Time for new from my homeland, Croatian underground scene. Heihaizi are one of the best kept secrets from Zagreb, Croatia, hehehe. This one is a blast of energy, whirlwind of hardcore untamed force just waited to be released upon the world. This one contains 13 songs. Music is old school fast hardcore leaning with both legs in punk roots, reminding me a lot of old school hardcore from USA, namely Circle Jerks, Necros, early Beastie Boys, RKL, early TSOL and similar bands. Songs are short but sweet, full of speed and just driving and thundering on, so the album finishes fast, but just makes you turn around and start it again. If I must compare it to some Croatian band it would be Midnight Climax or Eke Buba, as I understand two guys fom Eke are playing in Heihaizi. This is music from the streets and for the streets, just made for skating and prowling through streets on a warm night. With hard in your face hitters like ‘Let Me In’, ‘Stink’ or ‘Drop’ you just can’t go wrong. I recommend this one to all.
Time for horror punk to grace the pages of this zine again. This time, it is a split release between Houston’s Cemetery Static and ROT from Mexico. Each band is featured with four songs here. It is interesting that there are no one side by one band, then another by other band. This split goes one song by CS, one by ROT and so on. Well, I liked Cemetary Static side a lot because they play rather fast and raw hardcore punk with horror lyrics and shouted vocals, meaning they are not your typical horror punk band, rather hardcore horror punk. ROT from Mexico were already featured in this webzine, meaning also raw and fast hardcore punk with horror filled lyrics, both bands are not your usual Blitzkid/Misfits/Calabrese horror punk style of bands. No, this is raw energy and horror lyrics. I must admit that on this release both bands deliver, but somehow I liked Cemetary Static side of split better. But, that is only my opinion. Now, go, listen, support and long live the horror!
Now, for something from this our regional scene. Eva Ras were already in this zine, it is a one man hardcore punk/screamo band/project. This time, Eva Ras released split with similar one man entity from Novi Sad, called give.me.the.gun. Eva Ras side features five songs, one being Kobra Khan cover and delivers what we are used to from this band, being short and raw, noisy hardcore punk screamo songs with clever use of noise parts and some samples. My favorites are ‘Ja Sam Eks Ju Mesec’ and ‘Da Se Podsetimo’. This is dark hardcore screamo par excellence, especially the dark story featured in ‘Voala/Se Moa’. Vocals are tortured screams mixed with sampled parts, whispering and talking, like horror movie soundtrack. Give.me.the.gun. side contains four songs in English, one also being IWHACIYY cover. This is also one man band/project from Novi Sad, which I never listened to before. This side sounds more like a rehearsal record, being very raw, but also very atmospheric and having some great melancholic melodies, like in ‘Burning Bridges’ instrumental. There is also a sample of two of noise atmosphere cleverly thrown in. But, there is also sheer hardcore screamo brutality and rawness in ‘Hello, I Hate Myself’. For my taste, Eva Ras side suits me a bit better but this is a nice release, so go support your local scene.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 