly recommended for those of you into old school technical shit made by hardcore kids in the noughties.
I've never encountered a story like that of Arkangel. It's so shrouded in myth and mystery that even today no one is sure of the truth regarding this band's history, which is especially odd considering the band is still active. Arkangel is a Belgian metalcore band that formed in the late 90s. They play an aggressive, evil-sounding style of metalcore that was very popular in Europe at the time. This metalcore microgenre is often referred to as "edgemetal" due to influences taken from extreme metal bands and its association with Straight Edge acts. Arkangel didn't pioneer this sound, but they refined it, made it their own, and are among the most popular bands to ever play it. Arkangel's brand of the edgemetal sound combines somewhat technical, yet moshy, metalcore with thrash metal riffs and faint traces of Swedish melodic death metal. Imagine "Hell Awaits" and "South of Heaven" era Slayer with breakdowns and you basically have Arkangel.
The band, like many in the European hardcore/metalcore scene at the time, were apparently a militant Vegan Straight Edge band, and were extremely vocal about their sober and cruelty-free lifestyle. The story says that after their first two releases, a 1998 EP entitled "Prayers Upon Deaf Ears" and a full length entitled "Dead Man Walking" that released in 1999, their guitarist and founder, Numa Malabat, who was their musical and ideological linchpin, left the band. Following Numa's departure, all or almost all of the remaining members very suddenly dropped both veganism and Straight Edge. They were reportedly spotted at bars and restaurants drinking and eating meat. Hell, a friend of mine told me earlier this month that he heard they broke edge on cocaine and I heard somewhere else that frontman Baldur went on a coke-fueled bender in London at some point. A large portion of the Belgian scene was very militantly Straight Edge/Vegan Straight Edge at this point in time, so this didn't go over well with some people. By some accounts, they still fronted the whole XVX thing for awhile after they broke edge/vegan and that was what pissed people off, but I can't confirm that. In 2001, Arkangel came to the US and played some shows including Hellfest 2001. At one of these shows, someone, said to be a disgruntled Vegan Straight Edger, held up a sign that said something along the lines of "I hope you die by overdose". I think this video is from that show. You can see some dude holding up a sign and a fight start a few seconds into Arkangel's first song. Some people think this happened at Hellfest, others say it happened at a different show, some guy said that that the whole sign thing was the start of some band beef with Shattered Realm, no one knows what the hell actually happened at this point. That instance actually inspired the title of Arkangel's second full length "Hope You Die By Overdose" which came out in 2004. The band went on to release another full length, "Arkangel Is Your Enemy", in 2008 and still play shows today.
So that's the history of Arkangel. Now I'm going to look a little bit deeper. I already talked about some discrepancies and things that are not 100% known, but there is more to unearth. I realized at one point that I never saw any photos of Arkangel X'd up at any shows or anything and saw mixed accounts, some saying that Arkangel were Straight Edge and some saying they weren't. I heard about flyers that showed the band as "xArkangelx" but never saw any myself. That got me wondering. I had never seen any direct evidence of the band being XVX, so could this whole thing have been some sort of misunderstanding due to word of mouth or misinterpretation of their lyrics? It was definitely possible. To this day if your band plays a style reminiscent of edgemetal, many people will automatically assume you're a Vegan Straight Edge band for some reason. I decided to take matters into my own hands and look into this myself. Arkangel are one of my favorite bands, I have an interest in the history of older heavy music scenes, and I've been Straight Edge myself for over 9 years, so I thought it would be fun to see if I could get to the bottom of this. First, I looked at their lyrics on their first two releases. Nothing there was explicitly Straight Edge, which isn't too uncommon for XXX bands, but still that means the lyrics can't confirm if they were Straight Edge or not. I then decided to investigate the original Prayers Upon Death Ears CD release on Discogs. There weren't many scans there, but there was this one:
So based on that last paragraph, we can safely assume that Arkangel were at one point a vegan band. Nothing references Straight Edge, so that is still an unknown, but we are halfway there at this point. After further research, I came across an interview with Arkangel guitarist Kirby Michel from 2008 on French website skartnak.com. Kirby joined Arkangel in 2001, after they apparently broke edge and vegan. There are a few passages of note here. I had to run them through Google Translate since I don't speak French, but it's accurate enough for me to get the gist of what they are saying. I've edited the answers for grammar so they are more easy to read as well.
By the way, speaking of "Hope You Die by Overdose", can you tell me what the meaning of this sentence is? Is this an ultra militant Straight-edge message?
Not at all, it was basically a threat to our singer Baldur from a frustrated American fan. He was at a show we did there and he had a poster on which he wrote: Baldur, I Hope You Die By Overdose. Thanks to this fan or ex-fan because he gave us one of the most beautiful album titles we could hope for.
Do you still care about the fight for animal rights?
Me, I have always been concerned by this fight but I never felt the need to adopt a label for it.
I know Arkangel is basically a committed Vegan / Straight Edge group but are you still currently Vegan and Straight Edge? What about the other members of the group?
I have never been Vegan or Straight-Edge. Baldur, the singer as well as David, the drummer were in their youth but growing up they tasted, as they said, the delights of life.
