Review roundup: June 2023
This month, Ontario hardcore had a “ten bands for ten bucks” all locals show that sold out a 200 cap venue in advance. They did it without any touring headliners or even bands signed to labels on the bill. We’ve come a long way and our scene is thriving, but it’s frustrating that for all the momentum we have at home, it seems almost impossible to get outside eyes on what’s happening.
There are small forces working to change that. Lifers Records, who just dropped an EP for Ottawa’s Skullgate, seems intent on working to raise the profile of hardcore from the 401 corridor. Brampton’s Mile End just announced a release on New Morality Zine along with a North American Tour. 11PM records recently helped some locals play a show in Richmond, VA. Baby steps are happening, but still, talented people are doing cool things in this region and they deserve wider recognition.
I think the biggest hurdle in all of this is the visa process for entering the US. Bands who want to play shows over the border have to cough up a fee of $2500 per member every time they cross. This makes it almost impossible to legally do short runs in the US, and sneaking over comes with the threat of a permanent ban. Canadian bands are having a much harder time making those vital connective relationships down south, and as a result, our thriving local sceneS risk languishing in relative obscurity.
Maybe someone will break through. Maybe we’ll have a Troycore situation where some hip, plugged in kids will discover ONHC classics a decade from now and posthumously pull them into the cannon. Whatever the case, more people should hear what’s going on in Southern Ontario.
Reviews
Reality Denied - Comes With a Price (Self Released)
I asked RD vocalist Conner Gibbs if he wanted to describe the Niagara-area band’s latest EP as beatdown or heavy hardcore for a No Echo article. He opted for the latter. I would categorize this firmly as beatdown but I get it. That seems to be a loaded term these days. It often gets misapplied both derisively and with good intentions. RDs influences are deeper than the saturated pool of bands who spawned after their members heard Sunami on TikTok (these are my words, not his). RD’s newest EP is very technical. The sneaky-smart caveman grooves on the last half of “Dollars to the Name” remind me as much of something like Periphery as they do Built Upon Frustration. Honestly, sometimes it gets out of control — a song calls for some two or three note ooga booga shit but instead we get a riff that feels too smart for its own good. This record is definitely not cliche, though. You can tell it was a labour of love, too. There’s not a single sour note or misplaced drumbeat. RD obviously worked hard on this, and it’s paying off in the form of a warm regional reception.
Dungeon Keeper - Fortress of Evil (Kellerassel Records)
The best part about reviving a style of music from 30+ years ago is the hindsight you get that wasn’t available to the genre’s progenitors. Fortress of Evil finds a cheeky little nook between first and second wave black metal. It mixes the blunt instrumentation of Celtic Frost with the doom-inducing dirge found on A Blaze in the Northern Sky to create a sound that seems very throwback but, in actuality, I’m not sure ever existed. The production and vocals are pure second wave, but there’s not a single blast on this record. Maybe there should be — the songs are kind of long and a couple would benefit from a dynamic jolt of energy. Still, this EP is very good at creating a heavy, abrasive atmosphere, and the vocalist (whose name I can’t find) pierces right into your soul when his voice cracks into a blood-curdling yelp.
Incendiary - Change the Way You Think About Pain (Closed Casket Activities)
One of the tricky things about hardcore is that it gets tough to tell bands “no” after they reach a certain level of success. Incendiary might be at that point. They wanted a fourth full length, so Closed Casket Activites gave it to them. Their last two were huge for that label, but this one might slightly tarnish the legacy. The band has lost a lot off their fastball in terms of the ferocity and intensity oozing from their previous output. They make up for it somewhat with increased playing proficiency, infusing a technical heaviness reminiscent of bands like End and Knocked Loose. That modern sound is neat to hear mixed with Snapcase riffs. We don’t need 30 minutes of it though — not at this pace. Change The Way might be another entry into the hallowed hall of hardcore full lengths that should have been 5 song EPs.
Total Silence - Demo (Self Released)
I saw Total Silence describe their sound in an interview as “Lake Effect hardcore” — drawing from influences like Buried Alive, The Swarm and Cold as Life. 401 corridor music whose miserable, dreary demeanour is inspired by and creates the same feeling in you as this region’s winter weather. It’s heavy and metallic, but not in a modern sense. This is late 90’s basement DIY hardcore, cryogenically frozen and brought back to life 25 years later. Few bands are faithfully recreating this sound these days, and I can’t think of any doing it as well. This is pure misanthrope start to finish, but there’s a lot of groove under those bleak guitar tones. It’s also kinda slow. I don’t think any of these songs are over 160 bpm. That creates a sludgy atmosphere, and also makes the tracks run a little longer than average. My only nitpick would be that I think the songwriting could use minor editing for brevity — or at least the pace picked up during the circle pit parts. This is about as good as demos get, though. I’m excited for what this band does next.
Spinebreaker- Cavern of Inoculated Cognition (Creator-Destructor Records)
My favourite part about the return EP from California’s Spinebreaker is how it’s obviously influenced by Bolt Thrower, but not in a carbon copy way (aside from the first and maybe the last track). It has crusty sloppiness and doom-laden leads, but the drummer’s not just double-kicking the whole time. Some riffs on here are reminiscent of other OSDM stuff we don’t see death metal bands comprised of hardcore kids rip off often. “Spectral Forge” has a bit of proggy flash in the vein of later era Death, for example. I also like, with that in mind, how I couldn’t tell this record was written by hardcore veterans the first time I heard it. The band features a murderer’s row — with members of Dead Heat, Gulch and Sunami — but there are no obvious tells linking it to hardcore. There’s no two-step riffs, no stylistically incongruous slams, and no half time China breakdowns. Just good old fashioned death metal made by people who know what they’re doing.
Spy - Satisfaction (Triple B Records)
Spy wasn’t the first band on this rising wave of stompy, reverb drenched “mid tempo fast hardcore”, but their prior EPs found success in a way that opened the floodgates for a tide of local and regional imitators to jump in the water. This band pulls a lot of good and bad emotions out of people for that reason. I personally don’t feel strongly one way or another, although I will give them props on this album for leaning into the “fast” parts of “fast hardcore” that many local imitators forget about. Still, it’s not reinventing the wheel on any fronts. If you’ve had enough of the black t-shirt, pogo beat, vocal reverb movement, Spy’s first full length will probably just be another drop in the bucket. If you’re still down for the cause, this is about as good as it gets. I tend to fall on the former side of that debate, but I’m trying to keep an ear open for the good stuff. Satisfaction is the first Spy release with any staying power for me, but I’m still not moved in the way the scene at large seems to be.
Enemy - Maladjusted (11PM Records)
Enemy’s debut full length would be easy to discard as another Spy/Gel ripoff, but the Los Angeles band’s first release dropped in 2017. This is pogo-punk with big side to side parts, setting itself apart from the mid tempo pack with the occasional blast beat. It’s also an interesting example of a band doing something ahead of the game for so long that they become fashionable. Their perseverance has paid off with a co-sign from hardcore punk titans 11pm Records, but no mid day offers from big festivals. I wonder if Enemy feels any resentment towards the household names in their lane for getting further in less time. I couldn’t tell you why some of their contemporaries popped but they didn’t. I would assume touring sweat equity and knowing the right people played a part. My big criticism of this record is that the lyrics are uninspired. It’s basement punk Madlibs: “I’m a freak, fuck the cops, my job makes me hate capitalism”, yeah man, we get it. Beside that, it’s fine.