Tag: Hardcore CD Reviews

Rob Lind speaks out about the reunited Blood For Blood. An official statement.

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This week, on Thursday December 3rd, Blood For Blood is kicking off their, long awaited, European Tour, as part of the 2010 Persistence Tour. This will mark the first time since 2004 that Blood For Blood fans have been able to see the band live on stage. As previously announced by the band on June 19th 2010 (statement hereunder), Rob Lind decided not to join the rest of the band and Billy Graziadei, from Biohazard, will be filling in for him.

Today Rob Lind wants to share this official statement about not joining Blood For Blood (for now), the future of the band and his relationship with his band mates.

Hello there children!

It’s been long time…

A few months ago it was announced in the press that Blood For Blood would be touring again. Specifically it was announced that BFB would be doing this years annual Persistence Tour in Europe (with Sick Of It All, D.R.I., Unearth, Evergreen Terrace and others). It was also announced that Blood For Blood would be doing this tour and future shows without me.
In absence of a response or statement on my part, there was an immediate deluge of speculation, invective and hostility in reaction to the announcement online and in the scene. And it is ongoing.
Continue reading Rob Lind speaks out about the reunited Blood For Blood. An official statement.

Blood for Blood Reuniting

Blood For Blood are reuniting and heading out on tour after 6 years. An official statement from the band.

“First off, we would like to thank all our fans for hanging in there over the last six long years.  As of December 2010 Blood for Blood will embark on our first tour since 2004.  Blood for Blood has agreed to join the Persistence Tour in Europe sharing a stage with long time friends Sick of it All as well as other acts soon to be announced.
The decision to play again was not an easy one to make.  Over the last few years we have tried time and time again to contact Rob about a possible Blood for Blood reunion, but he has ignored every single attempt we have made.  Therefore, we were left with no other choice but to find someone else to fill in for his BFB responsibilities.  Now, let’s make this perfectly clear: we have no ill will towards Rob whatsoever.  We wish him well and Blood for Blood will always be open to him.
That being said, we were left with the conundrum of finding a fill-in for Rob.  After some careful thought we believe we found a perfect fill-in.  We are pleased to announce that Billy Graziadei of Biohazard will be joining Blood for Blood on stage for Persistence Tour 2010.
Again thanks for all the countless emails and support letters from all our fans over the years.  We are looking forward to seeing all your ugly faces again”.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD

About Blood For Blood:

If the ghost of Johnny Cash was to unexpectedly rise out of its tomb and supernaturally resurrect its musical soul in the form of a hardcore band, the result would be an anthemic, outlaw punch not unlike Boston’s favorite white trash hardcore hooligans, BLOOD FOR BLOOD.
While Cash grew up as a restless farm boy who longed for fast cars and fast women, the boys in BLOOD FOR BLOOD were reared in the projects and their outlaw spirit reflects the callous surroundings from which they were rendered. Blood For Blood are from outside. They stand on the threshold of society with all but a few toes tangling off the edge with a maniacal desperation, longing for sanity. Theirs is a journey from one end of alienation to the other – only to be flung violently back to the hole from which they crawled out of. “I been held down my whole life. This band is my opportunity to spit in society’s face…” says guitar player Rob Lind.
Inspired by bands such as Sheer Terror, Breakdown, Carnivore and Raw Deal, Blood For Blood formed as a reaction to the existing heavy music scene in Boston back in 1995. “We couldn’t relate to anything that was going on in Boston at the time,” says vocalist Erick Medina, “We wanted to hear music about the shit we saw and faced everyday. The scene at the time was a fashion show.” Blood For Blood make no mistake about what their talents are – and what talents they lack. They don’t sing. They don’t rap. They don’t dance. They don’t act. And they definitely ain’t too pretty. They are white trash hardcore rock and roll. And they have just begun their invasion of today’s hair-and-nails conscious heavy music scene.
Blood For Blood have cultivated a large, and dangerously loyal, fanbase since their inception almost a decade ago. Having toured with such acts as DROPKICK MURPHYS, TERROR, and SICK OF IT ALL, exposing their venom to the nation, the band has left an indelible and hungry mark on the scene. The band has successfully put five recordings under the belt, with four of them having been released through VICTORY RECORDS and having had received countless praise in the press worldwide. Blood For Blood has always garnered real, genuine admiration among their fans as well – fans who have been known to willingly bruise, bleed, and become scarred for them at their notoriously ‘high risk’ live shows. 
Musically, few bands can touch the viscously aggressive hardcore/punk rock sound of Blood For Blood which is served up like a platter full of Sheer Terror, Madball, and The Bruisers.
Lyrically, Blood For Blood combines the depravity and pain of the world they see outside their door every day with the experiences of their own dead end lives in an outlaw-poetry style that truly affects its listeners in a deep way. “We get letters from dudes in prisons in New York, Boston, Detroit and even Alabama, telling us that our shit (music) gets them through and helps ’em face another day,” says guitarist Rob Lind. Like Cash playing his outlaw songs to the inmates decades ago, today’s redemption-seeking inmates are turning to the choruses of BLOOD FOR BLOOD for solace in hard times.