Okay, that shed some light on the history of this band for sure. Kirby wasn't in the band originally, so his lack of XVXness can be ignored. Baldur Vilmundarson and David Vandezande have been in Arkangel since the beginning and we now have confirmation that they were both Straight Edge earlier in their lives. According to Encyclopaedia Metallum, the lineup for Prayers Upon Deaf Ears was Baldur on vocals, David on drums, and Numa on guitar. There is no bassist listed. On the next release, Dead Man Walking, these three are listed again along with Vincent Kempeneers on bass. Vincent also played in a band called Out For Blood, where he was credited on their demo as xVincentx and on their full length release as XVincX, confirming that he was also Straight Edge. That does it. Prior to Numa's departure, Arkangel were 100% a Vegan Straight Edge band. There is no doubt in my mind now. I'm glad I was able to put this to rest for myself and deduce the truth behind the band. Straight Edge or not, Arkangel are one of the best metalcore bands of all time and their influence on "true" metalcore can't be understated. Just as a little sidenote to end this piece: I have to say I can't imagine how little you have to have going on to be legitimately angry that someone else broke edge or vegan. I was really bummed out when I found out most of Vatican broke edge and they weren't an XXX band anymore but I didn't write to them saying I hoped they drank themselves into a coma or anything like that. It also didn't change my opinion of them because Vatican are still among my favorite metalcore bands. I'm glad the majority of the militant edge crowd have moved on because that mindset was always fucking stupid. Anyway, listen to Arkangel.
So on Election Day, two hours after I voted, I tested positive for Coronavirus. As a result, I am locked in my house so I don't give it to anyone else (given how contentious this election was, it was probably for the best that I wasn't outside anyway). Let me tell you, having this thing sucks. One night, before I knew anything was wrong, I woke up with cold sweats. For the next few nights, I hit a wall at like 8pm or so and was extremely fatigued. After that, I started feeling sore and was coughing and had a stuffy nose. After testing positive, I had different symptoms every day. I had terrible body aches that made me not want to move at all, I had a fever that went away soon after, then came back again and went away a second time, I had brain fog that severely impacted my ability to do work, and at one point my sinuses were so swollen, it hurt to breathe through my nose. I also can't taste anything that isn't salty, which fucking sucks. Despite all of this, I seriously think that the mental toll this virus took on me was worse than the physical. Early on, my mind was racing, wondering if I would die of the virus or get some sort of permanent organ damage. I'm very lucky I just had a minor case, though I'm still not fully recovered and operating at I would say 95%. My isolation ends Friday, but I'm still not leaving for a few more days just to be sure. No reason to risk infecting others. Thankfully I was able to Zoom in to my classes and not miss much, I'll just keep doing that. I will say Trump losing the election and the temper tantrums thrown by him and his supporters helped put me in a good mood during the worst of the virus. I am not a Joe Biden fan by any stretch of the imagination, but the country needs a better leader to guide it through this chaos. I have to say I am absolutely stunned that 71 million people looked at the events of last 4 years including all the scandals, the pandemic, the current economic depression, the divisiveness, the violence, and the lies and thought "yeah, I want more of that". I knew this dude was a charlatan and a con-artist from the beginning and it floors me that his supporters don't see that despite everything that has happened. Trump isn't even trying to be a populist anymore, he's run the worst political campaign I've ever seen in my life, and he STILL got 71 million votes! This country has some serious critical thinking issues. Fingers crossed Trump's coup attempt is a miserable failure and the impending ideological civil war in the Republican party destroys it from the inside.
So with the quarantine still in full swing, I'm finding new ways to pass the time. One thing I decided to do was read an old short story I wrote in the summer of 2012 when I was 14 years old. Like most things 14 year olds write, it sucked. It really, really sucked. As I got older I realized this and cringed whenever I thought about it. Upon finally rereading it in full nearly 8 years later as a 22 year old, I realized that not only was the story exceptionally bad, it was also an absolutely terrifying look into my mindset at that age. But I'm getting ahead of myself, so let's go back a bit.
Just so you, dear reader, have the necessary background information, I'm going to let you in on what was going on during my early teenage years. From ages 13 to 16, I was depressed. Upon entering middle school, I had zero self esteem and was painfully socially awkward. Seeing everyone else be a social butterfly (or at least have the appearance of being one) didn't help either. To make things worse, I was also relentlessly bullied by various people throughout this point in my life. Needless to say, I was very sad and angry and buried myself in music and video games to take my mind off of my situation. I decided to write a short story as a catharsis during the summer between 8th and 9th grade. For what it's worth, I do think it helped me a little bit but that doesn't change my current feelings on it. I'm not going to go into the full details of the plot because it's
really gut-wrenching to even talk about, but I will say it was
essentially a mystery story about a semi self-insert character who, while sleepwalking, exacts
revenge on people who wronged him and goes on the run, slowing figuring out the details of what happened. It wasn't like a shooting or mass murder type thing, I wasn't that screwed up, but it did involve people being attacked. Now that I've set the scene, let's get into the story and why I'm ashamed of it.
