C.F.A. - 'Managed By The Devil, Brought To You By The Grace Of God' (Ripple) 4/5

CFA (aka The Cody Foster Army) hail from Tacoma, Washington State in the US, and have been around for four or five years now. They are a three piece whose greatly experienced members cut their teeth in such luminary underground cult punk outfits such as Inbreed, Daisy Love, Toxic Shock, Miserable Bastards, Stump, Crash Landing, Buckwildz, and Mico De Noche. This is the bands debut album.

Now this is a very interesting one, CFA play a very curious and nearly unique sounding blend of stoner rock old school hardcore punk and sludge fired primordial thrashy doom metal. Tracks like The hard and driving Shake Your Ass, Never free and Sons Of The Soil and pretty much the rest of this sixteen tracker fly past in a glorious mix of old school metal riffage, hardcore screamed vocals and buckets of raw punk attitude. Other highlights include the Sabbath with a glue bag doomy pound of Kick Rocks and the Venom influenced Holy Colonoscopy.

There also a couple of very interesting cover versions on show, there's the old Bob Marley classic Iron Lion Zion, stripped of its Reggae back beats and given a full metal work over, and the result is pretty impressive, sounding a bit like The Subhumans over all. However the best track on the whole album is a version of the old Creedance Clearwater classic Fortunate Son, played fairly straight, but a LOT heavier, here CFA have taken a track inspired by the pointless conflicts of the 1960s and made it relevant to the pointless conflicts of the modern age.

Over I like this album lots, but I do fear a little for CFA in this age of excessive sub genres and musical pigeon holes. I can see many of the metal heads and stoner freaks finding it a bit too hardcore, and the core scene kiddies finding it a bit too old school metal. But I also live in hope that anyone who likes real musical experimentation will find this a refreshing and interesting mix of styles with a lot to offer the broadminded listener.

Well worth checking out

For fans of... P.O.T., Mighty High, Cannabis Corpse, Venom.....

Big Viking - 'Fucks' (self released) 3/5

Big Viking come from Michigan in the US, and apart from that I know naff all about them. I stumbled on this three tracker as a random surf find, and I'm pretty glad I did, if only for the opening cut.


Sounding like a motorway horror smash between Cannibal Corpse and Converge, this one kicks off with a superb little cut entitled Ray Romano Chop House, a cut that grinds like a bastard, grunts and screams like struck pig and is generally three and a half minutes of fairly impressive in your face metal punk cross over action. Hell theres even a couple of light tongue in cheek spoken interjections to break up the asre grinding intensity.

The other two cuts Bud Dink and Amulet Dead are a pair of flawed gems. They are well played and very enjoyable, but suffer a little from slipshod production and fairly big volume drops, which after the magnificence of the lead track comes over as little bit frustrating, hence I've docked a mark or two. Still it's nothing that can't be cured with a little playing around in Audacity or other such software but a listener wants to download and enjoy, not download and remix.

However believe me this ep is worth getting hold of for the lead track alone, when its a free download you can't really complain that much.

Check it out now

For fans of... Cannibal Corpse, Cattle Decapitation, Converge, Amen....

(Download this ep for free from - http://bigviking.bandcamp.com/ )

Various Artists - 'The End is Near' (Shire Records) 4.5/5

The End Is Near is the title of a series of highly successful punk weekenders held in the sleepy Wiltshire town of Trowbridge, that are rapidly becoming some of the most important events on the UK punk scene, having attracted the likes of The Sub-Humans and Rita Lynch in recent times. Now the organisers have put together this rather tasty 15 track compilation celebrating and showcasing some of the best acts that have appeared at the events.

Now this is a rather good un over all, kicking off with Disco, a rather neat slam and boogie cut from The Blunders, this CD is a great portal into the best punk from the English West Country and beyond. I'm not going to give you a track by track breakdown - far better you dig yourself a copy up and explore it for yourself. But I will point out a few of the highlights on offer...

