Review roundup - August 2024
This Labour Day Weekend, I travelled to the legendary Salty’s Beach Bar for a Gorilla Biscuits show. The New York pioneers did a weekend run with Killing Time and the recently reunited Think I Care. The show I saw had a particularly mid-Atlantic flavour, with Regulate, Naysayer, Bracewar and a local rounding out the bill.
After driving all day, we pulled up right as Bracewar went on. Watching the Richmond, VA legends play set three of seven in a packed bar gave me a bit of an inferiority complex as a Canadian. These types of shows never happen up here. If they do, they’re probably the biggest gig of the year. On the Eastern Seaboard of the US, it’s just another Saturday night.
Here’s a lay of the land for my American readers not familiar with the Southern Ontario scene. From a strictly hardcore sense, we get about one or two big tour packages per month that come through Toronto, with a rare extra date in Hamilton, London or Ottawa if we’re lucky. Then we get a few smaller American bands from our general area coming through for DIY shows. In a busy month, this might account for three or four shows, but there are also long stretches of time where it doesn’t happen at all.
The other 80 per cent of shows are local. Toronto has a long history of great bands, but not many of them are super active. No Warning has only played the city twice since I moved here in 2017. Same with Career Suicide. Fucked Up always brings good bands out, but they only play once or twice a year. Even the current local legends were more active a few years ago. Everyone else is kinda just playing to the homies and hoping for a break.
Population density plays an obvious factor in why American cities have a more vibrant scene. The Northeast Megalopolis alone nearly doubles the entire population of Canada. The border also plays a big factor. I could bitch about this ad nauseam, but I won’t. At the end of the day, I love Ontario hardcore. It’s just exhausting to feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle when someone who lives in Connecticut has the option to see Gorilla Biscuits three times in one weekend. Don’t take your scene for granted, wherever you live.
Various Artists - One Scene Unity Vol. 4 (From Within)
The first One Scene Unity comp, released by From Within in the thick of 2020 lockdowns, hit hardcore like a jolt of adrenaline. It was more than just a perfectly-timed serving of high-quality new music. Vol. 1 felt like a snapshot from the future, allowing a handful of promising young bands to announce their arrival. OSU has since succeeded Triple B’s America’s Hardcore series as the de facto “important comp”, and while the follow-ups haven’t reached Vol. 1’s rarified air, every instalment is worth a listen. Vol. 4 checks all the important boxes. It’s got relative unknowns like Terminator and Sudden Demise holding their weight beside heavy hitters like Balmora and Scarab. Some of my favourite current acts like Collateral and All 4 All lend solid new tracks. I was able to revisit bands I’d forgotten like Blow Your Brains Out, while putting “faces” to names with tracks by Instill and Godskin Peeler. Most importantly, everything here is good. My big takeaway is that Think I Care might be current hardcore’s biggest inspo.
Poison Ruin - Confrere (Relapse)
Everyone’s favourite oi-crust peasant punks are back with a formidable helping of new music. Philadelphia’s Poison Ruin consistently pump out releases, and if you like one, you’ll probably like them all. Confrere is no exception, although it might be the band’s most inaccessible project to date. Vocalist Mac Kennedy tries his hand at some deadpan spoken word, injecting a bit of menace into his delivery. The EP sounds like it was recorded in the 1940’s, presenting as a warm din of washed out analog noise. If the goal was ”black and white fantasy movie soundtrack playing off a gramophone”, they nailed it. I can’t tell if the songs themselves are meaner and less anthemic, or if the hooks are just buried beneath the recording. Either way, a large part of Poison Ruin’s appeal comes from catchiness, and this record feels oddly bereft of it. Still, everything the band does meets a certain level of quality control and Confrere lives up to the standard set by what comes before it.
Direct Threat - Endless Siege (Quality Control/Iron Lung)
86 Mentality worship is becoming a formidable wing of the “regular hardcore revivalTM”. With that in mind, this EP from Denver’s Direct Threat may feel like a drop in the bucket. The band knows what they’re doing, though. Their excellent 2021 demo put them ahead of the curve on oi-inflected hardcore punk, and anyone who’s unfamiliar with them (as I was) would be wise to down the whole discography in one sitting. Endless Siege in particular mixes the kinetic energy of 2024 basement hardcore and the boot-stomping, bar brawling elements of classic oi into a rowdy, rough and tumble ride. I don’t think this sounds much like Negative Approach, but it walks a similar path in pulling the ugliest parts of both genres to create something undeniably mean. Lyrically, the melding of worlds works well. Blending youth crew’s penchant for black and white proclamations with the self-assured political swagger of 80’s British punk pushes some of these tracks into “working class anthem” territory.
Trail of Lies - Only the Strong (Triple B)
At one point, this Syracuse band seemed poised to take over hardcore. Then their 2018 album W.A.R kind of flopped, and before they could regroup, Covid happened. From what I understand, members of ToL moved away during the pandemic and the band became less of a priority (many such cases). Their first project in five years is a triumphant return that grows on me with every listen. The band’s identity is clearer than ever. It’s golden-era Hatebreed with groovier mosh parts. The creative drumming sticks out, with off-time snare hits and metallic tom grooves elevating the chug breakdowns to something unique. The vocalist is doing straight Jasta, barking out mantras about self-determination and strength through discipline. In this post-Pain of Truth world, almost every heavy hardcore song needs a guest spot. Have Heart’s Pat Flynn provides this record’s best feature — they drench his vocals in effects and make him sound like something out of a 90’s metalcore song. It’s sick.
Ukko’s Hammer - Ukko’s Hammer (Last Shred of Hope)
Celtic Frost are having a small resurgence in popularity among hardcore heads. I don’t think Ukko’s Hammer specifically pull from the Swiss metal pioneers, but if you like when modern hardcore nods to that era of early extreme music, this Denver band’s self-titled tape will scratch a similar itch. It’s crusty crossover with first-wave black metal tendencies and doom-inspired dirges. This falls somewhere in the middle of the Venn diagram between Power Trip and His Hero is Gone. Two-stepping thrash riffs give way to oppressively heavy filth before popping back into fist-pumping d-beat gallups. It’s black denim buttflap music that Scheme Records-loving street wear enthusiasts can get behind. My only nitpick is with the transitions. The band’s go to move is letting a part ring out with a little bend before launching into another riff. A couple times, that approach hits pretty hard. Other times it feels like a crutch. The songwriting might not be all the way there, but top tier riffs almost make up for it.