Right off the bat, my main character gives this super pretentious and annoying "not like the other kids" spiel and that vibe carries throughout the whole story. I also for some reason felt the need to have characters representing pretty much everyone who was in my life at that point, even if they only appear once. All the characters in this story regularly get into violent fights for some reason, like excessive violence is just a part of everyday life in this town and no one really questions it. Come to think of it, I wrote just about every character to be a fucking lunatic. Some characters help the main character knowing he's a wanted murderer just because they were friends before or casually talk to him even though they just met him and know he's a fugitive. In addition to the sleepwalking attacks, the main character, while in control of himself, assaults by my count at
least 7 people and even kills a few. Some of them are attacking him, so
in those cases it's justified, but it's just so fucking dumb that this
dude is just casually beating up and shooting people without a second
thought. Also, nobody seems to have any sympathy for the victims of his crimes. Like, yeah, they were over the top assholes but they were still people. Even the main character, who involuntarily attacked them in his sleep, is like "yeah they all deserved it, so whatever" with others around him agreeing with him. While I'm on this, I'm going to talk about how I portrayed the bully characters because my God, this is so out there and extreme it makes me want to bang my head against the wall. Every bully character is pretty much an irredeemable human being with no positive qualities, acting comically evil and judgemental. The thing that finally sets the main character off is a super over the top prank that involves him being kidnapped, stripped naked by these characters, tied to a pole, videotaped, and that video being shown to hundreds of people. Also, the way the reveal of the video is done is very contrived and idiotic and would never happen in real life. There's also a scene that involves a fight between a gang and white supremacist group that the protagonist and his friends are caught in the middle of because both groups have a bone to pick with them, but they also both happen to find them at the house they're staying in at the same time for some reason. The guy who owns the house ends up pulling out a bunch of military grade shiny weapons and arms the whole group of friends which makes no fucking sense. Oh, by the way, that character happens to both be a psychologist with a ton of brain scanning technology in his basement but he's also a lawyer. Jesus Christ my head hurts just talking about this. I'll skip over a bunch of dumb shit and wrap it up: the main character turns himself in, goes to a wacky shack for 8 months, gets better, and continues his life like nothing happened, the end.
Okay, because talking about this clusterfuck of a story is driving me insane, I'll leave the details at that, I'm sure you get the picture. What I want to talk about now is how the story reminded me of who I was back then. I was honestly horrified. Since the plot is so incoherent, I was really reading this as a case study, a look into who I was at 14. I know I was not doing so well, like I said previously, but reading this story really showed me how hurt and angry I was back then. I was honestly a pretty miserable person and it showed through my writing. I remember sending this to a very helpful therapist who I was seeing on and off at the time due to my anxiety and depression. He's the only person other than me to ever see this work. I don't think he read the whole thing and I thank God for that because I would have probably been seeing him until the cows came home. I know he printed it out and that remains the only physical copy of this to ever exist. It's probably tucked away in a file somewhere or thrown out. There was a silver lining to this experience, however. Rereading this showed how much I've grown since I was 14 and I'm proud of what that angry, sad kid grew into. But, like I said, reading this was painful. That's why I deleted the story after I finished reading. Honestly, that felt pretty cathartic as well, deleting something born from adolescent anger and sadness. It kind of symbolizes that I'm not that person anymore. Most of those emotions I felt as a teenager are gone. Many of the people I once held absolute contempt for, I no longer really think about. Many of the things I thought were super important at that age ended up not mattering. The leftover feelings I have from that time in my life I use as motivation to improve and work hard in school and my career. I want the people who treated me poorly in high school to hear my name again one day when I accomplish something. I hope they've grown up a bit at that point and they're happy to see I'm doing well. It's like Frank Sinatra said: "The best revenge is massive success." I regret having a shitty adolescence, but I'm thankful that I've had a pretty great young adulthood so far. Here's hoping that continues.
So at the time of this writing, the Coronavirus pandemic is shutting down the country and causing widespread panic and confusion. I have not left my neighborhood in a week and it looks like I'm going to be stuck here for the foreseeable future. After getting home from school last Monday, I received word from the University President that due to a student group attending an out of state conference that had a confirmed case of coronavirus (some internet sleuthing revealed to me that it was the local College Republicans chapter and CPAC because of fucking course it was), the University would be shutting down until at least March 25th. I'm technically on Spring Break right now and the 25th is still the tentative opening date, but with how bad things are getting, I don't see us going back anytime soon. I may very well spend the rest of my last semester of undergrad taking online classes and possibly won't have a graduation ceremony if things don't improve. I wanted to go see Ringworm and All Out War in New Haven on Sunday, but the show, along with pretty much every other one for the next month, was understandably cancelled due to everything that has been going on. Good thing I can keep myself busy with the research papers I need to write, music, YouTube videos, and video games. I actually pre-ordered Doom Eternal, which comes out in 4 days so I'll be riding this thing out in style. Looks like being an introverted autistic dude is finally paying off!
I have to say though, this is a really shitty time for a viral pandemic. Not only is it my senior year of college, which means I can't be on campus doing things with my friends and participating in things I'm involved with, it's coincidentally the Centennial for the University of New Haven. What are the odds that during my graduation year, which is also the 100th anniversary of my university, there would be a worldwide viral outbreak that would essentially ruin everything? Also, like I said before, this pandemic means I can't go to shows, which really sucks. Funny thing is if this happened when I was like 16, I probably would've been thrilled. I would've said something like "You mean I can just stay home and play video games for two months straight without having to go to school or speak to anyone? Fuck yeah!" But of course, now that I'm not a total shut in and want to go out and do things, the Chinese Death Virus picks now to make life as we know it grind to a halt.
