Australian scene is great with many bands coming out and delivering killer records. Toe To Toe are hardcore veterans being formed in Sydney in 1992. This is their sixth album after a long period of seven years from the last one “Arturo Gatti”. Vocalist and sole original member Scott Mac sounds better and more pissed off than ever on this killer record. The album contains 12 excellent hardcore songs, each better than the next. The opener “Monolith” is old school hardcore tour de force, in fact, the whole record sounds like a perfect mix of old school hardcore somehow developed in something modern but without losing touch with the roots of our beloved music. One of the real gems on this record is “My War, My Way” with punkrock tempo and so uplifting that it just makes you put it again on repeat. The other gems of this record and tops songs in my opinion are the title track and the album closing track “Sydney”. In all, this album is an energetic bomb that will make you sweat a little during these hot summer days.
Australia has very strong and diverse hardcore scene and they are slowly but steadily making their mark as one of the more important scenes on the world map of hardcore. This monster of an album(and I mean this in the most positive way) took some time to crawl out of the gutter. This band is featuring members of Most Precious Blood, I Exist, Hitlist, Blkout and The Daylight Curse. Judging by the black and white cover with the burning car and the burning dude, I expected something crusty, dark and beautiful. Well, I got ten songs of energetic, brutal and fast aggressive hardcore that make me wanna mosh all through the living room while listening to the record. The material on this record is an energetic bomb just waiting to explode in your face. The songs are mainly fast with some singalong moshing parts thrown into for the good measure. The atmosphere is dark, the riffs are greasy as the flames burning on the cover of the record, so expect no mercy here! One of the best records that came out this year so far! Get that! Top songs:”Arctic World”, “Separation Street”, “Final Generation”
The long awaited second output by these New York Long Island band is here! The album contains ten songs of angry, rage driven but also emotional hardcore. The opening song “Still Burning” reminded me a little of Snapcase in their best days and then the music turns out into more chaotic metallic sound of Earth Crisis with some dark underlayers and groovy heavy laden hooks. This record goes to the dimensions of hardcore that we used to call new school in the 90-ies, meaning angry groove, heavy hardcore with metal influences, cutting guitars, screaming vocals and darker atmosphere. In case of Incendiary, the lyrics are pretty good and they cover the wide range of themes, from economic inequality to personal relationship crisis, freedom and many other great stuff. The production is excellent and I really love this record. It is a perfect weapon to vent out your anger and remember that there are people who feel the same as you and who try to cope and give their best to survive in the harsh reality of this fucked up world. The album is nothing new or special but it is a great angry return to more metalic currents of hardcore, without losing the primal hardcore edge. Top songs:”Awakening”, “The Product Is You”, “Hard Truths Cut Both Ways”.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 