Reviews

Hardcore for the Losers

Cemented Minds Colostrum 10″

There is no doubt that hardcore punk is a very malleable genre and bands can slowly venture into other sub-genres as time moves along. Loads of hardcore bands slow down on the aggression and tune into their emotions overtime. Hailing from France, CEMENTED MINDS have within their ranks hardcore punk musicians from bands like AMANDA WOODWARD, NINE ELEVEN, and AUSSITOT MORT, but on this project they went into a post-punk mode. Colostrum is their five-song debut, a collage of post-punk melancholia that still retains much of the hardcore energy and can very well please any fan of the aforementioned bands and post-punks alike.

Ed Warner Ruins of Nations LP

Twelve anxious doses that span a crevasse between early ’00s colossal crust and an indescribably awesome hardcore lurch. Makes me think of the NOW DENIAL…or maybe just some modern kids simultaneously harnessing anthemic core and honest intensity. Fans of fast and/or heavy and/or intense hardcore will want to pay attention here, because France’s ED WARNER ticks off literally every box.

Nailed In Shovel LP

Croatia’s NAILED IN offer some pissed, fast hardcore on their Shovel LP, taking clear influence from other pissed-off fast hardcore such as INFEST and the early ’80s Boston bands. If you’re into that type of stuff, then you should dig this slab a fair amount. It doesn’t quite grasp this reviewer as much as it should, but I do like it and would recommend it a listen.

Nervy Nikdy Jsme Si Nebyli Rovni, Ani Ve Smrti Nebudeme LP

Excellent neo-crust with an immediate TRAGEDY vibe, and although this style of bleak D-beat crust has been emulated for a couple decades now, NERVY really stands out with a stoic groove. I was really into MÖRKHIMMEL when I first heard them, and I’m picking up that intensity here. The production quality is spot-on: heavy and gritty at all the right levels. Vocals smolder and rattle with over-distortion at times, and the rhythm section is punctuated. Leads are set back, as they can kind of screech like a cat with some bands that play in this style. For the cliché I mentioned at the start of this review, NERVY lays it on thicker than most. The crucial plodding that travels through the entire LP is that real shit, in Czech—I will add, in that NIGHTFELL vein. Recommended if you need that warm crust glow in your shit mood.

Rules …Was It Six or Five Shots? EP

Taking their debut EP title from Dirty Harry’s legendary “Do ya feel lucky, punk?” speech, Zagreb’s RULES offers up six tracks of appropriately misanthropic, beefy mid-tempo hardcore in a post-Feel the Darkness vein. Shades of heavy hitters like CAUSTIC CHRIST and LONG KNIFE appear throughout, especially in the world-weary, angry vocals and the hard work the bassist does driving the band. There are some interesting melodic guitar flourishes along the way, with “Empty Minds, Talking Mouths” having a particularly interesting, nearly jazzy finish, emphasized but the drummer’s backbeat swing. The super generic, indie rock-style packaging does this record no favors in a crowded marketplace but this is worth tracking down if you dig the aforementioned bands for sure.