review: Terror--The Damned, The Shamed

When Terror releases an album, it's generally like they're preaching to the choir. On their excellent first record, 2003's Lowest of the Low, the group established their signature sound: high energy, slightly metallic, no bullshit hardcore with an old school vibe. On subsequent releases, with the exception of the odd hip-hop interlude, they've repeated themselves again and again. Imagine my astonishment, then, when midway through "Betrayer" from The Damned, The Shamed, I heard 30 whole seconds of clean (!) guitar. "March To Redemption" offers a similar surprise, while "Lost Our Minds" features a nifty little guitar solo and evokes more sadness than rage. If anything, the fact that such minor details feel groundbreaking only underscores how deeply wedded Terror is to its metallic hardcore formula. Nevertheless, while The Damned, The Shamed won't convert any nonbelievers, its relative departures will likely keep the Terror faithful engaged enough to come back for the next serving.

Terror
The Damned, The Shamed
Century Media

review: Century--Black Ocean

On Black Ocean, Century beef up their sound with thick production and a more pronounced metallic edge, though they haven't strayed far from the successful brand of progressive hardcore heard on 2006's Faith and Failure. There's a good helping of melody here, not in band mastermind Carlos Slovak's vocals, which always belch monstrously, but in the guitar work. "Monolith" shifts seamlessly between ethereal melancholy and thrash stomp. Drummer Matthew Smith, who anchors the record with powerful, meticulous beats, pounds so hard on tracks like "Erasure" that you almost miss the airy, rockin' lead soaring overtop. It's obvious that Century has been influenced by the metalcore explosion of the last half-decade. The lurching breakdowns recall acts like Norma Jean; some of the lighter moments echo Misery Signals. And yet Century never sounds quite like any of those groups. Slovak's band isn't trying to corner any one segment of the aggressive music scene and that in itself is refreshing. At the very least, this is worth checking out for "Equus," one of the meanest, catchiest songs released so far this year.

Century
Black Ocean
Prosthetic Records

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with Paul Bearer of Joe Coffee and Sheer Terror

I talked to Paul Bearer backstage at the BNB Bowl. Paul is best known for his work with Sheer Terror in the '80s and '90s, but the for the past few years he's fronted Joe Coffee. Paul had a lot of funny, heartfelt things to say. This guy rules. Check it out, easily the best interview of the day.

--On Sheer Terror:

PB: Sheer Terror is dead. We put it to rest four years ago, when we did the two shows at CBGBs. The money was good and it was good to be reunited with my old band members and whatnot. To put it to rest the right way. I did it to bury it right, and it's buried.

--On his band Joe Coffee:

PB: There was a detective in New York City who was involved in the whole Son of Sam thing named Joe Coffee. But I just call it Joe Coffee because I like coffee. It's an easy name to remember. The merchandising possibilities are endless [laughs]. I've been doing it seven years at least. We've got one EP, one album, we pressed up a thousand. Ice Cream Records is gonna rerelease it, hopefully by the time summer starts. It ain't hardcore. It's punk by nature. I mean, we're all from the hardcore scene and whatnot. I've been going to shows for 26 years or so. You don't always have to hold onto the same thing and keep doing it over and over. The clinical definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I can't do that. I'm insane enough, and I'm dealing with that in therapy once a week. But with Joe Coffee, it's more where my heart always was. It's rock n roll, it's punk. I want to bring more of a soul thing into it. Northern soul, with a horn section, eventually--I hope, I pray. But I'm still writing about growing up and trying to do your bit. All my friends are fucked up or criminals, and I would never turn my back on them, but I want everybody to do better. To put that into music. The girls are getting it more than the guys right now, which is cool. The guys are gonna' realize, 'hey, he's still one of us.'

I steal from old country and old r&b and soul songs. I'll be the first to admit it. I did that with Sheer Terror, but nobody realized it because they were too busy punching each other in the face in the pit. But with Joe Coffee, I don't want them so much punching each other in the pit. I want them to enjoy themselves. I'm not reinventing the wheel by any means, I just want people to enjoy themselves and have fun. And if I do strike a chord and they understand it, it's a bonus for me. I'm not gonna' give 'em Sheer Terror again and again, I'd feel like I'm cheating the audience. I'm a musician, I'm an artist, quote/endquote, I expand, I move on. If they like the songs, the music, that's all that really matters to me.

