Path To Misery

Hatebreed Bonus Tracks

2012-01-31T13:36:00.002-05:00

There are two things you should know about this blog ... firstly, I don't post music that is still in press and readily available for purchase and secondly, Hatebreed will always be my shit.

That being said, I've spent countless hours searching for these rarities that I present to you now. I caught wind a few months ago that Hatebreed offered multiple editions of their most recent, self-titled release from early 2010. Here is the breakdown:

Wal-Mart Edition (no longer carried) included two bonus tracks entitled Lay It All To Waste and Preservation Of Belief which are living proof that even Hatebreed's throw-away B-sides are better than mostly everything else that exists within heavy music today.

iTunes Pre-Order Only Edition (no longer available for purchase) included re-recorded versions of the final two songs from the Under The Knife sessions that were yet to be re-worked. Filth and Kill An Addict have always been two of my favorite Hatebreed songs and it's awesome to hear them finally recorded in a session where you can hear things other than the china cymbal.

There was a "Deluxe" edition that included a DVD with two live shows and live recordings of To The Threshold and As Diehard As They Come but that is still available for purchase from several retailers so I chose to not include these for download.

I literally spent well over 5 hours searching online for these tracks and gladly would have paid for them if purchasing these tracks were still an option. It's a shame that material this good fades into obscurity due to exclusivity deals these major retailers (Wal Mart and iTunes) force upon bands in order to push their releases.

Fuck buying music from Wal Mart and/or iTunes ... here are the bonus tracks from the various "Special Editions" from Hatebreed's self-titled masterpiece. Just as a bonus, here is a link to the YouTube video I made for the ALMOST as rare re-recording of Severed (another Under The Knife classic) from the UK Edition of the Supremacy album.

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Tears Of Frustration: REDUX

2012-01-29T13:52:00.002-05:00

Lately, I've been engaging myself in quite a few political debates; something I haven't been doing for the past few years. I'm typically quite the isolationist when it comes to ... well, life in general. With our country's upcoming election, however, I decided to take the time to at least find out a little bit about what the new direction of our country is going to be taking (whether we like it or not). Personally, I'm of the persuasion that the voting process is merely a schmoz designed to keep people dormant and as content as possible and that even if the elections WERE legitimate, the two parties simply take different paths to the same destination anyhow.

That being said, I'm not one for politics. Running the hamster wheel never appealed to me. I've always been moreso interested in being a person of high moral character and respect regardless of party affiliation or minute differences in political or religious beliefs. Subscribing to a set of ideals inherent in one party or another always seemed rather submissive and mindless to me. I've always respected those who held themselves accountable for their own destiny, chose to work hard for what they had and took pride in themselves, their work and their country.

A while back I did a post about a little-known band from New Jersey called Tears Of Frustration. At the time, I posted about them in comparison to One Life Crew; a band with similar politics yet without the work ethic or respect that Tears Of Frustration was known for. That's not to say I'm anti-OLC, but the band obviously stooped considerably low and took part in some questionable activity in order to get a rise out of the hardcore scene at the time. Tears Of Frustration, on the other hand, took their message and music extremely seriously.

Typically taken as a "political" band, frontman Joe Falzone has went on record many times to clarify the fact that their lyrics were moreso based around personal outlook as opposed to playing into a Left v Right game or subscribing to either conservative or liberal values. Being in Path To Misery, I've always related to this sentiment. Allow me to digress to speak on the band for a bit.

Tears Of Frustration played a rather standard style of hardcore, yet managed to perfect the craft of doing so. The songs are simple riffs within simple structures while harnessing every ounce of energy that a hardcore band is capable of doing. The songs are short and to-the-point which contributes to their catchy nature. The choruses and vocal hooks are every bit as memorable as your favorite Hatebreed line while the verses drive every bit as hard as a Terror banger. While the band takes on a more traditional style of hardcore than either of the comparisons I made, their songs' ability to stay in your head rival that of both previously mentioned bands.

While I could put words into their mouths like everyone else chose to do (despite being considerably more educated on the band than the detractors), I decided to take the time to rip their section from the Guerrilla Warfare video zine series that were put out in the early 2000s to document the underground NJHC scene. Here you go:

I made my one and only trip to CBGB's in NYC to see their reunion show at CBGBs in 2006. The soundboard recording was actually utilized for a live 7" that band chose to use the picture on the left as the cover for. Yes, that's me singing along back when my scar was the only hair I was missing on the top of my head.

The band did not disappoint in the slightest at the reunion show and actually played another show when they opened up the Superbowl Of Hardcore in 2008 (which I unfortunately did not attend). They made promises of playing out more frequently on top of recording new material but unfortunately have not followed up with anything since this show (at least to my knowledge).

While I typically can't stomach listening to most bands who play this style of hardcore these days, Tears Of Frustration stays on the top of any hardcore playlist I make from time-to-time. In my original post on the band back in 2009, I only made their self-titled demo compilation available for download. This time around, however, I've chosen to include their Lost Identity full length as well as high resolution scans of the booklets so that you can read along with the lyrics. While I've obviously been considerably praising of their music, the lyrics and attitude of the band is truly what keeps me interested in what they're about well over a decade after their demise.

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Quick Apology Post

2012-01-29T00:18:00.006-05:00

I just wanted to drop in and make a quick apology to the long-time readers of the blog. A couple years ago I had an anti-One Life Crew post up. I took it down not long after posting simply because I had to remember that everyone in hardcore has a right to speak their mind regardless of whether it aligns with my personal beliefs or not.

I recently got into a mini-squabble online with the PC mediators of Pittsburgh "Hardcore" (I call it punk) and it brought back bad memories of my One Life Crew post. The situation definitely made me reflect on my OLC post again.

Looking back, 95% of my beef with OLC stemmed from personal issues which unfortunately arise when you live within a 3 hour radius of Cleveland, OH (their hometown). Those guys treated me like shit when I was younger and going to shows (not to mention they're washed up sellouts) and I allowed that to affect my outlook on what they were doing as a band.

The older I'm getting and the more of the world that I'm experiencing, I'm starting to see the grey areas and the different aspects that can arise to shape someone's world view. While I may not agree with all of what OLC was saying, I definitely am into the way they went about challenging the rigid and sterile 90s hardcore scene.

Challenging and being challenged is the only true way for people to grow in their beliefs. One Life Crew was essentially the flip side of the Racetraitor quarter ... so I need to respect them as well.

In celebration of my new-found respect for One Life Crew (and in apology for my previous bashing) ... here is their discography.

If you hate them so much, then download this and listen to their lyrics for yourself (as opposed to buying into someone else's heresy), tell me what you hate so much and I'll gladly have it out with you on it. I'll probably actually do an entire blog write-up once I read all the hate mail.

Not to mention that Cleveland bands from the 90s wrote the hardest shit (fuck all that NY shit).

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Upcoming Blog Posts

2011-12-13T02:18:00.006-05:00

Alright, so it's starting to snow here in Pittsburgh ... which means I'll be going into recluse mode relatively soon. In preparation for this winter's worth of blogging, I decided that I wanted to make a short write-up explaining my personal life a bit.

As I stated multiple times over, I unfortunately have a life outside of updating this blog. It's nothing lucrative, but I am venue representative at one of Pittsburgh's larger music venues. For example, I will be there 21 days in December ... usually 10-14 hour days. The small amount of free time I DO have is typically spent on catching up on the 14 years of pro wrestling I missed out while I was geeking out on all of this shitty metalcore I write about on this blog. Not to mention the live-in girlfriend, working out 7 days a week in order to become Firestorm, managing all of my split personalities and hosting my weekly fireside pow-wows in the Slumber Zone.

It seems as though quite a few people were personally offended that this blog didn't receive 5 updates per day (which it was sometimes doing last winter). As with anything I've ever done musically, this is merely an expensive hobby of mine. I don't get paid to write these articles, do the historical research or post these Mp3s for all of you. I wouldn't expect to be paid as you should not expect me to be a slave to all of your internet metalcore needs. That being said, while I certainly enjoy sharing all of this useless knowledge ... it's definitely not priority in my life.

Another subject I'd like to address is that of the expectations that are placed upon me. It seems as though a lot of people have this idea of who I am or what I'm into based off of all of the writings I do (especially you Euro motherfuckers, haha). Let me put it this way ... metalcore is not my life. I'm certainly one of the most knowledgeable people out there on this silly, obscure subgenre of inaccessible music, but that does not mean that this shit consumes the majority of my time or resources.

Don't get me wrong ... I still make 10 hour road trips solely to go record shopping, my music collection is probably the best in the world (tied with Edwin's) and I am ALWAYS down to spend a night here or there nerding out on this shit with anyone who is down ... but this is far from the focus of my life. To be honest, I rarely even listen to most of this shit any more. I think most (if not all) of these bands ended up being full of shit and never had a fraction of the heart that I have. I've crossed paths with so many of these dudes who used to play all of this shit and mostly every time I've tried to have a little chat, I've been treated like the master punisher.

Long story short ... I think a lot of what I post is bullshit.

Will it always hold a special place in my heart? Yes.
Will I always have these songs memorized in their entirety in my head? Obviously.
Can I still air drum every song I've ever posted on this blog? Of course.

With some obviously rare exceptions, a lot of the people involved in the projects I've posted on this blog are all out playing with their shitty rock bands or are simply living out the lives they once condemned in their lyrics and zine interviews. There are obviously quite a few exceptions to this ... but all I'm trying to say is that all of this 90s metalcore shit is mostly just a hobby to me.

As with everything I do, this was way more long-winded than I intended it to or needed to be ... but I guess that's why I still don't have a Twitter account (160 words? Really?). All I want to say is that this is fun for me. Don't try to take that fun away from me. I'll post shit when I get to it. I'll drop some serious knowledge on you and post up some obscure shit that you've been searching out for years ... but don't think for a second that I think this is the end-all, be-all of music. This is nostalgic and referential ... that's about it.

The only time I really listen to heavy music is when I'm jamming Hatebreed, Jasta, Those Who Fear, Emmure and Winds Of Plague in the gym. Want to hear what I typically listen to these days? Check out the following few albums that I think everyone should give an honest listen.

Motorhead - Overnight Sensation (by far the most underrated album to ever feature Lemmy ... this 1996 effort fucking slays)

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Darius & Finlay - Do It All Night Vol 1 (roughly 2 hours of straight house/dance music that I envision being played in every Euro night club and/or empty warehouse)

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Breathe Carolina - Hell Is What You Make It (mosh step ... you know it's legit when WWE uses it for the Divas section of the Slammy Awards)

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Brand New Sin - Black And Blue (Kris Weichman from ExC's project after he got booted and after Godbelow dissolved ... I'll be posting their discography soon)

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Throwdown - Deathless (anyone who can't give this album the credit it deserves can go to hell ... see you in the pit, motherfuckers)

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Oh yeah, just in case anyone wants to call my cred into question after reading this ... my collection is always going to be more legit than yours. Here's some proof.

(SOME OF MY) DEMOS:

CDs PART 1:

CDs PART 2:

(SOME OF MY) VINYL:

Pre-Production 2011

2011-10-11T12:08:00.003-04:00

These are the first two songs we've recorded in 3 and a half years. This is far from an official release and to be honest, I wouldn't even consider this demo quality. These are merely two pre-production tracks that we recorded, mixed and "mastered" in 6 hours (by ourselves) that we wanted to share in hopes that people will be familiar with them at our show with Earth Crisis and Cavalera Conspiracy next Wednesday, October 19th. There's two songs in one file and the lyrics are as follows...

1 - HUMAN CULTIVATION

To maintain restriction ... erase all trace of conviction.

Subversive manipulation through mental annihilation. Encaged by abusive expectations and lured into a social system: a perverted reality. Psychological prisoner only seeking to aid in the interrogation. An occasional indulgence in exchange for docility. Demonstrating false omnipotence to suggest futility ... propagating distress and despair ... inducing debility.

To maintain restriction ... erase all trace of conviction.

Physical control can only come through cooperation

Suffer alone in silence ... ensuring your total compliance

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2 - VEIL OF DISCONNECTION

Blinded by a veil of disconnection, we remain twice removed from the repercussions of the lives we portray as empathetic to the injustices of the world and the exploitation of the lives betrayed

Over and over again ... heedlessness will reign down

Fuck your god and fuck your faith when it imposes upon the fate of those without the means to defend from the life you attempt to maintain

Convictions abandoned ... conveniences praised as your god

There will be no allegiance to those who turn to sin

With every life, an assurance of death ... an endless cycle of misery
While I accept the truth of this world ... I refuse to adhere to its code

Never-ending intolerance ... for decimation brought about by their hands

Human Cultivation is a song we wrote last week that represents the "new" direction that the band is headed towards due to our new (and stable) line-up. When I say "new" all I mean is leaning moreso towards some of our influences we've had all along (Machine Head, Soulfly, Living Sacrifice, Candiria). Lyrically the song deals with those who seek to control others in whatever form they see fit ... whether it be on the massive scale of governmental institutions or the seemingly menial scale of a one-on-one relationship.

Veil Of Disconnection is actually three years old exactly now and was the first track the "original" line-up wrote after the full length. When I say "original" I mean some combination of the 10-15 members that were in the band leading up to the full length. Some of you may have heard this song played out live at one of our 6 shows we've played in the past 3 years. The lyrics to this song are perhaps some of the more scathing I've ever written (or at least I'd like to think) which attack those who use their religion, faith, code, beliefs or whatever they would like to label it as an excuse to live their lives the way they see fit without regard to the fragile ecosystem (and all of the living things within it) that harbors the life they would like to attribute to whatever god or spirit it is they believe in. Fuck off.

Please feel free to share opinions on the tracks. They may or may not be re-recorded for our EP that we're going to start writing in November. Speaking of which ... expect the blog to start picking back up in November. Thanks for being patient.

Oh yeah, and we have a Facebook page now (lame) ... www.facebook.com/pathtomisery ... communicate with us.

Two More Full Racetraitor Sets

2011-09-21T23:35:00.002-04:00

The first set from California sometime in 1997.

And the second set from New Jersey in 1999.

Racetraitor - Full Live Set 1

2011-09-13T01:36:00.001-04:00

Full set from the Fireside Bowl in Chicago in 1998.

I have two other full sets coming in the next two days.

I'm coming back

2011-09-12T01:04:00.002-04:00

The summer is ending and I just got a new VHS to DVD recorder ... that means a lot of YouTube posts coming up soon. I didn't upload this one ... but I've been waiting forever to see it ... so I'm posting for all to see and to whet your appetites for my upcoming video posts.

Compromise

2011-03-20T21:49:00.006-04:00

So this post has been a long time coming. This is one of the few bands whose albums I've been unable to track down physical copies of. It actually even took me a few years to find Mp3s. As usual, I feel compelled to give a Path To Misery bump to yet another under-appreciated metalcore band from the early 2000s.

I actually don't know much biographical information about Compromise other than the regrettable facts that the hardcore world came to know on June 16th, 2002.

"Two members of Edmonton-based hardcore band Compromise were tragically killed this past Thursday in a horrific automobile accident on Interstate 20 near Heflin, Alabama. Jordan Wodehouse, 19, and Daniel Langlois, 20, were killed, and two other bandmates badly injured after a Pathfinder rear-ended the band's 1985 Ford van at 2 a.m. on June 13th. Singer Jesse Zaraska, 23, bass player Braden Sustrik, 19, and Ryan Kittlitz, 20, all sustained injuries in the crash. The band was on tour at the time, amidst a few shows with 7 Angels 7 Plagues. There is talk of a benefit show being arranged to help offset funeral costs. Sad stuff."

This was around the same time that I was beginning to go out on my own tours and I was roughly the same age as these guys at the time. Something about this struck very close to home for me. Still to this day I can't put my finger on why exactly I empathized with the situation so much; especially considering I didn't even know the guys in the band ... let alone the band itself. To see someone cut down in the prime of their life due to someone else's irresponsible actions just never settled well with me.

It would only be a month later that one of the surviving members of Compromise would join 7 Angels 7 Plagues as their replacement vocalist. Jesse Zaraska only ended up playing a handful of shows with the group before they turned into Misery Signals and produced one of the most amazing metalcore albums of all time in the form of Of Malice And The Magnum Heart. The undeniably best track on the album was titled The Year Summer Ended In June and was written about the tragic events that brought about the end of Compromise.

The band filmed a video for it which featured a lot of old footage of Compromise as well a dedication to the fallen members of the band at the beginning of the video. Also, Jesse rocks the shit out of an OG Too Pure To Die shirt.

The band vowed to never play the song again after Jesse left the band in early 2006. For some reason, however, I've seen some videos popping up of the band playing the song with the replacement vocalist in 2009. Needless to say, the performances shown in the videos pale in comparison to the intensity and emotion put into the song by original Misery Signals (and Compromise) vocalist, Jesse Zaraska.

While I've regretfully never had the opportunity to meet the other members of Compromise, I will say that when I had the pleasure of being on a tour with Misery Signals in 2005 where Jesse fulfilled every expectation I had of him judging from the emotion and sincerity that can be found on his recorded works. In fact, every member of Misery Signals at the time were quite genuine over the years of running into them. I would cross paths with them probably once a year on average and never expected them to remember who I was and, in turn, would never initiate conversation. They would always make a point to track me down and say hi to me ... which is probably something you wouldn't be able to get out of a touring band these days unless you were some sort of top shelf scene whore. But yeah, this post is about Compromise ... I digress.

The music is very similar to what 7 Angels 7 Plagues and Misery Signals were going for. If anything, Compromise leaned moreso on the "screamo" side of the fence than either of their counterparts with plenty of instances where the band casually drifts into entirely acoustic pieces. While the albums feature an abundance of Jesse's signature vocal stylings that range anywhere from sternly spoken words to painstaking screams layered in the background, there are these random bursts of vocals that resemble Rick Ta Life's vocals in a very, very strange way. In any case, they work because of the person who is delivering them.

Every time I listen to these albums, I'm left wondering what Compromise could have become if it weren't for the accident. Every song the band ever put to tape is worthy of being performed first or last in a live set. The music is seriously ahead of its time and despite not even having a lyric sheet or live performance in my memory bank to accompany these recordings ... the sincerity and emotion shine through without the slightest doubt.

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Vegan Metalcore Bible

2011-01-30T13:40:00.004-05:00

I posted a "Vegan Straight Edge Bible" a little over a year ago. It was cool, but I was never fully happy with it for multiple reasons.

It's safe to say that a rather specific style of music typically accompanies an animal rights oriented message. While there are plenty of amazing vegan bands out there ranging from hip hop to folk to straight up, dancey pop music ... the focus here is on a personal favorite of mine: metalcore. I initially thought it would be funny to go through and note how many stolen Slayer riffs or drum parts could be found within these albums, but I lost count somewhere after 2300. I'm exaggerating, but not really. There is an obvious element of evil that typically accompanies the lyrics that regretfully only SEEM as though they are too grim to be based on true life atrocities ... and that fucking rules.

I had a huge disclaimer typed out explaining how and why I chose the bands that I did. It was long and pointless. Here is the criteria:

- Out of print material (unless given permission otherwise)
- Bands who try to further animal rights through their messages
- Ideally the music consist of some heavy fucking metal
- The music can be hardcore as long as it doesn't sound like Youth Of Today

As of now I have almost 250 links up featuring all out of print material. Each album, demo or 7" is available for individual download as opposed to the bulk files from my initial "Vegan SxE Bible" post. No more having to downloading a 2 gig file just to get one album that you've been missing.

A few bands that I would have liked to include were Birthright, Maroon, Gather, Cast From Eden, Abandon, Contempt and Day Of Suffering. Luckily for you, however, Kurt from Catalyst Records has managed to keep all of their albums in press. You can (and should) check out the Catalyst Records webstore for physical copies HERE.

That being said, here is the list of files for download. Feel free to share the link or post it on your blog. I put a lot of time into this project and would obviously like to see as many people utilize my work as possible. Posting a link to my blog would be cool, but not even necessary. I simply wanted to further the messages that these bands have been trying so hard to do on their own.

If you'd like your band's material either included or taken down ... leave a comment or e-mail me directly at pathtomisery@gmail.com

Most of these albums are ripped at 320 kbps and/or are the best vinyl rips floating around. While I personally ripped 90% of these albums, there are a few blogs that I have obtained rips from over the years. The most notable are as follows:

Bring Honour Or Walk Away
Mind Intrusion
One Path For Me Through Destiny
Stuck In The Past
There Is Only One Truth

Anyhow, here it is ... VEGAN METALCORE BIBLE

Set Adrift

2011-01-27T01:56:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to take a minute to share a link as requested from Max over at There Is Only One Truth blog. He started up a new band that he will eventually be releasing on his label that he is starting as an off-shoot of his blog.

Set Adrift is 90's influenced newschool hardcore/straight edge band from Ukraine in the vein of Against The Wall, Inside Out, Outspoken, Drift Again, Eleven Thirty-Four, Means Season, Endpoint, Temperance, Encounter and Turning Point.

This is probably the best thing coming out of Ukraine right now. (Not that I know of many other bands from Ukraine right now, haha).

You can download their upcoming 7" HERE.

CD Review

2011-01-25T18:14:00.005-05:00

CD reviews, interviews or any sort of interest in my band is rare. Even if this was not the case, I would still be flattered at every moment that someone spent on reading into my art ... let alone taking the time to provide feedback on it or to inquire about it. I came across this blog from Bulgaria thanks to Mitko who runs Tigersuit Zine (in which I'll be contributing a writing to in the upcoming issue). One problem... the review is in Bulgarian.

"Path To Misery унищожават с 9 песни брутален и политизиран хардкор/метъл, който ми звучи като нещо средно между Catharsis и Converge. Албумът започва бомбастично с "Cheating Life", в която става въпрос за смъртта, погребенията и трансплантацията на органи от мъртви хора. Идеята на бандата е, че вместо човек да бъде погребван в ковчег на специално място в гробището може просто тялото му да бъде оставено да се разложи, за да бъде от полза на почвата и организмите, които живеят в нея. Или органите му да послужат за трансплантация и спасят живи хора. Но Path To Misery не пропускат да споменат и как хората в повечето случаи отказват да постъпят по подобен начин, защото поради страха си от смъртта са измислили всевъзможни погребални ритуали през вековете, които да поддържат някакви смехотоворни фантазии за възкресение. Втора подред е песента "Relentless Persistense", която започва феноменално и смазва с всеки риф до края, музикално доста напомня на песните от "Passion" на Catharsis. В текста на песента става въпрос за ФБР и е силно повлиян от книгата "Agents of Repression", в която се разкриват интересни и не особено приятни факти от историята на една от най-мощните полицейски организации в света. Останалите песни продължават в същия дух, с много брутални вокали, тежки метълски рифове, бийтдаун части и радикални политически послания. Всичко, което правят Path To Misery го правят с отдаденост към DIY идеалите, много интелигентност и силно социално самосъзнание. Освен това дискът е в прекрасна картонена обложка с много добре изпипан артуърк на листа с текстовете и дългите обяснения към тях. Невероятна банда."

Here is what Google Translator tells me, however.

"Path To Misery destroyed with 9 songs and politicized brutal hardcore / metal that sounds like something between Catharsis and Converge. The album starts with the bombastic "Cheating Life", in which case the death, burial and transplantation of organs from dead people. The idea of the band is that instead of man to be buried in a coffin in a special place in the cemetery his body may just be left to decompose in order to benefit the soil and organisms that live in it. Or organs to be used for transplantation and save living beings. But Path To Misery not forget to mention how people in most cases refuse to do likewise, but for the fear of death have invented all sorts of funeral rites for centuries to maintain any smehotovorni fantasies of resurrection. Second row is the song "Relentless Persistense", which begins phenomenal and lubricates with each riff to the end, quite reminiscent of the musical songs from "Passion" of Catharsis. In the lyrics it comes to the FBI and is strongly influenced by the book "Agents of Repression", which reveal interesting and not particularly pleasant facts of the history of one of the most powerful police organizations in the world. The remaining tracks continue in the same spirit, with lots of brutal vocals, heavy riffs metalski, biytdaun parts and radical political messages. Everything they do Path To Misery do it with dedication to the DIY ideals, many intelligence and strong social consciousness. Furthermore, the disc is in a beautiful cardboard cover with a very neat artwork sheets with lyrics and lengthy explanations to them. Amazing band."

Once again ... if you'd like to download our full length album ... you can do so HERE.

You can also see the original article HERE.

New Disembodied song at Metal Sucks

2011-01-24T23:43:00.005-05:00

First off, I just wanted to send a thank you out to the fine people at Metal Sucks for linking the Path To Misery blog several times in their write-up they did on 90s metalcore. It's obviously quite an honor to receive acclamation from such a well-known website.

That being said, I've been meaning to share a link to the video they posted of Disembodied performing their newest song live. I got to see this track being performed when I drove out to Philly to see them back in October. The song is so insane that I literally didn't know what to do with my body.

While having complete faith in their ability to do so, I was quite curious as to how Disembodied was going to stay one step ahead of the game considering they gave the rest of hardcore time to catch up to what they were doing while they took the past 10 years off. With so many horrible West Coast (no names need be mentioned) and sic-as-fuk East Coast (Emmure) bands knocking off their style, I was anxious to hear what they had up their sleeves. Needless to say, I was more than impressed.

Anyhow, here's the VIDEO.

Also, I have no clue who took the time to do this, but if I did, I would thank them/give them credit for doing so. Here is an audio rip from that live video that is posted above.

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Samadhi & All Hopes Die

2011-01-24T05:37:00.002-05:00

I went pretty extreme on my past few posts, so I figured it was time for a slightly more melodic release to cover.

This band went relatively unheard of despite being on the infamous Tribunal Records during its heyday in the early 2000s. With an official address listed in the booklet as Glen Burnie, MD (the town where Heavy Metal Parking Lot was filmed), I was lucky enough to see these guys on several shows back when I used to frequent the Baltimore area. They were originally called All Hopes Die and released a 3 song demo that I believe I reviewed for my zine back in the day, Preserving Silence.

The three songs found on this demo are very reminiscent of the sound that was coming out of the area at the time. With a very strong influence from Age Of Ruin, this outfit would change their name to Samadhi and release a 5 song EP on Tribunal Records. All of the pieces were in place for a monumental release: recording with Eric Rachel, mastering by Alan Douches, artwork by Aaron Turner (of Hydrahead notoriety) and 5 songs that pretty genuinely rule.

The band opted for a much more melodic sound on this EP than what was contained within the demo, but the God Forbid/fortheloveof influence was still every bit as prevalent as it was on the All Hopes Die demo. Some clean singing parts were introduced, but mosh was not sacrificed. The hooks are every bit as prevalent as the over-the-top mosh parts thanks to the crystal clear production on this album.

Overall this is probably one of the more listenable releases on Tribunal Records. The choruses even out the riffs lifted from Gothenburg to make, quite honestly, an extremely catchy album. Admittedly, this band is not my typical forte for this blog, but who the fuck else is going to post this gem? It doesn't have the novelty of being from the 90s, it's not "hard" enough for Russian mosh blogs and it never came out on vinyl for the the hipster hardcore kids to drool over trying to find a copy. You know I always have to look out for the underdogs here at the Path To Misery blog.

