Aussie thrashers Clowns have just released their fourth studio album to date. Nature/Nurture is being handled by domestic label Damaged in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the almighty Fat Wreck Chords in the rest of the world. You can check out Nature/Nurture here and as well you might since it’s clearly going to be a contender for […]
Aussie thrashers Clowns have just released their fourth studio album to date. Nature/Nurture is being handled by domestic label Damaged in Australia and New Zealand, as well as the almighty Fat Wreck Chords in the rest of the world.
You can check out Nature/Nurture here and as well you might since it’s clearly going to be a contender for album of the year.
The previous collection of tunes released by Clowns was the 2017 full-length, Lucid Again.
London’s Eat Dirt. have announced a load of news. The band has just signed to Belgium’s Bearded Punk Records and will release their debut full-length album on June 3. To whet fans appetite for the new music, Eat Dirt. has released a music video for the record’s title track – “Death is Death”. You can check […]
London’s Eat Dirt. have announced a load of news. The band has just signed to Belgium’s Bearded Punk Records and will release their debut full-length album on June 3. To whet fans appetite for the new music, Eat Dirt. has released a music video for the record’s title track – “Death is Death”. You can check it out below.
The previous release from Eat Dirt. was a self-titled EP from 2017.
New York’s Dead Broke Rekerds has compiled a sampler featuring a track from each release it handled during 2018. You can expect tunes from Life Hacks, Parasites, Iron Chic, and a load more on the collection titled Year of the Dawg. You can check out this entire 16-song compilation below. The label encourages fans to […]
New York’s Dead Broke Rekerds has compiled a sampler featuring a track from each release it handled during 2018. You can expect tunes from Life Hacks, Parasites, Iron Chic, and a load more on the collection titled Year of the Dawg.
You can check out this entire 16-song compilation below. The label encourages fans to pick up a physical copy or even a shirt featuring the wild and brilliant artwork by Tom Lowell pictured.
Piano-driven folk punkers Assembly of Arsonists are allowing fans to stream a track from their recently announced full-length album. The effort is titled The End is Dear and will be released on May 24 this year. It’s the first new music from the four-piece since their 2017 split with Diego Galvan, Hostility/Heartbreak. For now, you can listen to […]
Piano-driven folk punkers Assembly of Arsonists are allowing fans to stream a track from their recently announced full-length album. The effort is titled The End is Dear and will be released on May 24 this year. It’s the first new music from the four-piece since their 2017 split with Diego Galvan, Hostility/Heartbreak.
For now, you can listen to “Learning at Both Ends” to get you in the mood for the album dropping next month below.
California hardcore act Nails are to release a new single via Nuclear Blast Records. “I Don’t Want To Know You” is available on 7″ and pre-orders are up now. Order it (and check out upcoming tour dates) here. Have a watch of the video below.
California hardcore act Nails are to release a new single via Nuclear Blast Records. “I Don’t Want To Know You” is available on 7″ and pre-orders are up now. Order it (and check out upcoming tour dates) here.
Have a watch of the video below.
It’s great to hear a post-hardcore/punk blend out of Italy, especially when it’s as moreish as LAGS‘ latest Soon. The album, a followup to their previous full-length Pilot, hones in on a practiced and passionate sound with only a few sore spots along the way. Kicking off the album, Knives and Wounds comes out of […]
It’s great to hear a post-hardcore/punk blend out of Italy, especially when it’s as moreish as LAGS‘ latest Soon. The album, a followup to their previous full-length Pilot, hones in on a practiced and passionate sound with only a few sore spots along the way.
Kicking off the album, Knives and Wounds comes out of the gate hitting hard. A heavy and vivid track that gets things going extremely well. There are a decent few little sonic licks and vocal inflections on the album that stick in the mind, starting with the rolling ending for this first track as well as the cry out of “We are knives and wounds.”
The lyrics on the album have this melancholic flavor, with moments of great aggression, whilst the sonic side of things keeps up a rolling aggression at most times, but does dip and flow with the vocals. The post-hardcore side of the band seems to meld quite well with an almost old-school post-punk flavor they inject under the surface of some tracks, they’ve got this Fugazi-reminiscent air about their sound. There’s that anger prevalent in their sound, mixed with tinges of sadness. It’s not something all together new, but a very inviting take on the genres. A great example of this mix is the track “The Bait,” where the track has this desperate melancholy to it, but both guitar and cymbals burst in as Antonio screams out “It’s over now.”
