May Reviews

Siamese Twins
Demo

More Nu-Shoegazer stuff from this band. I seem to be checking out a lot of these bands lately. This six song demo is pretty good, but not something that is really drawing my attention that much. I’m not a big fan of Catherine Wheel and that, along with a bit of Lush, is what this demo reminds me of. There are some elements of The Cure or Sisters of Mercy immersed in their sound as well, which is a little different but nevertheless not really my thing. Big shoegazer fans will want to check this out.

Outlast
New Jersey Straight Edge Demo

This band is definitely pretty influenced by bands like Floorpunch and Hands Tied, but a bit more melodic. I wish they would have a bit more agression and less melody, but the more melodic stuff seems to be hot these days. This isn’t really my thing, but I could see this band blowing up.

Perdition/Nerveskade
Split 7″
Distort Reality Records

I had never heard either bands before, but had seen them heavily hyped. Perdition remind me a lot of Deathreat or, maybe, Tragedy’s faster songs. Heavy, raging, d-beat hardcore that is pretty good on record, but I am guessing is probably more powerful in a live setting. I know this band has played New York, but I don’t think they have played New Jersey before. Nerveskade remind me a lot of early Scandanavian bands like Mob 47 or Rattus. One of these songs is a Shitlickers cover. I would check out more from both bands.

Arctic Flowers
Reveries LP
Inimical Records

The lazy comparision here would be to say that the newest album from Arctic Flowers sounds a lot like recent, semi-melodic, hardcore bands like Signal Lost or Nuclear Family who happened to have lady vocalists. While I think there is more of an influence from peace punk and riot grrrl bands on the aformentioned groups, Arctic Flowers seem to take their influences from California bands like Bad Religion and the Adolescents. I think I like this, but it’s not something I will listen to a lot. I do recommend it though for sure.

Iron Lung
Mixtape

A good handful of bands have done these kind of mixtapes in recent years and I think they are pretty neat. Iron Lung (members of the phenominal band Cold Sweat) put this together with some related projects and labels. Some of my favorites here include White Wards, Vacuum, Solutions, Running For Cover (who do an excellent Raw Power cover), Mind Eraser, and Cold Sweat (who cover Black Flag). This is an interesting mix of bands and is definitely worth tracking down if you can find a copy of it. Some songs are from radio shows too.

Desinto Final
Atrapados LP
HG Fact Records

Members of the fantastic Spanish band Invasion reform to continue with their classic D-Beat style hardcore. I hear not only bands like, obviously, Discharge in their sound, but also bands like The Exploited and Chaos UK. This is a few years old, but I didn’t realize that Invasion members had continued on until very recently. I strongly suggest checking out Invasion’s two records if you dig this one too. This is classic hardcore done right by a great band. This is the kind of record that keeps me interested in the scene.

The Last Stand
Self Titled 7″
1124 Records

Members of some of the newer set of NYHC bands like Inhuman and Shutdown get together on this five song ep. These songs remind me a lot of both of those bands, with some influence from newer Madball records as well, which is not my favorite style. The big turn off here are the more melodic parts that remind me of h2o or something like that. I’m not really into this, but I can see this band becoming really popular though. This band could really cross over between a bunch of different “scenes” or whatever. I did catch them live recently as well with Agnostic Front.

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