On a more serious note, I seriously can't stand these fucking morons going out and partying in places packed with hundreds if not thousands of people when there is a virus rapidly spreading across the globe. On social media, I've been seeing people in packed bars, beaches, clubs, you name it. I guarantee a ton of these people got the virus and are spreading it right now because they don't realize they have it. They're actually starting to shut restaurants and bars down because of it. What choice do they have? These people think they're invincible. They look at the number of confirmed cases and think "Psshh, this isn't a big deal", not realizing that the actual cases of the virus are way, way higher than the confirmed cases because there still aren't enough tests going around and there are God knows how many people with the virus who aren't symptomatic yet. They don't realize that even if they get the virus and are fine, they may spread it to high risk individuals they live with, endangering their lives. This is exactly what happened in Italy and the whole damn country was put on lockdown because of it. I fear that in a week or two, this thing is going to get real bad just like it did over there. We had 89 confirmed cases on March 1st. Now, on the 16th, we have 3,487. I dread to think what's going to happen to those numbers once all the Spring Break partiers are back home. Italy's hospitals were totally overwhelmed and hospital staff started getting sick and spreading the virus to their families. And the scary thing is their healthcare system is better than ours! So if the same thing happens here, and it looks like it might, we're totally fucked. Oh and lastly, bravo to our moron President for disbanding the Pandemic Response Team in 2018. This probably wouldn't have been this much of an issue if they weren't let go. Now, thanks to the virus and the oil price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, the economic bubble popped and the stock market is in free-fall and we're probably going to slip into a recession again. Just in time for my college graduation. Yippee.
Editors Note 1/15/20: This was also posted on Metal Amino. That version has links to the actual videos while this just has pictures of the thumbnails with links below them because Blogger is being annoying for some reason.
What’s up y’all? Today I want to talk about something
I’m really passionate about. Here’s a little bit of background: I didn’t
go out to shows of any kind as a teenager. Let’s just say those years
were not very good to me and leave it at that. I did start going out
last year and have been a regular show-goer since, however. The thing is
a lot of local metal bands in Connecticut aren’t that good. A large portion of
them are just shitkicker dad metal that I’m really not into. Though
there are some great metal bands here (I may make a blog about them
later), there aren’t enough in my area to get me to go out to many local
metal shows. However, I am also an avid hardcore fan and discovered
that Connecticut has a very healthy and growing hardcore scene. I’ve
been a fan of the classic bands of CTHC since I was in my early teens,
but in recent years the scene has been experiencing a resurgence and I
found myself right in the middle of it. So today, I’m going to talk
about some great CTHC bands, old and new, that I feel deserve your
attention.
Let’s kick things off with one of my personal favorites
in the Connecticut hardcore scene:
100 Demons. Despite being active for more than 20 years, 100 Demons only
have two full lengths in their catalogue that any metalcore fan should
hear. Their debut, In The Eyes Of The Lord, released on Good Fight in
2000, is a metalcore classic and one of my most listened to records. I
first heard this record when I was like 15 and the band’s punishingly
heavy take on hardcore along with the passionate and angry performance
of vocalist Bruce LePage blew me away. Their self-titled record with new
vocalist Pete Morcey was released on Deathwish in 2004 and has a very
Deathwishy sound if you know what I mean. It’s not on the level of their
first but is still leagues above most modern metalcore IMO. Fans of
Merauder and All Out War should find plenty to love about this group.
Originally founded in 1997 by ex-members of Hatebreed,
Death Threat quickly made a name for themselves in the late 90s. The
band utilizes a metallic guitar tone somewhat similar to Hatebreed but
uses a song structure more akin to traditional hardcore and employs some
very unique and different sounding vocals. Unlike Demons, DT have a
decent number of releases to listen to: 4 full lengths and some EPs and
splits. I actually got to see these guys back in November at the 20th
Anniversary show for their debut Last Dayz with the original lineup and
their set was absolutely nuts. It was really something else seeing
people well over a decade my senior mosh like 20-year-olds when DT took
the stage.
Allow me to introduce you to Die My Will, another one of
my favorite CTHC groups and quite possibly one of the most underrated
metalcore bands of all time. The band was active in the mid to late 90s
and played some of the most chaotic, violent, and
mercilessly heavy metalcore of their time. Their output in their short
life
span amounts to two full lengths (if you could call them that), a 7”,
and a split with Piecemeal. For the past 20 years, a rumor has been
going around that says they signed with Equal Vision records and
secretly recorded a full length for the label before they abruptly broke
up in 1999, but nothing had surfaced as of 2019. Though the band has
been mostly forgotten outside of Connecticut, they are adored by many
older hardcore fans and musicians who are still involved in the music.
Apparently, their live shows were fucking insane and left those seeing
them for the first time in awe, but I haven’t been able to find any
footage of them performing. They were also said by many to be some of
the nicest dudes in the scene. If you’re a fan of bands like Turmoil or
Buried Alive then you need to get on this, like now.
Wide Awake
were a straight edge youth crew band, active in the late 80s. There
isn’t much info out there on the band, but I can tell you that even now, roughly 30 years after their breakup, they are still a local favorite,
especially among Connecticut’s straight edge crowd. Their 25-song
discography is up on Spotify, so definitely give them a listen if you
like Youth of Today.
