hardcore Tag

Aachen, the most Western German city, bordering the Netherlands and Belgium. Aachen, the coronation city of German kings and the deathbed of Charles the Great. Aachen, former city of coal mining and hard labour. Aachen, home to traditional fraternities of questionable political views. Aachen, city where a football club is condoning that ultra right winged fans have literally kicked out left winged fans from the stands. And Aachen, home to Fjørt, one of the most exciting German hardcore bands to grace every tiny youth center, club or festival stage allRead More

by Matthias Saying goodbye to one of your favourite bands at some strange festival sponsored by a telecommunications company and where they played as a support act (!) for Good Charlotte (!!) just didn’t feel right. But it happened in the summer of 2007. And then there was darkness. …until late 2010. Self-ironic as they are, boysetsfire returned to another telecommunications festival thingy and shortly afterwards announced to be back as a band full-time. And, as they say, the rest is history: a new (pretty great) album („While a NationRead More

Sometimes I wonder just how much could change in only two years and how the hell it got to be this way A couple of years ago, I was still an intern at an indie record label in Berlin. I discovered Touché Amoré, La Dispute & Defeater for myself. I fell in love with hardcore and punk again. And I had a girlfriend back then. The summer at the label was great. It was my entry to the music industry that I still work in today. It was the firstRead More

A thundering bass. Drums that kick in slower than you expected. And then a razor blade voice. More chaotic drumming and backup vocals that add melodies. What is this band? Well, it’s a great hardcore band and ‚God Deluxe‘ a great song that will get you juices going in less than two minutes. If you’re a fan of Touche Amore, La Dispute (the earlier outing) or Defeater that is. Their as of now still untitled new album will be out on Equal Vision Records and that is a label IRead More

I call you function, it’s a reference to formulaic happiness. The last few months must have been pretty horrific for Atlas At Last. Compared to the DC trios selftitled debut EP from 2013, A Composition of Functions is a big leap into darker territories. Sonically the four songs are noisy, raw and brutal, to say the least. While its predecessor wasn’t necessarily a happy affair per se, it managed to pair walls of distorted guitars with great melodies and harmonies. This time, the melodies haven’t disappeared, they are just buriedRead More

Time stands still and we watch our past mistakes When I was about 16 and had gotten really deep into hardcore, I was listening to a lot of bands that sounded like Miles & Feet. American new-school hardcore, with mosh-break downs, metal dual „At the Gates“-metal riffing and this angry voice spitting emotional lyrics. I would have killed to play in a band like that. But living in a small place, all I could muster was a band sounding more metal and with guys that didn’t have the same musicalRead More

Conscience separates man from else creatures When gang-vocals turn into gang-growls you know you’re deep into dark territory. The six songs on ‚Barricades‘ don’t offer a lot of condolences for the weak hearted. This is hardcore with a much darker and desperate twist than what has become so beloved by fans of „The Wave“. The guitars are creating a barricade themselves. The noise is deafening. The vocals are merciless, the drums dry as desert sand and the bass is a growling steamhammer. It’s only fitting that the artwork consists ofRead More

It’s never easy, when one of the bands you were cherishing in your teenage days becomes a global brand themselves. When small venues turn into stadiums, when edges become polished surfaces, when the small indie label gets replaced by the biggest label in the world. Rise Against have been broken – not in the sense that they have ditched all their old values and turned their back on the scene, but in the sense major labels use the term for bands going gold. So they managed to sell a wagon-loadRead More

I never saw myself as an outsider. Even though I grew up in a small town and had a very distinct taste in music, I always had a good bunch of friends. To this day I tend to get along with most people I meet. Maybe this has caused me to have a strange relation to hardcore. From time to time I love to pull out „One with the Underdogs“ from the shelf and mosh through my flat. Gorilla Biscuits are obviously as integral to my record collection as „AfterRead More

All the motions of ordinary love They grow and change It’s been a long way coming, and after post-hardcore-the-wave masterpiece „Wildlife“ it was never going to be an easy one. When last year the first video surfaced showing the band dismantling the wooden remains of the album cover artwork, blogs, fans and everyone that had ever heard of the band started buzzing. Something new was coming. La Dispute were back.Read More