Ecostrike streaming new track; New 12" EP soon on BBB Records!

South Florida's ECOSTRIKE are streaming a new track from their upcoming 12" on BBB records. Fans of Strife, Spawn, Outspoken, and even early Earth Crisis should not skip out on this one! You can stream the new song, titled "Standing Hard", here.

Straight Savage Style - Demo 98

In continuing the tradition of Stuck In The Past distroing awesome 90's Japanese Hardcore, I'm excited to finally have been able to upload the Straight Savage Style '98 Demo. It was quite an undertaking tracking down a physical copy of this tape to rip as the songs don't seem to be online anywhere else - save for another version of "Hardcore Pride" that appears on a Call For Unity comp - after exhaustive searching. Thanks to my friend Ogden for picking up the tape in Europe for me. 3 tracks of crushing late 90's death metal-infused Japanese Hardcore at it's finest:


download here

Magnitude / Search For Purpose

North Carolina is slowly but surely becoming a powerhouse for up-and-coming hardcore with a strong sense of unity, excited new kids, and great bands. A handful of these releases do an awesome job paying homage to influences from the Early 90's that are sure to quickly become favorites for readers of this blog.

The newest North Carolina HC output is an incredible demo from Magnitude. Straight Edge hardcore in the vein of Strain and early Trial. It's awesome to see this style being played by a new band in 2017, as there aren't too many other bands trying to nail this sound. The songs are catchy and intelligent in a way that does a service for fans of this particular niche of hardcore while not being so specific to alienate those who aren't familiar or into the bands that Magnitude is influenced by.

You can stream the demo here

A handful of members of Magnitude also play in Search For Purpose, another awesome straight edge band from Charlotte, NC. Less moshy and more introspective than the aforementioned Magnitude demo, SFP's demo takes cues from Outspoken and Early strife, while their newest release, a two song promo tape, veers further into emotional and melodic territory with nods to bands like Drift Again. Either way, this band would sound right at home on the "Words To Live By, Words To Die For" comp, so if you're a fan of New Age Records early to mid 90's output, be sure to check this band out!

you can stream their new tape here

xElegyx - Demo

Don't finalize those "Favorite Demo of the Year" lists quite yet, as this late addition to the party for 2016 may tempt you to reconsider yours. xElegyx is a punishingly heavy new Vegan Straight Edge band from South Florida playing Metallic Hardcore in the "Edgemetal" style, specifically reminiscent of German bands like xMaroonx and early Caliban. Great stuff here, and along with bands like Castyoudown, Ecostrike, Drawing Last Breath, and Sandman, xElegyx is an awesome new addition to the boom of 90's-era influenced/metal-tinged hardcore that has been surging out of South Florida recently. The demo is streaming now and tapes will soon be available through U.K.-based label Rage Records.

Stream the demo here.

Earth Crisis - Forced March / Forged In The Flames / Eden's Demise (Live Summer 96)

Recently got around to ripping part of an Earth Crisis live set from a VHS I was given. Not sure exactly where, when, or by whom this was filmed, but later in the set before they play Cease To Exist, they say it's going to be from an upcoming record that they had just finished recording and plan to release "in October". That record being Gomorrah's Season Ends, it's safe to guess this set was filmed in the Summer of 96. Anyways, here are the first three songs from the set. This is one of my favorite ExC videos, and they sound INCREDIBLY tight.

Earth Crisis 1993 demo redux.

Halfway through a show on December 29^th, 1992, a band of lanky young guys in hoodies and striped baggy shirts set up and began a wall of feedback. The singer yelled “put up your hoods!” and the place and band exploded. What happened was monstrous. The energy level was off the charts and provided me with one of the most strikingly incredible memories of the time; a girl in a Real Skateboards long sleeve shirt straight up LEVELING dudes in the pit. It was like bearing witness to the second coming- everything about the set and the reaction it generated made me believe that the straight edge vegan revolution was real. This was my introduction to Earth Crisis.

A few weeks later, a friend of mine tracked down a copy of the “All Out War” ep. I sat in his room listening to it and it was literally nothing like the band I had just seen. It lacked the insane energy and power that had floored me and was kind of, well, flat. I joined Halfmast in the summer of 1993 and the bass player, Bill, dubbed me a copy of some new Earth Crisis stuff, which I recall he got from Mike Warden (Conquer the World Records) and THAT WAS THE STUFF! It sounded like revolution to me: crazy, exciting and dangerous. I listened to that dub at least a hundred times. Although a watershed moment in hardcore, I thought the “Firestorm” ep paled in comparison and at the Firestorm record release show that October, they were just more tame than when I has seen them less than a year previous. I'm not saying it was bad, it was good; the show just had a less urgent, more relaxed vibe.

Since 1993, I've played shows with and seen Earth Crisis many times, but nothing connected with me like that first show or the 1993 demo. When my friend Carl said he still had digitized files from a dub he thinks  got from Guav in 93 (he used to do a ‘zine called Warmachine), I knew it had to be better than the stuff that’s been out in the digital world for the past 10+ years. So here it is, cleaned up as best I could, the 8 song 1993 Earth Crisis Demo.  Oh yeah, “Time of Strife” from the structure records comp, I digitized that last year, but did not include it here, as I'll be adding that to the blog in the near future.

