Envision (Italy)

In the late '90s, a lot of bands around Europe took inspiration from bands like Arkangel and Morning Again, some good some bad. Here's a pretty good one which doesn't get mentioned all that much, Envision from Parma, Italy. The band started out in 1998 and after a 4-song demo they recorded the 'The Season Of Indifference' MCD, which was released on Next Sentence Recordings in 1999. Next Sentence btw was a label run by one of the guys in Negate, a Belgian metalcore band from the French part of Belgium. This MCD rules from start to finish. While Envision didn't break any new grounds on this MCD, it's well-executed and is just plain damn solid metalcore. The band was (partially, I think) veggie/vegan sXe and supported all kinds of socio-political, enviromental and animal rights groups, something which also reflected itself in the lyrics.

After the release the singer left and Nicola, one of the guitarists took over vocal duties while still playing guitar. In 2002 their full-length album 'Ecoillogical Babel' was released on NoBrain Records out of Italy. It had a slightly different sound, leaning more towards modern metal with some nu-metal influences. It's not something I'm into all that much, but it's again well-executed and the band knows how to write songs and play them. The nu-metal influences kills it for me tho, I definitely prefer the MCD. But in this style it's a solid release.

Afterwards the band went thru some line-up changes and recorded a demo for a follow-up release, but the release never happened and the band ended sometime in late 2004/early 2005. After the band folded, singer/guitarist Nicola 'Busso' Bussoni joined Hidea, an Italian hard rock band. No idea what the other band members did after Envision folded.

Envision - The Season Of Indifference MCD
Envision - Ecoillogical Babel CD

Roma Straight Edge: The New Season compilation 7"

Here's an Italian sXe compilation 7" from the '90s based around a group of friends & bands from Rome, Italy, called the Roma Straight Edge Legion. It's got 4 sXe hardcore bands on it: Strength Approach, Redemption, Dehumanize and Reinforced, who were all fairly new bands at the time. My personal faves on here are Redemption and Dehumanized, mostly cuz they're the metallic hardcore bands on here, the other 2 play more old school youth crew inspired hardcore, and they're not the greatest bands ever to play that style.

This 7", released in 1996, was the first release on Surrounded Records, which was a label run by Maurizio Ricci, who was in Reinforced at the time, but is better known as the singer of Purification, an Italian vegan sXe band, which was also formed in 1996. Surrounded Records would afterwards release a Dehumanize 7" and a Redemption 7" among other things. Strength Approach is the only band of these 4 still going to this day, playing shows, recording and touring all the time.

Roma Straight Edge: The New Season compilation 7"

Timebomb - Fury 7"

After Chip posted Timebomb's first full-length which was requested, I figured I'd post Timebomb's first 7", called 'Fury'. It was released on SOA Records out of Italy in 1993, the same label that released the aforementioned 'Hymns...' album a couple of years later. It features 6 of the earliest Timebomb songs, from 1990 up to 1993, tho the insert says they were all (re-)recorded for this 7" in 1993. You can definitely tell Timebomb was still trying to find their own sound, trying to play heavy metallic hardcore but still rooted way more in hardcore than the metal they would player later on. The vocals were already pretty deep and rough, similar to, but not as powerful as, Jason from Unconquered, as Chip mentioned in his post. Anyways, it's definitely far from a great 7", it's actually pretty bad, but hey, someone requested Timebomb, so here you go!

Anyways, they were already pretty outspoken veggie/vegan sXe communists at the time, as can be read in the essay included with this 7", which was written by their singer at the time, Giorgio. And for those who are interested, here's an old interview my old buddy Panos 'Nahitfol' did with Timebomb some time in the late '90s in which bass-player Simone from Timebomb calls this 7" 'probably one of the worst records of all ages'. If that doesn't make you want to download this 7", I don't know what will...

Timebomb - Fury 7"