As far as I knew, this band was long gone after the release of this EP. I know, at the very least, I never saw their name on any flyers post-2004. A bit of internet researching proved to show that the band self-released a full length album in 2008 that was produced by a member of Soilwork (not to mention artwork from someone in Dark Tranquility). The band obviously shifted their influences towards the modern, melodic death metal approach that contributing members mentioned above are a part of. I checked out the songs on their MySpace and think they jam pretty hard.

Regretfully it seems as though the band never followed-up on the release of this album and have once again faded into metal obscurity. I won't be posting Mp3s of this 2008 offering due to the large amount of effort that goes into self-releasing an album. What IS included in the download, however, is the extremely rare All Hopes Die demo and The Finest Of Sorrows EP that you can still buy HERE if you're interested from Tribunal Records for only 99 cents. In fact, while you're there feel free to pick up the Heartscarved, Age Of Ruin, Brand New Disaster, Grieving The Days To Come and maybe even that mediocre 4 way split featuring Bloodjinn, End Of All, Acedia and Sever The Fallen.

DOWNLOAD

Ironside Discography

2011-01-20T00:17:00.003-05:00

I've had the 7"s from these guys for a while now but was only recently reminded of their genius via the reminiscent Facebook statuses posted by Lash Out who recently reunited to play with Integrity in Norway. I started jamming Ironside's "Fragments Of The Last Judgement" (sic) 7" again and, as fate has it, stumbled upon the semi-discography CD, Ecstatic Ritual, at a local record store within the same week. I love the way life works sometimes.

There is not much that I can say about the band that hasn't already been said either by the author of Aversion Online (I'm sorry I don't know your name) or the vocalist of Ironside who both contributed to a beautifully informative post over two years ago which you can read HERE. My only reason for making a post of my own is due to the former post's inactive download links and my increasingly-predictable urge to spread the word on grossly underrated metalcore of the past.

If you're looking for the biographical info on Ironside, I would strongly suggest reading that post as there is nothing else I can really say on top of what has been said. My only additions to the praise already handed out is that the layout of the discography CD is fucking awesome and you should really put some effort into tracking down a copy so that you can experience it for yourself. I can also add some information to clear up the rather vague "discography" CD.

Tracks 1-6 were recorded during the same session. Only tracks 1-4 appear on the infamous Fragments Of The Last Judgement 7". I'm not too sure what the other two tracks were used for (compilation tracks perhaps). Tracks 7-9 comprised an unreleased 3 song demo while tracks 10-13 made up the first demo that the band released. Apparently there is an "original" demo that the band themselves never felt the need to release.

The other folder included in this download link is the band's final 7" entitled "Damn Your Blooded Eyes" which featured the band moving in a much more sludgey, down-tempo direction; a move away from the previous "holy terror" influenced metalcore played by the Straight Edge line-up at the time of all songs included on the Ecstatic Ritual compilation CD.

Perhaps my affinity towards the band can be attributed to the diss shot at the "posi-core" kids who would apparently shit their pants at any and all Ironside gigs back in the early 90s. Either way, this band rages and the members have went on to form a respectable slew of innovative bands since the demise of Ironside in 1994.

DOWNLOAD

Season

2011-01-12T05:38:00.003-05:00

I mainly just wanted to put this up because I got my record player back and scanner hooked up and was anxious to use it on some things I've been wanting to share for a while.

I don't know much about this band other than that this came out in 1999 and they were from Europe. They paint an extremely dark, depressing and realistic picture of humanity and our current state of affairs. The layout and lyrics are equally simplistic, yet strike a chord with me for reasons unknown. Bleak, desolate metalcore with an obvious 90s feel to it ... right up my alley.

I also can't think of a single band to compare this to. I love record like that.

If anyone wants to leave some info in the comments, that would be great.

DOWNLOAD

Hinckley

2011-01-11T01:20:00.004-05:00

I finally have received my turntable back from the shop that some of you were gracious enough to donate to fix. Simultaneously, I finally took the time to get my scanner working again. I'm celebrating in a big way with another post that is sure to be exclusive to the Path To Misery blog.

I had caught wind of Hinckley from several message board postings on the Catalyst Records forum. Apparently they were a band that predated my favorite bands of all time: Racetraitor and killtheslavemaster. I was told they had only ever released a few songs and that it was pointless to ever search out the 7". Four years of searching later, I pulled it out of Jerry's Records right here in Pittsburgh for $3. I literally drove 90 mph on the way home to listen to this as soon as possible; I had waited long enough.

This is a self-released 7" that appears to be the only offering this band gave to the world. Well, technically this was released on Renier Records; but it has all of the beautiful qualities of a self-released 7". This "big-hole" 7" comes wrapped in a screen-printed, presumably-stolen manila folder and accompanied alongside a presumably-stolen 16 page booket. In theory, each 7" could have cost as little as 25 cents a piece to manufacture. Imagine that.

As if the layout did not speak for itself, the band made a specific point to explain the outlook and ethics of the band in very plain language throughout the lyrics and writings contained within the massive booklet. The very first page of the layout gives a taste of what is enclosed within the confines of the package.

"Hinckley is just a band. We're just people. This record is simply a way we've found to talk to a whole bunch of people at once; a very inexpensive and effective method of mass communication. Hopefully you feel as involved in this conversation as we do. At this point in our lives, this is what we're feeling. We're not asking you to like it or agree with it, we've simply made it available for you to experience. This project is for all of us."

I was obviously hooked before I even laid the 7" on the turntable (yes, I was reading the booklet while driving home at 90 mph). The excitement was building to a point to where I would have potentially broken my record player had the 7" not lived up to my expectations. Luckily for my turntable, this recording exceeded any and all expectations I could have had for it.

It's only 8 seconds of feedback before the first track, On The Hill, explodes with an intensity that you can honestly feel through the recording. The other songs are not far off with the feeling they convey. While there isn't much to say for the song arrangements or the riffing techniques or anything along those lines, the sheer intensity of these 6 tracks that average a minute and a half in duration is immeasurable. I'm really not exaggerating when I say that I have never experienced a feeling that this 7" portrays. I don't even mind never having the opportunity to see this band live as this recording seems to offer the same feeling I would receive in a live atmosphere.

I never wanted to upload the music in itself for this release. While I obviously ALWAYS prefer to have a booklet in hand while listening to a recording, I felt as though it was especially essential to include scans of the booklet with this offering. The lyrics are obviously impossible to decipher on their own (or even WITH a lyric sheet), so the writings in the booklet are quite necessary to understand what exactly the band was aiming for with this release.

The 16 page booklet includes 2 pages of pictures and 1 of lyrics while the rest are filled to the brim with writings. There are explanations for the lyrics by the band members, thoughts from close associates of the band (who would later go on to form killtheslavemaster and Racetraitor along with members of Hinckley) and even anonymous writings touching on issues of nationalism, classism, sexism, homophobia, consumerism and the other problems that have apparently been plaguing the hardcore scene since before this release was even conceptualized.

I'm not going to comment on the writings inside the booklet because they speak quite well for themselves. All I can say is that this was the perfect timing for me to come across this 7" with the current feelings I have towards the community at large.

"I am not a member of the band whose record you bought; nor am I an essential member of the scene you are part of. I hope you can still hold interest in my writings" - Isaac

DOWNLOAD

Component

2011-01-08T06:10:00.002-05:00

This is something you are sure to only find here at the Path To Misery blog. I essentially have no information on this band other than that they were from Japan from a few years ago and have since disbanded. They never officially released anything and this "demo" is merely a collection of compilation songs that the band contributed to various comps I've attained over the years of my trading with Hiro from Retribution Network. These contributions came from the the War 1119 and War Must Be Declared pt 1 compilations; the band offering two songs on each release.

That being said, this is the next best thing to Abnegation that will ever exist. Hell, this is better than some Abnegation itself. If anything, this seems to be somewhat of a studio project as every tom fill sounds as though it's coming straight from a drum machine. The guitar tone is so distorted yet so perfect. Despite being digital rips from recordings made well into the 2000s, these could easily be confused for vinyl rips of recordings from 1995. The divebombs are in full effect as are the consistent open chugging; all being complimented perfectly by PERFECT Iggy knock-off vocals.

I can't say enough good things about this. I've fantasized of forming a tribute band and playing these songs out live. If only there was anyone else out there in the world as obsessed with this kinda shit as I am.

There's nothing I'm going to be able to say to summarize how awesome this band is. These tracks could have easily been released by Abnegation after the As The Stone Strikes The Cedar demo without anyone having any complaints (as opposed to the backlash against the full length "they" released afterward).

DOWNLOAD

Code Orange Kids

2011-01-07T13:33:00.008-05:00

Before my decision to disassociate myself with the scene, I agreed to take a young band from here on a short tour running between Christmas and New Year's Eve in the veggie mobile. As much as I really didn't want to be around anything remotely close to a hardcore show, I wasn't going to let my temper tantrum effect their tour they had obviously put a lot of effort into and were looking forward to.

Describing their sound is not an easy task, which is always the sign of a great band. Any of the possible comparisons I would make are essentially irrelevant considering I know for a fact these children have never even listened to what an uninformed outsider would guess to be their influences. However, in the interest of trying to persuade you all into to getting down with these guys (and girl) before the spotlight shines on them, I will drop a couple names in the form of Deadguy, Kiss It Goodbye, early Playing Enemy, Rorschach and maybe even His Hero Is Gone.

The band we're talking about here is Code Orange Kids; a band with an average age of 17 who have already been playing for a few years. I've caught bits and pieces of their sets over the years and was always impressed, but mainly due to the consideration of their age. "Oh yeah, they are pretty sweet for being 15 or whatever" was the usual description I would give when asked for my thoughts on the band. After witnessing only two sets of theirs on this tour, however, all of the conditions of my interest were wiped away and they became classified as simply generally awesome. Actually, I take that back, my new explanation of the band is "fucking awesome" ... or "I don't understand how these guys are so good considering they like Trash Talk and Ceremony".

Let me backtrack here for a minute though to explain some of the irony of this whole trip. While simultaneously enjoying all of the time we spent driving, record shopping, eating at Red Bamboo or simply making fun of people in the other room while staying at someone's house, I was mostly miserable at any point that I was inside the venues and/or "punk rock family houses" in which the shows took place. The very first non-Code Orange Kids set I saw on the trip consisted of literally the worst music I had ever heard complimented quite fittingly by some former mosh bro (you know, the kind who replace their double zero plugs with a sick ass Down To Nothing crew neck) punching some 16 year old girl directly in her mouth due to his apparent "need" to mosh. Every second spent inside the shows were just reminders as to why I needed to run as fast as I could in the opposite direction of everything that happens at a "hardcore show" in 2010 (almost 2011).

Because of this (and after I confronted the kid) I removed myself from the show and took solace in my SUV to sit in silence and play some Spirit Journey to calm my nerves. I later chose to delve into my Burning Fight book which I still had not read in its entirety since purchasing it at the fest that I attended in May of 2009. It was here that I was reading up some really uplifting interviews where bands (like Deadguy) were speaking about the evolution of their sounds; crafting songs solely based out of whatever noises they could consistently make 10 times in a row or more to ensure that they could replicate the arrangements live. It was great to think back to a time where bands were forging new sounds and, in turn, birthing entirely new genres of music without any sort of concern for acceptance within "the scene". It wasn't until the last night of tour that I realized Code Orange Kids were unknowingly partaking in this same work ethic (pun possibly intended) going into the year 2011.

Luckily for me (and anyone who takes the time to really watch the video), I chose to film their set that night. There's not much I can say that the video will not say for itself. Perhaps some of the beauty is in the simple things that the untrained eye may not see. The fact that they have yet to reach a level of understanding that dictates that you DO NOT play on broken cymbals or that it is really just worth it to front the money and buy Monster cords while simultaneously having some of the nastiest guitar and bass tones I've ever heard that are complimented by the scathing vocals coming from all ends of the gender spectrum is both an anomaly and inspiration to me. I've always been into bands who make "something" out of "nothing" and I think Code Orange Kids personify this in the truest form.

If the video impresses you, download their EP (which was self-released and still available for sale HERE). If you're not impressed, then simply eat shit.

DOWNLOAD - self-titled EP

A blog I somehow managed to overlook

2010-12-24T17:00:00.000-05:00

I have no idea how I have never visited this blog up until now. I came across it while looking to fill in the holes of my Endpoint discography. I strongly suggest checking this out if you're into 90s hardcore.

Sorry for all of the nods to Strife.

There Is Only One Truth

Path To Misery is finally done

2010-12-21T09:22:00.001-05:00

Long story short: I'm moving on from hardcore. You probably heard me say something similar if you were at our show with First Blood in 2007, but things are a bit different this time around.

The first time I got really fed up with hardcore, I decided to stop blindly supporting "the scene" as a whole and to concentrate solely on my friends and others who I felt a sense of sincerity from. This is what I have been doing since 2007.

Despite my effort to become the exact antithesis of those who have already ruined our scene and to remain as far away from as possible, I still manage to engage in confrontations with those who I deem to be destroying any sense of community this style of music somehow manages to provide. I've realized that simply allowing myself to be physically close to these people guarantees that we will be clashing both mentally and physically ... neither of which I care to do any longer.

Things came to a head last weekend at a show where the most-inspiring members of two local crews came to handle business on someone roughly 15-on-1, Their actions ensured the discontinuation of hardcore shows at a local DIY house venue who only ever gave hardcore a chance based on my merit (which was also diminished in the eyes of the venue owner thanks to the efforts of said crew boys). It made me realize that regardless of how far I distance myself from the disease plaguing this scene while still remaining within the confines of it ... I will continually be drawn into confrontations with said individuals due to my inability to turn away from senseless, pathetic violence (something most hardcore kids choose to do every time they walk away and allow these injustices to take place).

I'm obviously not afraid of altercations as I have had every major crew in the US sending threats my way at some point or another in the past 3 years (none of which have ever been acted upon). In fact, I would say I have developed an affinity towards the opportunity to continually defy those in which I deem to be ruining something I worked to build from the ground up. Naturally, it has just become very trite and tiring over the past few years.

I have the utmost respect for those of you who have the endurance to continue on in the fight to preserve the ethics which SHOULD be commonplace in our supposed community. I simply do not have the strength to battle on any longer. This is no longer my fight. I'll still be jamming my old hardcore records and probably talking and blogging about sweet bands just as often, I will simply just be moving away from the bullshit that always seems to be going down at shows lately.

I have realized that my main motivation for the past few years of occupation has been to preserve somewhat of an empathetic, sincere, and progressive aspect of hardcore that is almost always paved over by the posturing of those with guns, muscles and a lack of creativity. Thinking back, I didn't really have this guiding force whenever I first got into hardcore and I turned out fine (or gay ... depends who you ask). I guess the younger kids are just going to have to do more research and find a bit more self-determination within themselves to find the true meaning of hardcore. I can create a utopian vision of hardcore for them no longer.

My point is, hardcore will move on without me. More than likely it will move in a direction that a lot of people are going to regret while simultaneously not doing anything to prevent, but it will go on as it always will; unyielding to progress and consistent in its alienation. I honestly respect those who choose to combat the ever-present hypocrisy and stagnation moreso now than I ever have before. Keep fighting the good fight, those of you with any sort of motivation left.

I have simply realized that my efforts will yield much more results that I can be satisfied with in another forum where the overall level of maturity (and maybe intelligence) is generally higher. That's not a diss on every single person involved with hardcore, I have met too many amazing people through this community to generalize in such a manner, but solely on those 15% who feel as though they have free reign and control over the entire community of bands, venues and people who, in reality, truly make up this scene.

If there ever comes a day when your average show-goer (who you have almost certainly bullied at some point or another) decides to stand up for him or herself along with the others ... you're all fucked and will be left with no one to impress and nowhere to go. I, on the other hand, have places to move onto to ... so, see ya.

Come to the final show I will be booking, attending or playing on July 9th, 2011 at Sincerity Fest. The line-up is going to make you shit your pants.

Path To Misery Discography

2010-11-30T13:24:00.001-05:00

I recently was requested by a handful of people to upload our demos because apparently the blog that used to have them for download no longer does.

The Path To Misery member in me wants the 2006 Demo is fade into obscurity ... but the hardcore nerd in me wants to make it available so that I'm not a hypocrite as I hate when bands downplay their old material. I'll always be flattered whenever people go out of their way to seek out my music, so who am I to contend?

The first demo (2006) was recorded before we ever played a show. There were only three members decided upon at the time so we all wanted to throw in as little money as possible without it being a waste of time. There was a guy named Dave Piatek who was starting to record at the time. He was $15 an hour and would come to your practice space to record you. We went with this because he had made some other local bands sound way better than they did live at the time. I had never recorded instruments in the studio so I was unaware of what "triggering" a drum kit was. I had to record drums on this demo because we didn't have a drummer yet (I actually drummed at our first show). We also had a different vocalist on this demo who only ever played about 5 shows with us. We should have assumed things would not work out whenever he showed up to record with lyrics/vocal patterns to 1 and maybe a half songs. I personally thought his vocals were killer though.

There's nothing crazy on this thing other than one song that was never re-recorded or really played out that much (mainly due to most of our drummers not being able to thrash beat). It's the first track after the intro called The Untold. Mostly though, this album just features poorly-played and over-produced versions of our full length. I really, really don't like this thing. To be fair, however, we DID hand out over 400 copies of this around Pittsburgh before our first show and at our first couple shows. I suppose I should pay my respects considering this is what introduced us to the local scene.

As previously stated, we lost our original vocalist after only a few shows and replaced him with the guy who was filling in for him at the shows he wasn't coming to. We wanted to record something really quick considering we had already realized that we weren't happy with the results of the recording and wanted to display the talents of our new vocalist. We called up Dave again to come down to my basement to record us ... this time knowing a bit more the kind of sound we wanted. He brought all real mics for the drums this time (no triggers) and we had a lot more specifics in mind for the tones of all of the instruments. We recorded Third World War in about an hour ... and then the vocals took another hour ... maybe two. It was somewhere in this session that we realized our vocalist had absolutely zero rhythm in his body. But once again, the vocals were so good that is was worth looking over.

We put this track on our MySpace and kids definitely took notice. This was recorded RIGHT before the deathcore trend hit really hard, so considering the tendency of the song, we definitely found some new fans. For this same reason, however, we realized we needed to do something different ... and quick.

Due to more than a few personal differences in opinion, we parted ways with the vocalist featured on Third World War not long after the recording. It was once again time to break in a new vocalist for our next demo recording session. This time around, however, no guidance was needed in the studio. We set out to lay down two new tracks which displayed a faster, thrashier version of the band. The two songs laid down at this session were Relentless Persistence and The Gauntlet ... our two "most punk" songs to this date; lyrically and musically.

Despite the fact that we made vast improvements with Dave Piatek on the recording of Third World War from the time of the 2006 Demo, we decided to go with a different local guy by the name of Charlie Bursch for the 2007 Demo. We learned a lot from recording with Dave and 99% of our distaste for the recordings were our own fault, but we wanted a more organic sounding recording. We learned really quick that simply going into a real studio with an arched, wood ceiling would automatically make the drums sound fuller than my 7 foot tall drop ceiling basement, even if we would have been using the same exact recording equipment. Charlie has a lot of recording tricks up his sleeve that I won't go into, but essentially we were finally fully happy with a recording of ours.

When it came time to record our full length almost a year later, it was obvious that we would be returning to Charlie at Elicit Sound Studios for the engineering. Naturally our vocalist had left, so it was once again time for a replacement. I decided to step up to the plate this time around. I also once again recorded drums and bass for the offering. These were done mostly in a single take; as were the guitars. The vocals, however, were a different story. I re-recorded vocals for the entire album twice before being mildly tolerant of the third and final take that we chose to keep. It wasn't until I had screamed my vocal chords to the point where my only means of creating noise was screaming that I got any sort of tone I could tolerate. While I'm still not entirely happy with the quality of my vocal performance, I think, at the very least, that my passion and enthusiasm for the lyrical content shows through.

Before we ran off to the shipping plant, we were really contemplating our choices about producing a product that, regardless of our enthusiasm for the outcome and the personal accomplishment felt by its completion, was just another needless product being created that would eventually wind up in the landfill. We had already made a decision to no longer produce merchandise. After several days of thought-processing, we agreed that our music and our message was in a different league than a t-shirt ... or a sticker ... or a thong ... or a beer cozy. We decided that while still focusing on creating as sustainable of a product as possible, the potential positive benefit of someone taking heed to our lyrics far outweighs the 100% recycled and recyclable cardboard content of our layout. I had a mental image of the nearly 1000 slimline cases and plastic sleeves that contained our initial two demos and never wanted to call for that much waste to be put into production ever again. Stumptown Printers is an amazingly friendly, cooperatively ran print shop based out of Portland, OR that offers environmentally sustainable packaging for CDs, Records and probably a lot more. Their services are partially responsible for our decision to bring a physical CD to fruition.

We also had a bit of label help with releasing this thing. Without ever thinking that someone outside of our band would ever be interested in helping us in ANY form, David Anthem from Southern Empire Records went out of his way to contact us about helping with the release. I've grown quite accustomed to releasing my own bands' music over the years, so to have someone outside of the band offering to help was something new to me. I've always felt that most labels were useless in the sense that I typically had better distribution tactics on my own, but the respect garnered by the label was enough for me. Joining the ranks of Prayer For Cleansing and Giant (their other two releases at the time) had me sold from the get-go. The label has since closed up shop, but David (the guy at the label instrumental in our "signing") has started a new endeavor called Communitas which has released an amazing band from NC called Torch Runner.

I'm actually quite proud of our CD layout and artwork, but have never talked about it in an interview or anything. The person (gender-neutral of course, haha) is simultaneously grasping snakes in his or her left hand while severing its own body from the roots of a tree which stems into blood and organs (only visible when fully opening the layout). The conquering of the snakes symbolizes overcoming the lies and deceit inherent in our society as it stands (plus I fucking hate snakes). The severing of the body from the roots is allegorical of removing yourself from the confines of the past ... either nature (organs symbolizing biological and adolescent impressions) or nurture (blood symbolizing the violent history of our society and its traditions). We feel as though only through defeating the lies of the present while simultaneously overcoming the destructive nature of humanity's past will one find any sort of inner peace ... and we wanted to display that through the artwork and layout considering we couldn't think of a title for the album as sick as "As Tradition Dies Slowly", haha.

We included a rather lengthy writing in the booklet of the CD about both the recording process and the meaning of the lyrics; what we used and why we used it ... and why the songs are so special to us. Despite the fact that the upload I am including for the full length includes a text file of our lyrics (equally as important as the music), I feel like there should be at least SOMETHING unique to the actual release that you can't obtain through the click of a finger. I still wholeheartedly believe that Mp3s of an album will never capture the same feeling that a disc or LP will; booklet in hand and all. Consider this a sampling of what our full length has to offer and an invitation to join me up front at our final show at Sincerity Fest 2011. I want as many people to know the songs as possible and to have that final chance to share the power of the songs with me and everyone else on July 9th, 2011.

If anyone wants a copy of the full length ... just PayPal $7 to pathtomisery@gmail.com and put in the note what the money is for. This offer applies to anywhere in the world. Please pass this around.

In case you are wondering what the pictures of the cassette demos are above ... I will explain. I have rounded up nearly 100 old cassettes that I will be re-recording over to produce copies of our demos and possibly full length for our final show to give to those who may not have the means to purchase our album. I'm also bothering with this endeavor to demonstrate the option of using recycled material in order to distribute your music and message. All it takes is a little piece of tape over the open tab on the top of an old Foreigner cassette and you have sustainably created a copy of your band's material. If there are any leftover, they will end up on my webstore.

DOWNLOAD - Path To Misery - Demo 2006
DOWNLOAD - Path To Misery - Demo 2007
DOWNLOAD - Path To Misery - self-titled full length

Fragment

2010-11-30T01:07:00.000-05:00

How the fuck did it take me this long to post about Fragment?!?! How awesome was Pin Drop Records graphic design team!!?!!?

Here is most of what I know about Fragment: they were from MA and brought the fucking mosh in the late 90s/early 2000s. Considering that is about the extent of my knowledge on these guys, I'm going to do some copy/paste work from the LastFM page which is surprisingly overly thorough for some reason.

"Fragment (aka Outright, aka Fragment Metal) was formed under the name Outright in Upton, Massachusetts in the spring of 1996 by Steve Provost (vocals), Jason Johnson (guitar), Jay Fox (guitar), Al Bigelow (drums) and Mark Wood (bass). The band started playing local shows after 3 weeks. Their early sound was in the vein of hardcore giants Strife and Earth Crisis, but later evolved into the metalcore sound of local favorites such as Overcast. They were often associated with the straightedge music scene (all of the members were at that time), but they didn’t bill themselves as such. After a few months they decided to change their name to Fragment after finding another hardcore band named Outright. (Ironically, there are more bands named Fragment then Outright.)

Their first published work was a 4-song demo tape that they distributed for free. It was “published” by a made-up record label named Evil Bloom Records, a tongue-in-cheek reference to a friend of the band. They also published a track on a 7” record titled Nothing Left To Chance for the label Home Fire Records.

In 1997 there was a schism in the band over personal issues and the band was declared as dead. However, Provost and Johnson decided to carry on the project and recruited Chris Bloom (bass) and Jeff Wheeler (drums). (The remaining members would go on to form several other successful projects, most notably Fortydaysrain.) The new lineup quickly dropped most of the original material and started working on new songs with a more technical metal sound. They later recruited Jim Felix as a second guitarist, and began making plans to record a full-length CD. That CD, Angels Never Came, was released in 1998 on Pindrop Records. The new lineup continued to play the Worcester, Boston and Providence areas regularly with bands such as Blood Has Been Shed, The Year of Our Lord, Diecast, Bane, Barrit, etc. They also went on several East-coast tours. In 2000, they went back into the studio to record their second and final album, Answers, which was originally published by Pindrop Records but later re-published by Voice of Life Records in Germany.

In the years following the release of their first CD, the line up went through several more changes. Jim Felix, Jay Johnson and Chris Bloom all left the band at one time or another to pursue other interests, though Jim and Jay would return before the band finally broke up. Chris Bloom was replaced by Chris Hill. Other members included Allan Arakelian and Jeff Wiersma, and some shorter-lived members.

The band’s last climax came in the form of a 1-month European tour in early 2001 in support of the Voice of Life deal. They broke-up for good a few months after returning home."

I suppose I don't really have much to add to this. I definitely hear a strong Birthright connection on the earlier material. I'd really like to hear or own a copy of the demo cassette. I'm adding the Nothing Left To Chance 7" to my list of vinyl to rip as soon as my record player gets back from the shop (shit is taking forever). I suppose a notable contribution are the guest vocals by Howard Jones on the first track of the Answers CD. Both albums had sick ass intros ... enough said.