You can’t discuss the history of Connecticut Hardcore
without mentioning Hatebreed. Today, Hatebreed are one of the most
well-known metalcore bands in the world, touring internationally on a
regular basis and drawing huge crowds wherever they go. What is less
known about the band is that they got their start in Connecticut’s
hardcore scene. Hatebreed, formed in 1994, were one of the earliest
bands to blend metal and hardcore. They were also among the first
metalcore bands to rise to prominence through their 1996 EP Under the
Knife and 1997 full length Satisfaction is the Death of Desire. The
latter released on Victory Records which, at the time, was home to some
of the biggest bands in hardcore. Even today, Satisfaction is still
considered one of the best, if not the best, release to come out of
Connecticut by those in the scene. Hatebreed’s rise caused a notable
stylistic shift in Connecticut’s hardcore scene. In the 1980s and early
1990s, many of the bands that came out of Connecticut such as Wide Awake
and Cornerstone had a fast youth crew style sound influenced by CT
legends Youth of Today. In the late 1990s however, this changed as most
newer bands in the scene like Death Threat, 100 Demons, and Groundzero
played a heavier, more metallic style. This affinity for metalcore
persisted in Connecticut until the mid-00s. By that point, most of the
old guard had broken up and were replaced by more melodic bands like
Ambitions, With Honor, and Hostage Calm. The heavy sound made a comeback
in the 10s when most of the older bands got back together and a new
crop of heavy bands like Enraged Youth and Laid 2 Rest sprang up. Even
though the scene today has a great deal of variety, heavy hardcore and
metalcore acts like Cast In Blood, Laid 2 Rest, and Steel Grave still
make up a large portion of current bands. Over the ensuing decades,
Hatebreed were able to transcend the hardcore scene and become a
mainstay in the national metal scene without changing their look or
their sound.
Fans of wierdo hardcore rejoice because Intercourse are
up there with the best of them! These guys play a bizarre, spazzy, and
chaotic style of punk that’s hard to describe. I would say it’s like a
mix of post-hardcore, noise, and a touch of mathcore but this is really a
band you need to hear for yourself. My friend Dan Romeo knows much more
about these guys than I do since he is pretty close with them so if you
want to know more, read his excellent interview with the band here.
If you’re seeking something different when it comes to
metalcore, look no further than Cast In Blood. This band plays very
heavy metalcore with a melodic twist, featuring very good clean vocals
mixed in with typical metalcore yells from frontman and longtime CTHC
veteran Ryan Patrick White of Jagged Visions, Murmur, SYITHAEYFO, and
numerous other bands (who may I add has been going to shows longer than I
have been alive). The band also notably includes Rick Brayall of 100
Demons on guitar and his son Ricky on drums. Don’t let my
description fool you, this isn’t quite At The Gates-core type stuff as
it draws more from hardcore than melodic death metal. Cast in Blood
recently released a split with Foreign Hands and seem to be gaining some
regional popularity, so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next for
the band.
Fuck,
this band is awesome. Restraining Order, hailing from CT and Western
Mass, are the local
torchbearers for the classic hardcore sound. If you aren’t into anything
metallic or weird and just want some straightforward, no bullshit, UK82
style hardcore punk, this band is for you. I saw them at Anxious’ EP
release show in November and the place fucking exploded when they
started playing. Oldheads love this band, young kids love this band,
they just fucking rule. Definitely check them out if you like bands
similar to The Rival Mob.
Formed in 2015, Lift are bringing the 90s back in the
best way possible. Consisting of former members of With Honor and
Ambitions, the group forgoes the predominantly melodic sound of the
aforementioned bands in favor of an intense but eclectic sound strongly
influenced by Snapcase and The Hope Conspiracy. With two EPs under their
belt, the band is currently working on a full length due out later this
year, and I for one can’t wait.
If you’re in touch with the current hardcore scene,
you’ve probably heard of Anxious at some point. The band started out in
late 2015, when three high school kids from Southern Connecticut decided
that they wanted to play in a punk band. Over the last few years,
Anxious have built up a loyal and dedicated fanbase in Connecticut. With
their signing to Triple B Records early this year, Anxious were exposed
to a much wider audience and gained a large following throughout the
country. Their music isn’t hardcore in the traditional sense as they
play emotive post-hardcore in the vein of bands like Title Fight, but
make no mistake: these are true hardcore kids who really give a shit
about HC of all styles and bringing new people to shows in Connecticut. A
few months ago, the band switched to a five-piece, adding new drummer
Jonny Camner, moving former drummer Dante Melucci to guitar, and adding
Ryan Savitsky from One Step Closer as a second guitarist while keeping
bassist Sam Walter at his current role. These additions freed up
vocalist Grady Allen to be a true frontman instead of a guitarist and
vocalist. I was at the band’s EP release show on November 30th and
switching to a five-piece was a great move on their part. Grady’s a
fantastic frontman who oozes charisma and confidence. The kid was born
to be on stage. You can watch their set from that night on YouTube
(where you can also see the stage diver who fucking DELETED me at
10:40-10:45, though I am out of frame unfortunately). On a personal
level, I haven’t met Ryan or Sam yet and have only briefly spoken with
Dante once, but I know Jonny and have talked with Grady multiple times
and I only have good things to say about them. Funny story: I bought one
of the show exclusive 7-inch vinyls of Never Better at the release
show, but I don’t have a car so I couldn’t put it anywhere. Grady
actually hid my record for me under a bunch of merch until the end of
the show. It really cool to see him go out of his way to do that for me.
Watch out for these guys, I promise you haven’t heard the last from
them.
