Year: 2011 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Cowabunga Records Tracks: 6 Length: 5 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
The School Jerks are one of the coolest, most legit bands outta Toronto hardcore. They've got that razor-blade guitar attack and drunk, Darby Crash-like vocals that sound about as punk rock as you can get... this is the brand new E.P. from the band, featuring six new songs, and it's cooler than ever. Anyways, yeah, you know what to expect... the only main thing I'd point out is that their songs are actually getting shorter! Only one of the songs on the record is over a minute long.
1. Screamer Nice riff... Luke's (the singer) vocals actually sound kinda clean in the very beginning. Fast, furious, sweet-o!
2. Control I like the guitar riff for this one a lot... the beat is a little slower, but awesome. This one's really short.
3. Ready to Die This one reminds me of early Black Flag... I dunno if it's more in the guitar riff or the drum beat. Anyways, it's pretty awesome. I like the chords played in the part of the song starting at around 38 seconds. End of Side A.
4. Ugly Minds, Ugly Faces YOUUU'VE GOT AN UGLLLYYYY MINNND, ANNND AN UGLLLYYY FACCEEE... by the way, those aren't the lyrics to the song. The verse part is really thrashy and fast. The chorus is half the speed, but just as violent! This band's got awesome drumming. At the very end, the beat continues to slow down until it's over.
5. Moral Addiction I'M ADDICTED TO NOT DOING DRUGS AND NOT KILLING PEOPLE AND STUFF. This one's also pretty fast. The guitar riff is nice and reminds me of early Black Flag or Off! (get their album if you haven't already)
6. 4-F This song's a minute and a half long, making it the "long" song of the EP. Once again (hate to keep bringing them into this), there's a Black Flag-type of dynamic going on here, mainly in the rhythm. Great guitar riffs, neat song. That's all there is.
So, I definitely say that this EP rocks, just as hard as the last two records the band has put out! They keep putting out great guitar riffs, hard songs, great fucked-up singing, it's all really good... simple but sturdy. If you haven't listened to this band yet and you consider yerself a "punk", then I think you're going to love this, because THE SCHOOL JERKS HAVE JUST GOT THE GOOD SONGS, Y'KNOWWHATI'MSAYINGTODAYING? (also, the back of the EP cover sheet has the lyrics to "Ugly Minds, Ugly Faces" on it)
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Control 2. Ready to Die 3. 4-F
Year: 2008 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Unknown Tracks: 8 Length: 17 Minutes My Rating: 6/8
Once in awhile you come across a band that should really really scare your trendy brother and sister. I think U.T.I. is a good example of this. I don't know if they're still around, their MySpace page was created in 2007 and last accessed in '09, so it's likely that this band has broken up, but at least they left behind something spectacular to be remembered by. It's an 8-song EP... almost long enough to be an album I guess, but we'll just kall it an EP today. Did I tell you that yesterday it was my birthday? Isn't that GREAT? Anyways, the band consists of Magnus (guitar), Conrad (drums), Jeff (bass guitar), and Leah, the fucking screamin'-like-hell vocalist. Not since Babes in Toyland have you heard a girl in punk rock this menacing! Anyways, musically it's a bit more interesting than standard hardcore. That's a plus in my book. Time to talk about the songs, shall we?
1. Stavrogin Starts off with a cool beat and a lead guitar melody, and then the rhythm kicks in and the beat goes all BUM-BOMP-BUMBUM-BOMP on us. Leah's singing sounds like a screamin' demon. The riff is angry and cool as fuck, as is the drumm-beat! Great awesome legit song!!
2. Mr. McGloob There's an intro riff, and then the verse riff is about as high-energy as you can get! More crazy psycho (not quite cyco) singing! In a sense it vaguely reminds me of the Ramones, but much angrier. I guess it's not really that much like the Ramones. Like, the Ramones if they had a bunch of broken glass-encrusted cheese graters lodged in their anuses. The drumming is real cool sounding. Who is this Mr. McGloob guy, anyways? He sounds kinda, y'know... Glooby? What's a gloob, anyways? So many unanswered questions in life... who will ever know?
3. Limp Generation Even faster than the previous two songs. "YOU CAN'T GET IT UP"... that's pretty damn funny. Maybe it's some sort of commentary of how "limp"/apathetic/bored/fucked our generation is. Just like a guy who can't get it up. I dunno.
