You know that good feeling when you discover excellent band due to good people at SBÄM Records? Well, Swallow´s Rose are from Bavaria, Germany and although this is their second release, this full length is the first one I heard from this excellent band. Yep, you might guessed it, they play punk rock and that kind of nice melodic punk rock which makes your heart flutter with joy and happiness. This record contains twelve songs of mainly mid tempo punk rock with lots of soul, heart and melody, emotions and hope. But, emotions are what makes music tick, right? There are couple of excursions into faster skatepunk hardcore waters in some song parts, but mainly there are mid tempo songs which hit you hard in your face with their honesty and power. If I must compare this band to someone, it would be a mixture of Off With Their Heads, Menzingers and No Use For A Name. Vocals are rougher but singer Dominik has such beautiful voice and backing harmonies with all the vocals are just divine and fabulous. Lyrics are rather personal, but I am fan of such lyrics in this kind of punk rock, so I love it. My personal favorites are Live For Today, He Said, She Said and Up To You. Gods, I am so happy for this record to hit me. Hats of to people at SBÄM for making scene richer with such great releases.
Austria´s Deadends are in no way strangers to this zine, since I saw their set in my neighbouring town of Varaždin, later on in Slovenia at Petroleum Beat Festival, I immediately fell in love with their music and also they are such nice and friendly crew, I hung out together with Tom at Punk Rock Holiday when his other band Ants! played their final show. Anyway, this is Deadends new full length album and it is a continuation of their awesome mixture of emotional melodic hardcore and punk rock with harsh yet melodic vocals, backing vocal harmonies, great lyrics and songs that remain long in your ears and head after listening and making you listen to them over and over again. I must mention some songs that remained keeping warmth in my heart like Good Intentions, Better Excuses with such great lyrics and melody that I can relate to. I love how Deadends make everyday themes and fantastic songs that make you smile, your eyes moist and your skin crawl with goosebumps. Lyrics deal with depression, anxiety, love, loss, hope, life and coping in today´s world. Some other songs that I mention as highlights for me are the title song, also Ghosts & Demons, Habit To Endure. But, I just can´t get enough of this album. I am so happy this one came out.
Hitch & Go from Quebec City have been around since 2012 but their line-up solidified in 2015 and this is their brand new full length opus out with People of Punk Rock. This one contains eleven songs and what immediately came to mind when first song started is, gods how this one rocks. It is totally fast and melodic skate punk like it was done in the nineties and having some pop punk in some song structures thrown in for good measure here and there. Sheep In Wolf´s Clothing hits you in the head with fast skate punk and beautiful vocal melody, bridge that transforms into anthemic and bombastic chorus just made for singing along at gigs or whole day when you think that nobody hears you, or you just don´t care if they hear or not. Vocals are strong and melodic with nice backing harmonies and remind me of Tony Sly a bit for couple of moments in almost every song. But, they sometimes transform into screamed parts and they fit perfectly in some hooks and grooves in song parts. Lyrics deal with every day themes, but they are nicely and great written. There is also special appearance of Scott Sellers in awesome If I Fall. My other favorites are Find Yourself and A Place That Doesn´t Exist. This record is a hundred percent proof that skate punk is alive and well like it was when I was growing up.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 