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.

Ecostrike - The Time Is Now 7"

South Florida's own Ecostrike is now streaming their new 7" via Carry The Weight Records. Boasting four new tracks of Vegan Straight Edge hardcore in the vein of bands like Strife, Spawn, and early Earth Crisis, the record will be available for pre-order in January.

In the meantime, stream the 7" 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.

ECOSTRIKE - Demo 2016

South Florida has been pumping out tons of new hardcore bands lately, including this new Vegan Straight Edge band: ECOSTRIKE. This demo is 4 songs taking influence from demo-era Earth Crisis, Strife, Strain, Tension, Slugfest, etc. Check it out if you're looking to satisfy your urge for early 90's-style Vegan "Chugcore".

Stream the demo here: https://ecostrike.bandcamp.com

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

Path To Misery's Vegan Metalcore Bible is back!

The always awesome Path To Misery blog used to have a massive collection of 90s vegan metalcore downloads... The link eventually expired tho, as these sorts of things have a habit of doing. But AJ who runs PTM stepped up the plate and re-upped everything once again! So from Abnegation to Wrath Of Nature with a few vsxe comps thrown in as well, it's all there again. Make sure you check it out here!

And here's the kicker: he even recorded a sweet Abnegation cover in the process that you can download here. It's a cool cover, updating the sound and adding an 18 Visions like flavor to the vocals (yes, 18V were awesome at one point!). Don't neglect to check it out as well! You can dl it as a Name Your Price, with the proceeds going to an animal rights group from AJ's area. Show some support!

The Setup

The Setup was a vegan straight edge band from Chula Vista, CA. Super heavy, chuggy vegan hardcore. I've always compared them to bands like Canon and Birthright or if Chokehold was from California and had decent recordings (ha).

They released the Screams of Reason 7" in 1997 on Words Of War Records, then followed up with a demo titled "Straight Outta Chula Vista" in 1998. They were supposed to release an LP on Warpath Records, but sadly that was never officially released.

This is the bands entire discography to my knowledge. If anybody has any more info on them please let us know.

http://www.mediafire.com/?pd9qp3zsqsck32c

Abnegation - Extinguish The Sickness 7" [1994]

In the politically charged 1990s, there were a slew of bands whose music I loved even though I was vehemently opposed to some or all of their politics.  Abnegation were definitely one of those bands, and this 7" is a shining example of why.  I love chunky, metal-tinged hardcore, but always loathed pro-life sentiments, and I knew I was in for a battle within myself as soon as I heard the heartbeat opening the first track, "Birthright".  However, this definitely didn't stop me from buying Abnegation's future releases.

Abnegation - Extinguish The Sickness

[1994 - Militant Records]

http://www.mediafire.com/?kd05dulspxdokb1

xRepentancex - Interview

“For fans of”…the classic line that is thrown around in hopes of getting plays, new fans, or especially “likes” in this day and age. I usually tend to overlook things like this, but this particular one I couldn’t ignore. After reading “FFO: Unborn, Arkangel, and Morning Again,” I felt the need to immediately check out the band that was being advertised. That band is xRepentancex, a seemingly random breath of fresh air in the hardcore scene that truly impressed me. When listening to the band’s 2013 demo, entitled “In Violation of Aša,” I couldn’t help but think that it sounded like something straight off the Good Life Recordings “The Way It Is” compilation that came out in 1996. They play a perfect blend of 90s vegan straight edge metalcore that we all know and love. I was able to get a quick interview with Pat, their guitar player, to talk about the band.

Introduce yourself and the band, and explain how xRepentancex came to be.

My name is Pat, I play guitar in xRepentancex. The band consists of myself, Oli on drums, John on vocals, and Robb also on guitar. We are yet to get a solid bassist. I basically wanted to do this band for a number of years. I wrote some songs but couldn't find that many vegan Straight Edge people in the UK scene, especially who could play metal. After searching for a while, my friend Charlie of Abolition introduced me to Oli and we started jamming. The original plan was that I was going to do vocals, but we soon realized we would never be able to play live if so due to the lack of xvx guitarists in the UK. So we got John involved, who does a way better job than I could ever do anyway. We recorded in Nottingham in January just the three of us, then later recruited in Robb and he is great.

Does the name hold a certain significance to you or the message you’re trying to convey?

In a way, yes. Without sounding to cliche, I take it to be uncontroversial that human 'civilization' is in crisis in many significant ways. One of these ways is our arrogant and disrespectful treatment of the planet and the creatures which inhabit it. Until we kill our anthropocentric views, I cannot see anything improving. So in some ways, the name Repentance is relevant in that sense.

I hear fragments of bands known to have a militant stance on veganism and straight edge, like Chokehold and Unborn for example, in your music. Do you think it’s necessary to take this stand when talking about that subject matter? If so, why?

I do not think it is absolutely necessary to always hold a militant stance on these issues. It depends what a band's approach is. Moreover, I do not think Straight Edge and Veganism should be treated in the same ideological manner. Both can be seen as forms of rebellion or valuable in some comparable way, but there are significant differences with regard to their moral and practical interpretation. But with xRepentancex, this band is a chance for all of us to vent our anger and rage at issues in the most precise way. In the UK, there are almost no bands who talk about veganism, so in a reactionary sense, we retain an overt and hard stance on it. A lot of this is done through religious metaphor, using lyrical themes from the Abrahamic and Zoroastrian traditions. None of us are religious, but we find value in conveying our message in these metaphorical terms in order to emphasize its importance.

Recently, there has been an obvious increase in popularity when it comes to 90s influenced hardcore bands, especially here in the States. How is the scene overseas as far as that style goes? Who are some of your favorite current bands playing that style?

I totally agree and it is awesome! It is great to see. Firstly I would say the UK is pretty good for that style right now. Abolition, Natural Order and the recently revived Ark of The Covenant are all great bands. The US has such a huge scene that there is always going to be something awesome going on which is cool.

I noticed that the cassettes sold out very quickly online soon after the demo was released. Were you all surprised at how well received the demo was? Are any still available?

Man, we are all taken back by how fast they went. I knew they were going to sell eventually as people seemed to really like the song we posted and there were only 60 made at first. But to have the first and second press go in a matter of minutes was unreal. We are all so grateful people who want to check us out. I believe they have all gone, but there will be a vinyl version coming shortly.

What do you guys have planned for the future? Any tours coming up?

We have a bunch of shows planned over the next few months. We are all fairly busy with work and/or university so we don't get a lot of time. But we just want to play when we can and maybe do a tour sometime this year. Once the vinyl version of the demo comes out, we will be working on a full length LP.

Thanks a lot for the interview, Geoff!

- Pat

Check out the band and the recently posted demo here: http://xrepentancex.bandcamp.com/