Ahhh!! October, one of my favorite months in the year. Why you ask? Well first off, I live in Texas. When October hits, it means the weather if finally getting colder and I can finally wear hoodies again. I love hoodies. The second awesome thing about October is Halloween. Who the fuck doesn't like Halloween? Also, it's October so that means it's time to crack open another Cicatriz' Six Pack.
We start this month off with Ordstro and their Summer 2011 Tape. As expected this is one solid, almost 11 minute track. It runs much like a tape would, not skipping tracks. I'm guessing these San Fran natives released this Demo in tape format. This single track appears to be seven , one to two minute tracks of some awesome powerviolence. This shit is fucking brutal, my ears are happy and it makes me wish I had the tape format of these tracks and not just the lame digital. I get me a tape player! I'm sure a lot of you youngens are asking what the hell a tape is. Back in my day, we didn't have Cds, we had tapes. We didn't burn a disk full of track we loved, we made things like mix-tapes. Most of my mix-tapes consisted of recording underground and indie music off the college and independent radio. It looks like tapes are the new throwback music media.
Ordstro goes good with: The Locust, Retox, Cattle Decapitation, His Hero Is Gone, Weekend Nachos, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Charles Bronson
Our second band this month is Bear Awareness and their album Pillage and Burn. First off, I must say this is an awesome name for a band. These guys are a good mixture of fast core, grind core and powerviolence out of Los Angeles. Two stand out tracks on this album are: "The Jewish, Pig Destroyer" and "Fear of Bacon". The quality on these tracks are not the best but do give you an idea of where this band is going musical direction wise. A solid release with a garagey diy ethic. You are now aware of Bear Awareness.
Bear Awareness goes good with: Retox, The Locust, Despise You, Lack of Interest, Stapled Shut.
Third up this month is Glasgow, Scotland Natives Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair (yes, that is 4 Wheelchair) with their debut EP, Bald and Dead. This is a really good debut. I'm glad to see some good ole' fashioned powerviolence coming from the other side of the pond. My favorite track is "Your Cancer, My Cock". Unfortunately the band has taken down the free download for this album at the time of my write up. If you ask me real nice I might just email you a copy.
Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair goes good with; Despise You, Retox, Assuck, His Hero Is Gone, Man Is The Bastard, Wiccans
Check out Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair Wheelchair here: http://www.myspace.com/4wheelchairs
Next up is Pittsburgh 3 piece, Torn Off with their 67 track (7 proper tracks) disc Snake Breathe. When I first downloaded this album I was astonished by the number of tracks on it. 67 is a bit intimidating. Quickly, I learned that it was only seven tracks. Needles to say I was had but at least I was entertained. The boys in Torn Off offer up a great mix of a doom laden, crusty hardcore. Everything about this band is great. Musically they are tight. The vocals a screamed and fit really well with the music. I also really enjoyed all the soundbites before the songs. "Give Up" and "Ghost Blood" are my two favorite tracks. If you like really good hardcore with serious breakdowns check these doods out.
Torn Off goes good with: Weekend Nachos, The Acacia Strain, His Hero Is Gone, Tragedy, Trap Them
What do Jean Claude Van Damne, Rob Van Damn and this next band have in common? Well besides the sir name Vandamme, they both kick ass! Vandamme is powerviolence band out of Italy. Who knew the Italians could be so damn violent. They offer up their EP 6 Songs, 3 Minutes. Extreme brutality and pretty cool lyrics make this band awesome....you know besides the cool name. Best track on the album is the opener, "Veggie Food Is Not For Preppies"
"we don't give a fuck about rich preppies menus we don't care about a juicy gourmet our war is an everyday fight an everyday massacre"
Vandamme goes good with: Retox, The Locust, Some Girls, Converge
Oh no!!! We're down to our last of this months Six Pack. Better make it good. Waveriders, I give you End Times and their latest demo: Demo 2011. End Times is hardcore band with metal tendencies outta Dallas. As you may of inferred from past write ups, I am a Dallas/Fort Worth native. So, I am always a little partial to give the local boys some space on my write ups. The only way to build a good scene is for people to know their is one and to have awesome bands that want to play awesome jams in that scene. End Times definitely give the DFW area something to be proud of. My favorite track is the brutal "Pestilence". Awesome guitar work and a punky d-beat drum make this one special. Lyrically this song makes me want to jump in the pit, fight my way up to the stage so I can sing along and sing proud.
"The end begins, the fire will come to boil their greed, bound by shackles, forced to see, suffering.
Taking their homes, taking their lives, punish their souls for all of their lies. the dawn of the new world begins, as the old world ends.
Ashes filling the sky leaving our mark on their world Their blackened souls will rot, undying pestilence.
Burn it down, their blackened souls will rot.
Burn it down, their souls will rot... "
End Times goes good with: Unit 21, Black Flag, Ragging Boner, Trapped Under Ice, His Hero Is Gone, Weekend Nachos, Earth Crisis, Integrity
So we have polished off another Six Pack. Join me next month for more bandcamp.com bands you need to know about. If you are in a band or know one that you would like to see on Cicatriz Six Pack: shoot me an email @ cicatrizrip@gmail.com or find me on facebook.