There's Petrol with the driven and frenzied Feed Yourself, Hater UK give a glorious low fi rendition of the Kevin 'Bloody' Wilson classic Hey Santa!. Instrumental noise grind merchants We Are Romans serve up a groovy little cut entitled Heligoland and the irrepressible Rita Lynch gives the spin tingling Longing. Chuck in The Dynamite Pussy Club with Vampire Blues and nine other pretty damn god and infectious cuts from the likes of The Set Backs, Bite The Buffalo and A-Heads and you have a real treat for all those who like it a bit on the punk side.

There is an old joke that says 'punk aint dead, it just smells that way', well this gem not only shows that punk is alive and kicking, but it till has something to say and is laying waste to small Wiltshire towns in the process

Get a copy and pogo til you puke

For fans of... PUNK

Campus - 'Empathy' (Small Town Records) 4.5/5

With two full length albums under their belt already Belgium based hardcore / screamo outfit Campus have recently undergone a bit of a line up change and are now a five piece and have just issued this their latest four track ep.

Kicking off with a rather vicious and angst fueled little rage rocker of a title track this ep is a nice short an sweet exercise in all that good about hardcore punk. Snarling and aggressive barked and growled vocals and mercilessly pound and pummel beats are inter-cut with soaring and uplifting clean vocals and some perfectly sweet melodic lead guitar lines. If your familiar with the work of the likes of Converge, While She Sleeps, Terakai, Red Enemy etc then you'll know exactly where these guys are coming from, and  if the like of the aforementioned bands are your thing then check this one out, it will be right up your street. This ep is raw to the bone, dripping bleeding heart emotion and delivered with an attitude and approach that marks them out as being up there with the very best in their field.

Of the four impressive cuts on offer, in my humble opinion the best of the crop is the closer Young Bastard, a song that just bleeds sorrow, rage, anger and rebellion from a slashed musical artery of raw emotion, then stitches the wounds with a solid wall of hard driven determination. Very Very good stuff indeed.

I know hardcore isn't everyones cup of tea, but if you like your music on the bleeding edge of empathetic emotion then you really should add this one to your collection.

Bloody Great.


For fans of.. Converge, Terakai, Red Enemy, Gay For Johnny Depp, The Hotel Ambush....

Violet - 'The Brightside EP' (small town records) 4.5/5

Derby outfit Violet first got together a few years back they have issued their debut full length album back in 2010 and now have followed it up with this their current ep.

Now I like a band who likes to mix their genres and influences, and mixing it up is something that Violet do to the extreme. Take a track like Seven For A Secret, it kicks off with a guitar riff thats all Journey style stadium AOR, transmutes it into a nice commercial and melodic You and Me At Six type mainstream radio rocker and then... WHAM, from out of left field comes a wall of snarling and aggressive hardcore style vocals and razor blade riffing, then it spends the rest of the four minute play time bouncing the styles off each other like some huge game of musical bumper cars.

There are eight tracks on offer here, five on the main ep and three bonus cuts, and they all show the same glorious intermix and reciprocity of styles. You really do get a bit of everything, commercial mainstream rock vocal lines, old school hardcore growls and snarls, indie boy jangly guitars, massive stadium rock progressions, touches of metal riffage, dollops of post punk attitude... this ep is really one nice big bowl of musical chuckit served up as hot as it comes. Highlights? Well I'm loving all but the closing bonus track Away From Everything is to me this ones true stand out cut.

Now I know the mix of styles my alienate some of the less broadminded out there, but but believe me anyone who like s to experiment with their listening will find much here to reward them

Highly recommended.

for fans of... Converge, AFI, You And Me At Six, Dear Superstar, Funeral For A Friend....

Veil Of Maya - 'Eclipse' (Sumerian) 3.5/5

This is album number four from Illinois progressive deathcore outfit Veil of Maya, a band who are very much caught up in the hip and happening djent scene at the moment.