I've been strangely obsessed with Fragment since I randomly bought the CD at the local record shop for $1 back in 2000 ... but not only due to the music contained on the disc. The one thing the article I stole failed to mention is that on their debut album, Fragment allowed a friend's band called Infuse to put a "guest song" on the end of the album. I have literally never seen this done before or after by any band. I think it really, really personifies the ethos of the 90s DIY hardcore scene. When I first picked up this disc in 2000, I was still familiarizing myself with how the world of hardcore worked in comparison to METAL. This act of generosity shown towards what was presumably a local friends' band was something I had never even conceptualized. I still to this day want to do something similar ... I actually just forgot I wanted to do this whenever I put out the Path To Misery CD. Maybe next time.

To sum up this post, I'm going to type out the writing contained underneath the disc in the Answers layout. Worded simply as only a 90s hardcore band could ... for some reason, this speech just strikes a chord with me.

"Our music is our personal message, meant to express our own angst, problems and passions in life. We express it openly in case anyone else should happen to hear what we have to say and can latch onto it in any way or form.

Sometimes it's not in the lyrics that you can find something familiar in, but in the shape of the music, the power and the energy of it, the way it makes you smile, yell, run, scream, think, dream, vent or whatever.

Music is universal, no matter where you go, music sounds like music, it unites anyone who is intelligent enough to hear it. We write our music for this. This music is us, there is nothing fake in it."

NOTE: I left the punctuation and grammar as is.

Infuse is kinda sick ... I'd shit a brick if anyone somehow came up with some info or Mp3s of this band.

DOWNLOAD - Angels Never Came
DOWNLOAD - Answers

Of Wolves - Demo 2004

2010-11-27T00:03:00.000-05:00

Recently got into a conversation with a friend about how Advent is literally the only band since Buried Alive to come remotely close to emulating their sound. It made me remember of a demo I used to distro back in 2004 from a band called Of Wolves. They were a Vegan Straight Edge band from Rochester, NY and shared a few members with the also short-lived xWitnessx from the same area. While Witness took a positive melodic approach, Of Wolves straight up ripped off Buried Alive without remorse ... and I'm not complaining in the slightest.

While this demo is nowhere near as tight as The Death Of Your Perfect World full length by Buried Alive, it definitely has more than its fair share of mosh-worthy moments. The drumming on this recording could definitely be tightened up in some parts ... and perhaps the band could have been a bit more subtle with some of the riffs they chose to rip off ... but overall this thing rules.

Despite the obviously doctored drums, the recording is pretty good overall. The bass tone would bring Buried Alive to mind whether the musical style was similar or not. Overall this is a solid release that I tend to jam more often than most CD-R demos laying around in the collection. If nothing else, the lyrics on this offering win me over.

I know the band has no other releases, but would love to hear any other musical endeavors these guys took up before or after this band.

DOWNLOAD

Show Announcement

2010-11-20T03:04:00.001-05:00

Let me stress the fact that this is a real deal Pittsburgh Hardcore show and weak Juggalo violence will not be tolerated.

Stigmata Discography (or close to it)

2010-11-16T00:29:00.000-05:00

Before I even get started I'm going to acknowledge the fact that I don't have the debut 7" "Strength In Hate" or the Victory Records 7" up (I think it was called Stick Tight). I know Mike Ski did the artwork for the Victory release and that they are both rare as shit. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

That being said, Stigmata is simultaneously world-renowned and well-respected yet mostly unheard of. Rising from the ashes of their former thrash punk bands in the 1980s, Stigmata officially came together in 1989. Their debut 7" was recorded in the same session as their first full length offering, The Calling Of The Just. They both came out in 199o and featured a primarily crossover-influenced sound. Despite the overall metal feel of the album, the hardcore influences which would eventually dominate their sound are easily recognized throughout the album.

The follow-up album, The Heart Grows Harder, saw the band moving in a steady direction towards what would become their pinnacle sound. The vocals saw heavy progression into the infamous sound that would one day personify Stigmata. Despite these steps into the progression that the band was taking, overall the album had a sound extremely similar to the ...And Justice For All album. It also seemed as though guitarist Mike Maney could have been taking lessons from Kirk Hammet at the time.

I'm going to interrupt myself here for a minute and include the writing from the inside of the booklet of the Troy Blood Unbeaten retrospective CD that the band released in 1997 on local label, Step Up Productions. Some of this is repeated from my earlier writing, but it also explains a lot of the background information as to what was going on with the band and perhaps sheds a bit of insight as to why the band still to this day has yet to reach their full recognition. Excuse the grammar, I'm merely transcribing.

"This is for all the people everywhere who constantly ask how Stigmata started. At the suggestions of Dave Stein, Mike Maney, Matt Grisald and I, we started our first band, D.A., in 1986. As you can hear from the recording we could barely play, but at least it kept us off the street and out of trouble. We did our very first show to a packed club opening for Blast, Corrosion Of Conformity and DRI. This was our introduction to the scene! Then in 1987 with the addition of Dan Walsh & Dan Matusie, we became Cranial Abuse. We made a Demo and appeared on Combined Efforts' Albany Style Hardcore compilation 7". We also managed to get banned from every club in our area as they said our following was too violent. So in 1989, in an effort to be taken more seriously with our music, we changed our name to Stigmata. We recorded our first demo with Jack Daily (who now plays bass for Lenny Kravitz) and only released 7 of these songs. The rest are being heard for the first time in almost 10 years on this CD. In 1990 with the addition of drummer Pat O'Reilly (Wolfpack, Final Terror), CFY Records flew us out to California and we recorded the "Strength In Hate" 7" and "The Calling Of The Just" CD simultaneously. For financial reasons the CD didn't come out until 3 years later.

So with the addition of Jay Sunkes on guitar in 1992, we then recorded the now infamous "The Heart Grows Harder" CD for some scumbag German label. This CD had no distribution at all. Only 200 copies made it to the US because we had to buy them from the fucking asshole! So for this reason and many others that still haunt us to this day, all ties with this label were severed. Die a slow hard death, dickhead! The band really didn't so much studio-wise until 1994. With the addition of drummer Jason Bittner we recorded the "Hymns For An Unknown God" CD for Trainwreck Records. This was a collaboration with best friend and long-time influence Harley Flanagan (Cro-Mags, White Devil) who produced and appeared on the CD. However, the Stigmata curse was in full effect. Trainwreck Records crashed and the CD was shelved. So while searching for a suitable deal of this release this, Sunkes and I went and help our brothers Merauder sing back up on the now-classic "Master Killer" CD. So then, in 1995, a Merauder-Stigmata split 7" called "Brotherhood" came out. Finally in 1995, negotiations with Too Damn Hype Records were made and "Hymns For An Unknown God" was released in 1997. So that's it, short and to the point. To all the people who've been in the band and to all the people all over the world who've supported us ... thanks, this is for you. To the rest of you, you're nothin' but enemies. Fuck off.

-Riley 97".

This brings us to the infamous "Hymns For An Unknown God" album. As stated earlier, this was produced by Harley Flanagan from the Cro-Mags and has a much more "professional" sound than previous efforts from the band. According to most fans, this is considered to be the pinnacle album and era for the band. At the time of the writing from above, it wasn't known that drummer Jason Bittner would later go on to join Shadows Fall. The drumming is more than proficient on this album and one should not find it hard to believe his future endeavors judging from this performance.

Somewhere around here is where the band would release the notoriously rare albums on local label Step Up Productions: Troy Blood Unbeaten (noted above) and Pain Has No Boundaries. The former serving as a double disc retrospective featuring demos from Stigmata, Cranial Abuse and DA as well as select tracks from the first two full lengths (not in their entirety though). The latter was split in half between live tracks recorded in 1998 and half studio tracks recorded presumably around the same time. The studio session was comprised of eight tracks which were probably used to shop to labels considering three of the eight tracks would later be re-recorded for their follow-up full length offering.

At this point, the band could no longer be ignored and were signed to the then-monumental Victory Records. The album served as the band's crowning moment after over 10 years of hard work. While not entirely void of their former thrash influences, the album definitely found itself being moreso inspired by their NYHC counterparts. Whatever you want to consider the album to be musically, it is definitely the pinnacle of Hard Style ... the perfection of hard grooves met with even harder lyrics and vocals.

The band slowly faded out not long after the release of this album and officially ended with Jason Bittner joining Shadows Fall. The band has played three reunion shows in the past 5 years with performances in 2005, 2008 and 2009 ... hopefully there will be another one soon so I can get the Stigmata out of my system.

If anyone has Mp3s to send me of either of their 7"s or the split with Merauder (only has one track from each on it) ... it would be greatly appreciated. Hard copies for sale would be even moreso appreciated.

DOWNLOAD - The Calling Of The Just (only ripped at 192 ... do not own a physical copy of this)
DOWNLOAD - The Heart Grows Harder
DOWNLOAD - Troy Blood Unbeaten (Stigmata 1989 Demo - Tracks 1-13 ... Cranial Abuse 1987 Demo - Tracks 14-21 ... D.A. 1986 Demo - Tracks 22-25)
DOWNLOAD - Hymns For An Unknown God
DOWNLOAD - Demo 1997 (Taken from Disc 2 of the Troy Blood Unbeaten CD)
DOWNLOAD - Pain Has No Boundaries
DOWNLOAD - Do Unto Others

Earth Crisis Rarities

2010-11-15T03:53:00.000-05:00

As you should know by now ... Earth Crisis will forever be my favorite band for obvious reasons. Despite the fact that the band offered up a new album a mere year and a half ago, I can't seem to get enough new material. While I am by no means bored with the classics, I simply yearn for some new tracks that I don't already have memorized by heart.

I've been catching word from here and there about these new Earth Crisis pre-production tracks that are floating around for their new album which is due out in 2011 some time. Supposedly they rule. I am not doubting this. It got me thinking though; I should dig through the crates and pull out some of the many "unreleased" tracks from the past to jam to tide me over until I get my hands on this new material.

I put together a mini-compilation of 7 tracks which you probably already have if you are a legit Earth Crisis fan.

1 - The Order That Shall Be (taken from the Ceremony Of Fire/Stones To Mark A Fire compilation put out in 1994/1995 to benefit imprisoned eco-defense warrior Rod Corronado)

2 - Smash Or Be Smashed (taken from the live album The Oath That Keeps Me Free on Victory Records from 1998 ... never recorded in the studio)

3 - Fate Of The Neo-Gods (also taken from the live album The Oath That Keeps Me Free ... also never recorded in the studio)

4 - Panic Floods (the last song recorded before disbanding in 2001 ... featured on the posthumous release, Last Of The Sane, which was otherwise a collection of cover songs)

5 - State Of Fear (bonus track from the Japanese edition of To The Death)

6 - Not One Remains (another bonus track from the Japanese edition of To The Death)

7 - Standing Corpses (recently released live track from 1998 on the re-issue of Breed The Killers ... never recorded in the studio)

I am sure there are some more tracks floating around out there. If anyone has anything to share, feel free to do so. One of my first posts on this blog has a link to download the "Firestorm Demo" from 1993. Two of the eight tracks from this were recently remixed, remastered and released on a 7" from Seventh Dagger Records. To download this demo session which features a few re-recordings as well as some otherwise unreleased tracks ... click HERE.

On that note, looking up this old post made me realize I've been doing this blog for a little over two years now. Crazy.

DOWNLOAD

Random Thoughts pt 371

2010-11-12T12:53:00.001-05:00

I logged into my e-mail today to find a message from a guy named Joab. He's 30, from the Philippines and has been down with hardcore since 1997. He wrote me to thank me for informing him of the new project from ex-members of Trial and Catharsis called Between Earth And Sky that I did a write-up on a few months ago. I checked out his blog and came to a few realizations.

Firstly, I was blown away by the picture he had posted of his bedroom. Perhaps I'm making assumptions here and perhaps I'll sound a bit naive of the living conditions in the Philippines, but judging from this picture, the living quarters seem quite small in comparison to what most American homes probably look like. I'm obviously not stating this in a condescending manner as I've been well outspoken in the past about the perils of Americans living in excess. I'm bringing this up because if you really take a look at this picture, you'll realize that it is essentially an entire room dedicated to music ... and that is something I respect and admire.

It's always nice to run into people who seem to have the same dedication and passion for music as you do. It's also nice to experience a bit of deja vu of the days whenever people really had to dig into the crates to find information on new bands or just the general happenings of the day in hardcore. The excitement expressed in this e-mail that I received from across the world was more than refreshing. Finding out that members of your favorite bands from the past are getting together to do a new project because you took the time to sift through piles and piles of random, mostly meaningless texts ... how exciting is that?

Quite ironically I was also recently contacted by a man named Harrison, who is also well into his years of hardcore, through an order he made from my webstore. Apparently he had been seeking out the original Too Pure To Die full length for quite some time and inquired as to how I had copies for sale. We started talking about my past membership and he told me a rather unbelievable story about how whilst temporarily living in China he would use the album as an example to show other kids he was growing up with what Straight Edge Hardcore was all about. Feel free to have your opinions on TPTD being a worthy example of "Straight Edge Hardcore"; my point is that getting messages like these are quite humbling in many different ways.

It's obviously always cool to have someone appreciate the art that you put out; especially whenever they point out some of the more obscure specifics that you were always secretly hoping someone would pick up on. It's also awesome whenever you get the feeling as though all of the hours of your life that you waste on creating what sometimes seem as pointless write-ups for some silly blog are worth it. Little things like this far outweigh the negative vibes you typically feel when touring across the US or reading anything written by anyone on a message board ... ever. I digress.

I think we typically take for granted the fact that information is so accessible now. The fact that you can have essentially ANY sort of news in the world that you want forwarded directly to your phone or computer without the slightest bit of effort is quite a technological feat. Whenever I receive messages like the previous two examples I mentioned, it makes me fall in love with hardcore all over again. Seeing that there are like-minded people out there who are more than enthusiastic about continually seeking out new bands and ideals is always going to be uplifting in my eyes.

If you're interested in checking out Joab's blog from the Philippines or Harrison's band from China ... check the following links.

Real Tight Crew Blog
Hutong First MySpace

A Realization...

2010-10-31T15:41:00.000-04:00

Never realized that people from all over the world read this blog semi-regularly. Makes you remember that problems with local yokels or personal frustrations aren't worth posting. Makes you remember that the band needs to focus on genuine world problems. We're planning on doing just that. Once again have essentially an entirely new line-up. Full time percussionist this time around. More details and show info coming soon.

Since I'm here, I'm going to share one of my favorite demos of 2010. I was impressed firstly by the fact that a new, young band in the year 2010 made physical copies of their demo that has an actual layout to hand out for free. Secondly I was impressed by the fact that I listened to a demo the whole way through ... twice. It's been a while since I've done that.

I went out to one of their shows at some sort of grocery store turned youth center in the backwoods of PA. I had seen their old band a few times and always thought it was cool for their age/experience but this time I thought it was just plain cool. These guys are proclaiming the word of their god and not ashamed to admit it. Obviously not my cup of tea but I respect anyone who stands as firmly in their conviction as these guys do. If someone is down to drive two hours to a Path To Misery show in a blizzard to hear me proclaim the lyrics "Fuck your cult and fuck your faith ... when it imposes upon the fate of those undeserving of the grace to be shown through a god left unknown" and then still continue to wear a Path To Misery shirt in their promo pictures ... I'm down to throw up a hand to exalt the pre-set prayer circle that includes the entire show.

Most modern hardcore fans would say it sounds like For The Fallen Dreams (which it does at times) ... but I hear more 7 Angels 7 Plagues influences in the melodic parts of the songs. They might not even know who that is, but that's what I hear despite the obvious modern influences. Good, genuine people who will be making an appearance on Sincerity Fest next year.

DOWNLOAD

Hardcore Distros...

2010-10-26T17:58:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite parts of going to shows "back in the day" was the potential of some random distro showing up and allowing me the opportunity to buy all of the CDs I had been reading reviews about in zines or hearing about through the grapevine. I would specifically drive to shows in NJ or eastern PA solely because I would catch wind that Joe from Nine Iron Distro would be in the house. It also wasn't uncommon for bands themselves to be carrying their own small distros along with their merch in order to help spread the word of other bands from their area. Additionally, the stories of Rick Ta Life's distro are infamous to this day ... and I'm going to venture to say that if you've never heard one that you may or may not be living under a hardcore rock. Those days are obviously long gone, but as with everything else I do involving hardcore ... I'm trying to keep some of the old traditions alive.

I started my own "distro" in 2002 at the first show at the venue I ran back then called The Planet Of The Apes. I wanted there to be a distro present at all of the shows ... so I just pulled a bunch of CDs from my collection to sell so that I would have money to pick up copies of CDs from all of the bands who would play at my spot. I sold enough of my used CDs at the first show to pick up three discs from all of the bands who played the grand opening show ... Shattered Realm, Strength For A Reason, Final Stand and By Any Means Necessary. The distro grew as more and more shows would come through the venue and somewhat regretfully, I've since built my distro up from a shoebox to the point where I could literally open up a store of my own.

As with most of my endeavors, the timing couldn't be worse. My backstock has been growing as interest in CDs have been declining. Mp3s and vinyl are obviously all of the rage these days and while I DO carry some vinyl, 90% of my distro is compacted onto a disc. Most of my favorite releases from the mid-90s through the mid-2000s were ONLY released on CD so I will probably always have a leaning tendencies towards the format. I pride myself on the fact that you can buy a physical CD from my distro for HALF the price of what you would pay for Mp3s of the same album on iTunes or Amazon or whatever ... not to mention the fact that most of what I carry isn't even available for purchase anywhere else.

Either way, my distro primarily serves as a hobby for me these days as it is most definitely not paying any sort of bills. The concept of a distro is completely foreign to most people under the age of 21 it seems. In fact, it's to the point where most younger kids will come up to me whenever I am set up at a show to ask me why I brought my CD collection to the show! I don't even bother bringing the distro with me in the rare instance that I attend a tour-package show due to the fact that "tour managers" say that the distro is cutting into their merch sales. The concept of a "scene" is so far gone in 2010 and I think acts of greed such as this are a prime example of it. I digress.

One of the most notorious distros of the 90s (and even 2000s) was Very Distro ... thehardcorestore.com if you will. Based out of Philadelphia, PA, Very was by far the largest distro going at the time. It was the go-to place for anything you wanted that wasn't on Victory or Roadrunner. I specifically remember dropping about $300 on their table at Hell Fest 2001. Over time, however, the distro naturally focused moreso on their online store as opposed to setting up at shows. Roughly a year or so ago the website disappeared. No one really knew what was going on with the notorious store until Stuck In The Past posted a blog about the owner becoming ill. Apparently he decided to give up the distro game and I was fortunate enough to get an offer to go through the remnants.

I purchased about 1000 CDs to add to my own distro of already roughly 2000 discs and records. I think it's safe to say that I am overflowing a bit. I'm trying to make back a bit of the money I dropped into this endeavor so I'm going to post a link at the bottom of this blog to my store. The next step after allowing me to go through the distro was to allow some sort of wholesaler to buy the remaining stock as a lot to piece out on various online places such as Amazon or eBay or whatever. I would have hated to see some of these gems become lost in what I'm sure would be some stock room never to be seen again so I buckled down and went through about 20,000 CDs and picked out pretty much anything and everything that I felt embodied what I feel to be special about hardcore.

I had more fun going through these CDs than I've had doing anything in a while (how crazy does that make me sound?). I was finding albums I had been looking for since 1999, I was finding albums I never knew existed and I was buying random CDs from random bands I had never heard of before. Essentially I was having a fucking field day ... the same kind of field day I would have going to shows in the early 2000s.

I'd like to think that I bring some sort of enjoyment to some of the older attendees at shows whenever I bring my distro ... and maybe some of the brighter younger ones too. While most kids younger than me pass right by without a second glance and tour managers treat it as a burden, the lost art of distro'ing will always be appreciated by those who remember the relevance it played in the hardcore scene of the past.

Hopefully you can gain some sort of enjoyment from browsing through the online version of my distro. I do my best to take it with me to any and all shows I attend in the PA region ... but there are plenty of you in other parts of the world who would never get to check it out otherwise. So, here it is ... the Preserving Silence Distro in all of it's glory. The store is obviously more stacked now than it ever has been in the past 8 years I've been running it. I'm fairly certain that it's pretty easy to browse. By default it allows you to go through the entire inventory, but you can also search specifically through each of the sections on the left side of the screen ... and that includes the infamous RARE CDs section where you will find some things you probably never thought you would. Combined shipping is cheap as dirt and I always make a point to include some sort of bonus item with any purchase.

PRESERVING SILENCE DISTRO

The store is hosted on an amazing site called Limited Pressing. They were more than gracious in giving me an entire year of free hosting due to them trying to get their name out amongst the community at large. Limited Pressing is a totally independent and legitimate record trading/auction site/webstore hosting/community based venture ran "by the kids, for the kids". Their support team is amazing and have helped me build an entirely legitimate webstore from scratch. If your band needs a webstore, you want to get in with the most happening record trading site going right now or just want to avoid eBay's ridiculous auction fees (aka post auctions on Limited Pressing FOR FREE) ... then stop by and make an account. You have to make one either way to make a purchase from my store ... but the extent of making an account is picking a user name and a password. It's obviously all completely free and you never have to go back again if you don't want to ... but I definitely think it's a worthwhile website that is there to serve YOU ... the community. Who would have guessed?

As I mentioned earlier ... while going through the remnants of Very Distro, I got to relive one of my favorite hobbies of weeding through crate-upon-crate of independently-released hardcore and metal CDs in hopes of finding some new band that I never heard of before. Well, I did just that whenever I blindly purchased Bible Of The Self 's full length, self-titled and self-released album. This is honestly one of my favorite metalcore bands I've ever listened to. The sound is indescribable to me right now (maybe I'll come up with something after a few more listens). They were from Florida and the album was recorded in the year 2000. That is all I know about this band as of right now. Feel free to leave a comment with any and all info you may have. Other recordings from this band would be great.

DOWNLOAD - Bible Of The Self - st

---------------------------------------

Finally, on a side note, I want to post links to some other respectable online distros that I tend to frequent.

Surprise Attack Records - Scene veteran EMS' long-standing label/distro that used to have a store of its own in Erie, PA. Good memories of shopping there.
xStuck In The Pastx - The infamous blog's infamous webstore known for carrying mostly international bands. Has some rare gems from the 90s up as well. Also hosted on Limited Pressing.
Retribution Network - THE place to go if you're from Japan ... Hiro who runs the store is constantly on the prowl for young, sincere bands to carry albums from. The Japanese Rick Ta Life if you will. The link to the website is through Google's translator service. If it doesn't work for you ... just go to retributionnetwork.com and figure it out on your own.
xCatalyst Recordsx - The place to go for Vegan Straight Edge titles from all over the world ... not to mention the label's impressive back catalog ... most of which are usually on sale for a very modest price.

If you have any other links to other webstores ... PLEASE post them in the comments section. I would love to check them out myself. We all know about Deathwish and Revelation and whatever, so we're obviously leaning towards more obscure or independent release-oriented sites.

With Dead Hands Rising Discography

2010-10-06T09:29:00.000-04:00

Posting the Nights Like These album brought about some memories from past tours I've done. I spent a lot of time in the midwest on these tours. I got to watch a lot of mosh metalcore on these tours. The pinnacle of the combination of these factors is With Dead Hands Rising. I think they called Minneapolis their hometown but as with most midwestern bands, the members were usually all at least 2 hours apart from each other.

My first interaction with the band was in 2001 when I received two CDs from the band for the zine I was doing at the time, Preserving Silence. The first disc was their debut 2001 Demo and the second disc was their portion of the upcoming Words As Weapons (Volume One) three-way split CD on Life Sentence Records. I chose to include the entire split in the upload due to Wings Of Scarlet and Tears Will Drown also kicking ass. Either way, both of these recordings were mind-blowing to me at the time, but obviously pale in comparison to the later material of the band (as all older material should in comparison to later works of a band).

I don't want to say With Dead Hands Rising were doing anything groundbreaking at the time (this was the era of ripping off At The Gates and In Flames), but they did so quite convincingly and with a bit of insight as to where the band was about to head towards. As stated earlier, I'm quite the fan of the other two bands from the three-way split, but you could use them both as representatives of what was typically going on with metalcore at the time. The difference becomes quite obvious whenever the With Dead Hands Rising tracks hit.

Not ones to waste any time, the band quickly followed up these debut efforts in July of 2002 with the release of their first full length, Behind Inquisition. This is where the tides first turned for the band. The progression made within the course of a year is quite astonishing upon looking back. Most bands are still playing out songs for a year or two before they even think about writing new material, let alone improving ten times over while producing ten new tracks for a full length. There are songs on this full length that the band included in their set list up until their dissolution in 2009. The technical proficiency apparent on this full length was becoming a stronghold for the band, an insight as to what would come in the future.

It wouldn't be until 2004 that the band would release new material in form of the Horror Grows Near EP. This six song offering would be the last to feature the original vocalist but the first to garner any mentionable acclaim from metal publications. I specifically remember being on tour with these guys at the time where they all went into Hot Topic and read through all of the metal magazines looking for reviews of the new album. They found them the reviews and they were all good ... and the band was stoked.

As stated previously the original vocalist of the band left not long after the release of this EP, but was quickly replaced by one Burke Van Raalte ... a living legend for many reasons. For the purpose of this write-up, however, we will focus primarily on his vocal skills. To no discredit of the original vocalist, hearing what a vocalist with a bit more range could do to some of the older tracks was quite mind-blowing. I have a lot of really good live videos from this era of these guys that I should really, really upload. If one were to see these videos, it can be assumed that great impressions would be taken not only of Burke on vocals, but of Kevin on drums as well.

Presumably the band did not offer a new release until 2008 due to all of the member changes that the band went through from the period of 2004 until essentially the end of the band. Trying to find musicians within 10 hours in the midwest who were capable of playing this material was no easy task I am sure. While I personally felt as though Kevin was a perfect fit on drums for the material the band was playing at the time (the EP plus two songs from Behind Inquisition) the apparently wanted to go in a faster, more technical route and sought out their final drummer, Dan. I'm not sure they would have ever been able to replace that guy if they needed to. I honestly can't even keep track of how many guitarists the band had throughout the past few years of the band. I know at one point they had four in their rotating cast, sometimes playing with three at a time live.

Regardless of member problems, the band produced their final offering in the form of Expect Hell. Remember all of the progression the band made in one year? And then in two years? Yeah, well imagine what they came up with in four years. This is a legit heavy metal album ... rarely any mosh parts, non-stop double bass, a legitimately talented vocalist with serious range and musical interludes to top it all off. The band definitely threw off some of their former mosh fan base (for better or for worse) with this one. Regretfully, however, the album didn't seem to make as big of a wave as it probably should have despite the band touring non-stop on the album for almost a year.

A regrettable fact of life seems to be that whenever you leave the mosh kids hanging by being too metal and the metalheads won't give you a chance because they think you're going to be all mosh ... you're left with no real fanbase ... or "market" as labels would like to call it. Understandably the mosh kids were left in the cold with the final release and the metalheads never really cared to take note of the masterpiece which was lingering right in front of their eyes. For whatever reason, the band broke up not too long after the release of this full length. It's quite a shame too considering that bands like After The Burial straight up steal riffs from this album (and previous WDHR CDs too) and make a living/reputation off of them. That's how life goes I suppose ... the true artists never receive the respect due. That is what this blog is here for though.

