Review Roundup - April 2024
Plus, democore in Ontario?
The “regular hardcore” revival has finally reached Lake Ontario’s northern shore. Earlier this month, More Reality fest took place in Toronto, organized and run by a few stalwarts of the city’s new generation. From what I understand, the festival was loosely built around two tours conveniently converging — a Designated Mosher’s Unit showcase, plus Diztort’s east coast run with Mil-Spec and Collateral. The lineup was filled out with some local favourites, a couple big American names, and a smattering of regional upstarts.
I always suspected our city had an appetite for this sort of thing. It wasn’t long ago that local legends Demolition, Mil-Spec and Wild Side released music on OG demo-core label Mosher’s Delight Records. Out of town bands playing more straightforward stuff always do well when they tour here. Still, it’s been a long time since the straightforward, revivalist sound has had any major representation in Southern Ontario. That tide seems to be turning, based on some new releases from the past few months.
Justify - Demo 2024 (Self-released)
In 2019, at the height of Mil-Spec’s local presence, a few literal teenagers started Raze and released an EP called On High in Green Tomorrows. The major inspiration for their charming, unpolished brand of melodic youth crew was obviously their mentors in Toronto’s hottest band. It’s now 2024. Members of Mil-Spec have gone on to form Best Wishes, and members of Raze just dropped a demo with their new band Justify. Similarities exist between the two, but this time we can probably chalk it up to a case of parallel thinking rather than blatant homage. They’re both New York inspired, but despite some similar production queues, this demo is a lot less metallic than what Best Wishes are doing. I would compare Justify to bands like Judge and Underdog, strained through some 2000’s Boston bounce. There’s no thrash-infused muscle. The songs are long but not slow, and complex without being boring. It’s classic late 80’s NYHC songwriting — something fresh for local heads to get excited about.
Terminator - Demo (Rebirth Records)
Think I Care are suddenly one of the most influential bands in hardcore, and Niagara’s Terminator make no bones about their reverence for the Northern Mass. legends. This demo’s description on the Rebirth site says “four songs of Think I Care/Down But Not Out inspired hxc from Canada.” Say less. You’re getting stompy, tough riffs, with a smattering of white knuckle speed and an attitude. The lyrics channel negativity into something worth thinking about, touching on environmental degradation, colonialism and human greed in a pressing but pessimistic manner. Terminator’s other strong suit are mosh parts. I find these songs sometimes get bogged down with too many ideas for my liking, but when a riff hits, it knocks you out. There’s a few A1 pit parts scattered throughout this four track offering. I’m sure once I see this live it will all make sense. After many years of Southern Ontario being off-trend and ignored, it’s nice to have a local band start out with a big American co-sign.
Bad Bet - My Pace (Self-released)
Anyone who follows Bat Bet and their brother band Gavel knows exactly what to expect from this Hamilton outfit’s first EP. It’s the type of tough, moshy hardcore Reaper Records was releasing in the late 2000’s. Trapped Under Ice pre-Chad Gilbert, if you will. Vocalist Kyle Patterson sounds better than ever on record. His high-pitched voice is captured here with the same palpable danger you feel when watching his bands perform live. My only concern is that this style of hardcore is everywhere right now. Bad Bet are really good at what they do. Still, with bands like Speed and End It occupying their lane on a big room level, plus dozens of local and regional acts reaching for the same thing, the Steel City boys will need a lot more sweat equity to gain traction than if they were playing something hype or trendy with similar competence. That’s okay. These guys aren’t jumping ship anytime soon. Hopefully the cream rises and this is just the beginning of Bad Bet’s long, fulfilling story.