Now I’m going to briefly talk about one more Connecticut
band that has had a massive impact on the hardcore scene and me
personally. The last band I’m talking about
in detail will be Enraged Youth who formed at some point in 2013. I
discovered this band in 2014 when I was 16 years old. I found their
debut full length on some Russian hardcore blog and absolutely loved it.
The fact that they were a Connecticut band was just a bonus for me.
Now, the cool thing about this band is that the guys in it were mostly
either my age or a year older yet they were making some of the hardest
music in the state. This was the band that made me realize that
Connecticut Hardcore was still a thing. The ironic thing was before they
formed, it really wasn’t, according to what one of the ex-members told
me. Them and a couple other bands really got the ball rolling and
contributed to the state of the scene today. Enraged Youth existed for a
couple years and broke up around 2016. After the breakup, the group
splintered into a bunch of other bands. Guitarist Justin would join Laid
2 Rest and form a band called Hatred Remains, Bassist Tyler and
Guitarist Ricky would go on to form the (fucking awesome) death metal
band Vomit Forth, currently signed to Maggot Stomp. Ricky also plays
drums in Cast In Blood with his father Rick of 100 Demons fame. Initial
bassist and later vocalist Jon currently plays bass in a little band
called Vein. I met Tyler and Ricky when I saw Vomit Forth in November
and
they were both super cool dudes. I later met Jon and Justin at a show in
New
Haven in early December and they both seem like great guys as well.
Enraged Youth may not be well known at large but the impact the old
members are having is
immense and it’s really cool to see these guys find success.
Of course, there are so many other bands I could talk
about here but I can’t make this blog a thesis, so I’ll list a few more
bands past and present you should check
out depending on your tastes:
Beatdown: Laid 2 Rest, Fight Night, Dead Wrong, Steel Grave.
Metalcore: Jagged Visions, Groundzero, Deadeyesunder, Drowning Room, Sum of All Fears, God Program.
Melodic Hardcore: Voice of Reason, Ambitions, With Honor.
“Hardcore” Hardcore: Follow Through, Signs of Hope, Cornerstone, Zero Hour, Tenfold, Dismay (FFO Burn especially).
Powerviolence: Kidnapped.
Also be on the lookout for new bands Ill Communication and Last Straw. Both bands are releasing demos soon.
I’ll also be linking a CTHC Spotify playlist compiled
by Jay Reason of Voice of Reason and The Distance that has pretty much
every band I talked about and many more. Thanks for reading and I hope
you enjoyed!
So Wednesday in my Short Story class, my professor had us write some Bulwer-Lytton style fiction. For those of you who don't know, the goal with this is basically to write as poorly as humanly possible. I was proud and at the same time ashamed of what I wrote, so I figured I would put my prompts here for the world to see:
Romance
Even years into their marriage, Ronald was smitten by Maria. She was the zig to his zag, the “ah” to his “choo,” the Pepto Bismol to his diarrhea, the bullet to his brain if his brain was JFK’s, the flies to his horse dung. Each morning, he tenderly kissed his heaping pile of equine feces before setting off to work at the Maserati factory on the Amalfi Coast where the employees ate meatballs soaked in marinara sauce during breaks and left at night when the moon hit their eyes like big pizza pies that’s Amore did I mention this takes place in Italy? That’s romantic right? Italy. Italian things. Milan. Pasta. Fascism. Fabio. Italy. Romance novel. Give me my money, middle aged and sexually frustrated white women.
Adventure
It was a sunny, peaceful, and therefore depressing Tuesday morning when Trent set off from his home to search in the woods for his father. Or was it Wednesday? Actually, it might have been Monday. No, it was Tuesday because I remember I stopped to grab a donut for breakfast that morning and that bitch Irene was behind the register again. I have no idea what crawled up her ass, but my God does that woman have an attitude. I’m actually getting hungry again, I think I’ll go to Zuppardi’s for pizza on the way home. Wait, I’m getting off track. Trent died. He got mauled to death by a bear.
Fantasy and Horror
The Orc king sent three orc assassins, Blorp, Skrezzan, and a third whose name was literally just a high-pitched screaming noise, to eliminate the local carpenter after he called the king a “Dorc” online during a particularly heated match of Team Fortress 2. No one would help the carpenter. He was widely disliked due to his rude personality and the fact that his Facebook page was a treasure trove of disturbing comics and strange drawings of anthropomorphic animals in Waffen SS uniforms.
Sci-Fi
Vincent knew he had a job to do, but that didn’t diminish his disappointment in the selection provided by Space Netflix on the Interplanetary Space Station. One could only watch Lost in Space, Space Raiders, Space Jam, and Spaceballs so many times. Bored of the limited entertainment provided, Vincent stared out his cabin window into the void of nothing. I can’t set the scene because there is nothing there. He’s in space.
Crime/Detective
The first responder to a murder scene at the local gas station was Officer Jerry. Jerry was a sad, sad man who never amounted to much in life. How could he with his name? What kind of name is Jerry? The name deprived him of his childhood, as when he was born, he already had the body and mind of a 35-year-old man, as is the norm with Jerrys. Seriously, have you ever met a child named Jerry? No, of course you haven’t. That’s because they don’t exist. Jerry walked around the crime scene with his camera and took pictures of points of interest, touching and rearranging objects in the scene without gloves as he did so. The investigators couldn’t process the evidence as it was all contaminated and the perpetrator was never found, all thanks to Jerry. Fuck you, Jerry.
