All Out War have been in the scene for a long time now. Their roots go back to 1990. Well, this is their new opus, eight full length if I am not mistaken. Well, All Out War play what we used to call new school back in the nineties and it is basically metalized hardcore, not unlike old school godfathers of the genre, like Earth Crisis or Integrity, even Snapcase. Behind all of the guitar thrash influenced brutality, there are couple of real catchy and melodic hooks and even some street hardcore punk influenced fast song parts. Singer Mike Score screams, growls, shouts and the album as a whole I could describe as apocalyptic hardcore with no holds barred. Many blast beats, almost death metal like, noisy in between atmospheric parts, air raid wicked evil guitar parts and thundering bass. I never witnessed All Out War deliver their music live, I am sure their shows are blood, sweat and hardcore all over. My personal favorites on this one are: ‘Glorious Devastation’, ‘Revel In Misery’, ‘Celestial Rot’. Good one.
Minus Youth are hailing from Stuttgart, Germany and this is their new e.p. This one contains four songs of metallic hardcore, not unlike All Out War, Earth Crisis, but with some street punk roots touches like Madball. I really enjoyed this one so much. Lately, I really enjoy these newer releases of hardcore scene and bands coming out, so many and I am glad after being thirty years in the scene that this is still thriving and pumping scene alive and well and will never die. Music of Minus Youth is aggressive, up tempo and also thrash metal influenced in guitar parts but still hardcore to the bone. My personal favorite on this little e.p. is Sun, title song containing breaks and speed, just what any great hardcore anthem should have. Vocals are harsh, backing gang vocals too, but in all there are no death metal singing masked in hardcore, this is a great hardcore shouter on mic here. Also, song I must highlight is Tens to Thirties. Great e.p. and great hardcore band.
Gotama Studio from Italy brought us couple of really awesome releases recently. This time it is about hardcore. Not Quite My Tempo are technical metalized hardcore from Italy and this is their debut e.p. containing four songs. Music of NQMT can be described as a mixture of metal and hardcore, leaning somehow on both sides, with technical skills and riffs in the song structures that make some song parts almost mathematically correct in playing. Vocals vary between brutal growls here and there and screaming in almost mix of anguish and sorrow, thus making atmosphere even more darkened. There are also some spoken word and emotional melodies like in awesome my favorite off this one being Clouds. Songs are named: Breathing, Clouds. Frames, Tarnished. This is a mighty debut release.