Now I'm not sure if I like this one or not. There are places on this album like the brutal post hardcore riff fest of The Glass Slide and the progtastic Eclipse, that I can only describe as superb. Yet in other places such as the messy and over complex Divide Paths where any kind of vibe and musical flow has been sacrificed on the alter of seaming soulless math rock.

This is a shame, cos there is a lot of interesting stuff going on here, the musicianship is great and Brandon Butlers pig grunt vocals are as brutal and effective as it gets.

Still its horses for courses I suppose, and djentist and the like will love it up.

Try before you buy

For fans of... Periphery, Rolo Tomassi, Between The Buried And Me, The Faceless, Uneven Structure....

The Ottawa Hoax - 'Kid Gloves, Made With Real Kids' (self released) 4.5/5

I first encountered Bristol hardcore / metalcore outfit The Ottawa Hoax a good few years ago when my old mate, and former band buddy Jim Cogan was producing their debut demo, and I was impressed with what I heard. then as is often the case with local and unsigned bands they dropped off my radar, but now they are back with this their latest ep.

There are four cuts on offer and I am finding this one really enjoyable.We start with God's Rottweiler a delightfully brutal little exercise in blending old school hardcore attitude and aggression with more modern metalcore sensibilities, and it works really well, there is none of the cliche clean v dirty vocal interplay going on. Yes there are clean and dirty vocals but they are blended together so well the transitions are barely noticeable, and the result is a sweet little mosh your brains out opus that makes even this old hippy want to start a circle pit.

Next up is Mendeleev, a slightly more experimental opus that comes over like Melt Banana meeting Rolo Tomassi for one helluva fucked up blues jam. Chuck in the Converge influenced Odourdose and the Gay For Johnny Depp meets AFI fueled Kid Gloves with sweet acoustic passages inter-cut with some first rate hardcore brutality and the result is a sweet little ep that is gonna win this lot a lot of friends.


Recommended - Highly recommended

For fans of.. Converge, Rolo Tomassi, The Hotel Ambush, The Bled....

Betty Swallaux - 'Grinding Betty' (self released) 4.5/5

Just a few short months after hitting the world with a very strong demo release, Llanelli grindcore experimentalists Betty Swallaux are back with their debt album.

If you have managed to track down Betty Swallaux's demo you'll know Gaz Wooloff and his crew have developed an almost unique sound, blending elements of industrial grindcore and extreme metal sensibilities with 'nintendo-core' style electronica, elements of progressive rock and great slices of traditional punk, add in the in your face use of drum machines and loops and the result is a sound that is as near unique as you'll hear anywhere.

This nifty eight tracker kicks off with Fantasy, a nifty little number that starts out sounding like something from a 1990's console game sound track before plunging head long into a wall of glorious Electro Hippies influenced noise. Other high points include Ramstein on acid industrial grind of Deep, the wonderful Give Me Some More, a track that bizarrely wouldn't sound to out of place on an album by the late great Robert Calvert and gloriously brutal Cruel Britannia (in my books the stand out track on the album) with its damning political lyrics and breakneck slam dance frenzy riffing.

There a couple of cover versions on show here as well... the old Divynils standard I Touch My Self is a pretty straight forward rendition in the Betty Swallaux style and makes for an enjoyable listen. Then theres a stripped down and rebuilt version of America (Just Say No), an early single by Bristol band Alien Stash Tin that blows the balls off the original.

Another plus here is the production, Its about as slick as its possible to get with a home recording rig and still maintain Betty Swallaux unique sound and jagged edge attack. Something the guys should be proud of.

Over all Betty Swallaux are one of the most unique, innovative and exciting projects around at the moment and should be bound for international cult status at the very least, and this album will only go to help that process along in fine style.

SUPERB!!!

For fans of... Ramstein, Amebix, 23 Skidoo, Electro Hippies, Elephant 12....

