Parker’s Burden are hailing from Atlanta, Georgia and this is their brand new release containing 15 songs. This is melodic hardcore punk/skate punk the way I love to hear it. That means simple, without complicating things straightforward fast songs, great vocals, all those sing and hum along backing vocal harmonies, divine guitar line melodies and energy topped with great lyrics. I can also hear double bass drums in some songs, so that metallic influence is fantastic too. If I must compare Parker’s Burden to some other band, it would be Satanic Surfers and all of their hitters from nineties, fast and no holds barred melodic punk. The lyrics on this album are clever mix of political, with critics about destruction of environment, corruption and decline of humanity, but also they deal with trying to swim against the tide in this world, religion and hypocrisy, senseless war from the point of ordinary man and woman, so I must say, lyrics are superb. My personal favorites on this one are: ‘The Last’, ‘War’s End’, ‘The Last Thing You Hear’. This is a great melodic punk record.
Gary Bushell is famous British writer, journalist, columnist, comedian and what not. Well, he once worked for a magazine which was legendary in punk and ska scene during the eighties so he decided to tell his best stories and anecdotes in couple of books, thematically divided into metal, hard rock, punk, ska years. This one is about punk and ska years and it contains many interesting and great stories and what I love about and miss a lot in regular biographies, being anecdotes and stories from the road. I will mention only couple that I found most interesting to read in this book, that being Judge Dread, Bad Manners, Blondie, The Cockney Rejects, then boxing match organized by The Eurythmics because Garry wrote bad intro about them in Sounds and so on. I was also interesting about Lars Fredriksen’s of Rancid fame life of crime, juvenile home, stealing and taking drugs. This is bare truth, ugly and funny. Not something to remember forever, but decent book.
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.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 