4. Cunt Who doesn't just love the word "CUNT"? I do. CUNT is a cool word. "YOU DON'T HAVE A CUNT!!". Actually, it'd be nice if these songs came with lyrics. Or maybe it'll just be a Melvins type deal where I find out that the lyrics don't really even mean anything but sound hilarious anyways. FUCK YEEEEOOOOWWWW!!! The mood of the song is a little oppressive/dreary, but in a hard, punch-you-in-the-face way.
5. Schadenfreude A slow song. The riffs are pretty sweeto. The singing is really screechy (not in the metal way) and the chorus riff is a little sadder. It's only about two chords, but it's just kind of effective in that way.
6. Nope. Really fast song! The verses are ultra-fast, and then the choruses are kind of slow. Cool lead guitar solo in the middle of the song!
7. Bull Tits First song I heard by the band (just last night!). Starts off with a cool riff, which changes to another riff in the verse section of the song. Do bulls even have tits? Like, I know that COWS do 'cuz they've got milk and the cow's tits are called UDDERS, but do bulls even have tits? I always thought they had BULLCOCK. NEVER MIND THE BULLCOCKS, IT'S THE SEX PISTOLS. TE-HE-HE! Anyways, this song... angry, fast, freaky, I like it much! If those pissed-off riff-offs and pounding, punching drums don't get your motor movin', I dunno what will. At the end, there's a Black Flag-ish part with a different beat with Leah ranting and yelling stuff and it sounds cool.
8. A. Fish Albert Fish? This song starts off really friggin' fast. REALLY fast, I mean. After the first part of the song, it gets real slow. I guess the drummer would feel like doing anything but that after drumming so goddamn fast. Then the next part of the song is ultra-speedy, once again! Then another slow chorus with what could be considered "death metal" vocals. The bridge section is also really fast. Pretty much, this song alternates between being both the fastest and slowest song on the record. Slows down a little bit after that part, and then even more. The band plays the chorus section one more time and then it's over.
See, little Jimmy? U.T.I. wasn't really that bad. It's ALLL OVERRR NOW... no more seeing the SCARY DOCTOR/BAND PLAY/OPERATE ON YOU ANYMORE. UNLESS, OF COURSE, YOU LIKED IT... YOU KINKY SEX FREAK!!!!!! OUT OF MY HOUSE!!!! I'LL CHOP OFF YER WILLY, GODDAMN IT!
Anyways, that's U.T.I. Yes, as the johnnycumslately poser I am I found out about this band LAST NIGHT AFTER THEY'VE ALREADY BEEN BROKEN UP FOR ALMOST TWO YEARS. I guess I wasn't "there" so I shouldn't be listening to this band's music. I don't deserve it. I'm going to delete all of my U.T.I. music and if I want to listen to them I'm going to just read this review and imagine what the songs COULD sound like by reading my description of them. Shit, now EVERYONE'S going to like this band and now it's not going to be cool to like them. See, I liked them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like them before it was cool to like something before it was cool to like it before it was cool to like YOUR MOTHER. Shit, I really wish there was more I could say about this band. I don't know if this record even has cover art. Just a lil' MySpace page and some dude posted up the songs to download on his blog. I don't think this record is even in print anymore so don't feel bad. DON'T FEEL BAD, JIMMY. JIMMY... JIMMMYYY.... to be honest, I probably wouldn't like this band as much if it had a different singer. Y'see, it's the vocalist that does it for me. She makes the band sound so much cooler. Anuhwaez (Anheuser?), if you like Babes in Toyland you might like this group 'cuz they remind me slightly of that band. Like, not as good as Babes in Toyland, but still the most similar thing I can think of. Faster than that band, though. Like, I Kat Bjelland is a waitress now or something. She should re-form her old band. That would be kool. Or maybe you don't want to listen to this inferior rip-off. You only listen to music that's 100% original and not explicitly derivative of anyone else's. Well, guess what, buckwheat? YOUR FAVORITE BAND FUCKING RIPPED OFF PEOPLE TOO, they were just big enough of douchebags to find a way to hide it and act like it was totally their idea. Myself included. Anyways, yeah, this is a good band and a good record so you should check it out. Here's their MySpace page:
http://www.myspace.com/urinarytract
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Mr. McGloob 2. Schadenfreude 3. Stavrogin
Year: 2009 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: None Tracks: 6 Length: 9 Minutes My Rating: 5/8
Molested Youth. Molested Youth. Molested was the Youth that had one tooth which he left on a booth hoping it would be retrieved by his friend named Ruth who did not do so because she was feeling too aloof on that day. Shit. Anyways, in 2009, Molested Youth got a new singer and recorded another demo with six songs on it. I dunno what else to say. Let's listen to the music.