So last month I went to Hermosa Beach, California to visit my sister and brother in law. Hermosa Beach is an awesome beach town that is close to a ton of the hotspots in Cali so I got to go out to some record stores while I was out there and found some interesting stuff.
The first store I went to was Fingerprints Music in Long Beach. This is a huge store with a great selection of all genres. There were some great finds in the metal section, but that isn't where I got most of my stuff. I asked an employee if they had a bargain CD section. He directed me to bunch of stacks of disks hidden behind the large front desk. The disks were 92 cents each, so I got on my hands and knees and dug through these mountains of old CDs. Thankfully, the venture was not fruitless.
My haul from Fingerprints Music
My most notable find from the store was a signed copy of Skeletal Remains's Condemned to Misery. That album is a personal favorite of mine so picking this up was a no brainer. I also found a copy of Ripping Corpse's Dreaming with the Dead (a criminally underappreciated thrashy OSDM release) and the Dark Descent reissue/remaster of A Descent into Hell by Cianide, which is a really cool death/doom release from the mid 90s.
The bargain stacks were very good to me, so I'm happy to report getting down on the dirty floor and rummaging through them was worth the trouble. Here's a quick rundown of what I found:
Falling Cycle - The Conflict: Some pretty solid Christian metalcore. I saw the Facedown Records logo on the case and figured it was worth picking up. It definitely leans more toward the metal side and also has that early 00s metalcore charm from before the genre exploded and turned into a vague clusterfuck of different styles.
Slayer - Divine Intervention: I'm a massive Slayer fan, so when I saw this for less than a dollar I figured "Why not?"
Black Sabbath - Black Sabbath: It was pretty surprising to find a CD copy of the first metal record ever in this cheap CD pile, so I picked it up.
Sick of It All - Cool as a Mustache: This was a promo from just before the release of Built to Last that has Jungle, Closer, and one exclusive song. The song is basically more SOIA, which I can never get enough of. A pretty neat addition to my collection.
A Life Once Lost - A Great Artist: Great metalcore with kind of a prog thing going on too. Quite an improvement over their first album, which I thought was just decent. After going through their whole discography, this album actually ended up being my favorite.
Outspoken - Bitter Shovel: This is the promo version of this album, which is neat. I picked this up because I thought it was the hardcore band Outspoken. It's not. It's some dad rock band from New York. It's not absolutely terrible but still isn't my thing, just generic butt rock. Sounds kind of like a shitty Pressure 4-5. I'm pissed at myself for not double checking who it was.
Aftermath of a Trainwreck - Horseshoes & Handgrenades: Really good metalcore. Not what I was expecting given the artwork. Straight Edge band too, which is always a plus in my book.
Peach - Giving Birth to a Stone: Specifically, the 2000 reissue. This was Justin Chancellor's band before he joined Tool. It's a neat alt metal album that definitely gives me Soundgarden and Helmet vibes, though it isn't quite as heavy as Helmet even if the band has a similar riff driven approach. Some parts do make me think of Tool as well. Check this out of you're into any of those bands.
The Esoteric - Subverter: Pretty decent experimental metalcore. Kind of goes back and forth between post-hardcore and metalcore with maybe a little post-metal here and there.
Draw Blood - The Calm Before the Storm: Not the most original EP out there, but still pretty solid hardcore, pretty much what you would expect from early 2000s Boston HC.
Hand to Hand - Breaking the Surface: This is pretty much just really generic and bad metalcore/post-hardcore. Nothing this band does impresses me. I guess the cleans are okay but the screams are poor and instrumentally the band just goes for that overdone good cop/bad cop post-melodic metalcore sound with some stop-start riffy stuff. It sounds like bad nu metal at times, mediocre melodic hardcore at others, and even still bad metalcore at others. It is at the very least listenable (Bullets For Teeth is actually a somewhat decent track), which is more than I can say for the band's debut album, which I turned off after 2 songs.
Gone Without Trace - Gone Without Trace: Some hard metalcore. Not quite beatdown but heavy as fuck with a ton of breakdowns and palm muted riffs. Great stuff.
Picture I took outside the store
The other store I got to go to was the Amoeba Music location in Hollywood. Amoeba is actually the largest independent record store in the world, emphasis on large. This place was fucking huge. Music and movies as far as the eye can see and the sheer volume could keep me entertained for days. They even had their own underground metal section that made me wish I had like $500 more dollars on me. Below is everything I got. I again mainly stuck to the bargain bin stuff. A lot of this is more on the hardcore side since the metal clearance section was stupid small and had nothing interesting.
My haul from Amoeba
Death - Human: Let this be a cautionary tale for my fellow collectors out there. I found this album and it was labeled "original issue." I opened Discogs and checked the case for the original pressing, which was identical to the case I was holding (keep in mind, I couldn't check the matrix markings on the disk itself because it was in one of those plastic security package things). Death is one of my favorite bands, if not my favorite band, of all time and Human was the first album from them I heard, so after checking the case to make sure it was legit, I was like "fuck yeah" and bought this for $25. When I got back to my AirBnb, I looked at the disk and it had IPFI markings on it, which meant it was not an original issue from 1991 and could not have been released earlier than 1994. I emailed Amoeba and luckily, they were sympathetic and I ended up sending the album back for a full refund after I got back home. Just make sure you know what you're getting what you want when you pay good money for something because this was a professional record store that fucked up, so it can happen to anyone no matter where they are.
