Punk | Hardcore 228 Items

By way of some cosmic miracle, only one Total Hell pops up when the band moniker is searched on Discogs. And that would be the band responsible for the five-song blast of heavy metal sounds at hand. Now active for about two years plus change and exported from the very metal and punk fertile New Orleans, Total Hell is DD Deth (aka Drew Owen—Sick Thoughts wheelman, Trampoline Team etc) on drums / vocals, Henry Hell (John Henry of Static Static, Heavy Lids) on bass / vocals, and guitarists Jason “Panzer” Craft (Persuaders, Tirefire) and Michael Maniac (Michael He-man of Trampoline Team). If self-deprecation is beyond the listener’s processing skills, then please know that as self-described purveyors of the “New Wave of Shitty Heavy Metal”, Total Hell’s big-boy debut is not “shitty” in any manner whatsoever. These four recordings (“Desecrate”, “Clones From Hell”, “Violator”, and “Disfigured”) are melodic monstrosities that hit with a wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling hugeness, while doing so in an economical manner. There will be no mistaking this for Broken Bones screeching out of an iPhone inside the vegan squat. On the flip, this is no Bob Rock joint. DD Deth elaborates: “Recorded on a Tascam 8-track cassette live at home (aka “The Parkway”) by Michael He-Man and the process was a nightmare. Original tape crapped out on us back in early 2020 so we had to redo the whole thing. Intros and interludes were done last minute by me with the cheapest midi keyboard on the net.” Well, color Goner Records impressed. One might get momentarily lost in the cavernous drums that introduce opener “Desecrate”, but soon the buzzsaw-riff-wall will crush one into a smudge on the bathroom floor. Without rocking some safety goggles and diving headfirst down a terminology rabbithole, this is punk jumping into the sack with metal and leaving black boots on the bedroom floor rather than white hightops. Xmas came early for fans of Anti-Cimex, Celtic Frost, pre-shit Discharge, Motörhead, Blitz, Midnight, Venom, Broken Bones and...one gets the picture.

Formed in 2018, in Los Angeles, California, Section H8 creates gritty and callously honest hardcore punk. Now Section H8 comes with their most definitive statement yet in the form of their debut fulllength, Welcome To The Nightmare. Welcome To The Nightmare is pure hardcore punk at it’s finest, with fast as hell instrumentals that quickly become formidable and pummeling on the turn of a dime. Section H8 have mastered their blend of blistering punk mixed with heavy grooves as found on album opener “Nightmare” or “Mist-Head.” Lyrically, the ten tracks each tell their own story, ranging from personal experiences living in Los Angeles, crime, and death, to the current political divide in America, the legal system and the corruption within it. On Welcome To The Nightmare, Section H8 give an honest and unfiltered look at life through their own eyes, or as vocalist Mexi says, “The goal isn’t to change the world, but to give you a glimpse into our world.” Recorded and mixed by Taylor Young at The Pit Studios in Southern California and mastered by Nick Townsend, Section H8’s debut comes with plenty of surprises among the ten pummeling tracks, such as a standout feature from Tim Armstrong of Rancid on “Street Sweeper” which calls to mind the fast aggression of Rancid (2000). Another curveball found on the full-length is the following track, “Behind The 8 Ball,” which acts as a thank-you list from the band over a grooving riff and gang vocals. Made up of Aldo (guitar), Chris (drums), Dan (bass, vocals), Mexi (vocals), and Ryan (guitar, vocals), Section H8’s members aren’t new to this world by any means—playing in acts such as Product OF Waste, Downpresser, Minus, Human Garbage, and Nomads to name a few—but their

Architects’ new album captures a historic live stream performance event at the iconic Abbey Road studios: spiritual home to legends like The Beatles and Pink Floyd. Dubbed For Those That Wish To Exist at Abbey Road, the album features a reimagined orchestral version of their masterpiece album For Those That Wish To Exist, backed by their friends in the Parallax Orchestra, the well-respected UK based orchestra made up of some of England’s best and most versatile classical musicians, arranged and written by Simon Dobson, Parallax Orchestra’s conductor and a three times British Composer award (basca) winner for his compositions. Vocalist Sam Carter speaks to the cultural importance of Abbey Road Studios, “It’s such an important part of music in not only the U.K. but all across the world. Some of the biggest and most important records of all time were recorded there. It’s such a joy to even be allowed into the building, let alone to record there. It’s a very special place; I still can’t quite believe we were able to create there.”