1. The Genetic Jackhammer The intro reminds me a ton of Void. Which is probably because I've been listening to Void a fucking ton lately. It really does sound like Void, but less crazy. I like Void. They are good. But this song is still pretty decent but it pales in comparison to anything by Void. I do like that riff that plays in the second half of the song, though.
2. Untitled Awesome intro guitar riff. The first part is kinda slow. Then the song gets faster in the next part of the song. Nice bass riff. I really like the guitar riff that the band plays at about 1 minute into the song. It's cool. Then there's a solo!
3. Recycled Life Nice thumpin' bass beat and a chugging guitar riff. The second section of the song is really fast and has cool-sounding lyrics even though I cannot understand them. Doesn't that SUCK? The third part of the song is fast but not as fast. Nice tempo-shifting.
4. Wasted Nights I like how they did the intro guitar riff. It's kind of sad-sounding, and in the beginning they JUST play the guitar riff. Then the drums start playing along, and then speed up to twice as fast in the verse part. The final part sounds more like the beginning part.
5. Faces Fast. The chorus part is cool. It has this drumbeat that goes... ah, whatever. It's cool. FUCKFUCKFUCK!! I CAN'T DO NOTHIN' I CAN'T DO NOTHIN' AGAIN. FUCK!
6. Snowicide/Nowhere Fast This song is really fast. It's about how much winter sucks and how lame it is when there's nothing but snow everywhere. Kind of like now. YOU LIKE WINTER, I HATE YOU! The second song is "Nowhere Fast" and it's a little slower. Isn't Nowhere Fast ALSO a band? AND a song by the Lunachicks? Well, this iz not a cover of that song. The second half of this song is slow and they sing "I'M SO TIRED OF GOING NOWHERE" over and over again and then they say "FAST" because they play REALLY FAST SONGS ALL THE TIME!!!!!
Well, that's the Molestered Youth Demo Part 2. The band has also released a 7" record recently, so I'll review that one too in due time. The songs are all pretty good, they've got some good guitar riffs in most of the songs. But I dunno what else to say, so here's a picture of the band for you:
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Untitled 2. Wasted Nights 3. Recycled Life
Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Fatal Erection Records Tracks: 13 Length: 12 Minutes Style:Angry/Political My Rating: 6/8
Poison Idea was a hardcore band from Portland, Oregon that existed throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. Apparently the early incarnation of the band was composed of Darby Crash's cousins, which is PRETTY COOL. The band original consisted of: Jerry A. Crash (vocals), Pig Crash (guitar), Chris Crash (bass), and Dean Crash (drums). Well shit, imagine how those family reunions musta been for ol' Darby... I mean, "Bobby Pyn"... I mean, Jan Paul Beahm. Sorry, took me a little while to get THAT one right! "Darby, stop flinging your food at Pig Champion... 'cuz he's eating all of it and he's starting to get real fucking fat!". Actually, Jerry A. looks exactly like a chubby version of Darby Crash in these early days of the band. On one side of the EP sleeve, there's a picture of Jesus, and the other side is Elvis. Which one will you pick? Enough 'bout THAT, though. Time for another record review!!
1. Think Twice I fell in love with this tune the moment I heard it! The guitar riff cuts real hard, the beat is fast as lightning and pretty solid as way. Jerry's singing voice is throaty and harsh, also! The song beckons that suicidal people think twice about their decision and to "count their blessings before they lose them". You have to listen to this one!
2. It's An Action Pretty fast and cool-sounding but not as strong as the track before it. The message is good, though -- it encourages people to destroy the fascist government from within and practice freedom. And to bash a cop or two.
3. This Thing Called Progress Alternates between guitar-only and not-guitar-only intervals in the verse parts. The chorus has an awesome chord progression. The song explains how what the government and mainstream society calls "progress" in civilization is actually destroying the country from within, and therefore, needs to be stopped.
4. In My Headache This tune's a little slower, but still fast by anyone except a grindcore fan's standards! The lyrics are pretty angsty and the music rules.
5. Underage This is a really short song, but the band has a lot to say in this one. The song is told from the point of view of an 18-year-old who feels frustrated by the lack of respect for minors in society.
