CHILDREN OF GAIA.

The "City of Drizzle" (Sao Paulo) in Brazil is known for many things - great food & beautiful people being among those - but a vegan hardline metallic sXe band as well? Indeed.

Children of Gaia held it down for the better part of a decade with their dark & brooding take on the militant metalcore sound. Lots of heavy chugga-chugga, shit-tons of bottomless-pit breakdows, and a fury of deep-throated vocal anguish.
Their version of "thug core" is unique in that the leads (if you can call them that) aren't full of pick squeals and such - they keep it dark at all times. Good stuff if you have a soft spot for the old-school metallic beat-down HC…



Children of Gaia - I Pray to Watch You Bleed

Link in comments.

JUDGE.

Essentially what was a side-project a Youth of Today, Judge became it's own monster right off the bat.

They absolutely alienated many in the scene(s) w/ their militant sXe views, the West Coast punk 'zines hated them, and all the while they played an aggressive version of hardcore that had a metal approach, yet you couldn't call it metal. Metalcore v.1.0 wasn't even around yet, so in essence it was some seriously meaty thick-neck hardcore played by a bunch of kids who were passionate in their views, approach, & influences.

Love them or hate them, Judge left their mark on HC, and this collection of their complete recorded output (plus demos/rarities) is testament to that legacy...



Judge - What It Meant: The Complete Discography

Link removed do to leeching from PunksandSkins.com - EAT A GIANT FUCKING DICK!!!

BONUS!

Check this out - awesome to say the least…



"What Was Said & Where It Went" (Unfinished Documentary).

ABNEGATION.

Honestly, there's not much I can tell you about Erie, PA other than it was a railroad hub in the early days and then evolved into a steel-mill town.
Also, it's not too far from Buffalo, Pittsburgh, Cleveland or NYC.

This brings us to Abngeation - Erie's hardline sXe crew whose sounds was an amalgamation of all those flavors of the bands from the aforementioned towns.
While they may get lumped in w/ the militant hardline thing, their sound evolved in to one that included many elements of thrash/speed metal, as well as eventually becoming sludgy, dark & heavy.

These guys were unique in delivery, but sadly, they packed it in after five years while the rest of the world is stuck with ear-turds like Earth Crisis & Hatebreed...





Abnegation - Verses of the Bleeding

Link removed 12.10.2010 due to leeching via Punks & Skins.com. At least ask me before you just go ahead & hotlink / cut & paste 100% of my post content, ya fucks...

RAID.

While I always felt that the vegan sXe thing was taken, oh, "just a bit too seriously", I gotta admit some of those bands fucking rocked, and Tennessee's Raid were pretty bad-ass at the whole jud-jud/breakdown/pick squeal/gang vocal thing.
This record is definitely a lost gem of the first-generation Hardline era - check it out if you like this kind of stuff. It ain't perfect - there are some corny-ass vocal moments on here - but overall the level of thick-neck / meat-head old-school metal 'core ranks highly.
I appreciate the sentiment - er - "level of caring", but overall I wonder if these guys actually feel this way now that they are in their late twenties / early thirties. Anyways, there ain't nothin' wrong with livin' your life for you, now is there?

Make your own decision on the issues presented to you here, but let it be known that this record is chock-full of some serious beatdown 'core!


Raid - Above The Law

Link in comments.

GATHER.

While I can easily say I was never a real fan of the hardline movement in HC - I can respect what you feel, bro, so respect mine too - there is something about this Bay Area female-fronted / sXe / vegan crew that compels me.

Call me a dick if you want, but I'm not really a fan of female vocalists in heavy music. Eva Genie, on the other hand, can seriously belt it out in a throat-shredding fashion that doesn't sound contrived or wimpy, and while they may not be the most original (the sub-genre itself is musically limited in many ways but is very enjoyable when done properly), they create a powerful dynamic that works well - especially with the choice of segue samples, etc.

They may not have been the greatest musicians, but the passion is what drove this band, and one can only wonder what they would sound like if they stayed together.

It's fucking hardcore, ya know? Love it or leave it.



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Gather - Beyond the Ruins



*This is my last post until next week - not that I've been that prolific in the posting department the past few months*

I'm heading up to Seattle (for a long "romant-ick" weekend w/ the lil lady) to visit some old friends, sk8 a bit, possibly see Blaine Accüsed's band TOE TAG & eat a burger from his restaurant, maybe buy some used CD's, definitely eat some good food & drink some good beer, buy a bunch of shit I don't need, drive around in the (new) Dodge Charger I rented, swim in the hotel pool, etc. A well-needed break is coming my way!

