Today's Post: Harcore, the way it should be

Most hardcore is simply ass. Fact. Hardcore, like any genre is like digging in the gold mines. You have to dynamite the crap out of the useless stones that lie in the way of the treasure. Rough simile but you get the idea. I am severely bored by most hardcore and that includes many many modern day acts. The heyday of Hardcore came and went a long time ago and in the meantime you have to wait for the right acts to form and re instill your faith in the style. Band after band tries to recapture that past energy and fails to do so. Then the image nonsense comes along and pollutes the scene further. Suddenly you just don't know what the hell is going on with a style of music you once loved dearly. Everyone has dealt with that tragedy and will become just as selective as I have over time if you aren't already.

I will not lie to you, I didn't really start looking into hardcore bands until I was out of High School and I'm glad I waited that long. It allowed me to have a very objective attitude towards the genre as I determine which bands I allow to grace my fine tuned ears.

Without further introduction I give to you two acts which I feel really keep that relentless attack mode strong in their approach. Obviously there are more acts to come that fall under this description so consider this my introduction to hardcore albums/bands you should know about.


Rot In Hell - Hallways of the Always (2009)



Rot In Hell is one of the UK's best kept secrets but A389 Recordings is attempting change all of that as they released "Hallways of the Always" this year on LP. The band has released numerous 7"s, most are long out of print so I thought I would post their most recent release which is still very available for you to buy. Yeah that's right, I said buy in reference to music.

This band is a jolt of frightening excitement. They are like a more pissed off version of Ringworm, that pissed. I strongly believe that this is the only appropriate way that hardcore should be played these days; seething with tenacious anger. I could go on and on trying to talk up these guys and it would just be useless. Pissed and ready to kill. That's all you need to know. In fact I feel I'm stressing these points too much anyway, I should just post albums and you go and download them.



Mammoth Grinder - Rage and Ruin (2008)



These guys are from Austin and if anyone is aware of the sheer insane hardcore/power-violence/grind acts that Texas has been producing for the past few years, then you know where this is going. We'll dive more into that with future posts. I posted "Rage and Ruin" here and they just released "Extinction of Humanity" a few months back which is equally devastating as are most things pertaining to the utter annihilation of mankind.

Like Mind Eraser and other notable aggressors, Mammoth Grinder just know how to do it and they do it with extreme vehemence.

While the band is clearly driven by a lot of grind and power violence elements it is clear in their song writing that they are first and foremost a hardcore band. This an act where if you listen to a dozen modern day hardcore acts and then switch the needle over to these fellas, you can just feel the difference.