Adam (Withdrawal)
What are your top five albums that were released in 2010? (In order 1-5)
1. Crucified - Coldest Winter; The Darkest Reaches Of The Mind
While the actual temperature of nor-cal is a matter of debate amongst the Withdrawal camp, all of us can agree that the long awaited Crucified full length LP was without a shadow of doubt, the best metallic hardcore record of the year. It's obscene just how good everything on the record is. Crucified have managed to take everything they did right on the split's and follow up tenfold. At one point while we were listening to it for the first time my brother said to me that the record was amazing, but he wished they would switch it up and do a "1-2" beat. Lo and behold, during "coldest winter" at 0:45 one appeared, it was as if the record could sense that's what we wanted and threw one in there to satisfy our carnal lust for nor-cal thrash. It's a mature, focused metallic hardcore record from start to finish, with scathing vocals and frantic playing from all members involved. Perhaps best of all, a sense of dynamics sorely missing from hardcore that allows the faster songs to be fast, the slow songs to be slow, and the sombre interludes and instrumental passages to breathe without throwing shit at the wall and hoping it sticks. This record makes many of the other metallic hardcore records released this year look foolish, childish, pedestrian and tame. It makes me sick for even trying.
I can go on endlessly about this record and this band. Any self-respecting hardcore kid reading this who hasn't heard this record: put down whatever shitty hardstyle nonsense your dumb friend told you to check out, pick this record up and listen to the best record of 2010. To Nick, Phil, Colin, Clark and Collin, congratulations and we'll see you soon.
2. Integrity - The Blackest Curse
I'm not sure this really counts as a 2010 release, as to my knowledge it was recording in 2005 and sat in Deathwish's vaults in a state of half-completion for 5 years, but it was worth the wait. No matter the line up, Integrity are, as far as my tastes are concerned, the best hardcore band of all time, and this record places itself firmly between all their classic previous releases. People can fucking cry about the Melnicks not being around as long as they want, but Integrity's song writing from To Die For and onward is unimpeachable. The sound is rawer, darker and arguably faster and more metallic than any of Integrity's previous records. "Before the VVorld vvas young" is an epic, soaring number that is about as close to a balad as Integrity could be. Cello and acoustic guitars abruptly give way to scaling metallic leads and twists. Just one of the numbers on this record that make it great. Everyone's favorite misanthropist Boyd Rice makes an appearance, lending a venomous spoken word passage to "Learn to love the lie". Anyone familiar with Boyd's work with the Scorpion Wind collaboration should recognize the lyrics; they lend themselves perfectly to the song.
All in all, a fine release from hardcore's confrontational, controversial, heavily debated and mysteriovs king of beasts. Long live Holy Terror. I should mention, the new splits are great too. I can't wait to hear more Orr written material.
3. Killing Joke - Absolute Descent
This is the first record with the original members of Killing Joke in almost 30 years. At first, I couldn't believe it didn't turn out to be embarassing, then I couldn't believe it was as good as it is. Killing Joke, well into their 50's have managed to take all of their old sounds and stylistic shifts and meld them into a cohesive and classic record. It's heavy, lumbering, dancy, melodic and crushing. It's unfortunate that it took the passing of Paul Raven to convince this lineup to get back together, if this record is any indication they could have been releasing amazing records for years had they not splintered in the 80's.
4. Black Breath - Heavy Breathing
A blistering slab of HM-2 pedal drenched Sunlight Studios worship. Parts of Entombed, Dismember and Sabbath are filtered through D-Beat and Thrash. It's not exactly the most original sound, but it's not the most overdone style of music around in the current aggressive music climate, and that's all I need at this point. Top quality from start to finish is all you can hope for in music, and that's what Black Breath do on this record.