I'm going to work on getting these videos uploaded; specifically a show from Queens, NY that we (Too Pure To Die) played with them at the Red Zone to a bunch of thug motherfuckers who surprisingly brought it really hard to WDHR. I specifically remember this intro they used to play running into Distress Patterns being the best set opener ever. I'd have to beg those motherfuckers to play that intro every time I saw them afterwards ... they never wanted to play it. They definitely never recorded it. They should have considering Bury Your Dead stole a horrible rendition of it and got huge because of it (the ending of Magnolia).

DOWNLOAD pt 1 (Demo 2001 and Words As Weapons split)
DOWNLOAD pt 2 (Behind Inquisition, Horror Grows Near and Expect Hell)

Nights Like These - The Faithless (God City version)

2010-10-06T08:49:00.000-04:00

I'm not one to sit around and sing the praises of Kurt Ballou or God City Studios. Hell, I'll go as far as saying fuck that guy/place for not recording my friends' band due to their label/spiritual beliefs. I will reluctantly give credit where due for the creation of this recording, however.

Nights Like These, in case you aren't familiar, was a band from Memphis, Tennessee from roughly 2003 until 2008 or so. I had the pleasure of doing a tour with them in the summer of 2006, right when this album was being released on Victory Records. Well, not this exact album, but these songs. I'll explain later.

Anyhow, they started the band when they were 14/15 and had been playing and continually refining the same set of songs since the inception of the band. When you listen to the tracks you can tell where they could have been written by younger kids due to their overall simplicity yet played with perfection due to constant fine-tuning and re-working. This album is a culmination of a few years of presumably hard work.

As for why I referenced earlier about this not being the EXACT release on Victory Records ... that is because this is an alternate version of the album that was actually released to the public. The band had self-funded this full length offering and had the intentions of self-releasing it until Victory got their hands on it. Victory told them they wanted to release the album but that this recording was too "raw". Keep in mind this was 2006 and being gritty and raw or whatever wasn't quite accepted in "mainstream" hardcore. Converge worship wasn't quite in full effect yet. Oh, the glory days. I digress.

The story goes that Victory sent the band back into the studio to "fix" the old recording by making them completely re-record it. It features the entire album plus two new tracks: "Ghost Town Ritual" and "Eternal Tempest". Oh yeah, and Victory presumably made them change one song name from Eggbeater Abortion to Memento Mori. This album was laid to the wayside never to be officially released. I promised the guys I wouldn't leak it at the time, but I'm thinking 4 years down the road and now that they are essentially disbanded that it would be OK. Either way, this album rules. Not that there is anything wrong with the version that Victory released, but whenever you play the two side by side there is an obvious champion.

To no discredit to the guys in Nights Like These, the first thing I told them after seeing them on the tour we were on together was that they sounded EXACTLY like Premonitions Of War (a huge compliment in my mind). Not a single person in the band had ever heard of them (SAME LABEL!). While I was mildly blown away at their metalcore ignorance it made me like the band even more due to the fact that they weren't blatantly knocking anyone's style off.

DOWNLOAD

Quick story ...

2010-09-29T14:58:00.000-04:00

I am planning a trip to Long Island to see the Disembodied/Monument To Thieves show on October 22nd, so I took a trip to the Facebook event page for the show. There was a small batch of kids who were all demanding that Path To Misery play the show. It was only one comment with 6 "likes", yet I was still shocked at the fact that people who I have never even met (in a city we've never played before) are being supportive of my band. I will ALWAYS be humbled whenever people who are not my friends are into my musical projects. The last thing that any of my bands are about is to please people, so whenever it happens on accident ... I am truly grateful.

Something about this simple gesture made me realize that there really are kids out there who truly believe in what this band is about and does. My friends try to convince me of this from time to time but I always tend to blow them off for some reason or another (because I'm assuming they're only saying it due to being ... well, my friends).

My point is that as much as I am sure to not act like it ... any support that this band has ever gotten is appreciated more than probably any band has ever appreciated support. (Although that may be false considering the immense gratitude I received from Between Earth And Sky for the write-up I gave them). I know that this band has quite a controversial past and continues on in that tradition even when we're not playing shows, however, this is the ENTIRE purpose of the band. Path To Misery was created solely to try and call into question subjects that often-times go unobserved within the hardcore scene. Whether I'm questioning something as serious as the outlook that humanity commonly holds against the rest of the world that it is surrounded by or something as menial as the manner in which people conduct themselves at our shows, I say what I say and do what I do for a reason: to make people think and question themselves. I call myself out more than I do any of you ... so just take it like a man and keep moshing.

At the end of the day, I just want you all to know that I love you all. Unless you eat meat. Just kidding ... kinda.

Speaking of anonymous "fan support" that makes me feel warm inside ... here is a video someone filmed of us from the last show we played opening for Earth Crisis and First Blood in Altoona back in April.

So...

2010-09-22T16:18:00.000-04:00

Literally every person who has donated money to help fix my ripping turntable has been from outside of the US. What does this prove? Oh yeah ... American hardcore kids are spoiled brats who expect the world handed to them and take everything for granted.

That being said ... from here on in ... if anyone from outside of the US wants a Path To Misery CD for free ... just PayPal me the shipping costs and it is yours.

Canada & Mexico ... $3
Everywhere else ... $6

I'll probably throw in some other shit as well. pathtomisery@gmail.com for PayPal purposes.

Taking the turntable in to get fixed on Saturday. Hopefully will have it back by the Saturday afterwards.

Thanks.

Between Earth And Sky

2010-09-10T19:17:00.000-04:00

I figured since I'm not going to be going through the process of ripping and uploading any music until I get some reciprocated love from my readers that I would take the time to promote what is my absolute favorite new hardcore band of the past several years: Between Earth And Sky.

While the band is most notorious for featuring Greg Bennick from Trial on vocals, let me elaborate on the past projects of the other members. Two other members have also spent time in Trial. The bassist of Between Earth And Sky, EJ, as well as the drummer, Alexi Rodriguez, are no strangers to Trial. In fact, said drummer has also spent time in Catharsis. To top all of this off, the two guitarists of the project have partaken in By A Thread and Strain amongst a few others. If that isn't an impressive enough resume I don't know what would be.

Keep in mind when I say this that Trial and Catharsis are obviously two of my favorite bands of all time ... Between Earth And Sky is every bit as poignant as the projects in which have preceded them. The lyrics are obviously top notch considering the pen in which they're flowing from. According to their band bio, a strong influence amongst the project (and presumably lyrics) come from "the writings of Ernest Becker and Samuel Beckett". Furthermore, the band describes their music as "delv(ing) deeply into irony by attempting to use powerful, fast, yet melodic hardcore songs with insightful lyrics in a vain attempt to unravel their anxiety about the inevitability of their demise." I'm using quote a lot because I can't describe things better than Greg Bennick can.

That being said, the band has two songs posted online. One track, on their MySpace page, is a shorter track which gives only a small glimpse into the full potential of the band. The song, Of Roots And Wings, however, that is featured on their BandCamp page is a true indication as to what the band is capable of. Obviously featuring strong similarities to Trial and Catharsis, the band also takes a more melodic approach, often times even bordering on an improved take on what Refused was going for on their final full length.

At the end of the day I feel like I'm not doing this band justice through my descriptions. Go to the links and allow the music and lyrics to speak for themselves. They have an EP coming out sometime in the near future on Hell Fish Records in the US and Refuse Records in Europe. Keep your eyes and ears open and be sure to support this most sincere of projects.

One 4 One - Seven Year Cicada

2010-08-13T00:39:00.000-04:00

As many of my faithful readers know, I'm quite the fan of discography posts. In this case, however, we are going to focus on a specific album from the band One 4 One. Primarily playing between the years 1994 and 2000, One 4 One established themselves as one of New Jersey's most reputable hardcore bands. Playing their first show (with Bulldoze) six days after forming, the band released their first demo in the summer of 1994, followed shortly after by the I Won't Lose 7" in 1995 on RPP Productions out of Belgium. Rick Ta Life at Back Ta Basics Records would release their debut full length entitled In Search Of in 1996 followed with an EP out on Time Served Records in 1998. The album we will be speaking of today, however, is the Seven Year Cicada which was released on Triple Crown Records in 1999.

While I'm definitely into all of the material released by this band, this final full length is the only album which I feel is worth posting to this blog for the sake of it's originality. For whatever reason, the band publicly disses their own work on this album, going as far as saying that they are considering mass hypnosis in order to cover up the remnants of this album. After a bit of CD layout research I managed to put together the fact that the entire line-up had moved on by the time of the release of this disc. Only the vocalist remained for this final recording and I'm sure some sort of strange feelings are tied in with this disc.

All of that being said ... this album is nearly perfect. While I will admit that the intro to the album is a bit dramatic and possibly overdone, the fact is entirely irrelevant as soon as the first track kicks in. The title track, Seven Year Cicada, literally is one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard put to tape. The opening riff is beyond words, in my opinion, and I fail to find anything worthy of comparing it to. The only thing I can possibly say is that it has a strong Arkangel feel to it while completely blowing away the previously mentioned band. Keep in mind this is coming from one of Arkangel's biggest fans of all time (yeah, I even kinda like Hope You Die By Overdose).

One 4 One seamlessly transitions into the next track which somehow manages to sound like a cross between Walls Of Jericho's debut LP combined with Every Time I Die's Burial Plot Bidding War EP. Don't ask how or why this comes to mind or is even remotely possible ... but these guys somehow managed to pull it off a few years before either of the bands I just compared them to did it. Dare I even say that Keith Buckley from ETID got his entire vocal stylings from this CD ... who knows? Crazier things have happened in the world of hardcore.

The album layout actually fucks up at this point (a true staple of this era in CD layouts) and starts giving out wrong song titles. Whatever you want to call track 4 (it's actually called Fire Walk With Me) ... it is every bit as punishing as anything Converge wrote in the 90s. Bringing to mind certain tracks from the When Forever Comes Crashing album ... this track somehow manages to knock-off Slayer in a completely 90s metalcore sounding way. This is the kind of music that I live for.

While the album was never released on vinyl, the songs that WOULD serve as the B-side are still great songs but are placed where they are for a reason. While the track What Went Wrong is one of my personal favorites, it is an older compilation track that was simply spiced up a bit for this full length. The band jumps right back into their own uniqueness however with the track When The Walls Were Closing In that opens up with a bit of an homage to the NJHC scene that produced them via an opening rap bit that would make even Ant Money proud. Tomorrow's Dawn (track 7) opens up with the infamous "When there's no more room in hell..." line from Dawn Of The Dead ... that is all that needs to be said about this track.

There's literally not enough I could say about this album to sum up my feelings on it. I'm completely dumb-founded every time I listen to it in the sense that this formerly bland NJHC group somehow managed to pull together these songs which would essentially serve as precursors to what would be the styles in which many of the biggest names in hardcore and metal today would eventually get their starts from.

Once again ... the opening riff to this album (and the entire song structure) ... holy fuck.

I'll let you know if I ever get a hold of these guys and ask what the hell they have against this album. I would also kill to know what all of the musicians who were brought in for this album went on to do musically after the dissolution of One 4 One.

DOWNLOAD

Jihad - Old Testament

2010-08-10T16:00:00.000-04:00

Jihad was from Kalamazoo, Michigan. They were around from 1994-1997 and released quite a few legendary 7"s alongside a monumental split LP. The music is hard to describe in any word other than "intense". There weren't really any bands playing this style prior to Jihad and there most certainly hasn't been any bands since Jihad to play anything remotely similar. Unless, of course, you count the bands that the members went on to form after the dissolution of Jihad. Even in the cases of Quixote and Sealucky, the bands took on a lighter indie rock direction and failed to incorporate the intensity found on Jihad's recordings.

The band released a discography CD of sorts in 1996 called Old Testament on the bassist's label, Makoto Records. It included the God's Forsaken People 7", the split 7" with In Ourselves, the split 12" with Ottawa, most of their comp tracks and a live recording of their set from Cleveland Fest 1995 (which fucking rules).

The Old Testament compilation CD was released simultaneously alongside a 7" of new material entitled "New Testament". This would prove to be the final recording before the band dissolved in 1997 right before they were scheduled to play the infamous Pittsburgh Fest of the same year which featured performances from Four Hundred Years, Puritan, Braid, Quixote, Judas Iscariot, and the infamous Rent America set with the worm temper tantrum.

As stated previously, the "discography" disc only included MOST of their compilation tracks. The one track it didn't include for whatever reason or another was the Longbow Project compilation 12" put out on Longbow Records (a close acquaintance of Makoto Records). I took the initiative to include a vinyl rip of this track as a special Path To Misery Blog bonus track to the Old Testament discography CD. I also chose to include scans of the God's Forsaken People 7" layout because it's just that cool.

Here is some live footage provided by the legendary YouTube poster "threepennie" ...

DOWNLOAD

Man, this blog rules

2010-08-10T15:45:00.000-04:00

I don't know what it is about this blog ... perhaps it's the intelligence and maturity that shines through the broken English ... but it just rules. There's no Mp3s here ... just some alternative insight on some old hardcore folktales.

Blogging A Dead Horse

Lash Out

2010-08-10T15:03:00.000-04:00

I've had this CD for a while now. I was pretty hung up on it when I first got it but kinda let it fall the wayside. However, on my recent record scouting expedition, I tracked down a copy on LP, which I didn't know existed. I came home, put it on the player, and instantly remembered how much I loved this album. I'm fairly unfamiliar with this band and it actually appears as though the band has quite a cult following online. The band has a regularly updated MySpace and some shows planned for 2011 apparently. Considering the best description that I can really write up on this band is "fucking awesome", I'm going to let the experts at Wikipedia handle the early years of the band as I'm simply copying and pasting what they have written.

"Lash Out arose from the remains of former hardcore bands based in the scene in and around the city of Molde, Norway. The former four-piece, by now five-piece band, got together in the last months of 1992 and recorded their first demo tape. This recording gave them a deal with the German label Stormstrike Records. Since then the band have released a 12"/MCD entitled "The Darkest Hour" (November 1993) and donated a track for a split 7" with labelmates Contention (January 1994). Both releases sold very well and have been given solid reviews worldwide, describing the band's output playing moshy, metallic hardcore.

In the summer of 1994 Lash Out recorded six new songs. Five of them appear on the "Worn Path" 12"/MCD and represent Lash Out as a more mature band dedicated to an even heavier and more melodic sound. The remaining track from the 1994 recording sessions appeared on a compilation of European hardcore bands on Conquer the World Records in the US."

Apparently from this point the band would go on to record several more split 7"s and EPs (which you can find specifics of on their MySpace) before culminating with an LP that remains unreleased to this band. Before breaking up in 1999, the band replaced their original vocalist in 1997 with a man named Ole Anders Olsen who would later go on to call himself Andy LePlegua while fronting the bands Icons Of Coil and Combichrist. Also, apparently some of the other members of Lash Out went on to form JR Ewing (screamo), Thunderbolt (considerably epic metal) and the infamous Sportswear (youth crew revival). Quite an interesting group of musicians, I would say.

The band seems considerably serious about a discography album that is set to include the unreleased LP by the end of this summer. As stated previously, the band frequently updates and checks their MySpace and Facebook pages and has a few shows listed for Norway in 2011. I suppose I'll allow this post to serve as a bit of promotion for this discography CD that I would love to see released.

On a side note ... I found this through some internet research on the band. It is a blog ran by one of the former members of the band ... it's pretty self-explanatory if you read the blog before reading the letter pictured at the top of the page. Enjoy ... HERE.

And on a final note ... if anyone has any other of the Lash Out Mp3s to share that will hold me over until the discography is released PLEASE feel free to share.

DOWNLOAD: Lash Out - Worn Thin EP
Lash Out on MySpace
Lash Out on Facebook

Lariat & At War With Shadows

2010-06-18T15:03:00.000-04:00

First off, sorry I haven't posted any Mp3s in nearly two months. My life got crazy for a minute with two jobs and moving and everything. I'll hopefully be posting a lot more coming up. It doesn't help that I'm slowly running out of new things to find and post about. Going to have to start getting super obscure. Maybe having three blogs isn't helping, either.

That being said, I'm here to post up what I think is a discography for two amazing upstate NY metalcore bands. Lariat and At War With Shadows. While both bands have quite a similar style, AWWS leaned a bit more towards what was then a "modern sound" with Lariat taking more influence from their mid-90s predecessors. Both bands respectively released an EP as well as a split together in the early 2000s. I'm not too sure if either band ever released a demo, but I know that these are the only official releases from each band, save for the fact that AWWS released The Truckstop Tapes in 2006, which is still in print through Hater Of God Records.

At War With Shadows was from Troy, NY. Seeing the release of their debut EP on Hater Of God Records, the band offered four tracks of rather ingenuous metalcore that can only be compared to the concept of From Autumn To Ashes being really, really good and axing their clean vocal parts. Well, on second thought, there's a chance I would have never made the comparison had it not been for the rather "emo" sound clip contained on this EP. But either way, At War With Shadows brings us considerably moshy metalcore with its fair share of melody and that touch of early 2000s metalcore that no one can quite describe. It was metalcore played by kids who were raised on progressive musicianship as played by bands like Aftershock, Blood Has Been Shed, Barrit and the likes.

I recently read two descriptions of Lariat and I honestly can't decide which one sums up the band more properly. The author of the Just Another Bombtrack blog described the band as Unbroken meets His Hero Is Gone meets Deadguy whereas a paper insert that just fell out of the EP from their label describes it as a mixture of Catharis, Burn It Down, and Acme. Regardless of which description fits better, I think you can imagine how good this band is.

Lariat featured ex-members of Tripface, Blood Has Been Shed and Monster X and members would later go on to form Burning Bridges and probably some of the better Albany bands happening today. While the music was as brutal and intense as anything else you've ever heard, the lyrical content of the band was the true attraction that I had to the band. "We are not immortal, this is not forever, if you knew you were dying tomorrow, how would you live today?" are the words I hear repeated in my head when I think back to their Hell Fest 2001 performance.

In a similar fashion to my If Hope Dies & Beyond Fall post I made several months back, I had the pleasure of seeing both of these bands perform at the best show of all time (aka Hell Fest 2001). It was also at this fest that I picked up all of these releases. As stated on several other blogs, the performances by these two bands were two of the more memorable sets of the weekend from such early day slots.

I say this in pretty much every other post I made but its a true shame that the metalcore genre has turned to such shit in the past decade. The musical and artistic possibilities of impassioned kids who grew up in the hardcore scene but then decided to expand their musical horizons through the practice of metal music were seemingly endless at the time and I'm quite saddened to see those possibilities thrown away at the prospect of whatever it is the bands of today are being driven by.

When I say Path To Misery is a mosh metalcore band, I have bands like the ones mentioned in this post in mind. If for some reason you're not understanding this concept yet ... watch this video of Lariat.

If anyone has any info or Mp3s of these bands' potential demos ... please get in touch.

DOWNLOAD

First Blood Weekend

2010-05-04T02:57:00.000-04:00

2002: I'm hanging out on AIM as either xPxAxHxCx or xDrainThisBloodx (both names were in the rotation in 2002). I don't know why, but for whatever reason I am in regular conversation with Doug, the ex-guitarist of Sworn Vengeance. He tells me about this new project he's getting involved in called First Blood, which is a mosh band with lyrics and sound clips centered about the Rambo movies. I'm obviously down.

I'm running my label at the time, Preserving Silence, and print up the initial batch of demos based off of the copy he gave me whenever he joined Terror and they came through to my venue at the time, The Planet Of The Apes. I make 300 copies and send them out to the band. They're gone after one weekend of shows. Doug comes back and asks me if I'd be willing to press the demo on my label. Considering I'm a broke ass 16 year old at the time, I regretfully decline the offer and continue on with solely putting out CD-R demos.

A couple months go by and First Blood becomes the biggest band in hardcore. Not long after having their demo re-released as an EP on Division 36 (a Bridge 9 subsidary label that never released anything else), the band was signed to Trustkill Records. While the band finally starts touring and successfully taking over the world of mosh, my "label" officially just missed out on its one and only chance to become mildly successful.

The hype around the band finally making their way out to the east coast was immeasurable at the time. Seeing them at Hell Fest 2003 for the first time was unforgettable. I would go on to travel and see the band multiple times over the next few years; eventually ensuring that Path To Misery would play with them every time they were set to come through the area.

My fascination with the band was their perfection of a once-favorite genre of mine which had otherwise went to complete shit. Despite becoming entirely disillusioned with the attitude that now goes hand-in-hand with the genre, I'll forever have a place in my heart for beatdown or tough guy (or whatever else you want to call it) hardcore. It just so happens that First Blood is one of possibly five or so bands who have the style justice since 2002 or whenever it was the band officially started.

I wanted to try out for the band multiple times but, for whatever reason, never ended up actually doing so. I had brought up the concept to Carl a few times in the past and was always offered a shot, but just never followed through for various reasons. After having Path To Misery play with them at our most recent show (this past Friday), however, I finally got my chance to jam with some fellow Rambo enthusiasts.

I got a text at 1 PM on Saturday asking if I felt like I could play the set that same night in Detroit ... which is five hours away from Pittsburgh. I initially didn't think I'd be able to due to breaking my hand during the Path To Misery set the night before, but decided it was an opportunity I didn't want to pass up on. I threw together a snare, some cymbals and my pedals and jumped in my car within 15 minutes to make it out to Detroit in time for the show. I showed up to the venue after listening to the CD for five hours straight on the way there, jammed the set on air drums with Carl fake screaming the lyrics, set up someone's drums and got on stage to play the set.

Saturday in Detroit could have been better, but Cleveland on Sunday went according to plan (considering I had actually gotten to play with them once prior to this show the night before). The videos are below ... getting to play on Andy Hurley from Racetraitor/Fall Out Boy/killtheslavemaster's drum set (who was filling in for Earth Crisis) was pretty surreal. Did I mention he was the reason I started drumming?

Possibly the best blog...

2010-04-24T02:27:00.001-04:00

Considering I'm going to be pretty tied up with getting my Pittsburgh Mosh blog off the ground over the next few weeks, I am going to strongly suggest that you check out the Christian Hardcore Records blog for, by far, the most comprehensive compilation of Christian hardcore and metalcore from throughout the 90s. Have all the opinions you want on Christianity ... but the music from that era was by far some of the best. I am really blown away by the totality of this blog. I was fairly certain that I had attained mostly everything from the genre ... but Jesus, was I wrong.

Christian Hardcore Records Blog ... tell them the Devil sent you

My New Blog...

2010-04-20T18:08:00.000-04:00

I'll still be updating this on the regular ... but I decided to start a blog specifically to document Pittsburgh's heavy music scene over the past three decades. I already posted up a No Retreat discography which I've been promising for this blog for quite some time. There is going to be a lot of posts on here coming up in the near future considering I just loaded this blog with discographies for Catharis, Maroon, and All Else Failed.

Check it out HERE.

All Else Failed Discography

2010-04-20T03:16:00.000-04:00

For a short amount of time, I was feeling as though I had ran out of bands to post discographies of. According to my last three posts, however, I was simply being absent minded. This most recent discography is of a band you have probably never heard of (as if anyone has heard of any of these fucking bands I keep talking about). All Else Failed were centered in Upper Darby, PA ... which is eastern Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia, for those of you not in the know. Their chaotic blend of metal and hardcore seemingly gave a worthy definition to the term "metalcore". With a live show not capable of being denied or ignored, I have no fucking clue how I only recently started really getting into this band.

Perhaps it was because the band rarely left their hometown and its surrounding areas, or maybe because none of their albums ever really received any respectable amount of distribution or promotion. Considering the validity of the band, neither one is a very good excuse in my book considering I was traveling all over the state for shows during their heyday and most of my favorite bands are actually more obscure than this. I own all of their releases and have for quite some time. I really have no reason why I never fully got on the band wagon until now, to be honest.

Presumably the reason that none of you have probably ever heard of this band was due to the absolute worst combination of labels that a band could ever be on. Keep in mind that I'm speaking solely from a distribution and promotion aspect. I actually own the entire catalogs of most of these labels I'm about to list. Temperance, Alone, Superhero, Now Or Never, Abacus and Thorp Records were the labels that the band chose to team up with over the years. Some of them folded, some of them are probably sitting on most of the copies in their basements and others had the means to push the albums but simply never did. The only album still in production and readily available on the net is the final retrospective CD on Thorp Records titled Good Enough For The Girls We Roll With. This final offering contains the final three songs the band had written as well as the longest out of print album, Times Of Desperation and some other re-mixed/re-mastered and demo tracks from the band's extensive catalog. I did not include this CD in the download due to it being available for purchase HERE.

The first download includes their debut LP A Most Bitter Season, their debut 10" EP In My God's Eye, the In Times Of Desperation EP, and their side of the live split album with Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza. This essentially covers most of their older catalog spanning from 1995 until 2000.

The second download includes the Archetype and This Never Happened LPs. While Archetype consists of a few older tracks which were re-recorded in 2001, the majority of the album consists of newer material. The biggest sound progression can be heard between Archetype and this album. Featuring a line-up with several new members, a sense of cohesion can be heard on this album not necessarily present on earlier releases. I personally prefer the later material from this band and I feel like this video shows the potential for destruction that these songs possess.

My personal favorite tracks from All Else Failed come in the form of tracks 1 through 3 on the final CD released by Thorp Records. These were the final three tracks to ever be recorded by All Else Failed as the band split sometime in 2006. In fact, I decided to simply post a video of one of their final shows as opposed to trying to describe the intensity of the band. I'm going to leave the post at this and simply hope you enjoy yet another criminally underrated metalcore band from the east coast.

DOWNLOAD PART 1 (In My God's Eye, A Most Bitter Season, In Times Of Desperation, Bad Luck 13 split)
DOWNLOAD PART 2 (Archetype & This Never Happened)

xMaroonx Discography

2010-04-18T06:09:00.000-04:00

This is a post on a band that helped change my life. While Earth Crisis were obviously the first band to open my eyes to the atrocities of the slaughterhouse and were the main reason I turned to vegetarianism in 2001 (along with the lyrics to Poisoned Seeds by Buried Alive), for whatever reason I was lacking the final push into veganism. There were two factors playing into this as well: Arkangel's spoken word track on Prayers Upon Deaf Ears EP and the intensity of the gang chants in Still Believe What Has Fallen Apart on Maroon's Antagonist album. Plain and simple ... I wanted to be able to sing along to "a commitment for life ... VEGAN!!!". Now that I've admitted my shallowness, I will now continue to tell you of the awesomeness that was xMaroonx.

Forming in Germany in the late 90s, Maroon released their debut EP in 2000 on Kerosene Recordings. Featuring six tracks (one of which would be re-recorded for the Antagonist album), this EP set the tone for what would be expected from the band from that point on: metallic hardcore from Germany. Not unlike their counterparts in Arkangel, Maroon was very centered in their vegan straight edge beliefs and were quite vocal about said issues. Both the Captive In The Room In The Conspirator EP AND the split release with Self-Conquest feature a rather lengthy writing explaining the band's stance on the militancy of their cause.