--On the song "Everything's Fine," by the Saints, which Sheer Terror covered:

PB: The Saints, one of the first, if not the first, punk bands out of Australia. That's from their third album called Prehistoric Sounds. They put out their first, (I'm) Stranded, their second album, Eternally Yours. The third album was more of a departure. They were punk, rock, r&b. I urge anyone to dive into the Saints, especially their first three albums. We did ["Everything's Fine"] live a couple times. Without the horns, it took away, but we played it because it's one of my favorite songs.

Chatting with Paul Bearer. Photos by David Hsu.

--On comparing bands like Blood For Blood to Sheer Terror:

PB: Y'know, the Blood For Blood thing, they bring that up a lot. Don't get me wrong, they were a good band for what they did. I know those guys. But I don't really see it. Maybe the honesty, or the anger. I'm not taking anything away from them. They cursed a helluva lot more than I did. I mean, "fuck" was every other word in their lyrics. I can see myself using "fuck" more in Joe Coffee, which is weird. As I get older, I'm cursing more. The desperation and whatnot, the hate. But I don't really see it.

The term hatecore, I cannot stand. I think it's fucking ridiculous. It's hardcore. And to just base your whole life on hate, hate, hate, hate. I mean, even the Nazis didn't do that. To not try or want to love, it's saddening. It's depressing. It didn't help me that my first record was called Just Can't Hate Enough. Didn't help. I love love, and I want to love love again, and I want to be in love with a woman who I love. I'm not a big fan of people, I don't like people as a whole, but the ones I do, I care for. For me to hate you means we had some sort of relationship and it went bad--whether it's friendship or business or whatever--and it turned to hate. I'm not priding myself on hating people because that's just redundant and ignorant and stupid. So, I mean, Blood For Blood--God bless 'em. Musically, I guess [it resembles Sheer Terror], but I don't listen to a lot of hardcore. As far as I'm concerned, the last great hardcore, heavy record that came out was Poison Idea's Feel The Darkness [released 1990]. Nothing can touch that album. Slayer can suck a dick compared to that album.

--On Joe Coffee potentially playing a Superbowl:

PB: A show's a show. If there's people, we'll play. We don't turn our noses up at anything. But we're not a hardcore band. The indie scene, or whatever you wanna' call it, they're like afraid of me. I don't even know these people. So we can't really get shows with them. We tried. We'll play with anyone! But with the Superbowl, we'd love to play. We'd stick out like a sore thumb. But you know what? That's not a bad thing.



----Well, that's everything from the Black N Blue Bowl. It was a fun day. I want to thank Dave Hsu for taking photos, and the Rockstar people for the beer tickets.

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with John Joseph of Bloodclot and the Cro-Mags

Photos by David Hsu.

Backstage at the Black N Blue Bowl, I got a chance to talk with John Joseph, best known as the singer of New York hardcore/crossover legends the Cro-Mags, who was playing with his new band Bloodclot. Joseph talked about everything from health and fitness to screenwriting projects and his recently released autobiography, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon.

--On his book, The Evolution of a Cro-Magnon:

JJ: The book's doing really well, we're almost sold out of the first pressing. It chronicles how I grew up, me and my brothers, in foster homes, on the street at a young age. How I got into music, roadying with the Bad Brains. A lotta' crazy shit. I just finished two screenplays and got an agent in Hollywood, so it's starting to manifest into other stuff.

The book took me seven years. I started working on it about 15 years ago, but I was using the material for screenplays. Then at the urging of my screenwriting partner, I chose to make it a book instead. I had memoirs and diaries from 20 years ago and I just finally put it all in a book and then I got an editor. Then we just decided to get a publisher and self-publish. It's just like music, you get ripped off in the publishing world. The movie business. Everything. So now when I come with something, I wanna' do it grassroots. Now I'm getting into the whole independent film shit, trying to work that whole angle in there where you're not selling out, selling out your life. My writing teacher told me you gotta' know about the business, because otherwise you'll get ripped off.

I work hard, I write everyday. Whether it's a screenplay or whatever the fuck, I'm constantly writing, I'm constantly training, working on music. And I'm ready to tour the fucking world with these guys.

--On his screenplays:

JJ: One's a comedy about a religious cult, and the other one's a drama, a boxing film. I studied under Robert McKee, he's one of the most sought after screenwriting teachers. I've been working about seven or eight years on films now.

I started writing with Morgan Spurlock who did Super Size Me--it was me, him and his wife--and they knew about Robert McKee and I took the course, applied his techniques to my scripts. They were like, 'We'd love to work with you, but you'd have to go to school.' So that's what I did.

