San Francisco has always been fertile ground for metal and many great bands come from the Bay Area and around this glorious city. Nite are relatively new band in the scene, formed in 2018 but the members of this entity are in no way new or fresh in the scene having played in many bands and projects. This is Nite´s second full length opus and it contains eight songs. The music of Nite is melodic heavy metal but done with blackened style. That means many melodic hooks and solos, anthemic guitar riffs and catchy songs, but vocals are way different giving the whole darkened atmosphere. Guitarist/vocalist Van Labrakis sings, well it is not really singing but a mixture of growling, whispering and almost spoken voice in some parts, giving special, almost Lovecraftian atmosphere to this opus, although it is a nod to all old school NWOBHM masters through metal´s vast history. My personal favorites are Acheron, Kronian Moon and Heliopolis. Lyrics deal with more sinister and fantasy themes this creating a mixture of beauty with melodies and unrest and dread with horror atmosphere. I am glad I discovered this band.
Sub Dio released their same titled e.p. and I listened and reviewed it for our zine.
The San Francisco hardcore punk band is made of Brian Moss(vox/guitar) from Great Apes, The Ghost, Olehole and Hanalei with Shane Hendry(Reunions) on drums, Ryan Marshall( Great Apes) on bass, Rob Carter(Great Apes) on guitar and Danica Von Hartwig on lead vocals.
There are five songs on this e.p. The music of Sub Dio is hardcore punk with some bizarre song structures here and there. Besides fast hardcore punk songs like Takies or Skeeters, there is a bit bizarre slower song Credible Fear which adds to the variety and greatness of this band. Danica´s shrieky yet melodic vocals are superbly interwined with Brian´s shouted, yet also melodic voice creating one unusual yet interesting whole. This is old school hardcore punk with middle finger pointed high in the air and facing all the polished and clean shitty stuff that passes for hardcore nowadays. I recommend this one if you want to scratch the underground and find another jewel in the crown of our scene.
Reunions from San Francisco recently released their first full length record and I listened and reviewed it for this zine.
After first two ep-s, the writing and recording process for this first full length took almost two years. This album contains ten songs of beautiful melodic 90-ies punkrock with some emo touch thrown in for good measure. The music of this band can be compared to Nothington, Hot Water Music, even Bouncing Souls and I love every single minute of this album. These are emotions hundred percent pure mixed with ferocious rebellion of punkrock with lyrics created from depths of the soul that everyone can relate to. If I must recommend some songs that are like highlights of the record for me, that would be Present Past Future Perfect, Sentimentality Is For Suckers, and Slow Fade. This is a great record and if you are a fan of punk with emotions and melody, go get this one.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 