There’s a bit of repetition on some tracks throughout the album, which is often used quite well, however some tracks feel as though they would have greatly benefited with being cut just a little shorter. Showdown, and Second Thoughts, in particular run a bit long with what’s provided. Not to say they’re bad tracks, they’re still solid outside of this. To contrast that are tracks like Echoes, which, true to its name, also repeats out a phrase “I’m kneeling, and it’s killing me off, everything in my days is just misread.” But with the atmosphere of the track and what surrounds these moments it comes across quite a lot more effectively.
Capping off the album is a bonus track titled Il Podista, an Italian jam with LAGS’ flair on it. It’s an interesting way to cap off the record, but it fits quite well and is a nice sign of the band’s roots and identity. Even with the dark focus of the album on a mixture of rebellion and loss, it’s a very enjoyable listen, and Il Podista at the end is a solid bonus to it.
“We started a war, then we made art,” a rather powerful and frankly quite beautiful idea presented on the track “What It Takes,” is sign of the rather detailed thought the band took in writing this album. It’s not always hits, some sections come across a little awkward or generic, but they’ve got some amazing diamonds scattered consistently throughout Soon. As I mentioned at the start of the review, it’s quite a moreish album, listening to one track leads you to the next, it’s an enjoyable listen and a sign of great things to come for the band. There’s still places to improve, and Soon isn’t without it’s faults, but it’s definitely worth your time.
Give a listen to Soon below!
I’m not sure if it’s the vocals reminiscent of the original singer from UK punk act Drones, or very early days Davey Havok, but something about the new EP from Milwaukee hardcore act Mud Dog is really grabbing my attention. It might be the gang vocals on title track “Strike Back” or the change ups […]
I’m not sure if it’s the vocals reminiscent of the original singer from UK punk act Drones, or very early days Davey Havok, but something about the new EP from Milwaukee hardcore act Mud Dog is really grabbing my attention. It might be the gang vocals on title track “Strike Back” or the change ups with secondary singers on a few of the songs. Or all of the above. The point is “Strike Back” is worth a listen for any hardcore punk fans, all the more so since it’s up for free download on bandcamp.
My first The Bouncing Souls album was The Bad, The Worse and the Out of Print, I remember vividly not knowing any of their music but loving the chaotic artwork on the cover. Prior to this album I had a few punk albums, but I was totally obsessed with ska. Reel Big Fish, The BossTones, […]
My first The Bouncing Souls album was The Bad, The Worse and the Out of Print, I remember vividly not knowing any of their music but loving the chaotic artwork on the cover. Prior to this album I had a few punk albums, but I was totally obsessed with ska. Reel Big Fish, The BossTones, Goldfinger, Buck-o-nine and Mustard Plug dominated my CD player. One day at the behest of some of my more punk friends I decided to check the Souls out, and it changed my musical taste forever.
It probably seems weird that an album full of rarities, b-sides, and alternate versions should be a person’s first intro to a band like the Souls. However it is in these choices of cover songs and the laughs and outtakes, where it became obvious that there is a very distinct feeling in a Bouncing Souls album. On every album of theirs that I discovered afterwards there is a strong sense of brotherhood and camaraderie, a nostalgia for simpler times with your friends, and a sense of fun. For every “Gone” there is a “Bullying the Jukebox” for every “Turned my Back on You” there is “Wish Me Well, Go to Hell”. They mine the emotional depths but never leave without displaying at least a little of the optimism that can only be found among your friends. You could say that haphazardly finding The Good, The Bad, and the Out of Print was my Bouncing Souls crucial moment. Which leads me to the actual Crucial Moments EP, a six song celebration of the bands thirtieth anniversary.
This album represents every aspect of The Bouncing Souls that people have come to know and love. It opens with the titular track and delivers a prototypical punk rock set on simmer style that is familiar to every album. It is a nostalgia fueled rocker which displays the bands ability to discuss heavier topics without abandoning a sense of hope. “These chords stick with me, this ink etched in me, these crucial moments played on repeat” Greg sings as he reminds us that these moments will play on repeat forever.
This nostalgia driven rock and roll shows up again on “Here’s to Us” a song that brings to light the darker times that have plagued the band and how they know that those times will not last because they have each other. “The world can have the past, we know they won’t last, because we got each other” shows that the power of camaraderie and their ability to find a light in the dark is still an ideal that they are steadfast to present in their music. There are a lot of little things that have always made the band unique, Bryan’s bass lines being one of my personal favorites and this track may be some of his finest work.