Bassist Rick Lopez (Merauder) and Joseph perform with Bloodclot.

--On Bloodclot:

JJ: The band features members of Cro-Mags, Biohazard, Merauder, Pro-Pain, so it's the new shit. We just dropped a record called Burn Babylon Burn. Going on tour, South America, Europe. It's just starting to kick up now.

We know the record business is not what it used to be. Everybody downloads. We don't give a fuck. I put out my book on audio first and everybody downloaded it. So we don't care about selling a billion records because nobody does anymore. But you'll be able to get it on iTunes soon.

--On the state of the scene, and the world:

JJ: If ever there was a time for revolutionary attitude in punk rock and hardcore, now's the time, with what's going on in the world. That seems to be the aspect of this music that's been taken out of it. I've been going to punk shows since '77, when I was 15. I'm 45 years old. So I saw the whole evolution of punk rock, hardcore, the whole shit. The metal, the crossover, whatever. We don't sing about our relationship problems, or how tough we are, or how many tattoos we got. The message is conscious and we're out there to make people think about what's going on. I'm way behind zeitgeist, [radio host] Alex Jones and his film Endgame, and what's really going on with the Illuminati and the families that are taking over this planet. They're taking advantage of the people and milking this fucking planet dry of all its resources.

--On health:

JJ: I'm against meat. I got another book coming out called Meat Is For Pussies and it's a health book. It's the brother book to Skinny Bitch, number one on the New York Times bestseller list. People just don't know about health. I've been training, I'm a competitive triathlete now. I'm doing an iron man and the whole book is about health, nutrition, training, the vegetarian aspect. It's not about a quick burnout and take a bunch of fucking steroids and then you're getting your balls cut off 10 years later. I'm for longevity in training, I want to be racing when I'm 60 years old. And rocking the stage. I've been playing since 1981. 26 years, bro. And we bring it every night, it's like boom. High energy. What you put into health is what you get out of it.

--On playing the Superbowl in '05 with Fearless Vampire Killers:

JJ: It was the Cro-Mag reunion, the 20 year thing, but with all the politics and people talking shit, I just didn't wanna' call it Cro-Mags. I'm over all that bullshit, I never slam any of those dudes in interviews. It is what it is. I choose to remain positive and do my shit like that.

Kids going apeshit during Bloodclot.

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with Vehement Serenade

The Black N Blue Bowl featured a surprise set from a new band called Vehement Serenade. The group, who was playing their first ever set, features some familiar faces. The band should have music up soon here, on it's Myspace page.

--On the new band:

Jamin Hunt: Mike was writing a little bit of material. We had been in a project back in the day as kids. He used to play in Sworn Enemy, now I play in Sworn Enemy. It's like we've just been missing [each other] so closely every time. And finally, tonight is the first time we've shared the stage since [we were kids]. It's beautiful. It comes back around.

Eddie Ortiz: At the end of the day, Mike was the mastermind. We'd all done tours together, we were all good friends for a long time, and he saw something in each individual. He brought us all together and now it's evolving from there.

--Who's who:

Mike Couls: On vocals, it's Karl [Buechner] from Earth Crisis, Path of Resistance, Freya. On the drums is Paulie [Antignani] "No Neck," formerly of Sworn Enemy, Everybody Gets Hurt. On guitar is Jamin [Hunt], currently in Sworn Enemy, formerly in Hatework and Placenta. On the other guitar is Eddie Ortiz, the Puerto Rican phenomenon. He plays in Subzero, he used to play in Cattle Press. He was with Candiria for some time. I'm Mike Couls. I used to play in Sworn Enemy, Cold As Life, Merauder, Agents of Man. I play with Danny Diablo sometimes.

Eddie: 25 bands between the five of us.

I ain't got any pictures of Vehement Serenade.
So peep these crowd shot. Photos by David Hsu.

--On Vehement Serenade's sound:

Paulie Antignani: I would say classic hardcore, classic '90s hardcore, with a good, hard, slow twist that gives it some originality. We all give it our own little twist. Not being afraid to play a riff that we'd use in one of the bands we've played in before.

Jamin: It's a plethora of different influences. We're gonna' do a little something different. We'll keep it interesting, keep experimenting, because that's what it's all about. There's not gonna' be any holding back.