I have always been really big on punk rock, especially hardcore. My favorite thing about the punk/hardcore scene is the diy attitude. Do it yourself, cause no one is gonna do it for you. This attitude of doing things yourself is relates to many fascists of life, not just where music is concerned. In order to get things done, sometimes you have to do it yourself. Denton, Texas' Wiccans are no exception to this do it yourself attitude, having just come off a successful self booked national tour of the United States and their recent LP release Skullduggery. Wiccans are definitely doing it for themselves.
From beginning to end, Skullduggery feeds my need for punk rock. We begin our journey with the song, "Intro". Much as the title depicts, it is our first glimpse of what Wiccans has to offer. It's as punk rock as punk rock can get. The sound is a non stop punk, reminiscent of Black Flag. The first official track on the album is a song called, "Ephemera". Man, is it good. Clocking in at under two minutes, this song features a melodic guitar and one hell of a catchy beat. Vocalist Adam's voice adds a special uniqueness to the mix. Vocally the lyrics are shouted but his voice itself is totally different than anything I have heard before.
"Crusty Royalty" is one of my favorite tracks on the album. It is reminiscent of Agnostic Front, sprinkled with Gregg Ginn-ish guitars. It's fast, it's good it's punk as fuck. Another amazing track on this album is "Key To Success". Again, really catchy song right here. A nice little breakdown towards the middle of this song makes it stand out from some of the others. The vocal delivery of this song really makes me think of Black Flag's song "Damaged".
If you're like me and you love punk rock and hardcore Wiccans is the band for you. Keep your eyes peeled and your ears open, Wiccans will most likely be touring again soon. You just can't keep these guys away. Their live shows are full on non stop intensity. If you have a chance to catch them at a local diy house show or anywhere, do yourself a favor and make it happen. Did I mention you can download their LP for free? This means you have no reason not to take a listen to some awesome hardcore punk.
Wiccans goes good with: Black Flag, Ragging Boner, Harm's Way, Weekend Nachos, MDC, D.R.I., Agnostic front, Mundo Muerto, Unit 21
Hey, Waiveriders! It's your old pal Cicatriz. Today I bring you another awesomely hard hitting Hardcore album. Today we speak of Harm's Way. Harm's Way is a Metallic Hardcore outfit out of the Windy City, Chicago, Illinois. They bring us their new album Isolation.
Harm 's Way kicks things off with the track, “Scrambled”. This is a great opener. It starts off as an intro with a simple drum beat, casually adding in guitars that and at the 1:31 mark it's on. Full of down tempo guitars and bass. Classic hardcore ethics here. Drums on this track are the stand out in my opinion. They are a nice mixture of classic hardcore drums, with a little d-beat and metallic double bass thrown in. Vocally this song is angry as all hell. The lyrics are spit it you in a manner where you don't feel like you're being yelled it. They flow with the song perfectly.
The title track “Isolation” is the third track on this eight track hardcore masterpiece. Much of the same going on here. Hard hitting drums, crunchy guitar work and one angry sounding vocalist. For fans of riff heavy hardcore this is the jam to check out. Some of the lyrical content I was able to make out clearly were, in no particular order: “bitter wasteland...separate myself,.. separate my soul..there's a place for me”.
“Pretender” is the final and longest track off Isolation. Clocking in at epic 7:28, “Pretender” wraps things up nicely. (Well angrily but you know what I mean.) This is a very cool track. Seems almost spacey to an extent as if these straight-edgers accidentally hit the bong before recording. The track starts off like any other hardcore song but at around the 3:30 mark you are hit with a clean guitar sound spoken words. Soon after the drums kick back accompanied by some spacey sounding guitars and Isolation comes to a close.
All things said it's an awesome album. I can only imagine a bunch of “hardcore kids” karate chopping, throwing elbows and “picking up change” in the pit at a Harm's Way show. Harm's Way may be a new name to some Hardcore listeners but are well on their way to becoming a household name to metal and hardcore listeners alike.
Harm's Way goes good with band such as: Weekend Nachos, Bitter End, Mind Eraser, Trapped Under Ice, Pulling Teeth.
“Oh my God, this is fast as fuck!!”, these are the words are screamed the first time a caught a listen to Weekend Nachos new album, Worthless. Hailing from Dekalb, IL, Weekend Nachos aims to be the light at the end of my dimly lit hardcore tunnel.
Leading off Worthless is the heavy guitar laden, breakdown consumed track “Hometown Hero." An in your face, punch your grandma in the kisser, power violence ferocious track…done in about a minute flat. “Obituary”, the second track is much of the same. Power violence at it’s finest.
Another stand out track on the album is, the title track “Worthless”. An instrumental track that starts off with lots of pa feedback that leads into doom style guitar riffs at about the 2 minute mark. “Worthless” is used as a lead in to the track “Friendship”. Which is 35 seconds of pure violent bliss.
Power Violence is a funny genre. Funny that, you either despise it or you love it. It’s not for the weak at heart and neither is Weekend Nachos. They are a high-intensity in your face band. If you are into fast music in the vei of Tragedy, Behind Enemy Lines, Infest, Mind Eraser or The Locust then Weekend Nachos’Worthless is right up your ally.