Earth Crisis 1993 Demo

Modern Problems demo

I play in a new straight edge band that I sing for called Modern Problems. I thought I'd share our demo with you guys. It's in the realm of Uniform Choice/ Unity/ early Ignite/ 7 Seconds/ Minor Threat. Check it out.

Modern Problems on Facebook

Modern Problems on Bandcamp

Modern Problems Demo DL

Zero Tolerance Live in Toronto 10/28/89

20+ years ago I was given a great soundboard recording of  Zero Tolerance labeled "ZT Toronto 1990" I dubbed it for a few friends and kind of forgot about it. A few years ago, I misplaced said tape and recently my friend Bill came to the rescue with the dub I had made for him. Larry Ransom (another friend I dubbed the tape for in '94) and I were trading emails discussing the recording and he surmised that though the copy I had back in the day was marked 1990, the show was actually from late '89. Sure enough, I shot a message over to former ZT bass player Eric Rice who confirmed that the show was in October of '89 in Toronto and the line-up was, get this: Zero Tolerance, Cannibal Corpse and the GOO GOO DOLLS. 

This set is pretty great, there's early versions of 3 songs that went on to be on the legendary 1990 demo, with Trapped In A World being performed for the first time at this show. Some of the laid back stage banter and guitarist Mike Robinson's late show outburst is great. There's also many songs played that were never released and recorded, check it out.

 

ZT Live In Toronto 

Against All Hope 1993 Self Titled Cassette

 While waiting in line at a local thrash/ death metal show in the winter on 1990, I bought a 7” by local Buffalo, NY hardcore band Against All Hope. I thought it was pretty cool and listened to it quite a bit over the coming months. The following summer of '91, I finally was able to catch them live and they were WAY better than that 7”. The line up I saw at that show had Jay Galvin on bass and Scott Vogel on drums, both of whom were also in Slugfest. Over the next few years, I saw them many, many more times and once their line up solidified they got even better.

In 1993 Against All Hope released my favorite material by them, their Self Titled cassette; they were on the more speedy, melodic side of hardcore, especially for Buffalo, mixing in some Dag Nasty style to their brand of 'core. Long gone were Jay and Scott, but oddly enough both Flipowitz and Tim Patterson from AAH also went on to be in Slugfest. This is a really great demo and includes a cover of Once I Cry by Uniform Choice. 

Against All Hope 1993 Self Titled Cassette 

Blistered (FL) signs with 6131 Records

Florida-based metallic hardcore outfit Blistered has just announced their signing with 6131 Records, a label based out of Los Angeles, California, joining the likes of Strife, Downpresser, Rotting Out, and more. The band has also released a new track, entitled "Rusted", that can be found on the 12" EP "Soul Erosion" coming out in March.

Blistered is heavily influenced by bands like Buried Alive, Morning Again, and Chokehold, and is sure to appeal to fans of 90's metalcore.

Stream the track here:
http://music.6131records.com/album/soul-erosion

Gut Feeling (ex-Undying/Catharsis)

Gut Feeling is a new band out of Raleigh, North Carolina and they just recently recorded a demo that is available via bandcamp with the price tag of 'name your own price'.

With 4 songs that scream by at right around 8 minutes, these songs have slightly more of a punk influence than one might expect from ex-members of Undying and Catharsis.  Primarily uptempo song structures propel each song forward with vocals that sit somewhere right between a yell and a scream.  Lyrically, I'm reminded of some older Crimethinc bands with songs about desperation giving way to hope for a better day.

Give their demo a listen, and toss a few dollars their way if you're so inclined, as they intend on doing some touring throughout 2013.

Gut Feeling

Falling Action

Falling Action came out of Redding, CA in the late 90s, and played some great melodic hardcore.  As far as I know, all they ever recorded was a 4 song demo, which is a bummer, because some of the other songs they were playing live sounded even better than the demo tracks.

Their old Geocities site is still available for viewing here, and I suggest having your speakers on for some awesome midi songs to soothe you.

I got to see them twice here in Portland, but unfortunately couldn't make the drive down to Redding for the final show or the reunion show.  They were always cool guys to hang out with, and I've been fortunate enough to still keep in touch with most of them to this day.

Falling Action - 1998 Demo

http://www.mediafire.com/?tjason4923csnjo

There was also a second version with different cover art:

Although I'm not completely sure of what all the members are up to musically these days, here's a brief rundown of what some of them were doing right after the breakup of Falling Action.

Zachary and Daniel played in the metal/hardcore band After The Fall

Rusty moved to San Francisco and played guitar for Breaker Breaker

Azy and Jesse moved to Boston.  Azy played bass for a brief spell with In My Eyes before becoming a founding member of both American Nightmare and Panic with Jesse.

Jukai - demo

Jukai hail from Long Island, NY and have a sound that is heavy on the mid - late 90s metalcore front.  I don't know much of anything about these guys, but it looks like they're becoming pretty active in their area.  I was pleasantly surprised when I gave it a listen.  Perhaps you will be too.

Facebook / Bandcamp

Human Animal EP up for free download.

Human Animal is based out of Erie, PA and features members from such Erie luminaries as Brother's Keeper, Abnegation, Disciple, Shockwave and more.  This is also EMS' first turn at fronting a band, as opposed to his normal role as bass player.

They have recorded a 5 song EP and it's currently available for free download.

Here are some links to check them out:

Bandcamp / Download / Facebook / Website