Mike: We've only rehearsed four times as a full band. Karl came in for two sessions a couple weeks ago. Different people were on different tours, including him. Actually, it was funny, on the Firestorm Fest, Earth Crisis was on tour with Sworn Enemy, so Karl and Jamin were on tour together with different bands.

Jamin: A total of 12 hours, if that, we've played together in the same room.

--On recording an album:

Eddie: We've got nine or 10 songs, a little over an album's worth of music already. We're writing more stuff, so we'll have probably 20 songs by the end of the season. We're going for it.

Mike: In late May, around touring schedules, we're gonna' go into the studio with Joey Z. from Life of Agony. He's got his own studio here in Brooklyn, Method of Groove Studio. We're very stoked because he gets great sounds. He knows the hard side of music and how to keep things aggressive, and he knows the melodic side of music. A very good person to be at the helm of this recording.

Jamin: Joey's a great producer. He takes his time, gets in there with a fine-toothed comb, finds the right tones. Amazing guitar player, too. Amazing friend. Amazing studio, it's phenomenal. I'm so excited to be able to go back into the studio again with him working on something so experimental and off the cuff, knowing how we worked together [on the last Sworn Enemy record, Maniacal].

--On hitting the road:

Mike: When the music comes out and people get a taste for it, that's the foundation. After that, we'll start popping up everywhere.

Paulie: I can't wait to quit my fucking job. I've been off the road one year, I can't wait to go back. I work as a cook in Manhattan. I make bangin' food. I love it, but I like playing shows and traveling the world a little bit better. I can cook when I'm on tour. Garlic and olive oil, that's all you need.

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with Armando Bordas of Fahrenheit 451

Photo by David Hsu.

I spoke with Armando Bordas, singer for New York's Fahrenheit 451, shortly after the band's set at the Black N Blue Bowl. Armando helped pick the songs for the New York hardcore radio station in Grand Theft Auto IV. "It's like my favorite hardcore mixtape," he said. Armando said Fahrenheit 451 has no plans of getting back together full time ("I'm an old man."), but they will play a couple of shows in Philadelphia this summer, one opening for H2O show at the Trocadero, and another at the This Is Hardcore Fest. Fahrenheit 451's complete discography, titled If I Knew Then What I Know Now, is available now (click here to order). It comes with a DVD that includes a documentary on the band, as well as the band's complete set from their 2005 reunion show at CBGBs. You can also check out Armando, on occasion, in his band Dominican Day Parade: "It's one-minute songs about smoking and drinking beer," he says.

--On playing the Black N Blue Bowl in New York:

AB: There's always a flavor here that's not comparable to any other place, anywhere. People say New York is dead? They can fuck themselves. They don't know what's up. This is a New York staple--I was going to Superbowls when I was a kid. I saw one of my first Superbowls with AF, Gorilla Biscuits, Quicksand. It was just amazing and I'm honored to be playing one here in New York.

--On CBGBs:

AB: People talk about CBGBs, they talk about the Ramones, Television, Talking Heads. Ten years after those guys left and were playing arenas and were on their New Wave shit, who kept that place open? It was hardcore. It was people like me coming down to the matinees on Sundays and hanging out. People don't recognize it, and this [the BNB Bowl] is the perfect place for people to look up and say, 'This is something.' It influenced people, it influenced kids, and it's still going. I don't see Talking Heads [anymore]. Yeah, they're in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, but what the fuck does that matter?

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with Craig Ahead of Sick of It All

These are excerpts from a chat backstage at the Black N Blue Bowl with Sick Of It All bassist Craig "Ahead" Setari. SOIA did not play the Bowl, but below you can check out a review of the NYC show they played in February.

--On SOIA's latest album, Death To Tyrants:

CS: It's been out over a year. People really like it, we got a good reaction. People don't really buy records the way they used to, the way downloading is and all that, but people seem to like it. They like the aggression of it.

--On the effects of downloading:

CS: We were never a CD selling band. We were always a band that made our money off touring, so it hasn't really affected us. All the bands that relied on other people to carry their weight fell by the wayside, but we always rode our own boat. We never relied on anything corporate to carry us. We carried ourselves through the people, so we're one of the lucky ones that's been able to pull through all that stuff.

--On headlining the Superbowl in 05:

CS: That was a good, high energy night. I had my B-12, my Wheaties that morning, it felt good. I like playing for all my friends. Freddy and Joe put on this show and I think it's good that the people that are involved in this scene are the ones setting this up, as opposed to an outside source just looking to capitalize on it. So I 110% support the Superbowl.