Memphis has garnered a reputation for producing some of the wildest, freaky punk rock over the last 40 years—a thread running through acts like The Oblivians, Lost Sounds and Nots. More recently newcomers Model Zero have created a fresh brand of psych-leaning punk to River City. Formed by members of Ex-cult, Aquarian Blood and Jack Oblivian's Sheiks, Model Zero make bouncy, low-fidelity guitar grooves and analog synthesizer squeals that chase a motorik beat and never stray too far off into the tackiness of jam territory.

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The tenth installment of Fat Wreck’s Live in a Dive series takes us back over 30 years to Eindhoven, Holland. The date is May 12, 1989, not too long before Montecito, CA punks RKL will call it quits (for the first time, anyway). The 17- song set—a good chunk of which is culled from 1987’s album Rock ’n Roll Nightmare—was recorded at famed Eindhoven squat-turned-venue De Effenaar, and is beautifully ragged and raw. Although the band would get back together, things were never quite the same after the members went their separate ways the first time. As such, this record is a document of one of the last points before everything took a dive, of a band holding it together—incredibly well, it has to be said—before everything unraveled. And even though you can’t really hear that tension, when compared to the Double Live in Berlin live album, recorded the year before this one, there does seem to be an extra sense of urgency in these songs. They’re more primal and more ferocious, more intense and more nihilistic. Above all, though, they still sound fun as hell. RKL’s Live in a Dive album—which features incredible art by longtime RKL cover artist Dan Sites —isn’t just a pure representation of the band in all its twisted, untamed glory. It’s not just the sound of a band about to fall off the cliff edge. It also serves as a bittersweet tribute to both Manzullo and Sears, who died in 2005 and 2006 respectively. These songs capture both members in their element—onstage, doing what they love, surrounded by people who love what they do. Just listen to the frantic run-through of “Break the Camel’s Back,” the guttural desperation of “Hangover,” the nervous energy of “Blocked Out,” the blistering frenzy of “Rock N Roll Nightmare.” It’s one of the last times—and certainly the last time caught on tape—that the band would sound this imperfectly perfect, this happily carefree. Live in a Dive is an integral piece to any RKL fan’s collection.

Due to being too slow for highspeed punkrock champions league Knochenfabrik gives advice from the sideline. They sensibly used the inspiring corona-break (getting drunk in front of the laptop, homeschooling, quarantine). Don't worry - there is nothing heard about that because most of the songs were written in the wild 10s years. The eye listens too - children's book illustrator Bernd created a hidden object etching on the B side of the 10 Inch.

Drift, their fifth studio album sees Pianos Become THE Teeth taking another sonic step forward to craft a musical statement that truly transcends genres. For the recording of Drift, the band took it back to basics, starting at a family-owned cabin in the woods of Virginia, that they transformed into an analog recording studio. The band lived together, recorded together and ate dinners together where they would listen to the day's recordings, talk about them and pull them apart and reworking them, creating what may be their finest album to date. Per front man Kyle Durfey, "Something that we really took away from this experience was just the connection we had together. We produced the record ourselves with our longtime friend/collaborator/engineer Kevin Bernsten who recorded our first two records." The recordings that the band created using innovative recording techniques, recording 100% analog are sonically transportive and certain to mystify and inspire generations of recording artists. All the echoes were made with old echoplexes and tape delay, which made for a really organic record. With Bersten's help the band was able to take some of the weirder and more ambitious ideas they had and turned them into reality making this a fantastic album for immersive headphone listening.

In the spirit of Dead Moon before them, Green/blue have wrangled the simplicity of 'Worry' and 'Gimme Hell' to write some of their best songs to date, punk anthems that’ll have you shouting in no time. While they’ve upped the jangle and loosened the density, the duel vocal approach on 'Worry' is plenty epic, a big nasty punk song with pop splendor and self-awareness. The vocals pair Sparrows and Blaha together for a riotous gang effect, giving it a sort of last-call at the seedy bar kind of energy. Which is to say, it’s pretty much perfect, a song about the struggle that feels downright triumphant. 'Gimme Hell' follows suit, a down but never out call to rise up and fight. The skeletal guitars and punchy rhythm keep it firmly in the garage spit-and-jangle mode with vocals that pretty much demand to be shouted en masse. Whether it’s a new direction for the band or just a fun one-off from the studio sessions, Green/Blue sound absolutely super-charged."—Dan Goldin, Post-Trash. Edition of 300 copies with riso sleeve.