We Die Tonight - "Stem The Tide" - (Self released) 3.5/5

'Just when you thought it was safe to go back to the inbox....' The tide of metalcore wannabes had been drying up over the past few months, and I was starting think the whole movement was dead or at least on its last legs; but then with out warning my inbox and ears are suddenly brutally assaulted by this four tracker by London hopefuls We Die Tonight, to show us that the corpse of metalcore hasn't quite finished kicking just yet.

To be honest, this one aint that bad, and does have something interesting to bring to the table. While in some places it does sound a bit like almost every other metalcore outfit I've been sent recently, in other places it show some creativity. There's the superb climax to opener Dancing With Daggers with its impressive selection of riffs, insanely heavy approach and some cool and controlled dirty vocals; and the wonderful Salt In The Sharkbite which kicks off with a very impressive speedcore opening, takes in a mathcore sequence that make Periphery sound like a 4/4 rock and roll band and some glorious post thrash brutal guitar attack.

But there is a fundamental flaw here, and that's the vocals. Like every other metal core outfit since the dawn of time we have the old clean and dirty vocalist interplay here. Now because every metalcore band on the planet, and their dogs are doing that the whole thing since the year dot, it's starting to become a bit of a cliche, and unless its done very very well, just doesn't work. And sadly this is the case here.

Now please, please, please don't get me wrong , both the clean and dirty vocals here are good, both guys (that's if it IS two guys and not Peter Park doing vocal gymnastics - the press notes that came with this aint clear about this point), are powerful, clear understandable and suit the music well. But its just they blend together like oil and water. They just don't sit well together, The dirty vocals are powerful direct and brutal, the cleans softer in attack and are hesitant is a sort of Elvis Costello way, the result is they clash horribly in the mix, jangle the nerves and just don't sound right.

This is a shame cos if the clean vocals were taken out and the lines added to the dirty's you would have a bit of metalcore gem here. And by the same measure if the cleans sang everything We Die Tonight would be a power / thrash metal band to take note of... but together...nah. The problem is compounded by the fact that as instrumentalists WDT are one of the best bands I've heard in a while, and with either vocals they could be great.

In Short, Not bad, but....

For Fans Of... Screaming Eyes, Periphery, Devil Wear Prada, Terakai, etc...

Bide Your Time - 'Point Proven' (Kick Back Records) 5/5

Now the English West Midlands has always been a hot bed of metal and all things hard and heavy. From Black Sabbath and Judas Priest via Diamond Head, Magnum and Doom to Zombie Xtras and Beestung Lips and beyond for over 40 years the area has been throwing up rock, punk and metal of exceptional quality and now we have the regions latest gem. Bide Your Time with this, their debut album.

About two hours ago I started to play this album through to get a grip of what the band are about, and I still sitting here trying to write something about it, but I'm finding very difficult. Basically this album has me hooked and its its very hard to pen an objective take on music that has you moshing around the flat, yelling along to the hooks and generally feeling like a fifteen year old kid in his first mosh pit. But I do wanna do my bit and tell the world about this belting album so I had better get on with it.

Now the release blurb that came with this one described BYT as hardcore, and yes there is certainly a big hardcore influence in here; there are some great short but sweet sub two minutes core fueled tunes on offer. Tracks like Hang & Die, Hopeless and See Through come over a bit like classic cuts from hardcores earliest days and have a certain C.O.C, Stormtroopers Of Death, Concrete Sox vibe to them. But there is far more to this album than old school NYHC revivalism. Oh yes, we have huge slices of classic metal in the mix as well. There are shades of Anthrax in here, the ghost of Black Sabbath, slivers of Priest, a touch or two of RATM, even a sprinkling of classic NWOBHM. This means killer controlled riffage, some inspired lead guitar work and superb yell along choruses - just check out One Sided with its huge sing -a -long 'They wont ever get my vote, the most they'll get are these word I wrote' epic stuff.

There are ten tracks on offer here, everyone is a winner, but if I had to pick just two it would be the aforementioned One Sided and the glorious Who I Was which starts with a great down beat intro that hat tips Californian 'core merchants Welt, builds up via some almost Somnus style grindcore riffage, takes in a gloriously restrained lead break and shudders into an inspired anti-climactic ending.