While "The Key" (the split with Self-Conquest) was released in 2002 after their debut EP in 2000, it featured older material that was recorded between 1998 and 2000. Self-Conquest were pretty similar in style despite not being as good (which is why the post is not about them). Upon listening closely to this split album featuring early Maroon material, one can hear quite a few Arkangel riffs spread throughout. Specifically, the riff at 2:18 into The Second When We Kiss essentially being the same riff as on From Heaven We Fall by Arkangel.

It was after these two releases that Maroon would release the classic album, Antagonist. Seeing its release in the United States by Catalyst Records, the album would go on to become a sort of cult-classic amongst an already obscure vegan straight edge scene. Despite the band never making a trip to the United States for a tour, the album has managed to go to press at least two times over this way.

While one could probably find a copy of Antagonist with a few minutes of online browsing (and I'd highly recommend doing so), tracking down physical discs of the debut EP or split is next to impossible. I had been looking for these album since I was first introduced to the band in 2002 to no avail. I'm a pretty resourceful guy yet came up with nothing. As mentioned in an earlier post, Keith from Hell Fest's CD collection was essentially donated to this blog and I managed to find copies of both discs within the crates given to me. Back when I would talk shit on Arkangel with one of the Maroon members on AIM in 2003, he informed me that they would fly over every year for Hell Fest and would give Keith copies of their albums and beg him to let them play to no avail. Eight years down the road, I would end up with these actual copies of their CDs that were being referenced in our conversation; proving that the earth is a very small place.

I consider this to be the xMaroonx discography due to the band deciding to drop the X's after the release of the monumental Antagonist album. All of their post-2002 albums on Century Media are obviously still in production and readily available. Plus, you know, they're just not that good. I haven't really kept track since the Endorsed By Hate album (so cheesy) but have heard random tracks here and there that seemed to range anywhere from random black metal riffs to epic power metal-styled clean vocals ... who knows?

I want to say that some sort of sincerity leaks through this early material that wasn't there on a lot of other xVx albums coming out at the time, but I don't even know if this is true; especially knowing the current status of the band. There are a million different rumors concerning the band's current stance on veganism and straight edge, but I personally don't care at this point. At the end of the day, they wrote an awesome vegan sing-a-long anthem that totally suckered me into the cause and that's all that really matters upon looking back.

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Catharsis Discography

2010-04-12T09:19:00.000-04:00

There is plenty of information and posts on Catharsis in the blog world, but none of them are accurate or complete. I decided to take it upon myself to amend this crime against humanity with an informative, sort-of-discography from this band.

Catharsis was the project of one Brian Dingledine; notorious at the time for his contributions via the Inside Front zine ... also notorious for having vocals sounding like that of "the sound of a grizzly bear being raped by a dinosaur". Starting off in 1994; the band initially leaned moreso towards the "hardcore" end of the spectrum as opposed to whatever it was they progressed into towards the end of their existence. Debuting with a two song. cassette demo entitled "Fall", the band nearly simultaneously entered Mars Studio in Cleveland, OH to put what would become their debut, self-titled 7" to tape. Not long after, Catharsis returned to the studio where they cut their initial demo to record two tracks for various compilations. 100 Years In Solitary would be featured on the Area 51 Compilation along with "holy terror contemporaries" Integrity and two others while a re-interpreted version of Confront's (pre-One Life Crew) "Our Fight" would be contributed to a compilation 7" that would be included with a copy of Brian's Inside Front zine.

All of these tracks are included on the "Eponymous" CD which essentially served as compilation of all early material from the band. Also included on this CD is a cover of Breakdown's "Sick People" which rips possibly harder than the original. This was recorded at the same time of their self-titled 7" (which was released on Endless Fight Records, btw) but was not included on said 7". I'm assuming it's from a compilation. The CD also includes the entire album being played backwards along with some special effects. Sound familiar?

The band's first official full length would be released on the newly-founded "collective" which would be known to the world as Crimethinc. Initially starting primarily as a record label, Crimethinc would go on to become a sort-of umbrella in which many of Brian's efforts would fall under. Later evolving into an "ex-worker's collective", the initiative would gain much notoriety through the publication of many standard anarchist readings such as "Days Of War, Nights Of Love", "An Anarchist's Cookbook: Recipes For Disaster" and "Expect Resistance". While also continuing in the practice of releasing albums from musical acts, the collective also currently partakes in the distribution of free literature and other paraphernalia promoting everything from gender neutrality to small-time crime to straight up arson. Crazy to see what essentially resulted from a typical 90s fanzine.

Anyhow, about Samsara (the debut full length) ... it's perfect. Yeah, I'm using the term "perfect". Featuring re-recordings of a few of the aforementioned demo, 7", and compilation tracks; the album also features several new tracks which show obvious musical and lyrical progression. I would start quoting the lyrics, but there is absolutely no reason to post a single line without posting the entire album's worth; they're that good. With several tracks that would serve as the pre-cursor to many North Carolina metalcore acts (Undying), the album pushes further into the "metalcore" realm while still maintaining the intensity incapable of being matched by the crustiest of punk bands. One can only imagine the live show.

I also included the splits recorded with Newborn and Newspeak as a separate download. I included both sides of the split because both bands rage ALMOST as hard as Catharsis. Newborn from Hungary present three tracks that are somewhat reminiscent of what With Honor was doing towards the end of their career. Melodic, progressive hardcore that sounds somewhat inspired by Shai Hulud with the occasional batch of clean vocals. While a bit more experimental than the sometimes-standard sounding American bands of the style, Newborn definitely holds their own on this split that was released by Scorched Earth Policy out of Germany.

Newspeak was from Brazil and present 7 tracks of what would roughly be described as "screamo" if the description had to be given in one word. Screamy, fast, and thrashy tracks are put up against a three-song, live basement recording by Catharsis featuring two tracks from Samsara and a track called Unbowed. A lot of spoken word is included throughout the set. The same set of songs were originally included as part of a split with Gehenna, only to be re-released a year or two later in South America and on Crimethinc with Newspeak. While Catharsis' contribution to this split is nowhere near as poignant as the exclusive track, Arsonist's Prayer (from the Newborn split), it is still quite intriguing to hear the band's re-interpretation of older tracks.

The band's final full length offering is still available through Crimethinc for a mere $8. While I wish you best of luck on finding copies of either Samsara or Eponymous (sometimes referred to as self-titled), I strongly urge you to go over to Crimethinc's site and pick up a copy of Passion while its still available. There are actually a lot of other thought-provoking albums and books on the site that are worth your time. While I'm not 100% in accordance with the outlook of Crimethinc, select readings and artists are definitely worth your time. Browse around and check for yourself ... the only mandatory listening/reading is Catharsis.

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In These Times Of Silence...

2010-04-01T02:05:00.000-04:00

I've spent the last week's worth of nights not sleeping. In turn, I decided to start focusing my writing efforts on a new project that is about the devil (yes ... Satan). The music that is coming from my hands is some of the darkest, most evil sounding material I've ever written. I don't actually think the devil is real, but I've pretending that I do lately out of boredom. The results, however, have been more than satisfactory.

You're probably wondering why I'm sharing all of this information; well it's because I finally have the answer to my question. Before I give the answer, I'll let you know that I've always been curious as to how certain Christian bands manage to write the most disgusting music of all time. The answer, I've realized, is that whenever you are crazy enough to believe in the lord OR the devil ... then you should probably be pronounced legally insane and, in turn, are also probably capable of writing some seriously evil music.

Putting myself in a mindset that allows me to believe that the devil is a legitmate being has made me realize why some christian bands feel so fucking motivated to write the insane music that they do. Seriously ... how the fuck did Zao write Liberate Te Ex Inferis ... and how did Disembodied come up with If God Only Knew The Rest Were Dead? By the grace of god and/or Lucifer; that's how.

As for why I'm talking about all of this; I essentially realized that a lot of my recent compositions mirror that of early Zao. I'm not talking Splinter Shards The Birth Of Separation ... I'm talking about their first two demos and split seven inches. I'm assuming that most people aren't even aware of the existence of these releases. Well, that's what I'm here for ... let me tell you all about them.

Zao's debut demo was titled "Author" and was self-released in 1994 on the almighty cassette format. Of course there were some black and white stickers of some obscure angels on the thing. To be honest, the thing sounds like dog shit and most of the songs suck. As with most of the albums I post on here, the feeling is just there. The energy seeping through the poorly played metallic riffs and dreary acoustics is what gets me. You really have to be a fan to get through this one, but if you truly are ... the gems are there to be found.

The follow-up offering was entitled "Sustained" and was actually worth pressing to a legit cassette. The progression made between 1994 and 1995 was quite noteworthy for this young Christian outfit from West Virginia. The band focused on fewer songs (5 on this one as opposed to 9 on the debut) and it apparently paid off. It wouldn't be until the release of their split with Outcast that the band would truly find its stride, however. Also released in 1995, the songs "Flight" and "Security" are light years ahead of anything found on the Sustained demo.

This split would prove to be the final recording featuring their original vocalist. Just in time for the recording of their split with Through And Through, the band happened upon the best thing that ever happened to them ... Shawn Jonas. Owning possibly the sickest vocals in hardcore at the time (and possibly even today), this guy has gone on record saying that he wanted Zao to become "the Earth Crisis of christian hardcore". This guy was not kidding around when it came to proclaiming the name of the Lord. I think the Lord, our saviour, knew this guy was going to be preaching his word because he was certainly blessed with quite a set of lungs. While Zao only got one track on this offering, Repressed (which would also be re-recorded for their debut LP, All Else Failed) makes it impression right off the bat.

The intensity of a militant Christian band from the backwoods of West Virginia in 1994 can never, and will never, be topped.

Be on the look out for my band about the devil if you like Disembodied or Die My Will ... or weird old Zao parts.

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I thought about it...

2010-03-31T04:35:00.001-04:00

Despite almost every new band coming out sucking complete dog shit ... I realized that right now is possibly the best time for hardcore since I first got involved. Pretty much ALL of my favorite bands have gotten back together within the past year or two. Even if they are just random one-off shows or the occasional tour, I can't be happier with the current batch of bands who decided to give it another run.

Earth Crisis.
Living Sacrifice.
Shai Hulud.
All Out War.
Mushmouth.
Disembodied.
killtheslavemaster.
Trial.
Damnation AD.
Cro-Mags (with a legit line-up).
Dysphoria.
Purification.
Biohazard.
Dissolve.

Seriously ... these bands getting back together overshadows all of the bullshit that is going on with today's batch of music and kids. I'm so happy since realizing this.

Now if only Racetraitor would follow through on that reunion. Oh, and that other band who told me they were going to do some shows that I can't mention right now.

East Coast Tsunami Fest

2010-03-28T14:21:00.000-04:00

Anyone who knows me is familiar with my dissatisfaction with the current state of hardcore in the states. This fest, however, is something that has me feeling like a real deal hardcore kid again.

I seriously can't explain how perfect this fest is. It is being put together by legitimate DIY promoters with legitimate DIY intentions. The vibe I'm anticipating at this show should bring back all of my favorite PAHC memories of growing up and going to shows in this area. Fuck ... I'm even planning on pulling out my patch-covered bookbag that hasn't seen any action since Hell Fest 2002. I may or may not mosh while wearing it.

Point being ... this fest has some of my personal favorites including Earth Crisis, All Out War, the long-awaited Mushmouth and Dysphoria reunions, Strength For A Reason and a bunch of other gems. Hell, I'm even excited to see Sick Of It All in this atmosphere! There are a lot of other great bands playing and you can see the official press release at the StereoKiller message board. Tickets are only $30 for the weekend and even cheaper for individual days. I'm sure the tickets will go fast, so make sure to keep updated with the release date so you don't get closed out.

Mark your calendars for June 11th and June 12th. See you there ... in the pit.

Our most recent show...

2010-03-18T01:15:00.001-04:00

The final set we will have ever played at essentially the only venue we called home.

We changed up the ending to Inherent Incapability (first song) and we have a sneak peak at our new song that is not recorded yet. I say sneak peak because the audio on this thing sucks and is hard to get a good grasp on the song. Post a comment with thoughts. Two songs from another camera can be found on our MySpace ... better mosh footage and better audio/video.

Path To Misery - 2.18.10 - Roboto from AJ P Worrell on Vimeo.

If Hope Dies & Beyond Fall

2010-03-15T03:04:00.002-04:00

Hell Fest 2001 ... a show I talk about quite often. I moshed for essentially every band over the course of three days; minus Thursday and a few others. I was actually the only one moshing for certain sets. Remembering Never was one that sticks out in my mind. Another two were If Hope Dies and Beyond Fall. They both played earlier in the day and were essentially local bands (Auburn is roughly 25 minutes from Syracuse).

Neither band had been around for a long time and if I remember correctly, this "split EP" was essentially both of their demos on one CD-R stuff into a folded piece of glossy computer paper. I think I may have paid $10 for it, but I can't recall. Either way, even if I did ... I am very glad I did so. The three If Hope Dies songs remain amongst my favorite metalcore tracks of the era. The epic mosh in Death Of A Salesman is rarely accomplished by even the most exalted of the genre. Beyond Fall isn't too shabby either.

If Hope Dies were actually a Vegan Straight Edge band at the time. I know they carried on with the gimmick for a while but honestly lost track of the band after the release of their full length on Iron Clad/Metal Blade Records. I remember their first full length being a huge leap in production value but, as expected with bigger production budgets, I never seem to like the re-recordings as much as the originals. Death Of A Salesman was recorded for the follow-up full length and never struck me as being as powerful as the version found on this split. It was that song specifically that got me really psyched on the band. I was really jamming the In Flames - Clayman album a lot at the time and this song essentially took it and made it moshable ... what more could I ask for in 2001?

Beyond Fall had a bit of a "meaner", more aggressive sound than If Hope Dies (who relied a bit on melody). I'm not sure if they were also from Auburn, but I know they were from upstate NY somewhere. They played the "other" kind of metalcore I was into at the time. Experimental and sloppy without making a lot of sense. Oh yeah, and without the slightest bit of listenability.

I actually think the general lack of attention to detail is what draws me to this split. As previously stated, the re-recorded, tightened-up versions of Death Of A Salesman and The Null Set by If Hope Dies never struck me as being quite so awesome; not to mention the fact that they skipped right over Chrysalis (the song with the horrid singing part) when choosing songs to re-recorded for the full length. There is a sense of genuineness on this split that is becoming a further distant memory as we speak due to digital recordings and the whole schpiel.

I'm not too sure if Beyond Fall ever went on to release anything after this split ... but if anyone has anything else by them, I would love to hear it. If they would have ever re-done that final track on the split, I bet it would be up there with 7 Angels 7 Plagues on the syncopated double-kick mosh awesomeness scale.

Path To Misery was actually lucky enough to play the If Hope Dies reunion when we both played in Auburn for the Shane Dirisio benefit back in March of 2009. They played Death Of A Salesman ... and yes, I moshed.

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You've probably been wondering where I've been

2010-03-14T23:41:00.001-04:00

I've basically spent any free time I've had on the internet for the past month working on getting my distro hosted on a webstore. I posted nearly 1000 CDs up so I think you should go check it out and spread the word for me if possible. I have a lot of cool shit up that I always have people asking about purchasing ... so go take a look.

PRESERVING SILENCE ONLINE DISTRO

That being said ... posting will now resume. I am going to be moving at the end of the month so time will be limited ... but I promised a few posts to random people so I plan on following through with my promises. Thanks for the patience ... go order something from the webstore. Shipping is only $2 for the first disc and then only $1 for each disc after that. For international orders it is only $4 for the first disc and then $1 for each disc afterwards. Used CDs are all $5 or less!!!

Mind Intrusion

2010-02-10T19:28:00.002-05:00

By far the best "90s" blog I've come across. I put "90s" in quotations because there is no dogma prescribed to by the guy who runs this blog. If something that was recorded a year ago is awesome, it gets posted. Similarly, bad albums don't get posted here simply due to the decade in which they were released.

It just started a few months ago but already has more content than most blogs. Some of the music I've already downloaded from this page has blown my mind; both in the sense that I've never heard of most of the bands and also in how amazingly good most of it is.

If you have an open mind and are into music that is equally passionate as it is obscure, then check out Mind Intrusion.

Shoulder - Touch

2010-01-30T05:11:00.000-05:00

I feel like I need to balance out the blog with all of this over-the-top hardcore shit I've been posting lately. I've always contemplated starting to post up some more "indie" type shit despite it not really having much influence on Path To Misery outside of the attitude of the bands. I then realized that Shoulder probably has as much of a musical influence on Path To Misery as Krutch does and, in turn, have every much a right to be here as does Comin Correct. From here on in, I will be posting good music regardless of genre or amount of influence on the Path.

That being said, Shoulder is pretty much perfect. Coming out of London, Ontario, Canada, they were one of those bands from the mid-90s (album was recorded in 1995) that really blurred the lines between what was "hardcore" and what was "emo" or "indie" or whatever term was being thrown around at the time. The songs most certainly do not lack in the emotion category, while at the same time regularly having the ability to burst into considerably fast, upbeat punk parts. Every bit of melody is matched by equal parts intensity. I'm not one to romanticize hardcore in the 90s, but listening to this album makes me long for a day whenever bands playing music this varied still were linked together by a mutual scene; sharing a similar outlook on life, music, and society. I am sure this band shared the stage with quite a few open E-chord chug bands in their day and were more than OK with it. Fuck, they even put out a split 7" with Morning Again. Band also apparently had some sort of connection to Grade as Kyle Bishop took all of their pictures and did their layout for them.

If the band chose to, I get the impression that they could have easily taken their songs to a producer, polished them up and made themselves considerably well-off considering the musical climate at the time. The band had the song-writing ability and enough of a knack for writing catchy songs to where they could have just as easily have been writing hits as big as Hey Jealousy or Found Out About You. The bands definitely shared a tendency for driving their songs through their clean channels but I'm not saying that Shoulder necessarily sounds like Gin Blossoms. You can definitely hear where the band easily had the talent to write such songs if they would have chosen to though.

Perhaps that is where the influence on Path To Misery lays; the band's unwillingness to write accessible music despite having the knowledge and musical prowess to do so. It also appears as though the band was working on a very limited budget despite doing their best to create an inventive full length album. Out of 21 tracks found on this full length effort, only 9 of them were recorded in a studio setting. Presumably the band was forced to cut costs and chose to record all of the acoustic interludes in a home studio setting. These acoustic interludes are also possibly my favorite part of the album. They make their appearance in between each studio track on the album and gives the full length a feeling of being, well ... full. Despite its length of roughly 68 minutes, the album is a surprisingly easy listen and plays through quite nicely, even despite the addition of their demo tracks at the end.

These demo recordings found at the end of this album sound almost as good as the 9 featured tracks, quite frankly. The only failure on this release was the lack of song titles and lyrics for said demo tracks. If anyone by chance has this information, I would love to get my rip labeled up properly. In fact, I would LOVE a copy of the original demo which ideally would include the lyrics. I'd also love to get a copy of the Kindling album which was the follow-up to Touch in 1996.

If you're looking for something different to listen to, I'd strongly suggest this full length that lives up to its title.

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Lake Effect In Effect

2010-01-28T09:21:00.001-05:00

There's two people who do as much for Erie as I do for Pittsburgh: EMS and Josh Buck. I mean, there are probably just as many others in Erie who I am not mentioning as there are in Pittsburgh that I'm not mentioning, but we are the ones who relish in old, bad hardcore the most. On top of that, we make blogs about it and try to push the garbage on everyone else as well.

On the real though, EMS' new blog which is dedicated to solely Erie Hardcore Lake Effect In Effect bands is off to a good start. Not really sure how he manages to run a blog when he's already handling Forward Hall (Erie's flagstaff venue) as well as his band Smoke & Mirrors and tattoo shop Ink Assassins, but that's the kinda shit you do when you are addicted to HxC.

He re-posted my Abnegation discography that I did over a year ago now (which is weird to think about) and was apparently inspired to do his own rip of their original Life For A Life demo cassette. I really wish he would have done so before I made my post because his rip sounds literally twice as good as whatever it was I had included in the zip file (which has been downloaded over 500 times thusfar). Had I known this many people were going to read my bullshit I probably would have been more polite about the Verses Of The Bleeding full length. Oh well, it really isn't that good. It's cool though, they kinda redeemed themselves with the final two tracks they recorded for some evil and darkness comp that EMS also posted on his blog.

Anyhow, you can hear it here if you are interested. It also includes scans of the cover, which has some very unhappy straight edge cattle on the cover.

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I hope we all sleep well at night knowing that we are solely responsible for reproducing whatever it is that we do into the digital age to exist for all eternity. I know I do. Check out EMS' blog HERE and check out Josh Buck's blog HERE if you're looking for shit that should have been left for dead in the 90s.

On a side note ....

Set An Emo Kid On Fire

2010-01-28T02:35:00.000-05:00

Back in 2001, when I was 15, I decided to follow in the time-honored tradition of putting together a compilation in order to get my shitty hardcore band tagged along with some better bands. Down To None (my first band) had just finished recording for the first time and I was more than anxious to get my band's recording circulating amongst the hardcore world. At the time, CD-Rs were still slightly expensive and, not wanting to waste that valuable space, I decided I was better off filling up the discs as a compilation instead of an eight-minute Down To None demo. It was all about hardcore scene brotherhood and I was always looking for ways to further the unity.

I was doing reviews for hardcorewebsite.net at the time on top of getting into the fine art of show promotion. I was meeting a lot of bands and decided to put my contacts to use. Rick Ta Life had been rearing me (and the entire hardcore scene) to put together a zine, start a label, and to support the scene in whichever way humanly possible. I had already done a zine and was obviously living my life based around supporting the scene at the time; I figured putting out a compilation to start my label was the only natural path in life for me to take.

Most of the bands mailed in CDs in order to get me their tracks. Mp3s were still in their infancy and most people were still ripping at 128 kbps if I was lucky. I specifically remember having to write out instructions to Bad Luck 13 explaining what Mp3s were, what programs to download in order to create them, and how to e-mail them to me. It took over 10 back-and-forths if I remember correctly. I ended up getting a 60 kbps wav file.

In fact, even the bands who sent me their discs didn't get any sort of recording quality justice for this comp. I believe the highest quality rip Windows Media Player was capable at the time was 192 kbps. In turn, the comp sounded like shit. Most people don't notice shit like this, but I actually think that this comp was the reason I've developed such a hatred for low-quality Mp3s. I remember being so bummed that I couldn't really do anything about the sound quality of some of the songs. This post, however, is my revenge.

Call it a re-mastering of the comp if you will, but I went back through and re-ripped all of these songs from their master copies at 320 kbps for your listening pleasure. This comp sounds fresher than ever and I've actually been jamming it for the past few days.

Thinking back, I don't know if it was because things were different back then or if the bands assumed the compilation would never actually come out, but getting permission to include the bands all happened within a week if I remember properly. It was as simple as writing a polite e-mail to the bands and them writing back asking for an address to mail the CD to. No labels, managers or agents needed to be consulted amongst this decision making process. Some young kid was putting out a comp to support the scene and that was that. Sure, why not?

Of course some of the songs did not stand the test of time (or weren't really that good to begin with), but in general this is a pretty solid comp considering it was put together by a 15 year old. I was always pretty proud of this thing for the most part; mainly due to the fact that over half of the tracks were exclusive to the comp at the time. Even to this day, some of the songs never ended up being officially released (Untold Truth, On Our Own, Strength From Within, Inner Revolution, Closer Than Dying).

From a monetary standpoint (yeah right) the comp also did quite well. I remember selling 300-400 copies at a few bucks a pop. It made me enough money to start my label which I called Preserving Silence Records. I put out a few CD-R releases thanks to the money I made from this comp. You can thank (or blame) this comp for the release of The Struggle, Better Off Dead, and Down To None CDs.

As for the bands on the comp, there are a few things that always stuck out to me.

- I definitely put Comin Correct as the first band on the comp due to Rick Ta Life's continual motivation to get me to put this thing out.
- Strength From Within was a local band who I looked up to a lot at this time who essentially recorded a 6 song demo in order to have something to contribute. The band broke up right after the recording and as far as I know, I am the only person to be in possession of these tracks.
- I was the first person outside of the band to hear the new No Retreat track, One By One. Considering they were my favorite band at the time, I was slightly more than excited.
- I have no recollection who the hell Untold Truth is. I remember them being from Connecticut and nagging me so often to put them on the comp that I finally just gave in and did it. I would love to know what this band went on to do.
- Eric Klinger from Built Upon Frustration sent me a CD-R priority mail that not only had Matter Of Time on it, but also three other unreleased Built Upon Frustration tracks that I listened to solely for many weeks to follow.
- The Nailed To The Cross track on here is fucking killer despite the horrible recording (and playing). Even though I had a considerably tolerant taste in music at the time, I never really liked this band. I put them on the compilation because their vocalist gave Down To None our first out of state show ever and I wanted to return the favor. I'm glad that I did, however, because this song is fucking sick.
- Thinking back, the best part of doing this comp was having Krutch mail me a copy of their Whatever It Takes album. It is by far my favorite Krutch disc and I have never come across another copy in all my days of CD searching. Lucky me.

As for the name of the compilation; well, when you're 15 you don't always think about the repercussions of your actions. After I had put all of these bands together, I realized I had no name or layout for the comp. The title was quite tongue-in-cheek and seemed so over-the-top in my mind that I couldn't imagine anyone taking it seriously. While I was a pretty well thought-out kid, I guess I was either naive or extremely modest in thinking that no one outside of my circle of friends would buy this compilation. Not everyone shares the same sense of humor, however, and a few people were quite turned off by the name. Live and learn I did. Almost ten years later I'm contemplating the sequel compilation: Set An HxC Bro On Fire.

Oh yeah, the "hidden tracks" on this album make-up the infamous Silent But Deadly demo. They turned into xRepresentx a year or two down the road. Go figure.

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Buried Alive Demos

2010-01-24T02:52:00.001-05:00

I did a post a while back on The Death Of Your Perfect World. It is quite possibly the best hardcore full length of all time. Everyone knows this and many blogs have made posts about it. Therefore, I've decided to do something no one else has done to keep things interesting.

You may or may not be familiar with the Last Rites "full length" that came out both after The Death Of Your Perfect World AND after the band had broken up. Essentially, the album served as a means for Victory to continue to cash in on Buried Alive after their demise. Apparently the band still owed Victory another release or two and the label took it upon themselves to release a collection of pre-production demos that the band was readying in preparation for their sophomore full length which obviously never saw the light of day.

The release annoys me for several reasons. First and foremost, it doesn't contain the tracks from the Reach The Sky split 7". Those are two of my favorite Buried Alive tracks. Secondly, Last Rites fails to offer up the songs in a chronological order. The nine studio tracks included on Last Rites are actually from three different recording sessions that were laid down throughout 2000. For whatever reason, Victory chose to put them in a random order; robbing the album of any sort of cohesion or continuity. Finally, only half of a live set is present on this album; with the rest of the set making its appearance on the poorly distributed New York City Takeover comps that Victory put out around the same time. I have taken it upon myself to fix these shortcomings.

