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Havok

V
Century Media (2020)

To say that this album gives vibes similar to those of …And Justice For All, is an understatement. The newest album by Colorado thrash metal aficionados, Havok, starts with guitar harmonies that can only be described what it must sound like when descending into the metal underworld upon death.With raw intensity this album is the epitome of thrash. With screaming … Read more

Fake Names

Fake Names
Epitaph (2020)

Fake Names formed when two long-time friends decided to play music together at home, with no plans for it to grow into an actual group. But after Brian Baker (Minor Threat, Dag Nasty, Bad Religion) and Michael Hampton (S.O.A., Embrace, One Last Wish) put the pen to paper, they changed their mind and recruited a band. They’d attended elementary school … Read more

Vile Creature

Glory, Glory! Apathy Took Helm!
Prosthetic (2020)

There has been a shift in recent years, in heavy music, and it’s one that has given bands and artists the opportunity to use their platform to speak out, to uplift those who need help and to talk about difficult topics more openly. Heavy music is changing, for the better, and one such band using their space for good is … Read more

Died

Less Life
Independent (2020)

Does Died’s debut LP Less Life see the band growing up, or is it just them getting old? It’s an odd question to ask of a group who are in the midst of pushing out what should be their first (and best impression) to the world, but hardcore bands tend to operate on different rules. For instance, a band's early … Read more

Drain

California Cursed
Revelation (2020)

Santa Cruz is a convoluted place. It feels like the rest of the country erroneously thinks Santa Cruz is just like Santa Monica. It’s much more of a town than a city, and in a lot of ways it’s a microcosm of everything in California: conflicted and nuanced, beauty found at a high price with an oft-ignored grimy underbelly. Is … Read more

Jacoti Sommes

Travel Time
Orange Milk Records (2020)

Clocking it at just under 27 minutes, Columbus, Ohio electronic music producer Jacoti Sommes’ 2020 release Travel Time is all around better than his excellent 2018 effort Ubermensch. I think the album’s title accurately reflects what it’s all about. Featuring a handful of longer tracks periodically broken up by short ambient interludes (“Phases” I through III) that sound similar to … Read more

Cro-Mags

In the Beginning
Mission Two Entertainment (2020)

New York hardcore legends Cro-Mags's waste no time getting started on their new album In the Beginning. Opener "Don't Give In" kicks in the front door and immediately begins stalking the grounds looking for revenge, relief and solace, with deep growly, cross-over guitars leading the way like a pack of rottweilers hot on a guilty man's scent. When the tempo … Read more

The Suicide Machines

Revolution Spring
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)

Me: The Suicide Machines got really angry.[Looks at news coming out of Michigan.]Me: Oh, yeah. They should be.Flint’s waters crisis, militias, the widespread issues of race, violence and inequality across the US…Sure, this is 1990s-styled ska-punk. But it’s not your dance party, silly costume ska-punk. Much like Battle Hymns of 1998, Revolution Spring is angry and political. I kind of … Read more

Revenge

Strike.Smother.Dehumanize
Season of Mist (2020)

At this point Canadian extreme metal malcontent J. Read has had two entirely different but noteworthy careers. The man (something I assume he identifies as, and not a woodlen spirit, demon, or other apparition) helped to invent one of the more punishing confluences of metal subgenres as the vocalist and drummer for pioneering war metal generals Conqueror, and since 2000 … Read more

Western Addiction

Frail Bray
Fat Wreck Chords (2020)

There are bands who you rush to get the new record to see what direction they’ve gone. There are others you return to time-after-time because they have a style and they’ve nailed it. File Western Addition in the latter category. Frail Bray continues their West Coast melodic hardcore tradition without any surprise changes-of-direction.The band plays what used to be called … Read more

Pilkington

Pilkington
Independent (2020)

Pilkington's self-titled debut is at the same time their swansong. It serves as a testimony to the good time the band had together as a band. As they were recording this album back in 2018 the band members uprooted and spread out. This was basically the end of the band.Reading this information in the press sheet I was a bit … Read more

200 Words Or Less

Powerplant

A Spine/Evidence EP
Static Shock Records (2020)

Elvis fronting Joy Division, That was the first thing that came to mind when the first song on this five song EP kicked off. Then my thoughts continued on to Gallon Drunk’s punk blues. Deep, brooding and slow and it actually sounds a bit different to the remaining quartet. Theo Zhykharyev is crooning like some drunk, evil Elvis (not Danzig!) … Read more

Spanish Love Songs

Brave Faces Everyone
Pure Noise (2020)

I’ve known of Spanish Love Songs for a few years and I’ve liked what I heard in passing without diving in. When I saw them at Fest 18 last year and saw the crowd response, it confirmed it was time to pay closer attention. The band is familiar in style, something like The Gaslight Anthem or The Menzingers, with touches … Read more

Casual Burn

Mean Thing
HANDSTAND RECORDS (2019)

Imagine that your favorite modern hardcore band hopped into Doc Brown’s DeLorean and ended up in 1982. Upon arriving, they decided to start over and carry their same ferocious messages with the spirit of New Wave music percolating the airwaves at the time. Does that sound appealing? Then you’ll love Casual Burn’s most recent release, Mean Thing.The band has a … Read more

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