Lockjaw Records have a Christmas Sampler compilation available for free off their website. If your’e into melodic hardcore/skate-punk/hardcore, then this will be right up your alley.
Track 1. Full Circle – Only Fumes and Corpses
As an opening track for a compilation, this track is a belter. The harder edge of the hardcore punk spectrum, there are blast-beats, dischords, and raw, powerful vocals to bring it all together. Slightly too heavy for my personal taste, but this style is particularly popular right now and I can only imagine they’re a great live act.
Track 2. Kings of Contempt – Almeida
As one of the tightest and most technically dynamic bands I have ever seen play live, I knew what to expect with this track. The guitar playing borders on the ridiculous, with the likes of Joe Satriani swooning at the twiddling in the intro. Perfectly intertwined with the guitar leads is a straight up punk rock chorus with a wonderfully melodic vocal delivery. Almeida is definitely a band to keep an eye on.
Track 3. Great News For Typists – The Fear
The intro is excellent, with some really good guitar harmonizing, and a catchy melodic riff. The verse builds throughout, the guitars coming in half way through and after a second intro, the chorus hits. The vocals are strong in the chorus but the time signature changes and I feel this makes the track lose some of the intensity built up through the verse. There is some really enjoyable guitar work through the breakdown with a great ‘bouncy’ riff after that. Finally, the chorus breaks out and the tempo is upped towards the end.
Track 4. Assassins of Youth – Drones
As soon as the bass riff intro kicked in, I thought my Itunes had shuffled to Anti-Flag. This band echoes sounds of England in the late 70’s mashed together with 90’s American skate-punk. The vocals are powerful and full of frustration cutting above the driven guitars. The bass work is impressive throughout, moving around seamlessly under the guitars. After a recent session on Mike Davies’ Radio 1 punk show and with tracks as good as this, I can see this band only getting bigger and better.
Track 5. Who’s got £2 for Barry? – Egos at the door
I don’t really know where to begin with this one. This is nearly 4 minutes of pure brutal, technical madness. It all kicks in relatively straight-forward (as straight-forward as math/punk/hardcore/jazz? can get) but after a minute and half there’s an interesting jazzy breakdown, only to return to math-core madness. Very much like my review, its all over the place, but I think I like it because of that – It’s not often that you get a feeling that you don’t know what could happen next. All I can really say, is check it out, it’s insane.
Track 6. Worm in the Apple – Ducking Punches
Ducking Punches stand out on the first listen mainly because this is a chilled out, stripped back acoustic-pop punk/folk tune – much different from the rest. Throughout, there is a warm violin playing over the acoustic guitar, and the raw, very ‘British’ vocals made me feel as if I knew the lead singer. This is much more down to earth, and unfortunately being placed after the madness before, the track is somewhat of a downer. In no way am I saying this is bad song, just unfortunate placement. Still a very enjoyable listen.
Track 7. AWOL – Darko
After wrongfully writing this band off a while back (I thought they were too heavy for me -pfft, what do I know), I have come to love this song. They do sometimes slip into a sound very similar to A Wilhelm Scream, but that only makes me love it even more. AWOL kicks straight in with riffing guitars and powerful, breakneck drums, topped off with a tickle of guitar tapping. The two vocalists drag you through the verse, shouting the whole while, and dropping you into a chorus of harmonised vocals and melodic guitars. A great listen from start to finish.
Track 8. Turn of Phrase – Trails
After the first listen, this track was the one that I had in my head afterwards. The filtered intro works well, making it really punch when it kicks in. Like with all these bands, the guitar-work cannot be faulted, and the vocals are strong throughout, with some quality lyrics. If you’re into fast punk, this may not be for you, as its relatively mid-paced, but is a must-listen for anyone into the more emo/pop-punk side of things.
Track 9. Scene to be heard – Laughing in the face Of
This song is so well written, particularly the instrumentation. There are excellent, precise and dramatic fills and stop/starts throughout – showing the timing of this band to be impeccable. Although the music is great, I cannot help but feel the vocalist(s) are holding back, and would love it if they pushed a little harder. Their sound is similar to This is a Standoff, which can’t be a bad thing can it?