In this upload, I have taken the Last Rites album and sorted it out to the best of my abilities in hopes that it sheds light on the final days of Buried Alive. I sorted out the songs into the separate recording sessions and put them in chronological order so that one can hear the "progression" of the band throughout the year 2000. If anything, this realization somewhat substantiates the claims made by certain members that other certain members wanted to make the band "sound like Papa Roach". In summary, the songs recorded in May of 2000 are drastically different than those recorded in October of the same year. Listen to the tracks and judge for yourself.

Also, after finally tracking down a copy of the New York City Takeover comps nine years after their release I decided to match up the Buried Alive tracks in order to piece together a complete set. I put them in order of how I think the set went and needless to say, it is quite a solid set. Of course I also included the tracks from the Reach The Sky split, which were actually from the same session as one of the tracks on the Last Rites album.

I hope you enjoy. I'm also re-posting the live video I have of an unreleased Buried Alive track that I uploaded to Vimeo a while ago. Any information about this track would be great.

Last Rites was anything but a suitable farewell to such a legendary band. If Buried Alive would have ever released another full length, I am sure it would been every bit as intimidating as The Death Of Your Perfect World.

DOWNLOAD

You can thank Keith Architect for the next month of posting...

2010-01-17T13:15:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I decided to take my first show road trip in quite some time to see Disembodied in Syracuse, NY. Needless to say, they fucking killed it. The promoter of the show (syracuseshows.com) was gracious enough to allow me to set up my distro to offset some of the gas costs to get up there and back. You'd be surprised at how rare something like this is becoming amongst "hardcore shows" in 2010. Either way, Architect was also on the bill (also a large factor playing into my road trip) and they also managed to play the best set I've ever seen them play. My friend Keith from Architect (or maybe Keith from Hell Fest if you're out of the loop) approached me at my distro and offered to donate "some" CDs for my distro and/or blog as he is a strong supporter of both endeavors. I followed him to his house after the show only to find that "a few " CDs meant over 200 discs of pure metalcore gold.

If any of you know me, you know that my CD collection is an equally respectable entity (humor). There are times when I feel as though there is nothing else left for me to acquire. Well, Keith's collection proved me to be nothing more than entirely wrong. It was almost as though his collection was the missing piece to mine. Despite having very comparable musical tastes, there were very few discs that overlapped amongst our collections. His collection of obscure Syracuse acts was rivaled only by his gathering of "Hell Fest demos" (aka demos of bands who I saw at Hell Fest 2001 in which I have never been able to track down since). As we all know, Hell Fest 2001 remains to be the single greatest show in which I've ever witnessed; and these demos brought back quite a few fond memories.

Some of the most notable CDs donated to me include: Dissolve's Graverobber EP, a pre-Godbelow band called The Last Season's full length album, the original EP and split CDs from xMaroonx only released internationally in 2000 & 2001, Ebony Sorrow's demo (the band who opened up Hell Fest 2001 in which I entered the room and immediately started moshing), Andromeda's self-released full length album, and just hundreds of amazing albums which I will be posting up here over what I'm guessing will be over the next month or two.

I'll start this off by telling a short story related to my trip to Syracuse. I ran into Ryan Hex who I hadn't seen since Sincerity Fest 2007 when his current project Mistletoe was playing. He had his distro set up from which I picked a few gems up from. We got to talking about one of his past projects, The Funeral; and subsequently their elusive 4 song demo. I used to have this as Mp3s from my SoulSeek days. I lost that computer full of Mp3s; most of which I recovered without problem. For whatever reason, however, The Funeral's demo has eluded me for well over 4 years now. If it wasn't so fucking awesome I probably would have forgotten about it by now.

It was no longer than 15 minutes after Ryan and I concluded our conversation about combining efforts to try and get this thing back into Mp3 circulation that I had it given to me by Keith Architect. Life is strange sometimes. Anyhow, here is this perfect fucking demo in its four song entirety.

DOWNLOAD THE DEMO

If this demo gets you as hyped as it does I, go to my previous post I did on the band almost exactly a year ago HERE and check out their full length efforts.

The Divining - Reprisal

2010-01-04T02:36:00.000-05:00

If you are as upset as I am that Darkest Hour can't seem to come close to replicating The Mark Of The Judas then you will truly appreciate this album as it is essentially a counterpart album. I don't have much to say about this band other than the fact that they were from Philly and a really good live band the one they randomly showed up with Blacklisted for a show we booked for them. I listen to this album the entire way through every bit as frequently as The Mark Of The Judas. Melodic Swedish metal toned down just the right amount for us hardcore kids.

DOWNLOAD THE DIVINING - REPRISAL

Through The Discipline - Demo 2003

2010-01-04T01:52:00.001-05:00

As with my post on Palehorse, I had the pleasure of getting to book Through The Discipline many times throughout my hardcore career. Luckily for me (and Pittsburgh in general) however, Through The Discipline were consistently one of the most reliable bands I've ever booked. Showing up despite snow storms and anything else you could think of that would deter most bands, Through The Discipline ALWAYS made the extra effort to ensure playing in Pittsburgh; and that is why they were treated as though they were a local whenever they'd play here.

While they had released an EP prior to this 2003 Demo (and a full length afterwards), this 3 song effort remains unrivaled as my favorite material from the band. Through The Discipline brought an entirely new level of professionalism to our little hardcore world. The live performance and equipment was obviously always top notch; but even the simple things such as the release and packaging of their demo was new to us. Fully packaged, shrink wrapped, and pressed came this 3 song demo. I won't even speak of the recording quality as it will speak for itself upon download.

Through The Discipline truly had a unique style. Blending elements of legitimate 80s thrash metal such as Cerebral Fix (lifted a riff or two), Cancer, Sepultura and other Roadracer Records bands along with the worthwhile elements of NYHC (the over the top dance breaks), they managed to craft a style of metalcore all their own. As with mostly every band featured on this blog, the deserved recognition was never received for this outfit and they prematurely broke up not long after the release of their one and only full length.

I'm continuing to hold out hope for a reunion show at some point.

DOWNLOAD

Killswitch Engage Demo

2010-01-04T01:20:00.000-05:00

Killswitch Engage's debut full length is perfect. I'd post it but I'm pretty sure it is still in print and I don't feel like getting my blog shut down. I'm thinking it is OK to post up these master copy rips of their 1999 4 song demo, however. These are pretty much my favorite songs from the album anyhow.

There is a reason that Killswitch Engage took off above all of the other countless metalcore bands who were experimenting with this style at the time. The musicianship is rock solid even on this self-recorded demo. The riffs somehow blend some of the most beautiful melodies known to man seemlessly with parts which would evoke mosh from even the most timid of show-goers. The emotion shown amidst the vocal tracks are outshined only by the lyrical content which focuses on spirituality, individuality, and human empowerment. The percussion work somehow manages to be catchy within itself; everything from the galloping beats to the syncopated double kick riffage.

There is not enough that can be said about this band's early work. They genuinely changed my perspective on music at the time. I won't even get started on my thoughts on the band post-Jesse Leech; we're just going to keep this thread a nice and positive one. Do yourself a favor and pick up their self-titled debut on Ferret Records that came out back in 2000. Metalcore perfection.

DOWNLOAD THE 1999 DEMO

Anne Gohra

2010-01-04T00:41:00.000-05:00

So I know of at least one person who is going to get upset that I posted this, but that's fine because this band legitimately ruled. Well, the final two songs they recorded ruled, at least.

In 2004, when I was still doing Drain This Blood, we played with a lot of really bad bands who played a similar style to us. It was always kind of expected for us to automatically enjoy or be down with bands who had a mutual inclination for ripping off Terror. I usually tended to be moreso into the metalcore bands we would occasionally get to play with; especially the polite christian ones in their early teenage years. During the multiple times we got to play with Anne Gohra, I was always quite excited. They started in 2003 when they were ages 14 & 15 I believe and I remember watching them consistently getting better. Metalcore in 2004 is metalcore the way I like it. Melodic, swedish metal knock-off riffs, syncopated open chug mosh parts, gang vocals, passionate guitar leads ... the works. These guys nearly perfect the style with these two songs. Of course they were christian and one can only imagine the pile-ons whenever they would play Cancel The Debt (who's lyrics consisted of the Our Father prayer) at the local christian venue. The song structures are damn near perfect as well; very consistent flow to the songs that don't allow room for boredom.

Upon second listen, their first demo was rather forgettable ... their 2 song, 2004 demo however still gets played pretty often around these parts. I won't mention which band the lead guitarist went on to join, but I WILL say that I recently made a post about them (the best band currently in hardcore).

DOWNLOAD THE 2004 DEMO

Palehorse

2010-01-03T20:20:00.000-05:00

I recently realized that there seems to be quite a bit of confusion surrounding the band Palehorse. Thinking back, I was barely familiar with their releases myself. I had the pleasure of booking and seeing the band more often than most can say. You see, Palehorse was always a considerably unorganized band. While I did actually get them down here multiple times, I had them booked five or six times, I think; with them showing up for maybe half of those. The same confusion carried over with their releases. I'll try to sum it up as best as possible.

I initially got their demo CD from my friends in Swear To God back in 2003. I was blown away instantly whenever the demo kicked off with the infamous track Mayday. Amongst The Flock and Forty Eight, the successor tracks, did not let up in the slightest. Luckily for me, it wasn't much longer that I'd have to wait to see this band. Coming down from CT along with Swear To God, Palehorse brought one of the most intense sets of their career in the small town of Charleroi, PA. It was from then on that I would become obsessed with this act and would continue to bring them to Pittsburgh at every opportunity possible.

Apparently only a very small quantity of this demo CD-R was ever produced. Years down the road (after their full length was out), it would be pressed to a 7" record by Get IG! Records. No clue how many were made, but I had some LIMITED COVER out of 25. No one seems to know about this one, so yeah ... your guess is as good as mine.

It wasn't long after the release of their demo, however, that the band released their debut EP entitled Secrets Within Secrets on Martyr Records. The recording on this record remains to be topped by any of their other releases in my opinion. Regretfully for the band (and the hardcore scene in general) there was something along the lines of a "buy out" of Martyr Records by some larger label. I don't remember the details other than knowing that Dave from Palehorse rambled for an hour about it and I didn't understand a word of what he was saying. Either way, this EP never really received the distribution or attention that it deserved. The intro rings of mid-tempo, mid-nineties hardcore along the lines of Outspoken or Mean Season. It is not long after, however, that the band once again kicks off with the effort with Mayday. The recording sounds even better than the demo version. The band carries on the intensity throughout the release and leaves you wishing it was more than a five song effort.

The band recorded another set of three songs for a split release. I'm not sure which of the releases was the original intent, but the same three songs appeared on splits with both Under One Flag and Colin Of Arabia. While neither band holds a candle to Palehorse, both releases are both having due to their different formats (UOF on vinyl, COA on CD). I remember the split with Under One Flag being delayed well over a year, which makes me think it was the original intention. This recording session is the only one to feature possibly their best track, Martial Law. Actually, picking a favorite Palehorse track is next to impossible, I might just be partial to Martial Law considering it contains THE breakdown from my old band's demo, haha.

Following the release of the Colin Of Arabia split, Bridge 9 Records decided to hold onto Palehorse for a full length. For whatever reason, some of the best tracks were never re-recorded for their debut full length (most notably Martial Law and Broken Cross). Nonetheless, the album contains a few gems of its own. While I am not personally a fan of the recording of the full length, the song quality remains flawless. Witch Hunt starts off with one of the most unique and flawless drum parts of all hardcore time.

Rumor has it that Palehorse has started playing again intermittently. They have played several benefit shows in Connecticut but have yet to traveled outside of their hometown. I'm hoping that the band decides to reform as a fully functioning unit.

You can still purchase the Amongst The Flock full length from Bridge 9 Records for only $6 HERE.

DOWNLOAD THE PALEHORSE DISCOGRAPHY (minus the full length)

Mushmouth Discography

2010-01-03T20:14:00.001-05:00

As you may already know if you are a follower of the blog, I did a write-up on Mushmouth for the blog several months ago. I was unhappy with the post for several reasons; mainly due to a lack of completion and a serious case of writer's block. Thanks to the efforts of Henrik at the Bring Honour Or Walk Away blog combined with my recent USB turntable acquisition, I can now post up a full Mushmouth discography. Here we go again...

For whatever reason, Mushmouth seemed to remain relatively unknown outside of the Pennsylvania Hardcore scene during the tenure of the band. While the lack of label support could definitely be argued, there have been bands represented by much smaller labels who have managed to attain attention for themselves while writing music that doesn't even touch what Mushmouth was putting out. Mushmouth's lack of notoriety certainly was not due to a lack of talent, sincerity or any other reasons that usually keeps a band unknown. Whatever it was, Mushmouth/Out To Win are arguably one of the most underated hardcore bands of all time.

Out To Win was formed under the name Mushmouth during the Summer of 1995 in Reading, PA. After gaining a loyal following in the regional area, Mushmouth released a demo entitled "Look Ahead" and began playing shows all over the Northeast. Guitarist Chris Mahmood was also in charge of vocals on this debut demo which was apparently recorded as a three piece. Three of the five tracks were featured on the infamous East Coast Assault Volume 2 compilation put out by Too Damn Hype. You can check out a blog on this compilation posted by Edwin on the Stuck In The Past blog HERE. This compilation also featured early tracks from All Out War, Hatebreed, Indecision, Comin Correct and Stigmata amongst many others.

Things were continuing to look up for Mushmouth with the recording of their second demo, "Thick As Thieves". They once again returned to Gamut Recording Studios in Latrobe, PA which was responsible for the recording of the infamous Passover/No Retreat split as well as the equally legendary Pensive/Seasons In The Field split. The second recording effort saw bassist Dave moving to vocal duties as well as the addition of a second guitarist named Mike. While I am quite a fan of both of these earliest demos, it wouldn't be until their next release, a 1997 Demo, that Mushmouth would truly come into their own with both a new line-up and sound.

It was with the release of this 1997 Demo that Mushmouth added what would become the signature vocals of one Chris Henzel. The rage heard within these vocals are apparent even through the low quality cassette rips in which you'll be hearing this through. Three of the six tracks (Abrasion, Uncertain & Steppin' Out) would go on to be re-recorded for their monumental debut full length entitled Out To Win. This recording session revealed a sense of bitterness that fails to develop on some of the most produced albums. In a similar fashion to their earliest demos, the band lent two of their 1997 demo tracks, "False Belief" & "Uncertain", to the infamous Call For Unity compilation put out by Rick Ta Life in 1997. Another two tracks (Abrasion & My World) would make their way onto a split 7" with Livin' Proof.

The debut album, Out To Win (which would later become the band's moniker), was preceded by a split 7" release with Skarhead featuring a preview track entitled Fearless. When the album was finally released, it contained 11 tracks of pure hostility which far surpassed the efforts of all three demos combined. Produced by AJ Novello of Leeway, the album had a feeling of both relentless pessimism and boundless rage. Not to be outdone, the band successfully followed up their debut full length with a fitting sophomore album entitled Lift The Curse. As with the all previous efforts, the album's lyrics tend to focus on hatred and disgust towards most people encountered in daily life. Songs of betrayal and revenge are in abundance. More ofter than not, said subject matter becomes quite mundane and over done in my eyes; not in Mushmouth's case. Vocalist Chris Henzel seethes a sort of genuine disgust that rings true, even throughout over two albums' worth of venting on the subject.

Somewhere in between the release of Lift The Curse in 2000 and the release of their follow up EP in 2002, the band decided to change their name to Out To Win due to the surprisingly high number of other bands using the name Mushmouth. Coinciding with the name change, the band released the Persist And Destroy EP. While still maintaining their sound, the band started to lean a bit more metallic with this release; at times being reminiscent of Arkangel's "Dead Man Walking" album. Being recorded at Trax East Studios in NJ and then mixed at Atomic Studios in NYC on top of that, the album was by far the group's most fierce sounding effort. While there were no guest vocals by James Ismean on this album (a first), Sal from Sworn Enemy contributed vocals which were more than sufficient. Ironically, the band also chose to re-record the track "Out To Win" from their "Out To Win" album released back when the band was still considered to be Mushmouth. I've included the Lift The Curse and Persist And Destroy albums together in the same upload as they are both equally necessary listening.

The band also released a final album before breaking up in 2007 entitled Beg For Life. I'm not uploading it due to the fact that its still readily available through Thorp Records. While I personally don't feel as though it is as strong of an album as any of the ones I have uploaded, it definitely contains two of their best and most original songs in the form of "Ghost Army" and the title track, "Beg For Life". Yes, James Ismean does guest vocals on this album ... and this time its about bringing the wrath of the lord down on your ass.

As previously stated, the band has regretfully parted ways with their final show taking place at the Earth Crisis reunion show at Sonar in Baltimore, MD in early 2007. The band is known, however, for their surprise sets of two or three songs whenever they manage to get to the same place at the same time. One can only hope the band decides to pull their efforts together once
more.

DOWNLOAD - Thick As Thieves & Look Ahead demos
DOWNLOAD - 1997 Demo & Out To Win
DOWNLOAD - Lift The Curse & Persist And Destroy

Advent (aka best band currently in hardcore)

2009-11-24T00:50:00.000-05:00

It may seems as though I dwell in the past due to this blog. While bands today are nowhere near as good as in the past, there are a handful of bands who still get me every bit as excited as I used to when I first started going to shows. Advent is one of these bands. You've probably never heard me speak of this band if you read this blog due to both of their full length albums being readily available through Solid State Records and my refusal to publish music still in print.

What I'm posting here is an unreleased demo from 2006. They had recorded three songs prior to this and continue to do another set of three tracks afterwards in 2007. In fact, the band will be self-releasing a CD with all three unreleased demo sessions in the near future. Let this serve as a sampler for said album.

None of these songs were re-recorded for either full length. While these un-used songs are better than pretty much anything else from any other band, they still pale in comparison to both full lengths; especially the most recent effort entitled "Naked And Cold". Go to myspace.com/adventnc and check some of the new tracks.

DOWNLOAD

Path To Misery videos

2009-11-19T05:00:00.000-05:00

Uploaded these a few weeks ago and realized I never put them on the blog. Here are a few samples from some of the shows we played right before going on hiatus.

Third World War & For The Innocent at The School - September 6th, 2008

Forget Me (Disembodied cover) at The School - September 6th, 2008

Victims Of Our Own Device & Relentless Persistence at The School on September 6th, 2008

Cheating Life in Auburn, NY on March 14th, 2009

Creation Is Crucifixion Discography pt 2

2009-11-12T04:10:00.000-05:00

I just realized that it was one year ago exactly when I promised you all that I would be posting up all of the vinyl releases from Creation Is Crucifixion. Time fucking flies when you're running an Mp3 blog (which may or may not be considered "having fun"). Anyhow, I am a man of my word whenever I remember that word ... so here it is.

Included in this split is Descent From Heaven, Dethrone Or Devour, The Re-Recorded Vinyl Splits CDEP, the original splits with Fate Of Icarus, Suicide Nation, and Unruh as well as a relatively unheard of split with UUM put out towards the end of the band's existence. I made a point to include both sides of all splits because all of these bands are ALMOST as good as Creation Is Crucifixion.

Don't ask how because I am quite sneaky at times, but I managed to obtain a master copy rip of the original Descent From Heaven 7". These songs were written and recorded under the moniker of Chapter yet released as Creation Is Crucifixion's "debut" material. In comparison to later material, these two tracks are quite standard, yet in comparison to most other metalcore, it is quite groundbreaking.

Dethrone Or Devour was the first effort to feature the playing of Paul Nowinski, formerly of Abnegation, on guitar. The musical progression is noticed immediately on this recording. The inclusion of noise tracks are first heard on this release. The samples at the beginning of the first track are monumental. This 7" is still relatively easy to pick up a copy of ... I strongly suggest you do as the layout is quite awesome.

The first split 7" effort was with Fate Of Icarus, a local Pittsburgh power house. I'll probably end posting up a blog on these guys as well in the future. The split with Suicide Nation was next and followed by Unruh ... both amazing bands from Arizona who Creation Is Crucifixion toured with in consecutive years if information serves me well. CiC contributed one track to each split and would later go on to re-record the three tracks for the highly-sought after "Re-Recorded Vinyl Splits" CDEP on Willowtip Records. By the time the band got around to releasing another split with the band UUM, they had taken the strictly noise route.

Hopefully this blog post serves as an addition to the initial first part of the Creation Is Crucifixion discography I posted a year ago exactly HERE. This is all pretty much essential listening. Excuse the brevity of this post as I feel as though I covered most of the history and relevance of the band in the initial post. I also recently amended it to include the re-mastered version of in_Silico. Check that.

This is all essential listening ... DOWNLOAD

IN LOVING MEMORY

2009-11-12T03:46:00.000-05:00

I NEED THE IN LOVING MEMORY CD

I NEED THE IN LOVING MEMORY SPLIT 7"

I NEED INIT RECORDS TO PUT OUT THE FUCKING DISCOGRAPHY ALREADY

If you can help with any of these ... PLEASE get in touch. Top 5 favorite bands of all time ... no collection of them. I especially want the CD.

In case you're wondering who I'm speaking of ... go check them out in an earlier post I made on the band.

Hearts Breathe Every Day

2009-11-11T14:14:00.000-05:00

I was thinking about amazing splits after posting up my blog on the Pensive & Seasons In The Field split and remembered that I've been meaning to post this split between 200 North and Every Life On Cold Keen.

200 North is quite possibly THE most underrated band in hardcore history. They were from a small town in Maryland called Cumberland not too far from the PA border. I really don't even want to get started on how much I like this band because I know I won't be able to express myself as desired. Imagine if any of these melodic, supposedly passionate hardcore bands of today were interesting or genuine. There are only three songs on this split, but they're all perfect and should serve as motivation for you to check out their full length which came out on Da' Core Records out of Pittsburgh. I'm pretty sure members are now in Circa Survive, Carry The Torch, Signs Of Hope, and Delilah Why. Better Days is probably one of my favorite songs of all time; takes me to some higher place.

You may or may not notice that the name Every Life On Cold Keen makes absolutely no sense. They're from Japan though, so its OK; plus their music does the talking for them. As with 200 North, the Shai Hulud influence is definitely there, but to an even stronger degree and moreso on the progressive metalcore side. There is even a song that ends with an entire section of piano. These guys had no problem experimenting and I love every bit of it. They are still together and have shortened the length of their name to Evylock, you can keep up with them at myspace.com/evylock

Their tracks were recorded in 2003 while 200 North's contribution was put to tape in 2000. Not sure how that works out, but if my memory serves me correct, 200 North simply donated some pre-production material for their full length to serve as a split with Every Life On Cold Keen on a Japanese label known as Falling Leaves Records.

DOWNLOAD

The Psalms Of Ariana

2009-11-11T12:43:00.000-05:00

Alright, so anyone who knows anything about me understands both my knowledge and obsession with 90s metalcore; especially that in which roots from western Pennsylvania. For whatever reason, it was only yesterday that I got my hands on this monumental release. I am quite ashamed that I had never gotten my hands on this earlier; especially considering I own every other release on the often-ignored Akeldama Records out of Michigan. Either way, I finally got my copy of the Pensive & Seasons In The Field split and I feel a bit more fulfilled as a human being considering.

While I was fully aware of the respective legacies of said bands and knew I would be very into their musical undertakings, I never would have guessed to what extent. I'm talking better than Zao and better than The Juliana Theory here, people. In case anyone is not familiar with the names I've been tossing around, I'll give a bit of history. Pensive featured Brett Detar, Chad Monticue, Martin Lunn, and Joshua Walters. Brett Detar was responsible for Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest ... at the very least, the catchy guitar riffs of the albums. Along with Joshua Walters and Chad Monticue, he also started (and fronted) The Juliana Theory. Martin Lunn, a half of a decade later, would join Zao to fulfill bass duties. Seasons In The Field has an even larger connection to Zao as its members consisted of Daniel Weyandt, Russ Cogdell, Steven Peck, and Jason Keener. Daniel Weyandt and Russ Cogdell are obviously the members who took Zao into the next level of metalcore with their contributions that came in the form of Where Blood And Fire Bring Rest. Steven Peck would also join Zao around the same time as Martin Lunn (in 2004) to take the place of Jesse Smith on drums. To top things off, Joshua Walters (of Pensive) was supposedly going to be playing drums for Zao a year or so ago, but it never came to fruition for whatever reason. Enough about Zao, though ... this post is about Pensive & Seasons In The Field.

The first half of the split comes from Pensive in the form of six songs. This was a follow-up effort from their debut release, The Subtlety Of Silence which was released a year earlier. The pre-Juliana Theory mention gives you a pretty good idea what this sounds like. However, while there is definitely the hooks and catchiness of The Juliana Theory, there are also plenty of screamo-esque backing vocals matched with the occasional Blood And Fire styled metalcore riffs. While the last thing I want to do is paint these songs out to be "predictable" or anything close, it is the exact music you would expect coming from someone who would later go on to be in both The Juliana Theory and on Zao's Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest album. It makes sense, that is all.

The true infatuation I am developing with this album comes in the form of Seasons In The Field, however. To sum it up in a sentence, it sounds like kids who would eventually go on to write Where Blood And Fire Brings Rest while they were still worshiping Passover and ripping off Iggy from Abnegation's vocals. In fact, they even recorded in the same studio as Passover as admitted by Daniel on the Zao documentary DVD. Surprisingly, however, Daniel was merely playing bass on this recording while Jason Keener was handling the vocal duties. The true talent of the vocalist lays in his ability to simultaneously sound like Iggy from Abnegation while also sounding like Jack from Passover. I should mention that when I make these comparisons, I make them with the highest regard.

I really don't know how to sum up the perfection of this band. In the aforementioned DVD, the members seemingly minimize their efforts put forth during this era. Without any disrespect to the monumental works that they've accomplished with Zao ... Seasons In The Field kills all of it. I may be alone in this thinking, but I know of at least one other person who sees it my way.

Speaking of which, this entire post is dedicated to one Derek "Poop Toss" Camp. If it wasn't for his insistence on Seasons In The Field being the best metalcore band of all time (and consequentially his favorite band overall), I would have probably never spent the time that I did tracking this album down. His dedication to obscure, over-looked metalcore from the 90s rivals that of myself and I respect him just as much for that as I do his shit-scooping abilities.

Check this split out NOW. I will hopefully be collaborating with The Poop Crank to bring you demo material from both bands in the near future. Oh yeah, the layout for this album rules ... but you need to do your homework and track down a real copy to see that part.

DOWNLOAD

Vegan Straight Edge Bible

2009-10-09T16:19:00.000-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted up any Mp3s. To make up for my indiscretion, I have spent the last month or so compiling over 8 GB of Vegan Straight Edge Mp3s. Well ... at the very least some drug free and animal rights-oriented music.