If you’ve plowed through all your dead ends and need to find friendship in a cold hard world…If loneliness and solitude is all you’ve know and you long to find family when you had none…If rock bottom has ever left you praying under cold street lights…If in your neighborhood, you’ve seen one too many stolen cars drive by, well, then it’s time you raise your fist in the air and join in the outlaw anthems of Blood For Blood.

BLOOD FOR BLOOD’s last album, “Serenity”, was released in May 2004.

Strength Approach – All The Plans We Made Are Going To Fail

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(c) 2009 Pee Records
Rating: ★★★☆☆

strength_approach_300Up until recently, and by that I mean when this disc hit my door, I hadn’t ever heard of Strenght Approach. This is, of course, too bad for me. It is also too bad for fans (who also haven’t heard them) of anthemic hardcore punk in the vein of H2O and Sick Of It All (albeit more of the former than the later) Despite my shallow knowledge pool of all things international hardcore, Italy’s own Strength Approach has a new disc out on Pee Records. (at least for Aussie distribution) “All The Plans We Made Are Going To Fail” packs 15 original musical numbers, 1 obnoxious noise track and 2 covers (Black Flag and the aforementioned Sick Of It All) 18 tracks in just under 35 minutes. I like the sound of that. By that I mean that I like the sound of this disk. Now that I’m thinking about it, the vox remind my ever-so-slightly of John Connely of Nuclear Assault. You? … Here’s the important bits though: Good disk, action packed. There is some interesting guitar work and the music is tight and a piece of listening advice, this disc sounds good loud. Tell your neighbors that I said it was ok to crank the stereo.

-Jerry Actually

Skarhead – Drugs, Music & Sex

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(c) 2009 I Scream Records
Rating: ★★★½☆

skarhead_300A. There isn’t enough good Hardcore anymore. B. East Coast Hardcore is the straight up goods. C. Skarhead freakin’ kills it. Skarhead returns with Drugs, Music & Sex, out now on I Sream Records. What’s in it for you? 13 tracks of crushing Hardcore and some insight on the well founded urban confluence of Hardcore Punk and Hardcore Rap. Perhaps I should explain that. In most situations you get Hardcore bands bridging the genre from Hardcore to Rap by being more “rap-like”. In the case of Skarhead the idea happens in reverse. Traditional hip-hop/rap devices (like scratching) are transmuted into hardcore. The effect works. Genre comparisons aside, Drugs, Music & Sex is a pretty damn decent disc. 13 tracks that shred your guts out, vocals that sound like Overkill on track 4, “Bomb the System”, a whole mess of tracks that are acronyms for titles and a shit ton of self-aggrandizing name drops. Like I mentioned before, it works.

–Jerry Actually

Skarhead – Drugs Music & Sex

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Skarhead’s brand new album “Drugs, Music & Sex” hits US stores on November 17th!

Skarhead was founded in 1995 by Lord Ezec and the EP “Drugs, Money, Sex” was released that same year. Their follow up album, “Kings At Crime” took the worldwide hardcore scene by storm in 1999 and instantaneously became one of the all time classic hardcore records. Today 10 years after the release of “Kings At Crime” Lord Ezec, a street fighting legend from Queens and leader in the hardcore community, is back as frontman of the world’s most infamous hardcore bands!

“Drugs, Music & Sex” is already a classic and Ezec has managed to record another timeless album for those who love a good blend of street brutality and the most ignorant hardcore party anthems a band can create. A record with yet another impressive and distinct list of collaborations featuring some of hardcore’s greatest from the now and legends from the past such as Freddy Cricien, CIV, Eddie Leeway, Jamey Jasta and Armand from Sick Of It All, to name only a few. Thirteen brand new tracks that will shake the fundaments of the hardcore, metal and punk scene!!!