Initially released in a deluxe vinyl-only edition (totally sold out), Soul Jazz Records' 'punk 45: I’m A Mess' is now being released in standard double album vinyl (and for the first time on CD). Soul Jazz Records’ long-lasting Punk 45 series are high-quality editions of early punk 45s. While previous editions have focused on the early days of punk in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Akron, France, and proto-punk, this new edition focuses on mainly do-it-yourself, or self-released 45s, all made in the UK in the early days of punk. While only a handful of Punk 45s were released in 1976, the following two years produced an avalanche of them. Aside from the few punk bands who signed to major labels, many of these singles were self-released private press 45s or independent label 45s. With limited distribution and access to the media, many of these sunk without trace and were lost in history. This album features many of these independent punk 45 gems, lost nuggets of gold from the sea of time! The bands featured here come from all across the United Kingdom. Here you will find The Drive, Scotland’s answer to the New York Dolls, Dansette Damage from Newcastle, Stormtrooper from the Isle of Wight and many more – a snapshot of some of the finest private-press 45s ever made. Other bands include Cybermen, The Exile, Neon as well as the early punk incarnations Johnny and The Self-Abusers (who later became Simple Minds) and The Killjoys (led by Kevin Rowland who later formed Dexy’s Midnight Runners). These are all one-off and super rare releases from bands that you have probably never heard of – totally hidden gems from the wastelands of the early days of punk! Totally in keeping with the spirit of the time, this is high-octane, righteously-independent – DIY or die!

With a mission in mind, Speed is setting out to put Australian hardcore on the map. Formed in 2019, the Sydney-based band has a no-holds-barred approach and enticing sound that makes them standouts in the genre. Composed of vocalist Jem, bassist Aaron Siow, guitarists Josh Clayton and Dennis Vichidvongsa, and drummer Kane Vardon, Speed showcases a tough exterior, but amplifies their sense of identity, and community in everything they do. Following the release of their demo in 2019, the band teamed up with U.S. label Flatspot Records for a two-song EP in 2020 and they joined forces again for Gang Called Speed. Recorded with Elliott Gallart at Chameleon Studios, the six songs on the EP are centered around recognizing who you are in this world, taking ownership of that identity and not letting anyone tell you otherwise. Drawing influence from old-school acts like Biohazard and Merauder just as much as bands like Trapped Under ICE, the band is putting forth pit-ready music.

All-New Debut Solo Album from JERRY ONLY (bassist/singer) of the Legendary MISFITS! CD/LP packaged in Glow-in-the-Dark ink and spot UV finish. For fans of the Misfits, Halloween, Horror Punk... Features guest appearances by Dave Lombardo (Slayer, Mr. Bungle), Rob Caggiano (Anthrax, Volbeat) and more. All vinyl editions are cut at 45 RPM for maximum sound ferocity, including DLC ant insert with lyrics.

Cran from Paris, France who you may have heard on the Paris on Oi! 12" compilation are releasing their debut LP 'Natë' on the amazing Uvpr label who had previously released their 7" EP. The Cran album: punk, melodies, big choirs, dark, deep lyrics. Lots of good songs, nice evolution.