6. Self Abuse The song has four parts. The first part is fast, the second part is really fast, the third part is slow, and the fourth part is fast again. As you might expect, the lyrics describe and question the actions of people who engage in self abuse and self mutilation. End of Side A.
7. Cult Band I'm not sure if this song is supposed to be an attack on the commercial glam bands of the day or punk bands that built up huge followings based on their social philosophy like Minor Threat. Anyone got an answer yet?
8. Last One This song has a simple guitar riff and it's an anti-violence anthem telling violent people that were ruining the hardcore scene to go fuck off.
9. Pure Hate I just realized that on these not-as-fast songs that the guitar sounds a ton like Pat Smear's guitar on the album (GI) by the Germs. The song contains allusions to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, except the song is more in celebration of hate. Or so it sounds. Actually, I don't really know what this song's about.
10. Castration Really fast and really short! The song rants against macho assholes who are out to make a show of themselves for some cheap sex, while their family members (wife/girlfriend, kids) are secretly planning to get their revenge on him and castrate him, either literally or figuratively. "Your girlfriend's waiting for you with a broken bottle."
11. Reggae (I Hate) While many punks have come to love reggae due to bands like Bad Brains that play both styles of music. It's pretty slow, and the beat is very similar to that in reggae music. The chorus section is fast and thrashing as ever, though! The lyrics denote reggae as being a bunch of religious drug-induced slow idiocy, as Jerry proclaims that he "can't slow down" and he "won't dance at a disco, even if they play reggae". Then one of the band members says "Motorhead".
12. Give It Up GIVEITUPGIVEITUPGIVEITUPGIVEITUPGIVEITUPGIVEITUPGIVEITUPGAHHHGAHBLOOOOEY.
13. Think Fast Nice awesome riff. The beat sounds cool. The song encourages people to be nice and not treat their friends like crap or else "it might be the beginning of the end". So that's the end of POISON IDEA, MAN...
Okay.
Top 3 Favorites: 1. Think Twice 2. Reggae (I Hate) 3. Think Fast
Year: 2010 Genre: Hardcore Punk Label: Survive Records Tracks:5 Length: 8 Minutes Style:Angry/Political My Rating: 5/8
Total Trash is yet another cool new hardcore band from Toronto, Ontario. Having just formed earlier this year, this is their demo tape and it's got about five songs on it which are pretty cool, so let's reveu (pronounce it "rev-wah") it, now shall we? But before that, here's a few more details about the band: well... um... shit... I really don't know what the names of the band members are... crap. Well, let's see if I can identify any by looking at a picture of the band playing...
...
...
...
Let's see, that's... a straight-edge guy with glasses playing the guitar... I'll call him "Ian". And then, on the other guitar, there's a man wearing an Agnostic Front shirt... we'll call him "Agnes"... the singer is wearing a red shirt and making the shape of a sickle and hammer with his two arms so he's obviously a communist and his name is going to be "Joseph". And the drummer is invisible so he'll be called "Invisibo". That's right, Joseph (vocals), Ian (guitar), Agnes (bass/other guitar?), and Invisibo (drums). Now, time to talk about the songs.
1. Gregor Samsa Awesome beat and a heavy bass riff. The singer sounds like a cross between Mike Muir and the dude from Bad Choice. As you might expect, the song gets a lot faster halfway through and the riff changes and it's sloppy but cool. Too bad there's no lyrics, as I always say (except for cases in which there ARE lyrics). Who IS Gregor Samsa, anyways?
2. Socially Fucked Another cool riff. Really hot and fuzzy-sounding. SOCIALLY FUCKED! SOCIALLY FUCKED! C'MON KIDDIEZ, SING ALONG WITH ME!! The bridge section has the coolest riff, even if it's just two chords. Sounds good together.
3. Sanitize Me Pretty similar to the previous song -- fast, angry, cool riffage. No idea what he's singing about, still. Wish I gnu. Cool lead guitar stuff on this song.
4. No Freedom The song starts out slow, and the riff is fucking awesome and the beat rules during this part. Then the song gets really fast! After that, there's another slower part with a cool beat where Joseph shouts "NO FREEDOM!", which is succeeded by another really fast part.
5. No York This one's fast but not as fast as all the other ones. It's a big diss to New York, condemning the snobs and posers and Joseph proclaims that "this fucking city ain't for me". I can actually kind of understand the lyrics to this song. The riff is cool also. And th-th-th-ththth-thTHAT'S ALL, FUX!