I've always contemplated doing blog posts about some of these bands individually, but considering information on these bands is so rare, I don't know how much I would be able to say.

Throughout the 1990s and even into the early 2000s, a small, tightly-knit organization of bands came to fruition from all corners of the globe. Following in the footsteps of Earth Crisis, the most influential band of the genre, these bands took to the stage in defense of all innocent life. Some of the bands went the conservative right wing route while others aided their messages with overly liberal left wing ideologies. The Vegan Straight Edge outlook got tied in with everything from promoting homophobia via the hardline movement to refusing to play shows where women were not shown equal respect in the pit as men.

Sure, a lot of the bands lacked any significant amount of talent; and yeah, 85% of the riffs had already been written by Earth Crisis but the sound still holds a special place in my heart. While there isn't a single band in this post other than the aforementioned band who collectively continues to stand by the beliefs expressed in their songs, the passion shown on the recordings shine through on even the worst 4 track recordings.

Either way, I hope you're ready for an overload of divebombs, open chugging, spoken word lectures, and lyrics that range anywhere from laughable apocalyptic rhetoric to some of the most inspiring words ever put to print. Keep in mind that I am not personally vouching for each and every band in the thread. Finding info and/or Mp3s on most of these bands is next to impossible so I just wanted to make sure I included everything humanly possible within this post.

The following links are hosted on Megaupload due to their larger storage capacity than Mediafire. I wanted to split this up into as few files as possible considering the asinine file size of my collection. I did my best to exclude any releases from these bands that may still be in print. I'm not perfect, however, and I'm sure that one or two albums can still be ordered on some obscure distro's webstore. Do yourself a favor and pick up physical copies of anything you can included amongst this stockpile of Mp3s. Keep in mind that the lyrics of these bands are sometimes even more relevant than the music itself and I have no way of including those as well.

Speaking of which, there are a few rips included that are titled "(BAD RIP)" at the end of the file name. This means that I do not own these albums and merely downloaded lower-quality rips from the internet. If anyone either has copies they'd like to sell me or knows where I can get my hands on them, please get in touch. I also only own about half of the 7"s and demos listed ... so yeah, hook it up.

I'd really like to see some info being passed around in the comments section on this post. I am 110% sure that there are even more bands who I missed or didn't even know existed. I am also 110% sure that I need to hear every possible detail about every possible Vegan Straight Edge band. So yeah, help me feel like all the time I spent on this post was worth it ... SPREAD THIS AROUND!!!

xVx pt 1

Includes most releases from Abhinada, Abnegation, Absence, Absone, Apostle, Arkangel, Birthright, Birthrite, Blindfold, Blood Of Judas, and earlier Caliban material.

xVx pt 2

Includes most releases from Canaan, Canon, Carahter, Chokehold, Clouded, Confine, Congress, Contempt, and Counterweight.

xVx pt 3

Includes most releases from Condolencia, Culture, Dawn Of Orion, Day Of Atonement, Day Of Suffering, Dead Wait, Decontaminate, Driven, Earth Crisis, Ecorage, Everlast, Extinction

xVx pt 4

Includes most releases from Facedown, Falling Down, Faultline, Firestone, Flame Of God, Foundation, Framework, From The Dying Sky, Gatekeeper, Green Rage, Heaven Shall Burn, Ides Of March, Ignorance Never Settles, Kindred, and Liar.

xVx pt 5

Includes most releases from Liar, Lifeforce, Lifeless, older Maroon material, Morning Again, Nations On Fire, On Fall, One King Down, and the Justice For The Enslaved comp.

xVx pt 6

Includes most releases from Point Of No Return, Pray Silent, Prayer For Cleansing, Purification, Purified In Blood, Racetraitor, Raid, Rancor, Recoil, Regression, and Reprisal.

xVx pt 7

Includes most releases from Risen, Sektor, Sentence, Sevin, Shorebreak, Slavearc, Soulstice, Soulstice, Sown The Seeds, Statement, Sunrise, Tears Of Gaia, Tenfold, Trial, and the Stones To Mark A Fire comp.

xVx pt 8

Includes most releases from Undying, Upheaval, Vegan Reich, Vitality, Warcry, Withdrawn, Wrath Of Nature and xDestroy Babylonx.

------------------------

POST UPDATE: I fucked up a few listings. I forgot that Undying never claimed a part of the straight edge thing, apparently someone in One King Down ate meat and a lot of the older Euro bands were only vegetarian. Either way, these bands are mostly sweet and wrote some awesome songs that helped me get into the things I'm into today. That's all.

Clearing Autumn Skies

2009-08-25T09:18:00.000-04:00

I used to review CDs for hardcorewebsite.net from like 2001-2002. Possibly the only decent CDs I ever got were the Irate and Through The Discipline EPs and some random disc from a band called Clearing Autumn Skies. All I ever knew of the band were that they were from California and sounded like a west coast take on earlier Candiria material (minus the jazz). I haven't listened to this EP in a few years. I recently pulled it out and was equally blown away as the first time I heard it back in 2002.

This is the definition of a criminally underrated band. I have yet to meet a single person who was even remotely familiar with this group. They put out a follow-up full length and later turned into Apiary (minus the drummer) who did a full length for Iron Clad Records. (Apiary has since turned into the band Early Graves and has somehow lost every single original member in the process.) These are both solid releases, but neither of them have been able to match up to this EP for some reason. There's just something about the recording of the original EP that the follow-ups fail to re-create in my fucked up head. I'm sure its nothing more than a personal inclination towards the first thing I had heard from them, but who can really

The music flows back and forth between the dreary acoustic instrumentation that went hand-in-hand with their earlier metalcore counterparts and the off-time, down-tuned Meshuggah-esque chugging in which the metalcore bands of today are still trying to perfect. As previously stated the band constantly breaks into Candiria styled riffing and percussion work reminiscent of their Beyond Reasonable Doubt and Surrealistic Madness albums without lifting any of their actual material. The vocals remind me of something that I can't put my finger on. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

I initially uploaded the Apiary full length while it was unknowingly still in press. If you've downloaded it, I'm sure you loved it and should now go HERE to purchase it from Iron Clad Recordings.

DOWNLOAD: Clearing Autumn Skies - Pulses & Matter
DOWNLOAD: Clearing Autumn Skies - Patent Distorted

Drummer John Lazarus has been playing with Stomacher since the end of Clearing Autumn Skies. Guitarist Mike McClatchey has three projects under the monikers Balcony, Lament Cityscape and The Conceal (which is possibly the heaviest thing I've heard in years). All of these projects are putting out some of the more interesting music I've heard in recent memory all across the musical spectrum. I think I'd like to meet these guys or something.

Commit Suicide

2009-08-13T12:06:00.000-04:00

This is a request fulfillment. I really should have done a post on this a while ago. Possibly the most underrated grind band of all time. Their only moment of glory being through the release of a split with Misery Index. This is their debut full length on Willowtip Records, a label who was actually relevant at the time of this release in 2002.

Commit Suicide were the next step in the musical evolution that was going on in Pittsburgh around this time. Taking the technicality and song-writing a step past their counterparts before them such as Circle Of Dead Children, Fate Of Icarus, and Sadis Euphoria (all on Willowtip), Commit Suicide was always a cut above the rest in my eyes for multiple reasons.

The vocalist and drummer were both in a considerably boring nu-metal band called Allan prior to this project while the guitarist was involved with a pretty standard (yet awesome) NYHC-styled band called Gutrench. The point I'm getting at is that while all of the members' musical skills had evolved considerably, they still remembered how to write songs that had listenability to them. There are parts to these songs that are not straight blast beats underneath inaudible riffs ... they're kinda catchy and fun to listen to.

Another aspect to Commit Suicide that most other grind bands lack was the fact that the drumming was actually replicated properly in a live setting. Lee Fisher was out of his fucking mind. No triggers, jazz-trained, eternally cracked out of his mind, playing gravity blasts before most others ... this guy had it going down on drums. On top of being one of the first to gravity blast, he was one of the few to this day that did so properly. The volume of his snare drum was just as loud whether he was blasting or playing a beatdown. True talent right there.

The band went through a few different bass players before disbanding due to their drummer leaving to take part in Psyopus. It was especially frustrating that they split up due to the fact that Lee only lasted about 4 months in Psyopus and then sold his entire set to another local drummer for $150 that he has still yet to collect. They apparently tried to get back together about two years ago with a different drummer and vocalist but it just didn't work out. While the riffs were borderline perfect for their genre, the band would not have been the same without the former nu-metal guys on drums and vocals.

I included their original 3 song demo and their 3 tracks from the split with Misery Index. I don't usually post up half of a split, but if I were to include both sides of the split it would exceed Mediafire's 100 MB limit. Bummer. Gives you motivation to track down a real copy of the split, I suppose. While you're at it, you should pick up a copy of Human Larvae as it is an enhanced CD that has video of a full live set included with it. Plus its one of the best sounding grind albums due to the fact that they recorded with Bill Korecky (Integrity, In Cold Blood, Premonitions Of War, a lot of other albums that matter). They have another full length out on Willowtip Records entitled Synthetics that is still in print ... check it out. They somehow managed to push their talent even further on that release.

DOWNLOAD

The Human Condition In Twelve Fractions

2009-08-13T08:41:00.000-04:00

Through recent conversations with some younger kids, I've realized that a lot of people are only aware of Martyr AD's "On Earth As It Is In Hell" album. With the internet playing the role that it does these days, its weird to think that there are still albums out there that remain void of tenure on iPods amongst the hardcore world. It makes you remember how much ahead of the world (aka Ferret and Trustkill) Victory Records really was back then.

The Human Condition In Twelve Fractions was Martyr AD's first effort as a band. No demo, no EP, and definitely no 7"; these ex-Disembodied members went straight for the throat with a debut full length release. Unlike most full lengths, this one both deserves and has a reason to exist. Martyr AD can not be summed up in four-to-six tracks. A full length offering was in call and these guys stepped up to the plate with this release.

The album starts off with quite possibly the only fitting intro to the album; Failed Polygraph Examination. Immediately breaking into possibly the most chaotic sounding riff of my at-the-time 16 year old life, Broken Mouth had me hooked from my first listen. I specifically remember thinking "this sounds like The Great Southern Trendkill without it having to be Pantera". Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and congratulate myself for getting it as much as I did back then. I digress.

Seventyfive-Twentyfive, the third track on the album, was responsible for me meeting everyone who I've ever met in Erie, PA. The second or third show I attended up there (I'm from Pittsburgh; two hours south) was the Martyr AD/Throwdown tour in late 2001; at which I was knocked-the-fuck-out during the break in the aforementioned song by one Matt Godden. I was out cold for the remainder of the song, but stood up and proceeded to mosh for the rest of the set; in turn making me all of the friends I initially had in Erie due to the mosh valor in which was displayed that day.

Martyr AD was also responsible for being the band to initially introduce me to The Mr Roboto Project. Somewhere early in the year 2001 was when I first was introduced to The Mr Roboto Project when I went to see Martyr AD and Burnt By The Sun (fuck yeah). The venue altered my reality of what going to a show could be (there's no bouncers!?!?! you didn't have to leave smelling like smoke!?!?!) but that is another story for another day I suppose. Point being, had Martyr AD not written such a superior mosh album for its time, I would've been delayed finding out about Roboto for god knows how long (it was rare for the mosh to be present at Roboto back then). I specifically remember wanting to mosh the entire set, yet being too nervous to until the Martyr AD vocalist ran up to the wall and did some sort of kick off of it as though he was on a skateboard; knocking into me and in turn starting the first karate mosh that Roboto had probably ever seen.

As I eluded to earlier, Martyr AD was essentially a continuation of Disembodied after their break-up in 1999. Featuring guitarist Joel (guitar), Tara (bass), and Justin (drums) of their former band, Martyr AD was a furthering of the progression heard on the final Disembodied album. Looking back, the "Heretic" album serves as a perfect precursor to what would eventually be heard from Martyr AD. Its like listening to a 33 RPM Disembodied record at 45 RPM, but with the vocals somehow getting lower and meaner.

As much as I love Disembodied and everything about the band, Martyr AD was definitely an "improvement" on what Disembodied was doing as far as musicianship goes. The drums really got taken up a notch as did the vocals. Don't get me wrong, the lyrics and vocals of Disembodied are perfect in my eyes, however, some of the vocal techniques used by Michael James Fisketti on The Human Condition were considerably groundbreaking; especially for its time. The main reason that their follow-up album on Victory Records couldn't hold up to their debut was the departure of the drummer and vocalist who appeared on said debut. The riffing available on the follow-up is more than satisfactory, however, the vocals and drumming could never keep up the way that they did on the debut (sorry Holding On guys).

Listen to this album the whole way through - DOWNLOAD

-----------------------------

POST UPDATE - Stuck In The Past has posted up the definitive collection of Martyr AD demo material. The post includes pre-production for the entire debut album, FOUR tracks from the session with Jared on drums, and five pre-production tracks for On Earth As It Is In Hell. You can download these all at Stuck In The Past.

Dissolve

2009-07-29T15:17:00.001-04:00

Always being a fan of the unrecognized and under-appreciated, Dissolve is probably my favorite finding within the past few years. To be completely honest, I always kinda heard the name floating around but chose to delay checking the band out for absolutely no reason at all. It wasn't until I heard as many people who's musical taste I respect getting as excited as they did over the band's reunion shows in 2008 that I chose to pay attention. I found their self-titled 7" on Endless Fight Records and it was decided before side A was even done that I was fully obsessed with this band.

To sum up this band, I chose to quote the "bio" found on their MySpace page as it is stated more precisely than I am sure I could word.

"Now into their second decade, Dissolve has shown an undeniable persistence in the underground music scene through never straying from the overwhelming call to creativity felt by its members. Dissolve's approach to making music draws upon their diverse musical talents and interests, mixing in the eclectic backgrounds of each member. This independence has resulted in a sound that is unique to the metal and hardcore scene. Heavy, unexpected, and hard to imitate. Put plainly, one is hard-pressed to pigeon-hole their style of music into a particular category. Honestly, the only "label" that would truly apply to Dissolve is heavy."

Rewinding a bit to the band's beginning, they started with the release of a cassette demo entitled Rebirth Of Thought in 1992. There was apparently also a demo released in 1993. I initially had the Mp3s of their 1993 demo from a re-release version they put out in 1997 from Edwin over at One Path For Me Through Destiny blog. The only problem with the re-release was that it was apparently dubbed in mono and essentially has only half of the recording on the Mp3s. His version of the 1993 demo, however, has an extra song not included on the original entitled Nomad, so definitely check it out for that alone. It was only very recently that I received proper Mp3 rips of "Demos 1992 & 1993" from Richard Rhee of the infamous Albany, NY band At War With Shadows (someone you'll probably see a post on in the near future).

I'm not sure which came out first, but in 1994 the band released their debut 7" on Endless Fight Records while, almost simultaneously, contributing two tracks to the original Over The Edge compilation put out by the same label. EMS at Coregasm at one point had Mp3s posted of this 7", but the sendspace link expired (yet another reason to go with Mediafire!). Both songs would later be re-recorded for their Dismantle CD which is surprisingly still available through Interpunk for $8.25; a very random find. The Graverobber EP was up next (which I'd love to have a hard copy of) and continued on with their tradition of playing "sludgy metal crunch, yet with a mix of psychedelic paranoia, and a Voivod-ish slant on bizarre out-of-this-world angular riffs... except slower". Thank you, Ryan Hex, for the perfect description of Dissolve.

For the better part of 10 years they gave it their all to make it in music, resulting finally in a well-deserved contract with MIA records back in 2000, putting them on a label in which also housed noteworthy bands such as Candiria and Darkest Hour. A greatly anticipated album was recorded, mixed and mastered; even having artwork created. The actual release of the album was the only aspect which would not see the light of day. The owner of the label decided to fold the operation just as Dissolve's album was about to be released. Undaunted by this setback the band trudged on for a year and a half in support of their never-released album, entitled Caveman of the Future, hoping that someone would pick them up and put out the album. As fate would have it, this never happened. Day jobs, distance, and side projects began to take precedence resulting in a hiatus from touring for Dissolve.

While the band never officially broke up, performing stopped and the band went into a kind of hibernation. Incredibly, in defiance of the implications of the hiatus they took, a death knell for most other bands, Dissolve sustained. Due in part to the reformation of both Overcast and Trip Machine Laboratories, 2008 finally saw the release of their Caveman Of The Future album, as well as some live performances from the band in support of their "new" record. I'm not going to post the Mp3s to the new album as you can easily order it for $6 from Trip Machine Laboratories. If you're not sold yet from the Mp3s that I've posted, then you can also preview a few of the tracks on their MySpace page.

Here's to hoping the band decides to continue playing. According to a MySpace message they sent me, they plan on doing so. I'll be there, man.

By the way, vocal delivery ... holy shit.

DOWNLOAD - Demos & Compilation Tracks
DOWNLOAD - Dismantle & Graverobber
BUY - CAVEMAN OF THE FUTURE from Trip Machine Laboratories

Ed Gein Demo pt 2

2009-07-07T09:56:00.000-04:00

I finally tracked down master copies of the re-released Ed Gein demo. To re-iterate, the band initially put out the first three tracks as their 2002 demo, later adding on another three tracks that were recorded not long after, yet before their first full length. Two of the additional tracks appeared on the Mutation compilation put out by Robotic Empire (which also featured some unreleased Minor Times songs). I'm not sure if Pee Wee Herman/Paul Reubens was ever released officially, but I still had the Mp3 from when they posted it on their website in 2002. You know, back when you had to pay for bandwidth. Good times.

Anyhow, here is the full demo (all 6 songs) ripped in 320 ... apparently the only place on the internet where you're going to find this. The original download I put up only ever got like 100 downloads ... step it up, people.

The break at the end of Bathed In Orange is still the craziest shit ever.

DOWNLOAD

Terra Firma - Silence Cries

2009-06-30T10:15:00.000-04:00

I'm actually fairly unfamiliar with this band. All I know is that the album is perfect. If I had to sum it up in a comparison ... I would say Strongarm (who goes without mention) meets In Loving Memory (who I did a write-up on HERE). The fucking chant at the beginning of Shatter The Silence ... holy shit (the good kind).

These guys were from Butler, PA and formed from ex-members of Blindside (also from Butler ... not Sweden). I regretfully never got to see Terra Firma despite always going to shows in their area during their era. Same curse that I suffer from with Creation Is Crucifixion. If memory serves me correct, the band did a reunion show a few years ago, and I of course missed that to. This blog makes me look like a schmuck who just talks about missing reunion shows. Not really the case as much as I just dwell on the few shows that I DO miss.

As we all know, I have a slight preference towards bands who I feel are legitimately down with JC. I know that the whole christian thing to do is to not judge or persecute or whatever else you want to label it, but that's the best part of being an agnostic who is infatuated with christian hardcore ... I have no problem with sniffing out the bands who are using JC as a means to make a quick buck and calling them on it. I'm down to cast them out of the temple and throw their chickens on the ground, you know? The point is ... Terra Firma (and every other christian band I've met from Butler) have always struck me as intensely passionate about their music and the reason they are creating it ... and that's why I'd mosh for christ if they ever did another reunion show (hint hint). Terra Firma succeeds where most christian bands of today fail in making me want to go up front for an altar call due to the sincerity behind their music and lyrics. Their passion shines through even in the recording of this album, which leaves one such as myself who has never had the opportunity to see the band to only imagine the intensity of the live show.

There's no reason this band shouldn't have been the biggest deal in christian hardcore in their time. As with most western PA bands from their era, they would have shredded the hell (literally and figuratively) out of their contemporaries had they ever been given the label opportunity in which they quite obviously deserved. Its a shame the internet didn't really exist back then to the extent that it does now so that bands like this would have had an even shot at being heard over most of the garbage Tooth & Nail was putting out at the time.

"Every tear he shed, every drop he bled ... it was for you"

DOWNLOAD

MoshSpot

2009-06-16T02:13:00.001-04:00

People say I'm too serious. I have a blog about moshing. Feel free to contribute.

MoshSpot.blogspot.com

Living Sacrifice Discography

2009-05-22T04:34:00.000-04:00

I had the chance to see Living Sacrifice once before they went on their hiatus in 2003. I didn't watch them because they had a huge fire pit in the middle of the stage and opened up with Flatline. As for why I chose not to watch ... Slipknot had run its course in my book already, I was really into Sworn Enemy, and I couldn't decide whether I felt the firepit or the opening song was cheesier. Little did I know that 7 or 8 years down the road, the band I would eventually be in would decide to start ripping the fuck off of what I was currently deeming to be "lame christian nu-metal".

Living Sacrifice started off in fucking 1989 in Little Rock, Arkansas. I'm sure that the concept of christian death metal would have failed in most other parts of the world at the time. I can only imagine the endless anti-Christian rhetoric that was spewed toward the band during this era of their career. Despite existing amongst the southern bible belt, I'm sure the band had to deal with more than their fair share of mindless "satanic" Slayer and/or Cannibal Corpse fans who didn't want to hear anything other than South Of Heaven on repeat. The fact that Living Sacrifice was doing what they were doing at the time they were doing so is truly a testament to the band's sincerity.

To be completely honest, I am not too familiar with the early stages of the band's career. They recorded a demo 1989 entitled Not Yielding To Ungodly which got them signed to REX Music (the label ran by one of the only other christian metal bands, Believer). I know that their debut, self-titled release gives anything that Slayer has ever released a run for its money. I'm not joking. The fact that older Living Sacrifice material is not spoken of in the same regard as their "legendary" thrash counterparts really makes a statement as to how overlooked the band probably was due to their christian beliefs.

With their sophomore release, Nonexistent, the band went with a more death metal approach. A much darker sound is found on this album. Judging from reading several old interviews, the band didn't seem happy with the outcome of this album. This doesn't serve as a surprise considering the obvious return to the "original" sound with their third full length, Inhabit. While the vocals remained a bit lower and "death metal", the neck-breaking thrash beats were back in full effect. The band even began to show the developement of what was to result from their entire reformation, which would come after the release of Inhabit in 1994.

After roughly a year of touring in support of Inhabit, lead vocalist and bassist Darren Johnson stepped down; leaving rhythm guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh to take over on lead vocal duties. Along with this line-up change came an entirely different approach to the band's musical direction. Along with the dissolution of the REX Music label who had released their first three albums, the band shed much of their thrash and death metal influences in favor of a slower, more "hardcore" sound which they have since become synonymous with.

Somewhere in this time frame, Sepultura also phased their way out of the thrash and death metal scenes in favor of a slower, down-tuned sound; essentially forging an entirely new sound within heavy music in the process. It seems as though everyone, since the release of Roots, who has incorporated any sort of auxillary percussion has been immediately labeled as a Sepultura knock-off. I always felt as though Living Sacrifice did a very similar style in a drastically different manner. Incorporating much more off-time parts similar to Meshuggah, I'm doubting Max Cavalera would even be able to play anything off of Living Sacrifice's "Reborn" album.

Despite essentially creating an entirely original style of aggressive music, Living Sacrifice was often cited as being a prime example of "96 styled hardcore". I suppose I can't blame people for writing them off under this category considering how fucking sick the crowd is getting in this quite legendary video.

While the band's new found uniqueness and creativity are primarily responsible in my eyes for the sudden popularization of the band, it would be laughable to deny the impact that signing to the newly forged Solid State Records had for the band. Serving as Tooth & Nail Records' metal sub-label, Solid State in 1997 was the place to be. The label served as home to so many legendary releases from this era that I can't even begin to get started on the subject. The only reason I bring this up is because I feel as though Reborn by Living Sacrifice was, alongside several others, largely responsible for the initial success of the label.

Several years passed before Living Sacrifice released another album. The wait did not disappoint in the slightest. As with every album, The Hammering Process was a huge step in the growth of the band. It was with this album that Living Sacrifice cemented themselves as a true force to be reckoned with. Incorporating a full-time auxillary percussionist into the fold alongside new guitarist Rocky Gray took Living Sacrifice to a whole new level of creativity. Looking back, it was this step in the band's career that stood out to me as a prime example as to how it could be possible to entirely expand one's musical horizons. The addition of non-conventional instrumentation can only serve as a means to foster growth. How the fuck could anyone have written tracks as intense as Bloodwork or Hand Of The Dead without the addition of an auxillary percussionist? Not happening.

Conceived In Fire was released in 2002. For some reason or another, a lot of people wrote this album off as being inconsistent with the perfection of their previous efforts. I'm going to assume that any and all criticism was based off of the release of the album's "single", Symbiotic, which featured a repeating verse/chorus structure. The intensity of that song, specifically, makes any and all calls of "selling out" a complete joke in the eyes of anyone who truly understands legitimately heavy music. Ironically, it was on this album, released in 2002, that the band came closest to a Sepultura-esque sound in my opinion. The main riff in Send Your Regrets could be easily confused as an unreleased Soulfly track, and I mean that with total and complete respect. Once again utilizing the percussion work of Matt Putnam, Conceived In Fire ranks in as possibly my favorite of all Living Sacrifice albums.

The band dissolved not long after the release of this album. They managed to record a 3 song demo before doing so, however. It was paired up alongside a "best of" collection entitled In Memoriam in conjunction with their final tour. These supposed final three songs from the project showed that the band had not lost a single step throughout their career. Encompassing all aspects of the band's progression throughout the years, "In Christ", "Power Of God", and "Killers" were an impressive summarization of what the band was capable. As representative as I felt the songs were, the band's musical arsenal proved to be far too versatile to be left as is and the band announced their reformation in early 2008.

Needless to say, I was more than enthusiastic at the announcement of this reunion. It was somewhere around 2005 that I started hating myself for skipping out on the one and only chance I had to see this powerhouse. The band preceded their tour with Demon Hunter in the summer of 2008 with the release of an online-only release of 2 newly recorded songs. As with the small, three-song dose of the band's capability released in 2003, Living Sacrifice did not disappoint with Death Machine and The Battle.

Sadly, this time around the band was not accompanied by their former percussionist ... or any percussionist at all for that matter. When I saw the band set up on stage without any form of auxillary percussion, I was assuming that certain songs would have to be cut from the set. Further proving their superiority in musicianship, however, I was proven wrong as the band delivered Bloodwork, Hand Of The Dead, and Send Your Regrets amongst many others with the same amount of intensity as they once encompassed with the tribal drumming patterns within the songs. Simply put, Lance Garvin is one of the most insane drummers within heavy music. Fuck.

One of the main reasons I've always been drawn to Living Sacrifice has been the sincerity and legitimacy they have shown to their faith in christ. I know it probably makes no sense, but a large portion of my favorite bands have always been "christian". Sometimes its because I think its funny or cute, but in cases such as Living Sacrifice (or original Zao line-up, for example), the sincerity that radiates from their live shows, lyrics, and/or interviews is undeniable despite my obvious lack of similar beliefs. Point being ... these 90s christian metalcore bands have a higher legitimacy rating than any of the vegan SxE gatherings of the same era. It's just true.