Basically Bide Your Time have served up here an absolute classic debut album, that not only proves Midland metal is still alive and kicking, but BYT are all set to forge the next chapter of the areas musical legacy.


For Fans of... Somnus, Rage Against The Machine, Stormtroopers of Death, Doom, Anthrax......

Decayed Race - 'Demo 2011' (Grandmas Lakehouse?) 4/5

A time for another random surf find, Decayed Race, are from Texas in the USA and have only been around since the start of last year

Now this sort of stuff takes me back. In the late 1980's I was in a rather obscure thrash metal band and due to the fact we knew Bath crustcore kings Amebix we ended up on a number bills with acts from the then exploding UK hardcore / grindcore / crust core scene. This was the age of the infamous micro-song. One act we played with did over 50 tracks in a half hour set. It was a bit of a shock at first, after all my musical schooling came from the days of prog rock and old school metal, but I soon got used to the minimalist approach and broadened my musical taste to allow albums by the likes of Napalm Death and Doom into the collection.

So when I downloaded this little nine tracker and found myself with tasty slice of 80's sounding crust fueled hardcore on my hand I was little bit delighted. Of the nine tracks on offer here, seven can be called true micro songs with play times from 14 seconds to just over half a minute (of the two remaining tracks Chipped Teeth only just passes the one minute mark). Numbers like Swine Brutality, Oppressed and Bleached fly past in glorious short blurs of angry attitude, walls of sonic devastation and brutal bludgeon that hit and run like Greek rioters outside a government office. Think Sore Throat, Electro Hippies, Napalm Death and Ripchord and you'll know exactly where these guys are coming from. Then by contrast we have the closing instrumental Chained Up, by contrast an epic at over three minutes long that is classic doomcore, all grinding menace, dark riffs and wailing feedback.

OK the production here is not hot, but when it comes to this stuff it doesn't need to be, as I keep saying, punk in all its sub genres is about attack and attitude, with everything else being secondary; and boy do these guys have both in abundance. True crusty grindcore is not often heard these days so when you do find some as good as this, then it must be embraced and praised for keeping one rocks most interesting sub genres alive.

Recommended.

For fans of... Napalm Death, Doom, Police Bastard, Black Flag, Sore Throat, Ripchord etc...

This demo can be downloaded for free from here. http://www.mediafire.com/?559pmc0ckwuamcb

The Amity Affliction - 'Youngbloods' (roadrunner) 3.5/5

Now this one isn't exactly a new release, this second album from Queensland post hardcore outfit The Amity Affliction has been out for over year in their native Australia, but has only just got a UK issue through Roadrunner.

Now to be honest I'm not finding this one overly mind blowing. Rather its a tad generic, most of the songs are pretty samey, they all follow pretty much the same tried and tested commercial post hardcore formula. Lots of nice sweet commercial stacked harmony lead vocals inter-played with the same old hardcore-u-like dirty snarls and growls. Add in the trademark mix of blast beats and slower mainstream metal sensibilities and you get a sound that has been done by a hundred bands before.

Don't get me wrong, TAA are good at what they do, and there are some cracking tunes on offer. H.M.A.S. Lookback for example is a fine slice of angry teen angst rock that stand up along side the very best this genre can offer, Olde English 800 has some first rate riffage on show and closer Fuck the Yankees is as good slice of angry youth rock as your likely to find anywhere. I'm not gonna moan about the musicianship on show either. That is first rate, ok I would like to have heard a little more lead guitar to break up the songs, which tend to be a bit vocal heavy,  but the riffage, the rhythms and the vocals are spot on.

But its all a little too predictable. There are so many outfits doing this sort of stuff that unless you have a trick or two up your sleeves your gonna get lost in the crowd, and that is what TAA are in danger of doing here. They may be huge in Australia (and more power to them for that), but if they are seeking to make a mark on the international scene they need to up their game a bit if they are to stand along side the The Devil Wears Pradas and the Funeral For A Friends of this world.

