Pulling Teeth - Funerary
A389/Firestarter Records, 2011



These guys were a hardcore outfit from Baltimore that broke up at the end of 2011. This was their final album, and it's my personal favorite, as it shows some progression away from the straight up speed-n-scream typically found around the time and into the more sludge-based soundscapes that a band like Integrity could do so well.

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That track actually reminded me a bit of Neurosis. Not bad at all.

I stopped following new hardcore bands around the tail end of the 90s or so. Part of the problem was I overdosed on a lot of metallic hardcore before then and there were all sorts of second string copycat bands starting to pop up, so I didn't stick around for the next wave of good stuff.

Re: Integrity, they made a couple of great albums but I eventually lost interest in them too. I've read that some of their latter day records are great, but never heard any of them.

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LionsMouth
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That track actually reminded me a bit of Neurosis. Not bad at all.

I stopped following new hardcore bands around the tail end of the 90s or so. Part of the problem was I overdosed on a lot of metallic hardcore before then and there were all sorts of second string copycat bands starting to pop up, so I didn't stick around for the next wave of good stuff.

Re: Integrity, they made a couple of great albums but I eventually lost interest in them too. I've read that some of their latter day records are great, but never heard any of them.

These guys definitely spent some time listening to Neurosis.

Hardcore kind of burned itself out with a bunch of bands that just sounded the same, and I can only take so much of that kind of self-derivative repetition. These days, I usually find out about any decent bands completely by accident. I happened to be in Baltimore with my wife back around 2009 or so, and heard about these guys from someone in a record shop up there. After checking out a couple of songs, I could tell they had something different going on. It wasn't until this album came out though that I really got into their sound. Unfortunately they had some rough times in their personal lives and broke up shortly after.

Integrity can still put out some solid stuff. I don't listen to them as much as I used to back around the time Seasons In The Size Of Days came out, but if I happen to run across something by them that I don't have yet, I always try to pick it up. One of these days I'll try to get caught up on everything.

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No Hope for the Kids - Discography Tape



You know how punk bands like the Damned, TSOL, the Adolescents, the Adverts, Angel Orange, etc. could have those dark sounding, tense punk rock songs bordering on goth punk? That's what NHFTK are doing here. These guys were a Danish band around in the early 2000s, but I didn't find out about them until a few years later. They only made one album and some singles before splitting up, and this tape (released in Poland by Trujaca Fala) has all of that IIRC. Worth a listen if you dig this kind of stuff. The vinyl and CD versions of this stuff are still affordable so I'd probably recommend going that route over trying to track down this tape.

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Uniform Choice - Screaming for Change



Thought I would post this since Southern Lord Records has just announced a reissue on vinyl.

Uniform Choice were an 80s hardcore band from Orange County, sort of the West Coast's answer to Minor Threat. In fact, a lot of people have noticed that the general sound, lyrical concepts, etc. are a little too similar to Minor Threat, possibly to the point of rip off. Although I wouldn't say this is the most original 80s hardcore album I've ever heard, it is a great record. I think this is one of those few cases where a very derivative band succeeded in making a great record. In fact, at one point I probably listened to a this a lot more than Minor Threat. Where U.C. do add a little more personality of their own is a greater emphasis on melody and a couple songs that would've fit in with forward looking contemporaries such as Dag Nasty. Although there is a lot of aggression here, it's not unbridled rage like the first two Minor Threat EPs.

After this album, the band changed up their sound considerably for their second LP, Staring into the Sun. I have no problem with bands doing that but in this case I don't think it worked. They became a lot more melodic but there was a hair metal/pop metal edge to their second album, which also suffered from really bad production IMHO. Of course there are people that vehemently disagree with me, so check it out for yourself and make up your own mind.

Discogs Page

Bandcamp/Preorder LP Reissue

Preorder Direct - Blue Reissue LP

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