While these two songs make it seem like they have moved away from their classic punk rock sound, this is where “1989” and “4th Avenue Sunrise” prove they can still shred with the best of them. The first being the about the community they discovered through having “no talent just a dream” and how they “Stick together, that’s the deal, Gotta make something, make it true, All together with all of you.” It is a punk rock ode to all their friends and all the good times they had even in bad situations. While “4th Avenue Sunrise” is a bass heavy blitzkrieg, clocking in under two minutes, that emphasizes a dark romanticism.
The highlight of the album is “Favorite Everything” an upbeat love song. The Bouncing Souls are at their finest with this type of pop-laden bouncy rock, (See also “True Believers”, “Hopeless Romantic”, “Private Radio”, “Manthem” or “Kate is Great”), which in these case is a song about comparing music to the love of their life. There is so many great analogies, from “You’re the greatest compilation” to “You’re the song that bring a tear, embrace the love, embrace the fear”, that specifically speak to the comparison of one’s love of music to the love one has for another. Simultaneously a happy love song and an emotional expression of words that can be difficult to articulate.
Crucial Moments ends with “Home” the saddest song the Bouncing Souls have written this side of Anchors Aweigh. It is a significant change in the tempo set forth in the earlier parts of the album but cranks up the emotional weight. “Home” proves to be an endless place where fear and sadness will never reach, a place away from a world that just does not care. Proving once again that even in the saddest depths of a Bouncing Souls song there is always a sense of hope and a small glimmer of optimism.
In a celebration of their thirtieth year as a band, The Bouncing Souls have proven that they are timeless. To paraphrase their own song, Crucial Moments has songs of punk and songs of joy, a love song about girls and boys, songs of metal and some English stuff, and some hardcore to make us feel tough. This album is a six song reflection on the band’s legacy, one of lighting our darkest times while reminding us to enjoy the good times with the people around us.
5/5 Stars
It’s just one week until a few thousand punks descend on the northern UK city of Manchester for what has fast become an absolute festival-calendar highlight. Returning for its fifth and biggest edition yet, Manchester Punk Festival will play host to more than 130 bands spanning just about every sub-genre of punk. The festival is […]
It’s just one week until a few thousand punks descend on the northern UK city of Manchester for what has fast become an absolute festival-calendar highlight. Returning for its fifth and biggest edition yet, Manchester Punk Festival will play host to more than 130 bands spanning just about every sub-genre of punk.
The festival is the product of three of Manchester’s most-active purveyors of underground sounds – Moving North, Anarchistic Undertones, and TNS Records. Helping them is a vast team of volunteers drafted directly from the UK punk scene. Essentially, it’s about 10 massive DIY gigs running simultaneously, with hundreds of bands, that span three days. It’s fucking great.
With just a few tickets remaining, we put some questions to long promoter Ian “Tree” Robinson (of Manchester’s Anarchistic Undertones and Oasis tribute band-fame) to find out what goes in to putting on an underground slobber-knocker as grand in scale as that occurring next weekend. Below is the result of just that.
Happy Friday, boys and girls! We’ve got a pretty cool debut to get you fired up for the weekend! We’re stoked to bring you the new video from California street punks Harrington Saints. It’s for the track “1000 Pounds of Oi!” which also serves as the title track from their brand new full length, which […]
Happy Friday, boys and girls! We’ve got a pretty cool debut to get you fired up for the weekend!
We’re stoked to bring you the new video from California street punks Harrington Saints. It’s for the track “1000 Pounds of Oi!” which also serves as the title track from their brand new full length, which is due out May 10th on Pirates Press. Here’s what the band’s frontman Darrel Wojick had to say about the song, and the video:
“The song has to do with the early days when we first started playing shows, and then bigger shows. Many of the comments we like “they’re like as big as poison idea” or “Poison Idea plays Oi!” Also, we used to joke how the drummer could never see the crowd cause he said there was a wall of fuckers in front of him! That became thousand lbs. of motherfucker, then turned into thousand pounds of Oi!. We wanted to do a video with Forry’s 64 impala SS before he sold it. Thought it’d be fun driving it blasting the song with a Go-Pro. Luckily we all fit in it.“
Check out the video below! You can pre-save 1000 Pounds of Oi! right here.
1000 Pounds of Oi! marks Harrington Saints’ first album since 2015’s Fish & Chips.