However, I don't think its game over for TAA, they obviously have the talent to go places and a little revision of their approach and a touch more creativeness could be the push they need to move on to bigger and better things. For after all they are still a young band and must be still viewed as a work in progress.

In short - this is ok but nothing special

for fans of.., The Devil Wears Prada, Funeral For A Friend, AFI, Alexisonfire, Midasuno....

Porco Dio - 'Pig Your King' (self released) 3/5

Porco Dio are from Finland, they are a five piece crusty hardcore punk outfit and besides that I know naff all about them.

Now this ep (which in the two weeks since I downloaded it has been renamed 'eka demo') is as rough as fuck, the production, and I use the term very loosely, is lousy. This record sounds like it was done on a cassette recorder in the corner of a practice room, every song starts with a four count on a hi-hat (sometimes with a bit of guitar feedback for added noise), which then launches into a wall of chaotic noise in which individual instruments and voices are swallowed into the maw of sonic bludgeon.

Now, in any other genre I wouldn't even give this stuff house room, let alone write a review. But this is punk, and I always say that in punk, true punk, not yer Green182 style punk, attitude and attack is everything, all else, including production and musicianship is secondary. After all the true ethos of the genre is if you wanna make music and have something to say, then you go head and say it.

And that is exactly what Porco Dio are doing. So what if the result is messy, in the mess theses guys attitude and power comes shining through. There are five tracks on offer, all, with one exception, well under the 90 second mark and all packed with raw crusty hardcore aggression that really is most infectious. As I've said before, I do have a soft spot for this kind of DIY punk and whilst I doubt that Porco Dio will ever reach anything beyond being cult draws on the local Finnish punk scene, anyone who likes it as raw as possible and with less than zero frills, will do well to give this a quick listen, after all its a free ep after all.

Very entertaining.

For fans of... The Swine, The Oppressed, Red XIII etc....

This ep can be downloaded from here... http://porcodiohc.bandcamp.com/album/eka-demo

Chronographs - 'The Outhouse Sessions' (self released) 4/5

Chronographs are a young five piece 'technical hardcore' outfit, originally from Worcester but now working out of the London area. They have only been together a year or so and have issued this three track ep whilst working on their first 'official' release that is due later this year.

Now as debut demo ep's goes this is quite impressive. There's no nonsense on show here, the opener Tides cuts in with a tasty bit of mid tempo brutality with a riff that tips a hat to Rage Against the Machine and features a couple of nice urgent and angsty melodic sections to provide a little light and shade. Dutch Courage is a better than average metal core workout; whilst the real killer cut is the closer Toska. A brutal and jagged interplay of machine gun rhythms, twisted riffs and angry post screamo vocals that resolves into a sublime climax that to my ears sounds like Periphery minus the self indulgence.

Over all this is a strong debut and one that shows great promise for the future.

For fans of... Screaming Eyes, The Hotel Ambush, Somnus, Aliases, etc....

This ep can be downloaded for free from here... http://chronographs.bandcamp.com/album/outhouse-sessions

The Swine - 'The Shade of Shit To Come' (self released) 4/5

The Swine are in reality one Canadian guy by the name of Aaron M. whose mission statement is 'to commit artistic suicide' and describes his music as powered by "sleep deprivation, shitty broken guitars, vox amps, a microphone he bought at value village for 4 dollars,", yup we are talking 'bedroomcore' time.

Now after many years of being an avid John Peel listener, I've grown fond of this type of ultra low-fi stripped down DIY punk and hardcore, and while I will admit, there is nothing here that will ever bother anything but the ears of the most underground and adventurous listener, for those who like their music so far out of left field it is disappearing over the boundary fence, this tasty five tracker has a lot to offer.

