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.
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.
Here is nice little split e.p. release with four songs. Lifecrusher are coming from Switzerland and their two songs represented here are similar to what we called new school hardcore back in the nineties, meaning metallic guitar riffs and moshing parts, plus some punk rock influence thrown in here and there. Their two songs ‘The Price’ and ‘The Plague’ – I love this one more, because it is faster but that is only my taste, reminded me a bit of Earth Crisis. Maybe it is only me. Singer Rami has really powerful screaming energetic voice. Nice having discovered this band. Frantic State are from UK and their two songs ‘The Cost’ and ‘Mantra’ are brutal hardcore, with lots of metallic street core style, in your face hardcore not unlike Walls Of Jericho, Terror, Jesus Piece and some other UK bands like Knuckledust for example. Vocals are screamed at the top of the lungs with some nice backing gang vocals just made for singing along at gigs. My personal taste likes Lifecrusher a bit more, but this is a decent split e.p. so go get yours.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 