Black N Blue Bowl: Interview with Freddy Cricien of Madball

Photo by David Hsu.

This year at the Black N Blue Bowl (formerly the Superbowl of Hardcore), event organizer and Madball frontman Freddy Cricien took a few moments out of his busy schedule to talk to me. Here's what he had to say.

--On putting together the Black N Blue Bowl:

FC: It's a lot of hard work, a lot of effort from my partner and I. It's a family business, so we have a lot of shoulders to lean on. We like to keep it that way, in the family--production, the whole nine. Everything is organic, grassroots. But it's like anything, hard work. Getting all the bands to come together for one show. There's all kinds of touring going on, bands have different schedules, so trying to get everyone to agree to this show is a tough deal in itself. Making it happen smoothly is a whole other project. But so far I'm thankful that this is gonna be our fourth year and it's been a success every year across the board--turnout, crowd acceptance. No violence, no thieves, no dumb shit during the shows. Overall, it's been really good.

--On playing a set in addition to organizing the event:

FC: Obviously I could be relaxing right now and just waiting to play, but being that I'm one of the promoters, I have to constantly be running around, making sure that everyone else is doing their job. I almost forget that I have to play. I'd almost rather not play, but we skipped last year and the year before we were just a guest appearance. It made sense--Agnostic Front, us. We haven't played together for a long time. We both skipped New York on our last tours. It had to happen.

--On being in Grand Theft Auto IV:

FC: Yeah, they threw us in there. They have this whole old school hardcore station or something, and I guess some of us are on there. And that's great, man. It's a great game, a cool fuckin' game. Rockstar [GTA developer] is one of our sponsors this year and they were totally cool, totally helpful in every aspect. It's cool that it's something we're into. We're not ever gonna link up with something that doesn't fit our personalities.

--On what songs may appear in the game:

FC: I haven't heard yet. I think it's "Smell The Bacon." I think it's one of the old tracks.

--On picking the bands for the Bowl:

FC: We try to make it exciting for the people. We try to think of the bands that people wanna see. It's always a little New York heavy because it's based in New York City. Traditionally speaking, the Superbowl started in New York. It moved around, but it's really a New York thing, it always was, and we try to keep that tradition alive. It always ends up being more New York bands, but we also want to broaden the horizons, to make it a whole universal thing. We got Terror from the West Coast, we got Backfire from Holland. Last year we had Aggressive Dogs from Japan. We want to keep it New York, but we also want to showcase all the great bands from everywhere and the great scenes going on everywhere else. We try to balance it out and pick the bands that fit the picture and make it exciting for people, so they want to come out and be a part of it.

--On the history of the Superbowl:

FC: I can't say exactly when it started, but I know it started in the '80s. Madball even played a Superbowl in the early '90s. Agnostic Front used to play 'em back in the '80s. It's an old tradition. I can't even say who started it, but I know it started in New York and then traveled to D.C. and it moved around a little and then it just disappeared into thin air. And then Joey and myself took control of the name and turned it into what it is now. Obviously, this year we've changed it to the Black N Blue Bowl for legal reasons, but it's still the same concept, the same thing. It's been going on for year and years, but since 2005 it's been our thing. From the looks of things, I think we've been doing an alright job of keeping it going.

Black N Blue Bowl--April 5, 2008 @ Studio B in Brooklyn NY

"Our lyrics are about things like beatdowns, drug use, hunting down rats, and being loyal to your boys and your crew," said Setback bassist Pete (he just goes by Pete) in a recent interview. The Queens natives played early in the day at the Black 'N' Blue Bowl, formerly the Superbowl of Hardcore, a 10-hour, 15-band marathon celebration of hardcore punk and the New York scene, especially. Nearly every band dealt in themes similar to those of Setback--the hard reality of life on the streets--but it was that last part, the bit about the fraternity among "your boys and your crew," that resonated most during a long, loud and surprisingly upbeat day in Brooklyn. The music was angry but the atmosphere was that of a raucous family reunion.

New York hardcore has, if not family, then at least a few fans in the staff at Rockstar Games. The company sponsored the Black 'N' Blue Bowl in promotion of Grand Theft Auto IV, which features tracks from Madball, Agnostic Front, Sheer Terror and others on a hardcore-themed mock radio station "hosted" by Jimmy Gestapo, singer for the long-running band Murphy's Law. "This game is nuts and so is hardcore, so it goes hand in hand," Gestapo said genially in an interview backstage.

