Adifferentsongtohear

Days pass, weeks pass…

adifferentsongtohear — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 10:57:55 +0000

Last week started out badly, with the news on Monday that Carpathian have gone on “indefinite hiatus”. But this wasn’t out of the blue as Martin had alluded to spending most of 2011 in his studio and with the other guys having bands that are starting to take up more time (Hopeless, Warbrain, Colossus) Carpathian might take more of a back seat. Still gutting to know there won’t be any new material for years, seeing as Wanderlust EP had taken them in an direction that had me interested in what they may come up with next.

Maybe it’s the time for breakups, as last week we also lost a very underrated UK band in Ghost of a Thousand, with the Brighton lads calling it a day after 2 storming but overlooked albums. They played punk rock & hardcore and mixed them together to form something that fans of Gallows should have lapped up but I guess didn’t. I’m happy I saw them a few years ago, but a bit gutted now I haven’t seen them in the last 12 months as they toured New Hopes, New Demonstrations so I might try and get down to Hevy Festival now to catch their final show. One thing these guys always did was slay it live.

Album wise I dl’d the new albums from Miles Away and Red City Radio, Endless Roads and The Dangers of Standing Still, the first of which is the type of melodic hardcore I go nuts for, and the second a nice slice of gruff punk rock with touches of Hot Water Music thrown in.

Saw Make Do And Mend play the Borderline on Friday supporting Fireworks. This was their first London show ever and even shorn of 2 members they put on a cracking set. Picked up a great AN varsity-ripoff tee and the vinyl of End Measured Mile while I was waiting.

So all in all a bad start, a good middle and a great end.

Make Do And Mend – Oak Square

adifferentsongtohear — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 18:38:01 +0000

4 months

adifferentsongtohear — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 12:16:20 +0000

That’s how long it’s been since I updated this thing. Guess I fell into the Twitter/Tumblr trap of instant updating with instant gratification and a wider audience. Still I started this to kind of talk about music which is what I intend to do still.

So first thing to do is post the best gigs from the last few months then…

November: Rise and Fall/Nails/Harms Way – this was intense, heavy, discordant, an aural assault of brutality etc… Rise and Fall will always rule, even with the kids “can’t mosh, won’t mosh” attitude.

December: I was absolutely skint and work piles up about that time too. Sad to say no shows.

January: The Carrier/The Effort – The Carrier are easily one of the best hardcore bands about, and The Effort probably the best SXE band doing the rounds. Great night, both had fantastic new albums, Blind to What is Right and Wartime Citizens, to play. Narrowly edged out Terror.

February: Defeater/Carpathian – What a show. Best reception I’ve ever seen Carpathian get in the UK over the 5 times I’ve seen them, and Defeater had the crowd in the palm of their hands all night long. London shows can be notorious for “too cool to mosh” but we had next to no problem with that being the case here.

Second thing I’ll do is post up my favourite releases from last year.

Alaska – Mmx EP – Rise and Fall-esqe metallic hardcore from a new UK band

Carpathian – Wanderlust EP – dark & brooding hardcore from the Melbourne vets

Ceremony – Rohnert Park – Black Flag influenced modern hardcore with bursts of surf guitar

Comeback Kid – Symptoms & Cures – stunning return to form

Cruel Hand – Lock & Key – NYC-influenced mosh

Deftones – Diamond Eyes – natural successor to the classic White Pony release

The Effort – Wartime Citizens – SXE political hardcore at break neck speed

Make do and Mend – End Measured Mile – Best melodic punk rock debut for years

More Than Life - Love Let Me Go – UK melodic hardcore

Touche Amore – To the beat of a dead horse – Picks up the baton from Thursday and runs full tilt with more aggression

So from now on I can talk about 2011.

Dead Swans

adifferentsongtohear — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 12:08:06 +0000

Just saying I’d like some new stuff from Dead Swans soon.

An EP perhaps lads?

