Authors: Dylan Chadwick
Review: ACxDC – Antichrist Demoncore
Having established themselves as a nascent pillar of the California punk n’ hardcore community with a smattering of splits, EPs and insane live shows (check the Google machine for their set in Pomona 2011), ACxDC’s full-length debut offering might literally be their opus to masochistic, satani-violence with a conscience. … read more
Local Reviews: Never Say Never
Salt Lake City’s bullet-belted loudmouths claim to be the dirty rotten bastard offspring of spike-studded punk rock and rollicking thrash metal. The effort is earnest (and generally enjoyable) and their cheeky disdain of all things “PC” elicits a laugh or two (who isn’t up for the occasional dick joke?), but they don’t always straddle the line seamlessly. … read more
Local Reviews: Discoid A
Maybe it’s the band’s name or the crudely drawn anarchy symbol sharpied on the CD-R, but I assumed this would be Discharge-worshipping, anarcho punk of the crustiest breed. I was pretty far off the mark, as it’s 16 short tracks of obstinately lo-fi acoustic punk that falls somewhere between the vocal style of Lou Barlow and Chris Dodge. … read more
Local Reviews: Society Mis-Call
Here’s the kind of hardcore I like to see coming out of Utah. Pure Reagan-era throwback that owes more to Dischord’s Flex Your Head compilation and Midwest mutant thrash than Earth Crisis, stretched earlobes or the vegan apocalypse. Possibly recorded in a garage under water during a power outage, it’s the slightly sloppy charm, the pissed-off drill sergeant vocals and the self-deprecating wit (“We Suck”) that keeps me coming back to it. Songs range from the outlandish (“Society Mis-call”) to the accusatory (“Fuck the Lies”) to the spooky (“Halloween”). … read more
Local Reviews: Cannons/Maraloka
With members having done some time in Parallax, God’s Revolver and a host of others, local boys Maraloka play down-tuned, sludgy heavy metal that’s as kaleidoscopic as it is leaden (which dorky bloggers will probably call “mathy”). Think ’90s ‘core after straight edge and the vegan apocalypse, or maybe Coalesce and early Converge, heavy on groove and light on shrieking. … read more
Local Reviews: Stark Raving Mad
I always vomit a little when bands pull that “Oh, we’re not like other bands” thing, so Stark Raving Mad, who tout a manifesto like “Easily Defined, Easily Defeated” and piece hunks of ska, Gainesvillle melodies and cowpunk into a raucous punk sound, should have me blowing bruschetta all over my damn room … but I’m not. You see, for all their musical deviations, they’re rooted pretty heavily in all things traditional. … read more
Local Review: Danger Hailstorm
A two-fer slab of bouncy proto-punk (or izzit pop metal?) from this local quartet, You Got It ups the the band’s incessant ear for melody (ex members of The Stench and Bad Yodellers can’t hurt) and ballsy chutzpah by driving itself over simple, thundering drums and keeping the vocals front and center in the mix. … read more
Take Offense @ the Fearless Zone 01/26
I pull over and check my GPS. Two deer trot by me, heads cocked in quizzical bewilderment. I’m on their turf. I squint down the lone gravel road. Save for a few orange construction cones and a fence, I see no evidence of anything remotely human anywhere. Exasperated, I check the flyer’s address again. “Hardcore Show in Bluffdale” it proclaims in bold varsity font. Seriously? … read more
Mountain Man @ The Deathstar on 04.06
Maybe I’ve become lazy in my show upkeep, or maybe this was just poorly promoted, but that’s not the point. What matters is that when a real deal hardcore band graced us, here in “Brovo,” with their raucous presence, I immediately put all my other pursuits (like patching together a broken relationship and finishing my linguistics essay) on hold. … read more
Foundation with Throwing Bricks, Steadfast, Dead In The Dirt, Stick...
The prospect of seeing one moderately decent hardcore band in Provo’s cultural vacuum is enough to give me goose-pimples and a fluttering heart. The prospect of seeing four of them? Well, it’s enough to send me into full-blown histrionics … … read more