Sometimes I wonder if they were named after the song by Sonic Youth or not. That would be cool if they like Sonic Youth... who were from NO YORK as well. So maybe not. Who NOSE, anymore, right? Hopefully they'll be around more to put out more stuff, 'cuz they're pretty good. A bit generic, but still good. So I hope you enjoyed my review. I will hopefully be back tomorrow.
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres:Hardcore Label: None Tracks: 5 Length: 5 Minutes Style: Angry My Rating: 5/8
School Jerks is a band from Toronto blah blah blah formed in 2008 blah blah yadda yadda they're one of my favorite new hardcore bands yukka yukka wakka wakka hulla hulla blah blah jibber jabber jibbery jabbery jibbery jabber... blerh blerh blegh bleck ooga booga duhduuughh duhuhuhuhuhud duhd djfgfhghgfhgfhfghgfhfghgfhfghfghhfjhgjhgjhjhgjghjhgjhg FUCK, YEAH, THIS WAS THEIR DEMO TAPE BEFORE THEY RELEASED ANY RECORDS HURRDA HURRDA FYCJ AHGFHDGFDHGDFHDF...
1. Rock n' Roll, Part III What ever happened to parts I & II, I do not currently know. Maybe I'll never know. Mid-tempo song with angry vocals that sound like the early Henry Rollins. It's alright, but there's better on here. "Just gimme a dollar... JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!!"
2. Guestlist This song was later re-recorded for their new EP. Atonal bumpy intro that transforms into another fast song. Very intense vocals and a good sounding guitar, though I do think that it all sounds better on the later version.
3. Make it Blank This one has a pretty good riff. The guitar sounds like a chainsaw. Thrashing, trashing, and angry.
4. High School The fastest and shortest song on the tape. "HIGH SCHOOL!", yells Ivan. I can't really understand the rest of the lyrics so I don't know.
5. Problems Fast, but not as fast as "high school". The guitar is good and it plays a very cool riff. Ivan still sounds like Henry Rollins. I'm pretty sure that this is the longest song on the tape. And th-th-that's all, folks.
I feel like shit today. I bought a CD and it wouldn't even work. My best friend won't stop being so damn depressing all the time and starting drama over everything. It seems like the world is slowly turning into Hell with everything I read, nobody wants to hire kids, it's hot as fuck outside, I can never feel excited about anything anymore, and I fucking hate it. So yeah, I got that off of my chest. I'm pissed. But thanks for reading and shit if you read this far. Hope you liked my review. I know, it was kind of half-assed, but that's how I'm feeling today, so that's what y'all get for now. I hope I feel better soon. Until then, seeya later.
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: Deranged Records Tracks: 4 Length: 6 Minutes (Very Short) Style: Angry My Rating: 6/8
You've got your Reagan Youth, Sonic Youth, Youth Brigade, Wasted Youth, Social Youth (what?), Musical Youth, etc... You(th) knew that this one was coming. They're not Ronald Reagan's equivalent to the Hitler Youth... they're not a BRIGADE of youth... they're not a bunch of youth whose youth has been wasted (or they spent all of their youth GETTING wasted), and, well, they're not very social either. Neither are they blue hedgehogs. No, these ones are some Grade-A, run-of-the-mill MOLESTERED YOUTH! These kidz are have just been totally MOLESTED and damn, are they pissed. So they started a fucking BAND! Called MOLESTED YOUTH. Like, we've had all of these bands that put the word "youth" after some dignified or at least austere adjective. Y'know, "man, those poor kids really had their youth WASTED by the great depression of 2060" or "the YOUTH BRIGADE will solve all our problems of the future", or something like that. Y'know. All PxOxSxIxTxIxVxE and HxAxRxDxCxOxRxExxPxUxNxX n' stuff like that. Like, with a lot of X's and not doing drugs and having really short hair and WHAT THE FUCK AM I EVEN TALKING ABOUT??!! Yeah man, MOLESTED YOUTH. Now, some of you might get a lil' offended by this, but I was fucking MOLESTED as a YOUTH by MICHAEL JACKSON. YESTERDAY. I'm pretty pissed off myself, now. Know why, kidz? 'Cause yesterday a dead pop-star just choked my balls out my own mouth sideways in a little act of reverse-necrophagy. Now I'm mad 'cause Michael Jackson molested me. I think I'm gonna get my anger out and dance around like an autistic kid having a seizure (a straight-edge seizure at that) and listen to some Goddamn MOE-LEST'D YOUT!