Cruel Hand – Lock & Key

adifferentsongtohear — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 11:55:59 +0000

10 Tracks, 21 minutes. Cruel Hand don’t fuck about on this, their latest full length, as this album sees the Maine 5-piece bring their metallic hardcore assault, but tempered by the need to get each song done and dusted in under 3 minutes, with the only exception being the almost epic-in-comparison One Cold Face.

More hardcore bands are now incorporating thrash influences into their song writing, This is Hell, Bitter End, Alpha & Omega from this year alone, but Cruel Hand stand out for me by dropping breakdown after breakdown, solid song after solid song, Hetfield-esqe clean vocals at times, and the fact they didn’t bother in sticking an instrumental half-way through.

They hooked me with the title track first up & delivered what perhaps has been the best hardcore album of 2010 so far.

FFO: This is Hell, Trapped Under Ice, Bitter End

Playlist

adifferentsongtohear — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 08:41:25 +0000

For this week:

Parkway Drive – Deep Blue

Alaska – MMX

Promises – Hopeless Sons

Cruel Hand – Lock & Key

Rise and Fall – Into Oblivion

Shipwreck – Abyss

So Far

adifferentsongtohear — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 09:19:36 +0000

Neglect is too weak of a word to describe the relationship between me and this blog in recent weeks/months. Shit…life & work conspire to keep me busy and away from doing interesting things even when the thought occurs to me to update this.

Anyway, I called this adifferentsongtohear for a reason, to talk about music. So I thought I’d do that. 2010 has been OK for music, it seems like every year I find myself saying something “this year is the best I can remember for music”, but is it really? I kind of preferred 2008 in recent times for the releases from Carpathian, Blacklisted, Shipwreck, Have Heart, Defeater, Killing the Dream, Gaslight Anthem, Paint it Black, Ruiner, The Carrier, H20, Ceremony, Amity Affliction, King Blues & Verse to name a few (jesus that was a good year).

Anyway 2010 has had so far some absolutely great releases from Deftones, Sick of it All, Madball, This is Hell, Comeback Kid, Parkway Drive, Ceremony, Terror, Bitter End, Integrity, Alexisonfire, Cruel Hand, Carpathian, All Pigs must Die, Narrows/Heiress, Rival Mob & Promises, and with a couple of months still to go there’s room for more to add to the list.

So these things go in cycles, there should always be good stuff to hear each and every year no matter what and 2010 has been no exception. I’m always looking to hear new stuff, so suggest away if you read this and want to share a band.

Spinning the Black Circle

adifferentsongtohear — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 20:35:45 +0000

Vinyl package from Deathwish. Five 7″ records that I’ve been waiting to pick up for months in some cases.

Carpathian – Wanderlust. So good to have new stuff out as Isolation was released about 2 years ago now; and in a great package as well. Can so appreciate their transformation from the mosh-heavy Nothing to Lose into slow-burning, melancholic hardcore through Wrecked, Isolation and now this. It’s great to see a band not afraid to evolve from the crowd-friendly mosh into a more nuanced sound.

Rise and Fall – 2003 Demo. 4 tracks from their first ever recording session.

Rival Mob – Hardcore for Hardcore. 6 new tracks of bruising mosh from a band who get so much hype but with this and Raw Life are almost living up to it. Plus points for a Near Dark picture on the insert.

Narrows/Heiress – Split. Discordant and heavy, New Distances was one of my favourite albums from the last couple of years and so the 2 new tracks on this from them, plus 2 from Heiress, made this a no-brainer to pick up.

Blacklisted – Eccentrichine. Came out soon after the release of No-one Deserves to be Here… Message boards bitched about that release only being available on 12″ and that they’re no longer playing straight-up mosh. But I love this band, who are fast becoming a sum of their influences and pushing things to the point where you never know what their next release will sound like.

Back Home

adifferentsongtohear — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:30:02 +0000

Arrived back in the UK, with a package of vinyl from Deathwish INC waiting for me.

Pics and updates later.

Doha

adifferentsongtohear — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 07:52:04 +0000

Arrived in Doha, Qatar for work. 5 days of which 2 will be spent visiting a client, with most of the remaining 3 being spent around the hotel pool. Probably.