Open Fire! - Built To Abandon: Really sick metalcore/melodic hardcore hybrid. Think early The Ghost Inside but heavier. I've only been able to find two more copies of this online that are on Amazon and the cheaper one is priced at $89.99. I literally picked this up for two dollars. Looks like I may have stumbled upon a sought after treasure. It didn't exist on Discogs, so I put it up there myself and I'm interested to see if I can gauge the album's rarity by how many people want it.
Signs of Hope - Choices Made and First And Foremost: This is a great CTHC band from the mid 2000s. I actually own a copy of their demo that came out in '03. I was pleasantly surprised to find both records at Amoeba so far from CT.
Skitsystem - Enkel Resa Till Rannstenen: For those of you who don't know, this is actually an At The Gates side project and one of my favorite D-Beat bands. They play a really intense and catchy blend of D-Beat and Swedish death metal, something I wish more bands would do. Never thought I would be able to find physicals of any of their stuff out in the wild.
Altercation - Phase None: Interesting deathcore/groove metal hybrid EP from 2010. Sounds a bit like generic groovecore at times but at others it sounds pretty creative and technical.
The Answer - You Had Your Chance: The only vinyl I picked up on this trip. It was only a dollar and I had heard this band was good so I decided to take the gamble. Really paid off too, this 7 inch is killer. Great 2000s straight edge hardcore.
Trial - Foundation: Trial were one of those great 90s hardcore bands that never got their due. If you like that 90s metal-tinged style, be sure to check this out along with their full length.
Follow Through - Taking It Back: A CTHC classic. Great 90s youth crew band from my home state.
Wrong - Wrong: If you miss 90s Helmet, I have good news for you: There is a band that sounds exactly like them, and that band is called Wrong. I've been a fan of these guys for over three years now but didn't have any physical copies of their stuff until I found this for dirt cheap.
The Break In - Unbowed: Sraightforward and aggressive metalcore, I'd say even borderline deathcore since they're throwing in a ton of extreme metal influences. Awesome stuff.
Onward - In A Different Place: Onward were the first Norwegian straight edge band to release a record, which is pretty damn cool. This album is great no bullshit straight edge hardcore, a little bit heavier than the youth crew stuff that was everywhere in the 90s.
Right Brigade - Right Brigade: Rock solid CT/Boston HC. A few members of Follow Through went on to be in this band after their breakup.
I wish I could've gone to more but I was plenty happy with what I got from these two stores. My trip to California might be an annual thing now, so I'm looking forward to next year to get more stuff. Here's hoping I can make my way to another state sometime soon so I can go record store hopping there.
Okay so when it comes to hardcore/metalcore, Delaware has
been popping off lately. I don’t know whether it was always this good over
there and Year of the Knife just woke everyone up or if the locals were
inspired by the band’s success and rejuvenated the scene, but either way there
are a ton of great new bands coming out of the state. In addition to the
previously mentioned Year of the Knife, Delaware has birthed several notable
young acts like Foreign Hands, Simulakra, and the subject of this review:
the Delaware/New Jersey metalcore outfit Contrast of Sin. This 3-track promo is the band’s first release, up on Bandcamp and all streaming services. There was also a tape release of the promo, limited
to 40 copies, sold by Arduous Path Records. I snagged my own tape and as of this posting, there are still a few more up for sale, so grab one if you're interested.
My personal cassette copy.
CoS
first came to my attention via hardcore Twitter, where just about
everyone in Year of the Knife, Rain of Salvation, and Simulakra was screaming at their followers to listen to the band. After spinning this promo, I understand why. This shit rips. Contrast of Sin has a very thick, metallic, and dissonant
sound, not unlike that of Holy Terror bands. This shouldn’t be surprising
considering their name was almost word for word ripped straight from an
Integrity album. The Integrity influence is obvious in the vocals, which are
highly reminiscent of Dwid’s howls while sounding a bit more raw and intense.
The chaotic, frantic vocals also remind me of the raspy yet powerful delivery
of Tyler Mullin from Year of the Knife. The songs, for the most part, are
mid-tempo barrages of breakdowns, though the band will pick up the pace for
brief periods and serve up some thrashy passages, adding a bit of variety to
their sound. The band also utilizes the dark metalcore convention of using
guitar feedback in an atmospheric manner, which works pretty well and doesn’t
sound forced. I was pleasantly surprised by how prominent the bass was in the
mix. It’s audible for every song and sounds great while not taking attention
away from anything else. In fact, the production as a whole is really good for
a promo. The band was able to find a great balance between rawness and clarity
where the recording gives off a cold, dark vibe while still sounding good and
packing a punch. The drums also sound punchy and intense as the drummer performs
tempo changes with ease and pounds away during the many breakdowns. I don't have any complaints, everything about their sound just comes together extremely well and I'm glad I discovered these guys so early.
This is a seriously good first release from a new artist I'm genuinely excited about. Contrast of Sin have the potential to be a heavy hitter in the East Coast hardcore scene after a few years, so get on this and support the guys. They just played their first set at the This Is Hardcore 2019 preshow last month and have said more shows are on the way. I'm definitely seeing them whenever they make it to Connecticut.
FFO: Integrity, Year of the Knife, Holy Terror Bands.
