This band is coming from La Rochelle, France and this is their debut full length album. There are ten songs on this one. Music is basically punk rock but with so much more influences thrown in. There are hardcore, metal, funk, reggae, midwest emo, but also blackgaze to be more modern. Lyrics deal with personal themes, like will to live, mental health issues, but also oppression and social injustices. I love how this band manages to mix all these influences in their music but still remain punk rock and punch you in the face. One of my personal favorites is ‘She Resisted Agonizingly’, mixture of fast hardcore punk and reggae with good lyrics. Vocals are more screaming and shouted and somehow fit perfectly to the atmosphere each of the songs has, because every song is different from the other and that is the beauty of this album. One other song I must also mention as favorite is ‘Fading’ which is totally cool with lyrics that goosebumps your skin. Also ‘Flashes of Corruption Destruction(in My Dreams)’ is worth mentioning having that cool catchy riff and reminding me of early Shelter, but hey, maybe it is only me. This is in fact an interesting album for all of you who love your punkrock diverse.
Agastopia are hailing from Bulgaria and this is their new release containing nine songs. The music on this album is varied and if I must describe it would be melodic hardcore punk with some groove parts and almost alternative indie rock parts but enough harsh to keep your hardcore heart beating for listening the music of Agastopia. Like grunge influences meet hardcore punk and skate punk. Lyrics are personal and deal with death, facing your inner demons. aggression, being empty inside, depression, jealousy, suicide and other themes from very personal angle of being. There are couple of faster more straightforward punk songs like excellent ‘Dead’. Vocals vary from angry shouting to more melodic clean singing and fit just perfectly to the songs along with backing vocals. My personal favorites are ‘Dead’, ‘Terrified’ and ‘Just Do It’. This is not your straightforward hardcore record but it is a great music if you open your mind and ears to a bit different music style and quite original if I can admit.
Not much is known about Merit Maker. These guys are hailing from Philadelphia and they play punk rock. This record contains ten songs of fast melodic hardcore punk, bringing back the nineties hardcore punk melodycore vision to this century. The songs are mainly fast, some of them leaning more into hardcore side of things, being not so much melodic but harsher, like for example ‘False Starts’. There is an occasional melancholic melody and atmosphere that goes through the songs like thread that binds them all together, but maybe it is only me that hears such stuff on this album. Bassist/vocalist Joe Stanton’s voice is just made for music like this one. The guy does not have your typical melodic voice but he can transform it also to ultra melodic like in Ramonescore influenced ‘Look Back’ which reminded me of Teenage Bottlerocket a little bit, that is good since TB is one of my favorite bands ever in the genre, not saying Merit Maker copied anyone, quite the contrary. Besides melancholy, I like some kind of untamed and wild punk rock energy that goes through this album and connects all the songs into one whole and makes this good record. My other personal highlights: ‘Sparks Ignite’, ‘Falling Out’, ‘Hang Ups’.
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