On a slightly more coherent note, Molested Youth is a Canadian hardcore punk band that formed in 2008. From Toronto. This iz their first release (it's really just a demo), and they have another tape after this called "The Fountain of Molested Youth", but apparently that fount's run dry 'cause I can't get a drink so I'll have to just stick with this glass o' H2O by my side for now... nothin' but the blooooood ooooffffff JEEEEEEEEEEEZUSS KA-RIGHST-AH!!!!! YEAHYEAHYEAHEYAHYEAHYEAHEYEAHYEAH!!!!! I WILL NEVAH GO THIRSTY AGAIN, NAUW. Well, now that that's outta the way, I think I'm gonna go molest some youths -- I mean, review a Molested Youth record.
1. Watch Me Rise The song starts out with a single electric guitar being played. In a totally fuzzed-out wayed. Man. Man-O-E-Man-O. Mano e Mano. Mano. After almost a minute of this (the guitar part), the drums fade in, and the pounding beat builds up until a peak where it just crashes to a slow rhythm. Then the first verse begins, where the beat iz fast and the singer, Sean, sings stuff like "WHAT ARE WE ALL FIGHTING FOR?" and stuff like that. Nice variation of tempo in some parts. This is a very good song. Longest one on the demo, being two and a half minutes long.
2. Rat in a Cage This song begins with a short, slow, bassy intro (no rhythm guitar yet). And the like a raging caged rat, the song goes off into ultrathrash500000 mode, with the fast beat and angry vocals and yeah, it's pretty legitty and stuff. The chorus just goes "rat in a cage". I'll bet these guys are pretty awesome-o live.
3. Break It Once again, slow intro. This time, the intro has a rhythm guitar riff. It happens to just be a slower version of the main riff. The verse part of the song is fast, but the chorus is ultra-slow. The later part of the chorus slowly builds up and increases in speed until we're back at the lightspeed fury of the verse.
4. !!Shining Light Fastest one here! The verse is fast (and fucking awesome), and the mid-section is slow. The riff is really awesome, here. This is the shortest song on the album; less than a minute long.
If you want some new, authentic, awesome, ferocious hardcore, look no further than here! The demo can be downloaded for free off of their Last.FM page. The audio cassette version, which costed about $2 is now out of print, so just go fer the gold, young molesters! By the way, the band's line-up iz: Sean (vocals), Seabreeze Malone (guitar), Warren (bass), and Zack (drums). So give this one a listen and have fun with it (maybe even have sex with it). It should not let ya down, buddy. And yes, I made my own cover for it because there is no official cover.
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: Mad At the World Records Tracks: 4 Length: 5 Minutes (Very Short) Style: Angry My Rating: 6/8
The Omegas are a hardcore band from Montreal, Quebec. The band formed in 2007. When this record was released, the line-up consisted of Ryan Hogan (vocals), Tony "the Vezz" Frenchman (guitar), Yannick Sarrazin (other guitar), Spoiler (bass), and Dan Sklbrock (drums). This EP is somewhat considered their demo. It can now be downloaded for free off of the Mad at the World Records website (the original cassette is out of print).
1. False WorshipThe guitar comes firing at you here like a fucking flamethrower! Same with the vocals. The riff in the first part of the song is just about as cool as it gets. The song is a criticism of organized religion, and people who live their lives to worship and "raise their arms to touch the high and mighty man." Very good song.
2. Futile PleasuresThis song's a little faster than the song before it. Halfway through, the song slows down. The lyrics are about the fact that we only resort to cheap thrills to stay happy. The song ends in a really fast part before it's all ovah.
3. Secret SignalsThis uses a similar theme to "False Worship", except from the view of the preacher himself, not the follower. As "the eyes of millions" have followed his every word up to this point, he proclaims "and as my final instruction, I demand self-destruction". The song starts out fast, but ends slow.
4. Gimme OblivionAnother song on here, I really like. It's the fastest song... the riff and chords n' stuff are awesome. The mid-section is a little slower (like all of the other songs). The beat is furious and this song is really cool. The lyrics seem to just be about how weak-willed humans are.