Provoke – This is Real

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(c) 2009 Pee Records
Rating: ★★★½☆

provoke_realSo I’m listening to “This is Real” from the Brisbane, Australia band Provoke and something occurs to me. Is globalization affecting music? I think that it is. This is some serious East Coast Hardcore. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing by any means, but I find it intriguing that so many miles and so much water can separate scenes only to have music that sounds like it came from the same mean streets that brought Agnostic Front or Sick of it All or Slapshot. Maybe, instead, it is something more universal. Maybe the bullshit blue collar upbringing, the angst filled days and hope-crushing nights affect us all in a similar manner? What if this is the natural expunging of a pain that we all feel? Before I go off on a crazy sociological tangent, I’ll try to rein it back in a bit. Provoke is a four piece (currently) band from Queensland Australia and have been bringing the heavy noise since 2005. “This is Real” gives up 10 tracks, nine of which clock in well under my three minute cutoff. The final track is obviously a ballad at 4:03 and based on that I won’t even discuss it ‘round these parts. As a final note, it is refreshing to hear some honest-to-goodness hardcore that doesn’t sound like you’ve heard all their shit before. Yes it rings true to what you’re looking for, but as far as this Yank’s ears go this is some sweet new angst. Go get this. If you need some help finding it, shoot me an email and I’ll see if I can’t help you get a copy for yourself.

–Jerry Actually

La Vieja Guardia

(c) 2008 I Scream Records
Rating: ★★★★☆

la_vieja_guardiaHere’s another victim of my office clutter and the third in the hardcore bracket. La Vieja Guardia (The Old Guard) is a five track EP of Miami hardcore en Espanol from a band of the same name. From this small sampling, La Vieja Guardia is an able hardcore band with quite the pedigree. Produced by Randy Bradbury of Pennywise and featuring former members of bands such as Guajiro, Ignite, Slapshot and The Vandals, La Vieja Guardia represents a new emergence of the Miami hardcore scene and sound. I look forward to rocking more of this in the future. Good stuff. Get it!

–Jerry Actually

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Earth Crisis – Breed The Killers (re-release)

(c) 2008 I Scream Records
Rating: ★★★☆☆

earth_crisis_breed_the_killersHere’s another one from the office floor. This is the re-issue of the 1998 Earth Crisis “classic” Breed the Killers. The original 12 tracks are remastered and 2 bonus live tracks, including the previously unreleased “Standing Corpses”. Did ya like this back in ’98? If you did, then I’ll bet you’ll like it now. If you haven’t heard it, but you’re way into aggro concern-o-core then this is the shit. It roils with vitriolic anger about stuff. Get it. Crank it. Show your concern.

–Jerry Actually

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Terror – Forever Crossing the Line

(c) 2009 Trustkill Records
Rating: ★★★½☆

terrorSo ya think hardcore can’t come from the left coast? Well you’re wrong. L.A. Based Terror flippin’ rips it up old school. Forever Crossing The Line (5 Years In The Making) comes correct in all ways. Driving rhythms, pounding drums, crushing guitar, vox with just enough menace but not too much growl. You get 17 tracks, some live, of what is ostensibly East Coast Hardcore albeit from the West Coast. Just because you have palm trees and white sand beaches doesn’t mean you ever get to see ’em. Any way, I know that this review is hella late and Terror even has a new one out (The Damned The Shamed). I was cleaning my office and found it at the bottom of the stack. I feel that this disc is worthy of attention for its true to form hardcore.

–Jerry Actually

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Excuse The Blood – Demo EP

(c) 2008 Excuse The Blood
Rating: ★★★☆☆

excuse_the_blood Excuse The Blood is a Bay area 3-piece outfit with a pretty eclectic mix of sounds. Without trying to pigeon hole them, they sound like a mix of Slapshot-esque hardcore and a reggae/ska/punk blend ala Op Ivy or perhaps Rudiments. Despite the obvious influence the music feels fresh. The tempo keeps a good pace through the five tracks. That the disc is only a demo perhaps is the biggest shortcoming. Since I don’t have more of a sampling I’m going with a 3/5 instead of possibly higher. I’d like to hear more from Excuse The Blood. Until such time that a new release comes out, you can check the band out at their website www.excusetheblood.com

–Jerry Actually

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