When NYC hit its punk stride in the mid 1970s, the one-of-a-kind ‘Neon’ Leon Matthews was already in the thick of it. Getting his start in music in the late 60s and having incredible luck in his friendships along the way, Neon Leon’s life story could easily be made into a really amazing film. Along with being roommates with Rolling Stones’ guitarist Mick Taylor (and dating his wife!) while living in the UK in the early 70s, he was recording acetates as far back as the mid 1970s with the original members of Pure Hell around Philadelphia, and ended up moving into the Chelsea Hotel in ’73 soon after, upon the insistence of his pal Johnny Thunders. Making fast friends with Elda and the Stillettos, the New York Dolls, and David Peel and Harold Black & the Teenage Lust crew, he soon fell into the maddening world of the Lower East Side zeitgeist right when everything was exploding. He was gigging at Max’s on the regular, seeing the incredible NY punk scene blossom before his eyes, and he even got to appear briefly in the exploitation film classic, Punk Rock (1977) with Elda and the gang. Leon put together his band with girlfriend/stripper Honi O’Rourke and hit the scene around Max’s, Cbgb and the like, and upon entering the studio, caught lightning in a bottle with the recording of the Rock’n Roll Is Alive 7” EP in 1979. The title track is simply irresistible, laying down the filthy scuzz guitar tone dreams are made of, in one of the ‘most potent anthems of NYC punk’ ever caught on tape, right up there with “Max’s Kansas City” by Jayne County, and headed straight into your pleasure receptors. Everyone was reeling and even those mysterious Glimmer Twins, Keef and Mick, locals at the time and looking to sign bands for their label, took note… Fast forward to Sid Vicious’ implication in Nancy Spungen’s death, and Leon’s alleged involvement with being the last witness of the couple at the Chelsea, and legend starts to build exponentially. But even after being courted by Mick & Keith for a possible signing to the fledgling Rolling Stones Records, Leon said Mick talked him out of the deal. But sure enough, they both got together for an impossibly great recording of “Heart of Stone” included here that surely equals the classic rendition by The Pagans (that’s become the gold standard). Despite the record deal falling through, Neon Leon was still asked to perform for the NYC album launch party for Some Girls, and remained on great terms with the Stones camp. But in the early 80s, as the winds shifted, Leon moved back to Europe and settled in Sweden with some musical cohorts, and started the second phase of his underground rock’n roll career. Releasing three singles over the next few years on Scandinavian labels and touring as support for his old friend Johnny Thunders, Leon entered his next chapter, and continued to enjoy the success that was evading him back home in the States. This archival LP collects all of the Neon Leon 7” releases from his 1979-84 period and makes these overseas-only recordings available in the US for the first time, cementing the Neon Leon legend in the sacred halls of the US punk pantheon. The Neon Leon debut album was released in 1983 (funded by Mick Jagger) as a Swedish-only LP but featured Blondie’s Clem Burke as well as notorious KBD star Snuky Tate, and showcases a sold late 70’s Stones vibe perfectly ripe for radio consumption, in a better world, that is… fast forward to the 21st century and Leon still holds it down in Germany these days, still performs occasionally, and we’re extremely proud to finally get these 70s-80s era recordings back into circulation, so make sure to check out both of Neon Leon’s books (Fast Track to Hell and New York City Babylon) crank it up, and don’t ever look back!

Originally released in 1983, SUB is the most iconic Brazilian punk compilation ever. It's the first official recording of Ratos de Porao, and the only studio recording of Psykoze and Fogo Cruzado in the 80s. It features the most famous and classic songs from Cólera, who will be touring Europe again in August 2023. Remastered from the original master tapes at the legendary El Rocha studios in Sao Paulo.It has 4 bonus tracks from the pre-recording, comes with a rare poster, an insert with lyrics, and a great new text written by Pedro Carvalho. This is the first time SUB is being released in Europe.SUB is the most classic Brazilian punk compilation, recorded between 1982 and 1983. It was conceived and brought to fruition by Redson, the guitarist and vocalist of Cólera, who is considered one of the key figures in South American punk. Besides Co?lera, Redson invited Fogo Cruzado, Ratos de Pora?o and Psyko?ze, three of the most promising and active unrecorded bands at the time. If Co?lera was the most experienced band in the scene at the time, Fogo Cruzado had already left its mark as one of the best, if not the best in terms of skill and stage presence. Similarly, Ratos de Pora?o and Psyko?ze on the other hand were younger and had fed on the new ways of punk from the get-go. Even though the Grito Suburbano bands had initiated the evolution towards hardcore a year before, SUB brought to the scene even higher levels of belligerence and speed.Just like how other international scenes documented the rise of punk with Flex Your Head in the US, Propaganda - Russia Bombs Finland in Finland, Punk and Disorderly in the UK, Outsider in Japan and many others in several countries during 1982, the idea was to record the growth of Brazil's punk scene. The title chosen for Brazil's second punk comp was SUB, which used part of the idea for Co?lera's aborted debut album and alluded to Sa?o Paulo's literal (working class) suburbs, as well as its proverbial "subterranean" underground - punk's natural habitat...