Its safe to say I'm quite excited for this new material in which the band is scheduled to record by the end of the year. I'm anxiously awaiting to hear the one thrash song that the band throws on towards the end of every album just to prove that they can still thrash 20 years after the initial start of the band. More than I can say for most bands who used to bring it.

"Don't be afraid of ashamed to love God ... don't be afraid or ashamed to love God".

DOWNLOAD - st
DOWNLOAD - Nonexistent
DOWNLOAD - Inhabit
DOWNLOAD - Reborn
DOWNLOAD - The Hammering Process
DOWNLOAD - Conceived In Fire
DOWNLOAD - Living Sacrifice Demos (1989, 2003, & 2008)

My CD Want List

2009-05-22T02:07:00.000-04:00

If you have any of these discs that you are willing to either sell, trade, or rip 320 kbps Mp3s of ... please get in touch. My collection is rather extensive, so I more than likely can trade either actual discs or Mp3 rips. I'm also more than willing to pay fair prices for any of these. Feel free to forward this to anyone who may be of any help. My e-mail address is pathtomisery@gmail.com ... or you can message me at our MySpace (myspace.com/pathtomisery). Even though I may already have copies of similar styled bands, get at me if you're looking to unload as my friends from the area are into the same style but have yet to attain the CD collection that I have.

108 - One Path For Me Through Destiny ... Serve And Defy
Acedia - Everyone You Love Will Eventually Die
Action - Weeping Of Angels
Anger Is Beautiful - Did their 10" record ever come out on CD?
Apathemy - Our Decayed Remains
Azazel - Music For The Ritual Chamber
Beloved - And So It Goes
Birthplace - Ameliorate
Bloodwar - 5 Song EP
Bolt Thrower - The IVth Crusade
Carahter - O Intenso Desespero Sobre A Decadência Humana
Catharsis & Newspeak split
Confront - One Life Drug Free
Crawlspace - Enter The Realm Of Chaos ... Don't Get Mad, Get Even
Deadguy - I Know Your Tragedy ... Work Ethic (have Mp3s already)
Dissolve - Demo
End Of All - The Art Of Decadence (have Mp3s already)
Finger Print - Discography (1996)
From The Dying Sky - Truth's Last Horizon
In Loving Memory - As Years Pass and Feel Like Seconds
Inner Dam - The Day Everything Meant Nothing
Inner Dam - When Angels Fall
Ire - Adversity Into Triumph
Jeromes Dream - Completed 1997-2001
Kindred - File 01
Liam And Me - There's A Difference
Lifeforce - st (have Mp3s already)
Merel - Discography
Mohinder - Discography
Nations On Fire - Strike The Match
Newborn - In These Desperate Days
Portrait - Discography
Purification - 1996 - 2000
Pushbutton Warfare - Wash Away the Weak
Regression - Heartless
Reprisal - Where Heavy Gloom Dominates
Resurrection - Embalmed Existence
Saetia - A Retrospective
Sentence - Ad Vitam Rediti ... Dominion On Evil ... War
Seven Years War - Ranks Of The Common People
Shed - Shades Of Death
Shogun - What Sin Has Twisted
Shotmaker - Complete Discography 1993-1996
Sofa King Killer - Stout-Soaked Songs
Soul Embraced - For The Incomplete
Suicide Nation - s/t (have Mp3s already)
Unruh - Misery Strengthened Faith
Warcry - System Under Anguish (have Mp3s already)

Thanks ... spread this around!

Earth Crisis & Unholy

2009-05-17T15:58:00.000-04:00

No, their new records aren't available for download here. It's every bit as good as every other Earth Crisis release. Picture somewhere between Breed The Killers and Gomorrah's Season Ends. There are still some special order packages left through Century Media's distro. You get the CD, a 7" with two songs from their unreleased 1992 demo, and size small shirt (all the other sizes are sold out). Guess how much that will cost you? $18. Don't slack ... order this before its gone. Make sure you go out and support Earth Crisis on their current tour. The band has went through a lot to get this project up and going again and the support would be much appreciated I am sure.

Its easy to sit around and talk shit on an album when you downloaded shitty Mp3 rips of it for free. No sense of or pride in ownership through downloading Mp3s. I waited to listen to the album until my pre-order package arrived ... lyrics and all. It's been a while since I've cared enough about an album to buy it brand new, let alone to pre-order it and wait for the real deal to show up. A lot of people have forgotten the concept of taking more from an album other than the music itself. The lyrics and actual sound quality found on the CD (as opposed to shit quality Mp3s floating around the internet) give you an actual indication as to what the band has created.

And while you're at it ... pick up the new Unholy through Prosthetic Records' online store ... or pick it up at one of their shows on the Earth Crisis tour they're currently on. These are two of the most legit bands within hardcore and metal currently and they deserve your support. Bands of this nature are becoming few and far between. Instead of reminiscing about the "glory days" exclusively, make a point to show your appreciation to the bands who are currently going at it with their full dedication. Its harder now than ever for sincere bands to keep their heads above water.

Earth Crisis Package

Order Unholy's New Record
Listen To Unholy's New Record

BRAVEYOUNG

2009-04-22T12:40:00.000-04:00

I'm booking our "labelmates" Braveyoung (formerly Giant) at Roboto this Monday. You need to come. They're amazing. Go to www.myspace.com/giantnc if you don't believe me. The show also features Arms (ex-Bearathon) and Edhochuli (ex-Outclassed). Its going to be good whether people show up or not. It will obviously be better if people show up, though.

Path To Misery Approved Nu-Metal

2009-04-16T00:15:00.001-04:00

One of my claims to fame in life is having my nu-metal taste 110% in line with whatever it was in 1998 & 1999.

I instantly fell in love with the self-titled Slipknot album when I heard it. While I thought Jonathan Davis and Dez Fafarra were a bit cheesy, I still got down with Korn and Coal Chamber for their first two albums. I was the only person at the entire show of thousands of people who was anxious to see Mudvayne open for Slipknot on their first tour. I've always hated Limp Bizkit. I thought Sevendust had an awesome sound way before Bury Your Dead figured it out. I knew Godsmack were posers from day one. I pretty much had the nu-metal shit figured out from day one.

Actually, I take that back. Upon second listen, Wisconsin Death Trip by Static-X is not listenable in the slightest bit past the first track. That would be "Push It" for those of you not in-the-know. For the most part, however, I had things figured out rather well. By the time all of these bands decided to start writing radio hits, I had already discovered the world of DIY hardcore and was luckily not even around to be let down by all of these bands' follow-up albums.

Admittedly, I had strayed from these albums for quite some time while I was getting caught up in 25 Ta Life, Sworn Enemy, and Cold As Life. I never went through a phase where I was embarassed to admit to my former fascination with the genre, mainly because I knew I was jamming Slayer, Metallica and Motorheads for years before I had even heard of drop tuning.

I always hated the violent divide that existed between nu-metal and hardcore at the time. It made even less sense whenever I found out about Disembodied, was told that Jorge from Merauder was the original vocalist for Ill Nino and realized that Slipknot had lyrics that shared the same roots as Hatebreed. Were hardcore and nu-metal ever really that far apart? Judging from how quickly and smoothly everyone from both sides jumped ship when it was in their monetary interest to do so ... I'm going to venture to say no.

It seemed as though the common underlying theme amongst the nu-metal bands was as follows. The bands seemed to all stem from some sort of horrible local bar scene which inherently breeds a sort of braindead mentality amongst anything it touches. It also seemed as though every band had their self-released "promo disc" that they, for whatever reason, spent "months in the studio" recording. The bands seemingly shopped around their discs of garbage alongside their promo shots as part of their press kits and eventually got picked up by some major label looking to replicate the platinum albums that Korn delivered to Epic Records. The bands would then be paired up with some hot-shot producer who somehow managed to polish these second-rate demos into ground-breaking, millions-of-copies-selling albums. The whole process is a commonly-used major label strategy which was also being utilized in the search for the next big boy band at the time. Looking back, I'm glad that it all went down this way.

This album is by far the pinnacle of the nu-metal movement. Featuring a lot of copy/paste work by the legendary producer Ross Robinson for his Roadrunner-imprint label, I Am, this album essentially is a best-of album of the four years worth of the work the band put in prior to recording their "debut" album. Tracking down a copy of Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (the band's self-released demo/debut album) and listening to it in comparison to this release I am making available for download serves as a perfect example of what I was speaking of in the previous paragraph. Shit rules though and deserves its own post, in all reality. By the way, I just wanted to mention that I helped to catch Dicknose whenever he jumped into the crowd from approximately three stories up the speaker stack at the IC Light Amphitheater.

I love using this album as my example as to how Disembodied was essentially just a non-cheesy nu-metal band who understood the DIY aspect of music. Obviously Coal Chamber brings the cheese in a way unimaginable by most hardcore bands, however, I strongly urge one to listen closely to Loco, Bradley, and My Frustration in order to understand the undeniable comparison. Coal Chamber had some of the sicker fans if memory serves me correct. I remember a significantly higher concentration of juggalos at their shows in comparison to other nu metal bands. I feel as though it should also be noted that the band has an entire song dedicated to pig squeal vocals. How far ahead of the curve can one band be?

The push at Sevendust shows was exceptionally hard if memory serves me correct. What it really comes down to is "Bitch" and "Black" on the self-titled debut. Home, however, contains an entire album's worth of songs that bring it both in the pit and at the Grammy's. If you were ever wondering where Bury Your Dead got their sound they "created" on their self-titled and/or It's Nothing Personal CDs ... look no further.

I would love for anyone to argue the musicianship quality that existed amongst the nu-metal scene so that I could promptly pull out LD 50 by Mudvayne to end the conversation both then and there. The bass work on the album does not even need discussed past the words "shit rules". The guitar work and drumming was, for quite obvious reasons, overlooked for the most part. Not to be outdone, the vocal patterns and melodies were second-to-none and later became the focus of the band for good reason. I must say, however, that the band without the face paint does absolutely nothing for me.

How many bands have you heard warming up on the opening riff to Blind (drums AND guitars)? For anyone to deny the influence that Korn had on heavy music even to this day would be an exercise in gross negligence to the world surrounding them. Despite being victims of the cheese that goes hand-in-hand with the genre they helped to create, the core of the band's lyrics struggled against the rampant homophobia, sexual abuse, and lack of self-expression inherent within our society. Dare I say the band offered more lyrical content than that of any "deathcore" band that is so commonly accepted within our "scene" these days. I say this knowing full well that they wrote A.D.I.D.A.S.

The hooks are there, the mosh is there, the scene cred is there ... it never made sense to me why this band didn't blow up. Actually, the departure of guitarist Marc Rizzo is probably exactly what did it. The guy is a modern-day guitar legend and no one seems to notice or care. He single-handedly revitalized the career of Soulfly (who I will soon be writing up a post on) upon his departure from Ill Nino. In order to emphasize the relevance of this nu-metal guitar god, listen to Soulfly's "3" album ... and then listen to "Prophecy" (the album that Marc Rizzo joined for and wrote). Yeah ... dude rules. Not to mention he also ran into the middle of the Club Laga dance floor and cut the shit out of people during No Retreat on a Hatebreed/Ill Nino tour in 2001. He was wearing a bookbag while doing so. Just saying...

I'd love to hear of any underground nu-metal acts that never quite made it out of the local bar. Respect to the maggots who still keep it fucking sick and to the bands who did NOT think sounding like Killswitch Engage over night would be a smart decision.

CANDIRIA

2009-04-10T12:39:00.000-04:00

I remember seeing Candiria when I first started going to shows. At the time I had my standard education in metal through my mastery of Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Megadeth, and Testament (always the big 5 in my head at the time) supplemented by the hardcore likes of Hatebreed, Sworn Enemy, Mushmouth and bands of that nature. While I still jam those bands quite frequently, my musical perspective was completely fucked the first time I saw Candiria. Sure, I had heard the thrashing of Slayer, every Kirk Hammet solo, the hardest breakdowns known to man on Satisfaction Is The Death Of Desire ... but none of that seemed as crazy after Candiria combined jazz with death metal.

Looking back now, as a musician, it all makes quite a bit of sense. However, as a 15 year old kid who thought double kick drums were the end-all-be-all of heavy music, my mind was quite perplexed by the shit Candiria was bringing to the table. I specifically remember getting caught in my own mosh on at least 5 different occasions during their set due to their fucked-up time signatures that I did not know existed at the time. Candiria, to this day, remains as the one-and-only band in which I prepared my mosh for prior to attending their shows. You basically had to.

I didn't get into Candiria until around 1999 whenever the band released their Process Of Self.Development full length on the infamous MIA Records (ironic label name). In order to cover the band's process of self-development up until this point in their career, I'm going to switch over to a biography written up by some guy who, up until 2007, ran the Angelfire-hosted Candiria fan page. Mad respect to him for keeping the tradition alive for as long as he did. For a bit of a trip down memory lane of hardcore-on-the-internet prior to unlimited bandwidth, pay your respects to his work right here.

"Have you ever successfully tried to follow one of their songs? I can almost do it but there's always that one bastard riff in every song that I can't get! And obviously you're here to learn more about the band, so I'll stop rambling now and give you some meat about the Brooklyn quintet...

It is 1992, Brooklyn, New York. In a rehearsal studio, Eric Mathews, Chris Puma, Carley Coma, Kenneth Schalk and original bassist Matt Holt come together week after week to dictate the beginnings of what they understand to be music. All five of them were seriously focused on changing the face of heavy music. Inspired from all directions, Candiria was ready to hit the laboratory and experiment with a new musical formula. The center point or foundation, of course, was the consistent element of DANCEABLE MUSIC. From that, the song was to be like a beautifully written novel-an introduction leading to a well defined, in-depth and expansively informative body that brings you smoothly and excitingly through the conclusion and off to the back cover for the "about the author." It would take many years of pain staking labor and commitment to pull this off.

Candiria was growing musically, and had the impetus to move forward but faced a few hurdles... One of them being the issue of a bass player. Candiria had 2 bass players after Matt left in the spring of 1992. It was winter 1994 and the band just watched their 3rd bassist leave and decided to go on without one. They had been playing around the city for the past year and gave out about 300 or 400 copies of their Subliminal. demo to fans and bands as well as sending it off to various record companies, rock venues and management and booking agencies . The band had too much momentum to start looking for a fourth bass player. The first album, Surrealistic Madness was originally warranted to be a demo also, but the band had generated a good enough buzz at that point to interest Too Damn Hype records in releasing their music. The hard work and unique vision was beginning to get recognized.

The second album Beyond Reasonable Doubt was created with the same line-up, and on this album, the bass lines were executed by Eric, and Ken. Still no bass player. Candiria continued to play live shows, but the low end was missing and it just wasn't right..........yet.

The Candiria line-up was forced to make change when Chris Puma became impatient with the bass situation, and for some unknown personal reasons, left the band. Candiria had to let him go.

Candiria then recruited friend John Lamacchia, who was in a band called Dead Air. Since Dead Air was calling it quits, and happened to rehearse in the same studio as Candiria, they asked John to join, and he did. The bass player in Dead Air, Michael MacIvor, had already left the band to play with NYHC pioneers Merauder. MacIvor was honored to play with Merauder at first, but as time passed wanted to go in a more open-ended direction. He was always a fan of Candiria, and when they asked him to join, he couldn't refuse. The five members have now fortified, and remain a constant entity since 1998.

Candiria has two albums to date (EDITOR'S NOTE: this was written just before The Process Of Self.Development was released), both in their own respect are different, yet all contain elements of fusion, metal, ambience, jazz, rap, and urban madness. The sound produced by these cats is one that sincerely stands alone, by itself. Defiant in nature, they break common threads that unify the common 4/4 tempo of many bands today. A major focus for Candiria is the off-beat practice of syncopation. Candiria is just the remedy we need in this world so full of pre-packaged aggression. To be unique in a market bonded by threads of anti-this, and anti-that, and "My life sucks" type songs, is truly something to savor. It almost seems that metal along with all Rock sub-genres combined, has found a complacent bowl of fruit to eat from. The inability to evolve musically, will be the self-destruction of what modern music is today. Candiria will continue to evolve, bringing new and exciting music to its listeners and is something I'll always look forward to, now that I've found FUCKING CANDIRIA!!!"

Picking up where this article leaves off, I shall tell you of the perfection that is The Process Of Self.Development. Essentially serving as a "best of" album from that point in their career, the full length consists of re-recorded tracks from the first two full lengths alongside obscure demo and 7" material. In true Candiria fashion, the band also included new material in order to keep their musical revolution in "constant velocity". Through the acquisition of what was thought to be a legitimate label at the time, the band finally managed to finance a recording worthy of the material that was being put to tape. The album also marked the start of the transition away from the prevelant death metal influences heard primarily in the vocals on the first two albums. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely parts on this third full length offering that put Cannibal Corpse to shame, however quite obviously through the acquisition of a full-time bassist, the group seemed to shift focus moreso onto the groove aspect of the band. That is also not to say that the element was not relevant on previous recordings.

I was lucky enough in this era to see Candiria on multiple occassions despite never getting to see Jamey from Hatebreed and Phil from Irate jump on stage to do their parts as can be seen in the YouTube video above. It was seeming as though "things" were starting to happen for Candiria around this era. A constant touring schedule coupled alongside the demise of MIA Records landed Candiria a deal with Century Media for the release of their next full length, 300 Percent Density.

Despite the once-again flawless nature of this new album, I remember a bit of dissent from the hardcore scene at the time. For the younger kids who may be reading this and not understanding how something as simple as signing to Century Media could cause such a reaction, I don't really have a good explanation for you. Regretfully, at the time whenever a "hardcore" band signed to a "metal" label, talks of sedition instantly arose. This was 2001, Hatebreed had just signed to Universal Records and written the song "You're Never Alone" alongside playing OzzFest and bringing rednecks into "the scene". Looking back I can almost under the apprehension that came with bands getting picked up by Roadrunner, Century Media, and other pseudo-major labels. Candiria's musical offering was untouched by the transition, however.

300 Percent Density was perhaps the pinnacle of Candiria's aggressive music career. While The Process Of Self.Development had all of the hits and guest appearances, there were still tracks on the album that had been written almost 5 years prior to its release. The musicianship on 300 Percent Density had matured ten-fold since the release of their previous album in 1999. Despite the tastefulness that was used in doing so, the band DID introduce the usage of more standard song structures; at times even utilizing repeating choruses. With the release of the "single" from the album, Without Water, I remember realizing that big changes were on the way for Candiria.

Candiria toured relentless with the release of their 300 Percent Density album with acts ranging from the Soul Brains (Bad Brains) to Poison The Well to Cryptopsy to Madball to Shadows Fall. It was amongst this touring, however, that the band was almost taken away due to a severe wreck with a tractor-trailer. I pulled up the following statement made by the band from the incident.

"The five members of the pioneering metal-fusion band Candiria and their tour manager escaped life-threatening injury when their van was rear-ended by a tractor trailer east of Buffalo, New York on Monday September 9th, 2002. The accident occurred at 9:15 am on Interstate 90 in Batavia, New York, when the tractor trailer driver, who was charged with speeding, plowed into the back of the van at full throttle. The van was hauling an equipment trailer, which buffered the blow. Upon impact, the van left the pavement, flipped over four times, then skidded on its roof for several hundred feet before stopping at the side of the center median culvert. Four members of the band were ejected from the vehicle through the shattered side windows. The other two were in the front of the van and were able to crawl from the wreckage.

Candiria drummer Ken Schalk was flown by MediVac helicopter to the nearest trauma unit, located at the Erie County Medical Center, the others followed by ambulance. They all suffered multiple contusions, abrasions and lacerations that required extensive stitching. Schalk was treated for six hours for his injuries, which included a severe cut to the ear. He also suffered a concussion. Guitarist John LaMacchia also sustained a so-called "closed head injury," as well as a broken clavicle and fractured shoulder. Guitarist Eric Matthews suffered two broken ribs and injured knees. Singer Carley Coma was feared to have internal injuries, but escaped with abdominal contusions. Bassist Mike MacIvor suffered a hand injury as well as the bruises, scrapes and cuts they all sustained. Tour manager Kevin Macormick also suffered a torn rotator cuff.

The tractor trailer driver admitted fault and was issued a summons by police at the scene on several charges, including following too close, reckless endangerment and speeding. Candiria's van and all its contents were completely demolished. The equipment trailer was split in two and everything in it destroyed."

The future of Candiria was very uncertain at the time. Members all took part in their various solo and side projects including Ghosts of the Canal, which was featured at the Micro Museum in Brooklyn, NY, in part of a multimedia production "that also features live dancers, videography, and projections". Drummer Kenneth Schalk also played live drums for several jazz groups, some of which featured members who had contributed elements to prior Candiria albums. It was also in this downtime when the band wrote material for their next album, "What Doesn't Kill You...".

While the following is mere speculation, I think it is safe to say that the band's musical progression on their follow-up to 300 Percent Density is what caused the split between the band and Century Media. While the band always managed to make considerable progression between every album, the difference between 300 Percent Density and its successor, What Doesn't Kill You... is quite drastic. While the album still focuses quite strongly on the aggressive aspect of the band on the earlier tracks, the B-side tends to stray moreso into the realms of jazz, hip hop, and even reggae at times. While I personally find this release to be the most listenable album of all the Candiria albums, I think it is safe to say that a large majority of Candiria's fan base felt quite alienated by this release. I would venture to say that the vocals on the album consist of equal parts harsh screaming and clean singing. Personally, I find this album to be yet another pinnacle of the band's song-writing capacity ... yes, I'm illustrating the fact that every album is the band's pinnacle.

As always, the band embarked on considerably varied tours with the release of this album. I was lucky enough to see the band on their stint with Kittie, 36 Crazyfists, and Twelve Tribes. The show was being held at one of the larger venues in Pittsburgh that I was not particularly fond of and, in turn, would not donate any finances to. I went down in hopes of sneaking in and directly supporting the band with merch purchases to no avail. It was on my way back to my car that I encountered Carley who asked where we were going. I told him my deal of wanting to see Candiria (and Twelve Tribes) without being able to bring myself to give any money to the venue or promoter involved with the show. Without the slightest bit of a second guess, he instructed my friend and I to follow him into the show. We did so, and in turn, got to witness the band perform their new album, What Doesn't Kill You in its almost entirety. Looking back, it was one of the best sets I have ever witnessed and wouldn't have traded it for the world. I digress.

It was not long after this that long-standing guitarists John LaMacchia and Eric Matthews both stepped down. The original intent was for Eric Matthews to temporarily leave for a back surgery whereas John LaMacchia was to permanently step down citing musical differences. The band continued on temporarily with two fill-in guitarists in order to continue with their touring schedule, which included a short-run on the Stillborn Fest. This show was not three months after I had just seen Candiria perform a set of entirely new material. While I was overly exuberant at the prospect of seeing a repeat performance of the newer material, I was even moreso excited whenever the band got on stage and played a set of "old" material exclusively. It truly put into perspective the wide range of capability the band possessed amongst their ranks; even when nearly half of the band were fill-ins.

From this point on, the band seemed to dissolve in front of everyone's eyes. Guitarist Eric Matthews was the first to leave. As previously stated, the original intent was for him to take a temporary leave of absence in order to facilitate his back surgery. There was never any specific statement made by the band as to his exit other than that it, in turn, yielded the departure of drummer Kenneth Schalk. Bassist Mike MacIvor and vocalist Carley Coma were then left with a nearly completed album without a band to tour on it. Despite the re-addition of long-standing guitarist John LaMacchia, their label, Type-A Records who released their previous full length, would not release the album due to the band's unwillingness to tour without Kenneth Schalk on the shells. The album sat on the shelf for over two years before finally being released by John LaMacchia's new label, Rising Pulse Records.

The album is once again another huge step into the creative world that is Candiria. If you weren't into What Doesn't Kill You, there is a very good chance that you will also not appreciate their latest release, Kiss The Lie. If you gave their previous album an honest chance and took the time to understand its intricacies, then I would highly suggest picking up the beautifully laid-out, gatefolded double LP at Rising Pulse Record's MySpace page. I am specifically not including the Mp3s to this album as the band essentially put this out through their own DIY work ethics and it deserves support for all of the apparent bullshit they had to go through in order to ensure its release. There are also future plans for a collection of 4 limited edition remix LPs entitled Toying With The Insanities. Even if you're not as dedicated of a Candiria as am I, you can also pick up Surrealistic Madness on clear vinyl while you're there.

The band is currently on yet another "indefiniate hiatus" while members state in interviews that interest in the project has been lost. As much as it may be wishful thinking, I would like to believe that the members of Candiria realize the monster of a project that they created can never come to an end. While I am more than content with checking out the various side projects that the members are currently partaking in, the necessity of Candiria is insatiable to me. I'm not going to be content until I get another chance to cut shit up to Faction.

Overall, I think Candiria was summed up by the best following statement made by the webmaster of the Candiria Pit 718 Angelfire Fan Page. "Simply put, take some salt in one hand, and pepper in the other. Bring both your hands together and shake it around....now here's where music and salt part ways. Throw the mixture on the table. Physically, the pepper and salt will mix , forming a ---pepper and salt mix. But musically, after mixing the pepper and salt, the two will miraculously end up where they started.....salt on one side, pepper on the other! (did I confuse you?)"

Check out Spylacopa, ft John LaMacchia
Check out Hope Kills Fear, ft Carley Coma
Check out Ghosts Of The Canal, ft most of Candiria

DOWNLOAD SURREALISTIC MADNESS (1995)
DOWNLOAD BEYOND REASONABLE DOUBT (1997)
DOWNLOAD THE PROCESS OF SELF-DEVELOPMENT (1999)
DOWNLOAD 300 PERCENT DENSITY (2001)
DOWNLOAD THE C.O.M.A. IMPRINT DISC 1 (2002)
DOWNLOAD THE C.O.M.A. IMPRINT DISC 2 + 1994 SUBLIMINAL DEMO
DOWNLOAD WHAT DOESN'T KILL YOU (2004) + UNRELEASED COMP TRACKS

Sorry for some of the links not being Mediafire, I couldn't get the files to be under 100 MB. Let me know if any of those Megaupload files become unavailable (have to be downloaded every 90 days).

By the way, if anyone could upload the Mathematics/Down To The Last Element 7" put out by Stillborn Records ... that would complete the discography as far as I know. Any information on other recordings would be greatly appreciated.

Outspoken - The Current

2009-04-10T11:42:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what I can really say about this record other than that it is perfect. This record has been getting (poorly) ripped off since its been written. Imagine if all of the "passionate" Bridge 9-type bands of today were original, interesting, or legitimate. I'm obviously not a fan of the genre, but this record is essential listening for anyone remotely down with the core. I'll go out on a limb and say that it was the best release that New Age Records ever released. This is the CD version which includes 5 songs as opposed to the 3 tracks that fit on the 7" version.

Despite this being available on other blogs, I couldn't pass up writing up a report on it. A better write-up on this record can be found at Zen And The Art Of Face Punching.

I really wish these guys were playing the Burning Fight Release show in Chicago in May. Speaking of which, I'm working on a post based around the bands playing that fest. Should be up within a few days.

Seriously ... the piano at the beginning of the song, "The Current" ... untouchable.

DOWNLOAD