The opening cut Neon Suicide 1997 comes over a bit like a stripped down Melt-Banana, or Rolo Tomassi after an Eve Spence sex swap opp, all angry and angsty sonic experimentation. On the next track, Radio Hit, we are heading into more traditional hardcore territory with a sound that comes across a bit like and early demo from The Oppressed. Enriching Your Life Through The Power of Grindcore is classic crust core in the vien of The Electro Hippies, whilst Everyone Dies wouldn't stand out of place on a Pissed Jeans release. However the real treat is the closer Armageddon Song, a dark and twisted little nugget that sounds like Billy Bragg doing a Tom Waits impression, or maybe its the other way round.

Now I know this isn't going to everyones cuppa rosy by a very long chalk, but this is grass roots music at it's rawest. And if the true spirit of punk is that everyone can be a band, express themselves and make music then this is punk in its purest form.

for fans of... Rolo Tomassi, Melt Banana, Rottern Noise, Take A Sledgehammer To Your Nan....

This album can be downloaded from here... http://theswine.bandcamp.com/

The Devil Wears Prada - 'Dead Throne' (roadrunner) 4.5/5

It's metalcore time again, but this time its Ohio Christcore outfit The Devil Wears Prada who are in the spotlight with 'Dead throne'. their fourth full length album.

Gotta say from the off, that this is a good record, and is better than most of the Brit metalcore that's around at them moment. It could be that TDWP are four albums into their career and so have had chance to polish their sound and delivery, it could be that with major label backing they have bigger recording budgets, it could be that keyboardist James Baney gives them a dimension most other hard and metalcore acts lack. Whatever the reason Dead Throne is a very impressive and accessible record.

Kicking off with the title track, we get some great pound and bludgeon with those delicious keyboards giving the whole thing a real epic feel, and so it continues for the next couple of tracks. The clean and dirty vocal interplay between Jeremy DePoyster and Mike Hranica is some of the best I've ever come across and even in the shouty grunty bits, you can still hear the lyrics, which no doubt will make their fellow christians very happy indeed. OK they do get a wee bit preachy in places 'I saw the light of God, walk in the light of God' etc. But I'm a great believer in free speech and freedom of faith, and TDWP have got just as much right to sing about God as Behemoth have to sing about the Devil, it don't stop me or any one else digging the music big time, and after all I suppose even angels like to form a circle pit from time to time.

Highlights include My Question with its huge stacked vocal chorus, the drifty and almost trippy Kansas with some delightful clean guitar work, Chicago with its epic build up from almost nothing to a huge wall of brutal sound, the relentless thrash out of Constance and darkly epic of Pretenders. Hell, white-metal, has come a long long way since the days of Stryper, and music in general is all the better for it.

Basically this is a great album and all wanna be metalcore outfits world wide should pay close attention, this is how it should be done. Very Highly Recommended.

For Fans of.... The Bled, Dillinger Escape Plan, Malefice, Screaming Eyes and God.

In Archives - 'Traitors' (self released) 3.5/5

I know I joke about it, but hardly a week goes past without a new metalcore outfit stuffing their latest offering into my inbox, and this week is no different. This time it's Peterborough noise merchants In Archives who are chancing their arm.

Now this outfit are very new, they only formed last year, although apparently their various members have been around on their local scene for a while, and as 'core stuff goes this aint to bad. Its brutal, got some nice lead guitar work, the traditional clean and dirty vocal interplay and riffs that variate from the fast as frigg to the dark and doomy. Tracks like Lost At Sea and The Oncoming Seasons are the sort of stuff that will keep your average circle pit going all night. 'Core fans will love it.

However, like a lot of the 'core that's around at the moment it is a bit formulaic and doesn't really stand out from the crowd of other 'core wannabes that are bombarding my in tray at the moment, but as long as In Archives are content to cater to their 'core audience and not seeking broader horizons, there is nothing wrong with that.