Ethereal Tomb - Life Beyond Oppressor’s Brutality (Self-released)
Tkaronto’s premier doom band full of hardcore kids are back with a four song EP to bolster their prodigious recorded output and make a fierce lyrical statement. It’s hard to pin down exactly what this band does. They started in 2022 as a stoner rock project, but by their second release, they’d injected a healthy dose of spinkick-ability into the formula. This latest EP might be better contextualized as metallic hardcore. The doom elements add an overbearing air of heaviness, but at its foundation, this was made for moshing. The stompy chugs and trem-picked two step riffs also conjure slower, less technical death metal bands like Necrophagia and Obituary. Ethereal Tomb pay backhanded homage to the latter, referencing Obituary’s long-time set opener “Redneck Stomp” in the title of this EP’s opening salvo, “Landback Stomp”. Lyrically, vocalist Alexander Senum speaks at length and with great passion on his existence as an indigenous person resisting genocide under Canada’s colonial power structure.
Purity Culture - Purity Culture (Self-released)
A three piece with a standalone vocalist? Sounds crazy, but these noisy, sludgy Torontonians pull it off. Bassist Ian Zuke dials his tone in perfectly to fill out the mix on this EP. He splits his instrument through two amps, lending enough mid-range to make the dirgy tempos sound menacing. I hear some (unintentional?) black metal in this. Vocalist Daisy Woodhams’ shrill shriek sounds straight out of Norway at points. The opening track gallops like Celtic Frost, while the second stomps like something off A Blaze in the Northern Sky. Those dirges sound a lot more powerviolence inspired once the drummer starts getting wild with the tom beats on track three, though. These kids love music and I think PC was designed to be idiosyncratic. Some of my friends believe this band could be the next hardcore-adjacent group from our city to get big. It’s too early to tell, but they definitely have potential to scratch an itch like Full of Hell, where extreme music fans of all stripes can find something to enjoy.
Burning Lord - Arcane Demolition (Streets of Hate)
Have you ever thought to yourself “I want a band to dial in some mid-80’s thrash tones and then write 1:30 long songs composed of Killing Time riffs”? Neither have I, but now that you’re interested, check out the first full length from Boston’s Burning Lord. Self-described as being influenced by the New Breed comp, this band explores the space between thrash metal and New York Hardcore in a novel and exciting way. Much like the new Public Acid release, you could technically call Arcane Demolition crossover, but that genre tag has become pretty codified and this record often lands outside those boundaries. They do steal the “Raining Blood” breakdown, but for the most part this is a hardcore album dressed in a vintage Morbid Angel shirt. I can’t decide what I like best here. The production is gnarly, colouring outside Don Fury’s lines in a super necessary way. There’s also a surprising amount of catchiness for something so grimy. From the riffs to the lyrics, this record is littered with earworms.
No Right - Promo 2024 (Self-released)
Bay Area hustlers No Right are releasing their debut LP on Triple B later this year, and they’re rolling the album out with a three song promo featuring two new tracks and a Vision of Disorder cover. This is the type of modern hardcore amalgamation that comes from Gen Z’s open door policy on what’s cool to like and borrow from. The overall vibe is 90’s metallic, but the first original track starts with a Gel-style pogo part and the second song ends with a breakdown you might expect modern metalcore legend Will Putney to come up with. We have a similar sounding band in Southern Ontario — Fight on Sight — comprised of folks who are relatively new to writing hardcore and love the genre in all of its forms. To my surprise, No Right actually released their first demo in 2016, but judging by the vocal performance on that track, they were probably actual children back then. The two original songs on this promo are interesting enough that I’ll likely circle back when the full length drops.
Life’s Question - Life’s Question (Flatspot)
I recently described this geographically ambiguous band’s newest EP as taking “the melodic elements from Big Kiss Goodnight and stretching them… beyond their logical limits”. After a few more listens, I’d say they’re using late-period Trapped Under Ice riffs as collage pieces in an absurdist painting. This EP is truly strange — from the reverb drenched clean vocals to the Zack Wylde-inspired solos. Nothing about it makes sense, but somehow, not much seems out of place. I got a few pieces of passionate pushback after suggesting LQ might be a canary in a coal mine for impending corniness. A few folks think there’s a precedent for what this band is doing, citing stuff like Underdog and Leeway, which I do pick up on. Still, there’s novelty here. That’s not a bad thing, either. I can only listen to so many hate-filled resuscitations of Negative FX. Sometimes I need to ponder life beyond fast power chords and songs about being stabbed in the back. This EP is perfect for that.