UNBROKEN.

You know how San Diego has a benchmark "sceamo" sound?
Well... THIS AIN'T IT.

Before all that, there was Unbroken, and what they did for "modern" hardcore will never be truly acknowledged.
(Too) many have tried to replicate the sound, and while some have come close, they've all lacked that passion. Heartfelt shredding vocals, dissonant chaos / chuga-chug guitars, rumbling/rolling bass lines and excellent breakdowns is what made Unbroken THE STANDARD by which few can be ranked.
You can't go wrong with any of their material; I'm not actually sure why I'm saying this as 90% of you loyal readers probably already have them in your collection. If not, here's a collection NO ONE should be without.

This stuff STILL blows away 95.7% of what is deemed "hardcore" today - I guess you could call this "your father's metalcore"?
If so, maybe you should go thank Dad...



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Unbroken - Death of True Spirit

I just enjoyed a bangin' birthday weekend - June 25th. by the way - which started last week with beers & cake at work (drunken fork lifting antics / cake fight), new iPod Nano, new iPhone 3GS (later today), KILLER steak dinner ( courtesy of the in-laws), a fresh window-tint job on my Scion xB "Battle Toaster", yesterday's trip to Sonoma to go swimming, AND I took today off from work. Score!

Life is pretty fuckin' rad right now, that's all I'm saying...

DOUGHNUTS.

Sweden.
The home of high-tech cellphones, extremely safe automobiles, assemble-it-yourself modular furniture, beautiful hockey and tennis stars, designer vodka, tasty meatballs, rippin' death metal & Abba.

Did I forget anything?

Oh yes...

Back in the early-to-mid Nineties, Sweden was home to an all-female vegan/sXe hardcore band from Umea that released a few records on Victory that pretty much flew under the radar - quite possibly due to their political stance. That, as well as the fact that the meathead sXe HC scene (associated with that label at the time) found the all-girl lineup somewhat a novelty - too bad, as these ladies put their own honest and unique twist (especially vocal-wise) on their output.
They were quite dark & melodic in their appraoch with lots of chugga-chugga/pick-squeals/breakdowns, etc.

While this may be a bit of a stretch for some of you, I find their entire catalog compelling & highly enjoyable, even 10+ years later.
I am also still intrigued by the history of this band - especially for what they accomplished in such a misogynistic scene back in the day...



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Doughnuts - The Age of the Circle

SOCIETY SYSTEM DECONTROL.

Boston's infamous "Glue Crew"...

Here's a nice collection of cuts spanning their entire catalogue, as well as some unreleased material.

Enjoy.



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SSD - Power




Now playing: Doug Stanhope - Don't Pull Your Dick Out
via FoxyTunes

STRIFE.

No big explanation or history lesson this time around, here's the second record from L.A.'s controversial hardcore / sXe legends, Strife. Heavy-meets-hard on this in a way that most current hardcore bands can't seem to get a grip on.

Word has it that they are playing a few shows again in the near future, and I am pretty sure this is one old-school reunion that WON'T suck...

D/L Strife - In This Defiance right here.




***If anyone downloaded Converge - Live at The Collective 2005 from me, could you PLEASE send me a .zip file of that show as I don't have it any more and I can't seem to track it down anywhere. I'd appreciate it!***

ACRID.

Leaving off where Cursed left us, may I present to you more harsh-toned hardcore bleakness from the Great White North in the form of the highly unsung Acrid.

The members of this band also were in some other amazing fucking bands either before they did Acrid as well as after - Cursed being one, Left For Dead, Chokehold, The Swarm & Grade being some others worth mentioning.
Enjoy...

D/L Acrid - Eighty-Sixed (part I) right here.
D/L Acrid - Eighty-Sixed (part II) right here.

LÄRM.

Dutch HC/Grind GODS who could be called the world's first (straight edge) Powerviolence band.
These guys never let me down, and - as an American - the Dutch vocals make absolute sense to me (does that make sense?)
Anyways, it's not like I have to explain who these guys are, especially if you are a regular visitor to L-RV.
Good shit...

LINKS -
DoucheSpace.

D/L Larm - Extreme Noise right here.



----------------
Now playing: Lack of Interest - Impeached
via FoxyTunes

LOST HORIZON.

While I don't listen to progressive/power metal hardly at all, I'd have to say that no one did it better than Lost Horizon did on this album.
"Straight-edge atheistic outer-space warriors (from Sweden)"...

LINKS -
Official Webpage.
DoucheSpace.

D/L Lost Horizon - A Flame To The Ground Beneath right here.