Kevone Bulldoze during a surprise set. The band played the songs
"The Truth" and "Nothing But A Beatdown." Photo by David Hsu.

He was one of many inebriated hardcore mainstays gallivanting both backstage and in the crowd. Sometimes the party spilled onto the stage. Paul Bearer, revered in the scene as the frontman for the now-defunct group Sheer Terror, joined headliners Agnostic Front for a rousing rendition of the band's classic punk anthem "Crucified." Local legend Bulldoze played an impromptu, two-song set, pleasing the crowd (i.e. inciting the mosh) with its slow, bruising sounds.

Another surprise performance came from CIV, whose spirited set provided the day's only dose of melody on buoyant tracks like "Can't Wait One Minute More." They might've been the only act whose music fit the day's mood.

Guitarists Eric Klinger (Pro-Pain) and Scott Roberts (ex-Biohazard)
with Bloodclot, who also performed. Photo by David Hsu.

Just a handful of bands on the bill hailed from outside New York City. Among those were Kickback from Holland, Death Before Dishonor from Boston, and Terror from Los Angeles. The latter two have become some of the best known hardcore bands in the country over the past five years. They were also two of the newest bands on the bill, a reminder of the lack of new blood in the NYHC scene. Almost all the New York bands that played were formed over a decade (or two) ago.

But those in attendance were happy to party like it was 1995. "I want to see Breakdown," said Terror vocalist Scott Vogel. New York's Breakdown, which has played on-and-off for over 20 years with little more than a couple of demos under its belt, was perhaps the most highly anticipated band of the day. Singer Jeff Perlin rapped about random violence on "Streetfight," repeating, "Walking down the street with a Big Mac/Outta' nowhere, someone gets whacked." The audience roared in approval when a fan handed the McDonald's signature sandwich to Perlin onstage. It was an amusing gesture, one that said nothing about urban violence and everything about the spirit of the day.

People got rowdy during Breakdown's set. Photo by David Hsu.

review: Hate Eternal--Fury and Flames

Hate Eternal aren’t reinventing death metal. They’re just playing it exceptionally well. Fury and Flames is so dense, fast and outrageously heavy that it could easily have sounded like a noisy mess, were it not for its excellent production, courtesy of band growler/guitarist Erik Rutan. Crisp but not overly polished, the recording keeps each instrument distinct in the mix. Even the bass, often all but inaudible on death metal albums, hums clearly, which is fortunate because bassist Alex Webster can groove; he’s not merely adding thickness to the sound. The other half of the rhythm section, newcomer Jade Simonetto, gives a jaw-dropping performance, rattling off blast beats and fills with machinelike speed and precision. Rutan and guitarist Shaune Kelley punctuate their furious riffing with haunting leads, and the musicianship on Fury and Flames impresses constantly. The album’s only drawback is its uniform sound. With the exception of the outro “Coronach,” there’s no sense of dynamics here; the songs are balls out heavy the whole time and they’re largely indistinguishable, so you’ll either enjoy all of them or none at all. Death metal fans will love every one.

Sick of It All: February 9, 2008 at Highline Ballroom, NYC

Hardcore punk depends on an energy and enthusiasm that can only be described as youthful. A style that reveres animated performance and breakneck speed, it lends itself to brevity--short songs, short albums, and often short careers; genre godfathers Minor Threat played for fewer than five years. To endure for any great length of time would be, it seems, to burn-out.

But Sick of It All proves that, with the right attitude, a couple of punk rockers can maintain an angry, earnest, and convincing exuberance for decades. During their show at the Highline Ballroom in February, the 22 year veterans of the New York hardcore scene bounded across the stage like a couple of pissed-off, fun loving teenagers. Guitarist Pete Koller hopped playfully in circles as he churned out sharp, simple riffs in a fashion that was workmanlike without being mechanical. His brother Lou belted leftist political diatribes both old ("Injustice System") and new ("Uprising Nation") like he still meant every word. You couldn't accuse them of going through the motions.

After so many years on the road, Sick of It All understands these shows better than anyone; they know what their fans want. They encouraged the crowd to stage-dive, sing along, and circle pit to their heart's content. The band played for a modest 50 minutes and drew quick, scrappy tunes from all eight of their albums. The three cuts from their latest release, Death To Tyrants, were worthy additions to the set, but the band focused mostly on early material, especially from 1989's classic Blood, Sweat, and No Tears.