Track 10. It’s fine. He’s seen us before (If you are a Douchebag, we’ll probably use you as material for a song) – Stillbust
For starters, the track-name is excellent. The vocals stand out on first listen, they are raw, throaty and full of anger. Again, the technical riffs, discords and precise timing is incredible. A lot of hardcore bands play slow and tend to drag a little, but these guys know how to up the tempo when it’s needed. The track ends with heavy, gang shouts and a flourish of melodic riffing. Keep an eye on these guys.
Track 11. Soul Fur Coat – The Bastard Sons
After reading the band name, I was half-expecting some angry folk punk band. I couldn’t be further from the truth! A powerful and full on track which doesn’t mess about with any guitar-wanking, just classy rock n roll riffing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stand out enough for me and could be a number of other bands that are similar.
Track 12. Reaching the Sky – Wake The Dead
I can hear a sound similar to Strike Anywhere when I listen to this track, particularly in the vocals. The guitar riff in the intro plays throughout the verse, working well with the rhythm section. Although it’s a good song and an enjoyable listen, it just doesn’t stand out enough for me.
Track 13. Thursdays a full moon – Drones
It’s interesting that Drones are nothing like actual Drones at all. They are dynamic, powerful and definitely don’t ‘drone on’. I love the raw intensity in the voice of the lead vocalist mixed with the powerful guitars and rapid drums. For fans of more melodic punk rock, the other Drones track is probably for you, if you’re into things a little harder, then take a listen to this.
Track 14. Some of my best friends are meat eaters – Antillectual
The track opens with a delay-covered guitar easing you into a powerful smash of guitars. The vocals breakthrough with a brilliant harmony and continue with melodic and raw vocal shouts throughout. Musically, there are some great guitar parts and the drums are faultless, but it’s the vocals that make the track memorable.
Track 15. Blinded – Only Fumes and Corpses
This is a very short song, no messing about, just straight up hardcore. There’s some fast, riffing guitars well placed in the mix, which I enjoyed and the drums keep the break-neck rhythm perfectly. Everyone enjoys short hardcore songs but I really would have liked to have heard that verse part again. Having said that, the track ends with a big gang shout before the track is killed dead on 32 seconds.
Track 16. There like better days ahead
The track begins with some brilliant guitar tapping which works perfectly with the rhythm section. After 4 bars, the drums really kick in which really opens the track up and sounds brilliant with the tapped guitar over the top. Again, the vocals are a highlight, with brilliant harmonies and melodies. You can hear that the musicianship of this band is incredible, but I feel this is overshadowed by the vocals being so well put together. The riffing returns later in the track, only to be transformed into a crazy tremolo-ridden solo. This band has some great song-writing and musicianship and having heard their album, I believe they are destined for great things.
Track 17. Fail Buyer – Almeida
As soon as you press play, you are hit with someone shouting (what seems) right in your face. You are then rapidly dragged through a minute of shouts and thrashing guitars. Overshadowed somewhat by the ferocity of the vocals and guitars in the track, the bass playing is particularly good. I feel there is no end to how far these guys will go to make their tracks more insane, but let’s hope this doesn’t backfire and put people off.
Track 18. Joshua Baron Hated on me before it was cool – Egos at the door
After the first track, I was expected something even more ridiculous and heavy. Unfortunately not. A really melodic start, which builds up to a fairly mid-tempo verse, with some brutally raw vocals over the top. The speed picks up a little bit and has some good vocal melodies. Standing alone, this track is not a bad one at all, it just sounds like a completely different band compared with the previous track. I will be interested to hear more by these guys nonetheless.
Track 19. Until the end – Laughing in the Face Of
Again, it’s the vocals that do it for me. Although the music is excellent, the vocals just have an urgency and melody, which I tend to enjoy. On the 3-minute mark, the song seems to take a metal tinged twist (so much so, I thought Itunes had skipped). There is some good guitar throughout, but I’m just not sure how much this whole end section is needed. Overall, I feel this band have some great ideas; they just need to be refined slightly.
As a free album, this sample CD cannot be knocked. It’s frustrating that LockJaw Records and it’s associated bands aren’t more popular, because the quality of music is incredible. Whoever is responsible for signing all these great bands, clearly has a good punk rock head on their shoulders. A great (and free!) listen.
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