5. Ill Fated - Smother The Fire
From my own home town of Winnipeg, the best band in Winnipeg hardcore really. 5 tracks of heavy, moshy, uncompromisingly hard Straight Edge hardcore. The fact that this band doesn't tour is criminal, because it's robbing everyone outside of Winnipeg the chance to hear them live. Strife without the speed, Foundation but faster, the influences are fairly obvious and worn on their sleeve. They're so good that they made our bass player wish he was straight edge again just so he could play in them. Eradicate releases are sold out of all their tapes, so I suggest downloading it wherever you can. Much like how anything good in my life is taken away from me, they're kind of on a hiatus of sorts. They're figuring a line up out after two of the guys in the band decided to be total cornballs and break edge. Our ex-guitarist plays in them now, I'd say he fits in alot better with them too really, so I'm hoping they rebound from the line up changes they went through and put something new out because I'm sure it will fucking pound.
What band did you discover in 2010 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? What made them significant?
This is a harder question than it seems. I got pretty heavy into Boyd Rice's music, as Non, or in colaboration with Death In June et all. They worked on a record called "Scorpion Wind" that I really got into over the past year. This is going to sound fairly melodramatic and corny, but i don't give a fuck so here goes: I was listening to the record recently while walking through town. It was shortly sunset and a storm started looming overhead, and while the sun was slowly sinking into the night and the clouds the crescendo of "The Cruelty of the Heavens" served as the soundtrack, it was perfect. The closest I could come to a religious experience recently, to be honest. I think alot of the music that Boyd Rice has put out is dark, vulgar, abrasive, challenging, misanthropic and pretentious so I guess that struck a chord during what amounted to be a shitty year full of constant misery and anger.
How will you remember 2010? (In terms of music)
As a performer, I'll remember it as a year I managed to tour more than any other year of my life. Highlights include playing Rainfest, Van Isle Hardcore Fest, getting to tour with Shai Hulud, Touring with Soujourner, driving from LA to BC with a flat tire we kept refilling at every gas station, going to the west coast of the states for the first time, a complete rebirth of the band and getting to tour with the guys in Crucified who are some of the best friends anyone can ask for on such a rotten planet. Lowlights include being broke all the time, band in-fighting, playing shitty shows in run down ghettos, losing friends and having nothing to show for everything other than some memories.
As a listener, I'd say that bad music keeps getting worse, and great music keeps getting better. It's just easier to find bad pop music everywhere, and harder to find good new music.
With more and more bands switching to digital methods of releasing music and communicating with audiences in 2010, do you think there's still a place for physical CDs and word-of-mouth shows in the future?
I don't think we'll ever press a CD. We don't even make money off vinyl and that's traditionally been the "go to" format for a hardcore kid. That being said, there is something pleasing to the eye and warming to the soul to be found in buying a record that you don't get in downloading one. You can look at the artwork, hold the record in your hands, etc etc. Downloading just means you clicked a button. Like I'm gonna pay for something on the internet so that I can listen to it, but not own it. As for communicating with audiences, it's great. You can immediately inform your fans about what you are doing, and hear back from them just as easily too. We managed to set up a garage show in Calgary with us and Shai Hulud pretty easily after one of our shows fell through in Lethbridge, and we got all the details to all our friends and fans in Calgary via facebook. So that's great I guess. It sucks no one is postering for shows anymore though, I'd love to have some posters from the shows we played on my walls.
What can we look forward to from you in 2011?
We start recording a new 7" tentatively titled "Faith, Flesh & Blood" in 5 days. It's our first release with the new lineup since we got a new drummer, bass player and lead guitarist. Since the line up change we've been really focused on writing a dark and ugly metallic hardcore record that will serve as our follow up to Unknown Misery. So we're excited to record and get it out. That's going to be coming out, I believe, on a record label I admire and respect, but I can't spill the beans yet. But I think that's gonna work out great. After that, we're going to be touring North America pretty much non-stop in the spring and summer, hopefully with some friends for a bunch of the dates once we iron out the logistics of who can do what, where and when. We're gonna try and tour Europe in the Fall, we'll see how that turns out. I'm sure I'll end up stalking Alan Wilder of Depeche Mode and being deported from the UK for trying to steal and drink his bathwater. "Destroying heaven in two thousand eleven."
What three records are you looking forward to most in 2011?
New Crucified, New Gehenna, and hopefully more releases from Turquoise Jeep.