While onstage, Sick of It All never felt the need to posit themselves as the torchbearers of the scene, nor did they congratulate themselves for lasting while so many others have come and gone. They came across as a group that's just happy doing what they genuinely love. It's all they know. "After so many years in hardcore," said Lou, "I realize how socially retarded I am everywhere else."

The Koller brothers weren't the only NYHC legends to take the stage. Singer John Joseph, known for his work with 80s crossover legends the Cro-Mags, opened with his new band Bloodclot, which also features Danny Schuler of Biohazard on drums, among other longtime scene vets. Joseph commands attention, shifting onstage, jittery and spastic, and his banshee yelp remains one of the most unique voices ever to grace hardcore, though at times he appeared winded, uttering only every third word.

More disappointing was Bloodclot's overall sound, indistinguishable from that of much recent, metallic hardcore, down to its cookie-cutter, machine gun styled breakdowns. They played the sound well enough--"Revolution" rocked with a heavy, catchy bounce--but one would hope that an outfit with such a pedigree would do more than emulate bands who grew up on their music. The highlights came at the end of their set with a couple of covers: Bad Brains' "I Against I," and "Life of My Own" and "Hard Times" by the Cro-Mags.

Neurosis w/ Mastodon: January 24, 2008 at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple

There are countless ways for a band to work a crowd. Some artists use witty banter to endear themselves to an audience, or make blatant entreaties for physical and aural reactions. Others wow assemblages with pyrotechnics, laser lights and massive stage shows fit for Broadway musicals. Many metal bands thrash about wildly while they play, in hopes that their own physical exertion will inspire onlookers to jump, dance, mosh—to move. Still others rely on sheer swagger, exuding a level of bravado that demands attention if nothing else. When Neurosis and opener Mastodon took the stage for the first show of a two night stint at the Brooklyn Masonic Temple, it quickly became clear that the bands weren’t interested in any of the aforementioned approaches. Art and music—loud, intricate, dissonant—was all they would present.

The concert’s logistics gave the evening a distinguished air. The revered Oakland quintet Neurosis would play two nights in Brooklyn supporting their latest release, Given To The Rising, an album which continues the band’s 20 year evolution from a dirty, doomy, hardcore band into an avante-garde metal outfit. The shows stood alone, not part of any tour, and Neurosis’s hand-picked opener was Mastodon, whose popularity and critical acclaim have made them the darlings of the metal scene in recent years. In case there was any question as to the import of the affair, there were dated, commemorative (and no doubt limited edition) posters on sale for $15. And if the whole evening verged on the side of self-seriousness, well, it can be forgiven; the bands that played are a cut above the vast majority of their peers.

This was a happening and judging by their set list, Mastodon was well aware. They opened with “Hearts Alive,” the longest song the band has ever recorded, a swirling, 13-minute opus that would play as well at Bonnaroo as at Wacken. By the time the song was finished, it felt like they’d performed an entire concert—the stoner metal jams, the thrash riffs, the epic guitar solo were all there. The decision to ease into the performance rather than going straight for the jugular felt like a nod to the headlining act, whose recent output demands patience, building and building until it explodes. Mastodon then launched into “The Wolf Is Loose,” a lean, nasty, hardcore song that quickly jarred the crowd out of the stupor left by the previous tune. The band’s 75-minute set delved deep into their latest album, Blood Mountain, and dusted off rarely-heard cuts from their 2002 full-length debut, Remission. Most of the band’s singles (live show staples) were omitted; they knew they weren’t playing to the Ozzfest crowd.

As Neurosis hit the opening notes of “Given To The Rising,” Dave Edwardson’s bass shook the room, and his monstrous low end continued throbbing for the next hour and a half. The rhythm section, comprised of Edwardson and drummer Jason Roeder, held together the music, which teetered on the edge of disorder all night without ever collapsing. Neurosis’s greatest strength may be their ability to maintain a discernible beat in the midst of some of the densest, heaviest music imaginable.

Guitarists Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till played lumbering, dirgeful riffs, mostly from the latest record, while Noah Landis added layers of texture with samples and keys. Their use of dynamics ensured that the listener never became immune to the band’s crushing heaviness; the muted, melodic bleeps which began “To The Wind” sounded more like indie rock than heavy metal, but that song became one of the creepiest and most brutal of the night.