The Omegas have just released a new EP called "Sonic Order", which also contains four new songs and is available from No Idea Records. The band also has a weird song on their MySpace called "Slam Skank", which is simply just the band yelling "SLAM! SKANK!" over some samples. Unfortunately, there's no interesting stories or anything like that I really know about this band. I just know that this is a good record and you should listen to it. Here's the link:
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: None Tracks: 5 Length: 6 Minutes (Very Short) Style:Angry My Rating: 6/8
Bad Choice is a hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario (Canada). The band formed around early 2009, and the line-up currently consists of MTM (vocals), Beav (guitar), Steve (other guitar), Rick (bass), and Curtis (drums). While the group has not yet released an 'official' album, they have this self-released demo out available for a free download, so if this music sounds interesting to you from the sound of the interview, then go ahead n' get it!
1. Bad Intro Starts with just drumming, and then MTM begins barking out his vocals. He sounds kinda like the guy from Pissed Jeans but slightly harder to understand. Sorry, but it's not completely fitting for the instrumentals. Maybe that's the intention. Whatever. The song's got a pretty nice riff (the production sounds similar to the "Lexicon Devil" single by the Germs to give an accurate example), and it alternates between slow and fast.
2. Lash Out This one's got a more consistent tempo. The riff is really cool and catchy! Probably the best song on this record. It's a minute long...
3. Dezerter This one's a little slower. Once again, it's got a really neat guitar riff in both the verse and chorus. I just wish the singer could hold a syllable for just slightly longer -- his singing just sounds like he's going "uugh dughkt tgha uggha duggha dugk!" -- it just gets kind of boring. It would sound much cooler if he could hold a word for a little longer.
4. BDS Alternates between fast n' slow. MTM sings during the slow parts, and the fast parts are dominated by a very exciting guitar riff. Only 46 seconds of punk fury!
5. Get Together This is the longest song (two minutes). Begins with a slow intro, which is eventually dissipated by the speedy verse and chorus sections of the song. Whoever's writing these songs is really fucking talented, that's for sure! The riffs here really rev me up. Like all of the other songs. Well, that's the end.
Overall, I think Bad Choice is a band with a lot of potential. The songwriting is excellent, the riffs are in my opinion up there with early Black Flag as far as being rough-sounding and catchy and the same time. This music is of good quality. The production is great, too. My only gripe is the vocals. They just tend to sound a bit repetitive, and lack any real substance. Not very compelling. Maybe it's just the mixing. I just don't think it sounds very good with the rest of the band. But this band is still good -- none of this corporate-born cheeze that has infiltrated so much of the punk scene, no preachiness, no whining, just good, fun punk rock with balls. If Bad Choice makes the good choices (get it?), they could become one of the best bands for the years to come!
(P.S. -- that cover image I have up there isn't actually the official cover art. There is no official cover art. It's just a flyer that I edited. It looks pretty cool, though, doesn't it?)
Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: Cowabunga Records Tracks: 4 Length: 6 Minutes (Very Short) Style: Angry My Rating: 6/8
The School Jerks are a hardcore punk band from Toronto, Ontario (Canada). They formed around 2008 or so. Their sound is simple, but effective and hard-hitting. Sort of a mix between early Black Flag and the later Germs. According to an interview, two members of the band, Ben and Luke, were previously in another band called "Terminal State"; the band broke up, but Ben and Luke wanted to keep playing music. The School Jerks' name is taken from the title of a song called "School Jerks" by a band called the Vains. The band has released a demo tape (released 2008), and two 7" records (the first of which I have already reviewed). This is the School Jerks' newest release, and it's a four-song 7" vinyl EP called "Decline".
1. Decline Can't understand the lyrics, but the song is great, anyways. The vocals sound a lot like the slurred fucked-up-but-great yelling of Darby Crash, while the drumming and guitars punch hard like a song by Black Flag or the Circle Jerks! There's a little solo in the middle of the song. The song ends in a slowly fading clash of the final chords having been stroked.
2. Rentboy Fastest song on the EP. Vocals sound great. I love the distortion. Yep, I have no idea what they're saying on any of these songs... Side 1's over, so turn the damn record over tooooo!!
3. Street Talk My favorite song on here. The beat sort of holds back in the verse section, with the occasional cymbal clashing here n' there. Awesome riff, especially when the chorus section kicks in... just sounds really good to me! I'll bet this one sounds fucking great played live... the chorus riff has such a cool roll to it... that's when the beat starts resemble the first song's more... it's all cool, though.
