Modern Illusion is relatively young record label in the scene but they deliver superb releases. This time they delivered demo by hardcore band from San Diego, California called Bent Blue.
This demo contains five songs. While listening to the songs, it brought back two feelings in me. First, it reminded me of the early nineties when we started in the scene as young and idealistic kids, loving the early nineties hardcore sound and mourning a little for not being a bit older to experience old school youth crew feeling and vibe of the late eighties. Well the music of this band sound just like that. Like early nineties hardcore with some groove, smart songwriting, interesting solutions in parts of the songs, yet also being fast old school hardcore with melody, anthemic riffs and nice vocals. Of all the songs, my favorites are They Ask Why and Influence Me. This is a great demo, can´t wait for the full length.
I love compilations. I loved them since I was a punk kid growing up and discovering new bands that became my favorites back in the nineties in tape trading days. Dental Records is relatively new label based in Ontario, Canada. This label specializes in punk rock , mainly melodic punk, pop and skate punk. This first compilation edition contains 12 songs by 8 bands from USA, Canada, Sweden, Israel and Ukraine. Like in every compilation there are some songs and bands that are your personal favorites. For me those are Hangtime, who I already featured a lot on the pages of this zine. I must also mention Free Sergio from Israel playing fantastic technical fast skate punk with lots of energy and uplifting melody. Randells from Sweden are also very interesting to listen to. So, write a line or two for the guys running the label, I am sure they will appreciate all the love and support you give them. Then, go get this compilation and listen to some new and great bands you will love!
The Negans are from Boston and this is their new record. This one contains 12 songs and we all know who Negan is, we all love him or hate him for different reasons hehe. Well, I love this band. The music can be described as a mixture of harsh punk rock, horrorpunk and even some street punk influences thrown in, yet with catchy and singalong horrorpunk choruses like awesome Rick´s a Prick. The vocals are angry, yet melodic and vocal lines are written so great and sweet like in Lizzie´s Lament for example, one of my favorite songs on this record. There are some more classic street rock songs like Badass, so this is not your classic horrorpunk style for all you fiendettes and fiends, boys and ghouls who love your horrorpunk in Misfits/Blitzkid style of things, but that is the whole beauty of the scene, that diversity of the styles evolving into our beloved horror genre. Two more songs that are for me highlights on this album are Infected Fiesta and Negan´s Way, wicked little anthems of zombie apocalypse. The rest you have to discover for yourselves. How? The Negans released their record on Bandcamp, so go grab it, if you love it, write couple of words to the guys I am sure they will appreciate it.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 