Neurosis did utilize visuals (courtesy of sixth member Josh Graham) in the form of a screen that played repeating, black and white video clips; the disjointed imagery included shadowy figures, crashing waves, distraught human faces. The band parallels Tool both in its artistry and challenging music, and its penchant for abstract, creepy videos. Never superceding the music, this visual art complemented the songs all the way through closer “The Doorway,” off 1999’s Times of Grace. During “The Doorway,” the band made a calculated descent into the chaos it had been toying with all night, and the slow, sinister music reached its natural conclusion: a droning, impenetrable wall of pure noise, lasting close to five minutes. Once the audience was locked in a trance, the show ended on a final, brief note, and the band walked offstage without uttering a word. In fact, neither band addressed the audience at any point. They didn’t need to.

review: Memphis May Fire--s/t

“Touch me… I tremble. Hold me… I sigh. Kiss me… I melt. Ask me… Why?” Good question. Why would anyone listen to this crap? Memphis May Fire’s self-titled EP isn’t quite that cornball all the way through, but singer Chase Robbins’ lyrics and delivery quickly kill any momentum his band builds with its Southern influenced metalcore. The singer relies on the overused sing/scream dichotomy, and his generic shrieks feel positively forced next to his sickeningly sweet emo warbling. The rest of the band serves up their metalcore admirably enough, with a few strong rock riffs and a bit of twang, but by failing to add anything novel, they come off sounding like a poor man’s Every Time I Die, lacking that band’s charm and humor. It’s difficult to imagine Memphis May Fire’s appeal extending beyond adolescent scene girls, and guys who share the band’s fashion penchant for foppish bangs.

Memphis May Fire
s/t
Trustkill

review: Primordial--To The Nameless Dead

On their sixth album, Primordial explores the perils of nationalism and war. The verdict is (surprise!) our world’s about to come crashing down, and the record’s tone is appropriately cold, dark, and bleak. But who knew the decimation of society could be so boring? Despite solid production and musicianship, To the Nameless Dead drones on incessantly, sulkily, and above all, monotonously. With tracks this long (half are over eight minutes), not to mention the album’s lyrical themes, one might expect the songs to have an epic feel. And yet, most lack the peaks and valleys requisite for any great journey, featuring largely uniform instrumentation. Die hard fans of melodic death metal, with the patience to play the disc again and again, may latch onto the folksy rhythms of “Heathen Tribes” or the raw power of “As Rome Burns.” But the lack of depth and variety present here seems destined to keep Primordial confined to the underground metal scenes of Europe and their Irish homeland.

Primordial
To The Nameless Dead
Metal Blade

review: Dillinger Escape Plan--Ire Works

For nearly 10 years, the Dillinger Escape Plan have been darlings of the metal and hardcore scenes due to their unorthodox combination of spastic tempo changes, dizzying time signatures, and highly technical riffs. In 2002, Irony Is A Dead Scene added a touch of melody to the band’s established formula of shrieked vocals, and 2004’s Miss Machine saw the band toying with more traditional song structures (a repeating chorus, for instance) on tracks like “Unretrofied.” Their latest release, the spectacular Ire Works, takes a bigger leap forward, but it’s also a natural progression in that the band continues to introduce elements of pop music into their brand of extreme metal.

Album openers “Fix Your Face” and “Lurch” are fairly straightforward, meaning they’re entirely dissonant and abrasive, chock full of guitarist Benjamin Weinman’s trademark choppy riffs. But when singer Greg Puciato launches into a falsetto on “Black Bubblegum,” followed by a chorus that’s straight power pop, it becomes clear these guys aren’t interested in repeating themselves. On “Milk Lizard,” trumpet crescendos blare over a dirty, simple guitar riff, creating an infectious (Dare I say danceable?) tune that grooves in a way the band’s earlier work always resisted.

Ire Works makes use of a greater range of instrumentation, from violin and viola, to piano and programming. “Dead as History” feature electronic blips and whirs that give way to somber keys and finally a huge, sweeping chorus. A pair of brief instrumentals round out the album; anything but throwaways, these tracks succeed in creating a nervous, creepy vibe.

None of which is to say the Dillinger Escape Plan have lost their edge. These songs are still packed with jazzy breakdowns and thunderous, manic drumming. And Puciato certainly hasn’t forgotten how to scream his ass off. Rather, the inclusion of pop and electronic elements ensures that when the band does crank the volume up to 11, the effect is that much more intense. This record will only reinforce the band’s esteem in the metal community, and fans of progressive music at large would do well to check out Ire Works.

Dillinger Escape Plan
Ire Works
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