4. Guestlist Starts with a neat, lead-n-bassdrum intro... quickly, the first verse of the song begins. This one has a pretty neat outro-section that comes after the second chorus.
It's short, but good. It definitely has the vibe and attitude of the original hardcore punk bands; in a good way. The music's pretty straightforward simple, so if you're looking for jazz-fusion 'er something, don't look for it in this EP. It definitely has a classic vibe to it -- this is definitely something I think I'll still be listening to in the future. And with the band just starting off, it makes you wonder what they're gonna do next -- the 4-1-1 is that they may be working on some new recordings in the near future (read: probably before Summer begins), and it should rock as hard as this one does already. Sometimes the band gets their live shows broadcasted on Equalizing Distort Radio. You can find more info here:
http://equalizingxdistort.blogspot.com
I'm not sure how often they do it, but it's something I read on the band's MySpace page. So yeah, the School Jerks are for you if you're looking for a good, young, thrashy punk band. In some ways Toronto kinda comes off as the new L.A., punk-wise. Hope you liked my review, and have a happy Friday, everyone! :-)
Year: 2009 Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: Riff Raff Records Tracks: 3 Length: 3 Minutes (Very Short) Style: Angry My Rating: 6/8
I discovered and fell in love with the School Jerks on Sunday this week. There's a certain freshness to them. Enraged youthful slurred vocals, simplistic but hard-hitting instrumentation, and a sweet analog sound, they're one of the elite few bands of today that I willfully click the repeat button on when hearing a song. They're pretty new also, been around for just two years. They have released a demo tape and two 7" records -- this being the first 7". It has three songs on it.
1. Nothing Else Fucking awesome riff. Great, loose vocals that resemble a live Darby Crash performance. All-around good song -- best one on the record! Exemplifies everything good about "normal" hardcore.
2. Stray Fastest and shortest song. A little bit of guitar lead in this one.
3. Passed Out A tempo similar to the first song's spliced between a pounding beat. The vocals are more easily heard in this tempo than in the second song. Longest song on the single (being about a minute and a half long).
It's very short, but well-worth the listen. Better than a ton of the other music that's out now! It's total classic, snotty, fun hardcore from another great Canadian band. The line-up for the band currently is: Luke, Ben, Ivan, and Matt. I'm not sure who does what. I just read it off the back album art of their other 7" EP. Someone please tell me who does what! Well, I don't know a whole ton else about this band, so I'm not going to keep going on like I do. So get and listen to this record... you won't regret!
Year: 2009 Genre: Punk Rock Sub-Genres: Hardcore Label: No Way Records Tracks: 5 Length: 8 Minutes (Short) Style: Angry My Rating: 5/8
One thing that has sort of annoyed me about "modern hardcore" is the fact that it all seems very same-y to me. I miss the sound that hardcore punk had in the '80s. And that's what the Reprobates give you. Just fast, angry, fuzzed-out goodness. The band is from Canada (which has a better punk rock scene than a lot of the United States), and have a reputation for violent performances on stage. There are five songs on this album, and only one of them is average-sounding. If you liked bands like Deep Wound or early Black Flag, you'll probably like this!
1. Rat Maze The lyrics on all of these songs are hard to understand because of the lo-fi quality of the record, so that won't be talked about much in this review. But the song starts with this sort of feeling that you're on some sort of adventure... the beat is great, too.
2. Failure This song starts slow with spoken (as opposed to the raspy yell in most of the album) vocals. However, throughout the song, the speed does pick up and deliver furious spasms of condensed punk rock energy.
3. Stress The only song on the album I'm not that big on. However, it iz the song that the album is named after. Well, it's fast. It's pissed-off. Not a lot else I can say.
4. Abandoned City My favorite song on the album. It starts immediately with breakneck speed, but then it slows down a teeny bit, and then it goes back to the faster part, and so on. It's like riding on the blade of a helicopter and then getting off of it when the helicopter lands to get on to the next one as it spins faster than the next! The riff is really cool, too!
5. Gone to Shit The closer to the album, and it's (guess) very fast. I can hear the singer in this part singing about having no motivation or self-control. Halfway through the song, it gets less fast for a moment, until the finale where it repeats the verse again.
If you're looking for a good, short, fast, intense hardcore album, then this iz for you. Hopefully the band will be releasing another record soon (maybe even a full-length!), so we could hear what else these guys are capable of!
CONTROL (EP)