In Short - Core kids will love it, the rest may wanna try before they buy

For fans of ... Converge, Pay No Respect, The Bled, Skin The Pig

Fall Against Fate - 'If Not For Ourselves' (self released) 4.5/5

As I keep saying, there is an awful lot of quality metal core around in the UK at the moment, and the bar has been set very high by the likes of Cinderfall and Terakai etc, so it's getting hard and harder for any band in the that genre to stand out from the crowd. So next up for the high jump we have Fall Against Fate from Hertfordshire with their second album 'If Not For Ourselves'. Can they clear the bar and give us something to take notice of?

Well the good news is that not only do FAF clear said bar, but they have also raised it to a new level. This album ranks among the very best of what this genre has to off. It' powerful, intense, brutal and slick, yet at the same time shows enough invention, melody and intelligence to mark it out as something beyond the ordinary, something to hail as genre defining.

Every track here is something special, from the semi commercial melody's of So Real, to the Rolo Tomassi like Le Corps and the wonderfully titled mini epic I Hate Godzilla, He Destroys Cities (funny I love Godzilla for the same reason), each track is a real gem that entertains, brutalises, enthralls and enraptures at the same time. Amazing stuff.

So in conclusion if you like your metalcore then buy this album. And if your in a band that plays metal core pay special attention, for this is the album that sets the standard.

For fans of...  Pay No Respect, Maliface, Rolo Tomassi, Cindersfall etc...

Red Enemy - 'What We Are Contained In Is What We Are' (Invictus Music) 4/5

It's been a while since we had a band out of the Irish Republic to make us sit up and take notice, recently it's been Wales that has been the musical powerhouse of these islands. However just to remind us that the Emerald Isle is still rocking we have this rather tasty ep from Red Enemy.However don't think for a single minute that because this lot are from Eire that your gonna get Horslips style folksy shenanigans, U2 style stadium rock or even  Thin Lizzy you like jiggy hardrock. Far from it. Red Enemy play hardcore with a capital 'ard and take about as many prisoners as Brian Boru did at the Battle of Clontarf.

This five tracker is brutal to the extreme - cuts like Betrayal and No One Will Remember Our Names attack your ears and sensibilities with all the power, rage and anger of a gang of feral youths on a looting spree in Croydon. Guitar riffs bark away like machine gun fire, drums pound the ears with a relentless tattoo and over it all is some menacing growled vocalisations that spit venom and bile like the wrath of the Morrigon.

I've gotta admit I am partial to a bit of hardcore from time to time and as far as hardcore stuff goes this is one of the best debuts I've encountered in a fair while, It's tight and in your face without ever loosing control of the feeling of pent up menace the ep generates. I can see Red Enemy becoming big players in the angry world of hardcore - Highly Recommended

For fans of - Converge, The Bled, Dillinger Escape Plan etc...

Aliases - 'Safer Than Reality' (basick records) 3/5

There nothing essentially wrong with this debut release from UK progressive metalcore outfit Aliases, It's well played, ticks all the right boxes for the genre... fairly complex song structures... CHECK, shouty death grunt vocals interspersed with some melodic vocalisations... CHECK, jerky chuggy riffs with 'star burst' bits of guitar widdling... CHECK etc etc etc. In fact its a damn fine and very listenable little mini album.

It's just that as a whole this album stays a little too close to its title, and comes over more than a little safe. The complex structures just aint as complex as say Periphery, the riffage doesn't let rip in the way Terakai does, the vocals are set to stun, rather than to kill like Skin The Pig. In short each time you listen through you find the experience enjoyable rather than memorable and your wishing the experience was a little more full on, a little more intense.

You see there is a lot of this sort of stuff coming out of the UK at the moment, and a lot of it is extremely good, and whilst I can't find any real fault with Safer Than Reality, I can't find anything here to make it stand out from the crowd either. They come close in a couple of places, such as on Sirens and The Reality of Beliefs; but even those tracks tend to fall slightly short of being truly memorable.

In short... Close but no cigar

For fans of... Terakai, Skin the Pig, The Bled, Pay No Respect...