“I somehow missed that the Chicago hardcore punks C.H.E.W. broke up, but if we get Stress Positions out of the deal, I ain't mad about it. Stephanie Brooks now fronts the ex-C.H.E.W. dudes, but it's not a cut and paste job—where C.H.E.W. relied on speed and swagger, Stress Positions wide-screens the pit's psychedelic vista. There's a little more metal riffage and mid-tempo tension to maximize the intensity so that, once the band revs to hallucinatory level, the impact is devastating.”—Lars Gotrich

'Horny Tears From Hell' combines a fusion of sounds from ominous genres that collide together in a dark, hauntingly endearing manner. Hard rock escalating electrocuted riffs slide you back onto your childhood sofa, Guitar-Hero guitar resting on your chest as you hear your pal play 'Through The Fire And Flames' on expert difficulty. Doomy metal aesthetics avalanche you into sweaty, hilariously middle-aged death pits at your local black facaded headbanger joint. Setting up camp in O'tool Studio just outside of Berlin, Wax Legs bugged out to create something that seeks musical integrity. Keeping some natural amp hums and hisses whilst adding eerie noises from worlds we don't want to find.

Popeye was an established fixture in Southern California, both personally and creatively, as the former frontman for melodic hardcore greats Farside. There was little in his routine to suggest at that point that Popeye’s life was headed for any sort of major change. It felt like an ideal life, in fact, until it didn’t. “It was very solitary, and I guess I was OK with that—or at least I told myself that I was OK with that—until I met the woman who is now my wife,” he explains. “That absolutely changed everything.” At the tail end of 2021, Popeye (Farside) uprooted his entire life to move across the country to the city of Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he would eventually come to meet the rest of his new band Calling Hours: guitarists Thomas McGrath (the Commercials) and Tony Bavaria (the Commercials), bassist Garrett Rothman (don’t Sleep), and drummer Jim Bedorf (don’t Sleep). For Brian McTernan, a celebrated producer with a nearly 30-year history of shaping some of the biggest hardcore records of all time—including albums for HOT Water Music, Turnstile, Circa Survive, and THRICE—advancing Calling Hours from the idea stage to the recording stage was personal: “Popeye is one of his favorite singers of all time,” Rothman explains. “He told me he named one of his cats after Popeye.” The outcome of that collaboration is Say Less, a seven-song record for Revelation Records that revisits the band members’ melodic, post-punk sensibilities while working in a decidedly contemporary direction. It’s also a deep dive into the feelings of displacement and discomfort that punctuated Popeye’s move—a meditation on the intersection of sense of place and sense of self

Nashville based garage-punk lifers, Wesley & THE Boys, deliver three driving tracks on their debut slab Switchblade Twist. As the only straight-forward garage punk rock n roll band in Nashville, they pull a lot of weight in their local scene and have shared the stage with just about every current touring band in the genre. They also recently ripped it up through the Midwest to make their way towards the first Gbufo Fest in Green Bay hosted by the legendary Time Bomb Tom!

Two punk inspired pop nuggets about having a good time. Track A inspired by the pandemic and track B Inspired by Jonathan Richman. New Nashville punk outfit led by Dublin-born songwriter Stefan Murphy who toured extensively & released records under the moniker The Mighty Stef. The Sleeveens are comprised Ryan Sweeney (Cheap Time / Hans Condor / Sweet Time Records) on drums, Eli Steele of Sweet Knives on guitar, and Jamie Mechan on bass. Mechan also engineered & produced the record at his 302 Sounds studio in Mt Juliet, TN.

An album full of love songs, gratitude and strength

Bristol (uk) based Idles have today announced their forthcoming fifth album 'tangk'. 'tangk', the 11-track follow-up to their Grammy-nominated album Crawler, was co-produced by Nigel Godrich (Radiohead, The Smile, Beck), Mark Bowen and Kenny Beats (Denzel Curry, Vince Staples, Benee) and the band themselves. 'tangk' - pronounced "tank", with a hint of "g" and an onomatopoeic allusion to the whipping guitar sound the band envisioned as a kind of seal for the life in love - is the band's most ambitious and impressive album to date.

Idles are one of the strongest rock bands of the last decade. Godrich, Beats and Bowen have also been a formidable tandem for Idles, pushing them into new territory and then tightening the reins when needed. 'tangk' is at once expansive and focused, inventive and immediate. Of the album, singer Joe Talbot says: "tangk. I needed love. So I made it. I gave love to the world and it feels like magic. This is our album of gratitude and power. All love songs. Everything is love."

Where Idles were once out to take the piss out of the world, stand up to the perpetually outdated and exorcise personal trauma in real time, they have arrived in this new act to offer the fruits of such perseverance: Love, joy and indeed gratitude for the mere possibility of existence. This music thrives not in spite of our problems, but because of them. If we don't care about ourselves and each other, 'tangk' seems to exclaim in one powerful hook after another, who will?