Reds - "Is:Means"

Born in the spring of 2004, Reds brings together four individuals with disparate backgrounds in a way that both creates tension and finds harmony. Their individual roots are recognizable – traces of rock 'n roll and a touch of poppiness amidst the frenzy of hardcore – but find balance and unity within the songs. On their debut full-length, "is:means", the songs fly along at furious speeds, rarely letting up, and never losing their intensity. The lyrics, mostly shouted and screamed but occasionally sung, strive to pointedly connect the personal and political - showing clear anger and frustration yet never letting go of positivity and optimism. Always on the verge of falling into chaos, Reds manages to hold it all together and focus their energy into a roaring collection of passion and fury.

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xFilesx - "Excruciation"

xFilesx from New Bedford, MA. Excruciation is 22 quick tracks of pissed off straightedge hardcore that doesn't really sound like straightedge hardcore. There's a major range of tempos with a lot of slower riffs and the recording is totally different from any of this style of hardcore that I've heard, which really does give it a different end result. It's basically fast hardcore with an early 80's sort of flare rather than a youth crew sort of sound, but the slower riffs give it a unique edge and keep it from coming off as generic.

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Please Inform The Captian This Is A Hijack - "To Defeat or Humiliate The United States of America"

14 tracks of extremely well-crafted political hardcore. One would be unfortunately hard-pressed to find another band with such unique and inspiring power. The band formed in 2000 in California by Mike Kirsch (Bread and Circuits, Colbom, Fuel, Pinhead Gunpowder, etc.) Awesome samples!

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Iconoclast - "CD"

Formed in the early 90's in New Jersey amidst a flourishing of diverse hardcore bands, such as Rorshach, Born Against, 1.6 band, Native Nod, Policy of 3. Described as powerful and energetic hardcore that combined the power and aggression of more traditional hardcore with the emotion of more melodic and passionate '90s hardcore. Pre-dating the conventional definition of "emo" or any of its permutations, Iconoclast pooled influences from both punk and indie bands of that era. The resulting sound was discordant and crashing, emotional and stirring. This album contains most of the bands discography.

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Deep Wound - "Almost Complete"

Deep Wound was a hardcore punk band, which formed in 1982 in Westfield, MA. They released one self titled 7" and contributed 2 songs to the compilation LP, Bands That Could Be God, both of which are sought after by fans and record collectors alike. They are often noted as being, along with Siege, one of the early inspirations for grindcore. "Almost Complete" Is a highly significant portion of the bands discography. They broke up in '84. Awesome band that a major influence to many modern hardcore bands.

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Deathreat - "Deathreat: Compliation CD"

Deathreat play fast-and-furious, thrashtastic hardore. Deathreat features members of His Hero Is Gone, Tragedy, and Severed Head Of State. The album includes the LP as well as 18 additional tracks from their various 7"s and compilation contributions for a total song count of thirty-six tracks.

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DS-13 - "Killed By The Kids" (2001)

D.S.-13 (Demon System 13) is a raging hardcore from Umeå, Sweden. Unlike a lot of Swedish punk bands who have a Discharge-influenced sound, D.S.-13 has more of a pissed off old school US hardcore sound, similar to early Dri, Minor Threat, early Agnostic Front, and Negative Approach.

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Unbroken - "It's Getting Tougher to Say the Right Things" (2000)

Bio: Unbroken was a hardcore punk band from San Diego, California. They were influential in the Southern California hardcore scene during the mid-to-late 1990s. The band chose the name Unbroken because they wanted to emphasize their dedication to the straight edge philosophy of drug abstinence. However, like many such bands, most of the members have since given up this belief.
Unbroken broke up with the suicide of guitarist Eric Allen.

Amazing band. Unbroken sets the bar for hardcore and is probably the greatest hardcore band of the 90s. This record is a collection of work from 1992 - 1995 and features a Joy Divison cover that is sick as fuck. All tracks are heavy as hell and will make your ears jizz everywhere.

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Teen Cthulhu - "Ride The Blade" (2003)

Taking the raw chaos of punk and fueling the flames with black metal grimness and symphonic grandeur, it becomes the circle for the Cthulhu evocations. Thirteen mad tracks of blackened metal tinged fastcore that will trample you under cloven hoof and fill your veins with burning vitriol.Thunderous, relentless grind and blackmetal accompanied by keyboards. Totally fucking awesome

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Perth Express - "Discography" (2007)

Following in the path of bands like His Hero is Gone, Tragedy, and Baroness, Perth Express step the genre of down-tuned hardcore driven metal up to a new level of intensity and songwriting. This discography CD features the German band’s 12”, 10”, 7” and demo, all of which were previously unreleased in the States. Without any exaggeration I can say this is without a doubt one of the most powerful and memorable metal/hardcore records released in the last decade.

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Union Of Uranus - "To This Bearer Of Truth" (1994)

(Union of)Uranus were around in the early to mid 1990's considered to be "crusty hardcore" In many ways, Uranus changed the path and the pattern of modern hardcore globally. How to describe this? Chaos, fury, emotional strife, and a paranoid fear of a technocratic future all blended with a musical delivery that is equivalent to total sonic insanity. Members of Uranus went to play in His Hero Is Gone and Tragedy.

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Dead Stop - "Live For Nothing" (2005)

Using the template - with modern production values - as forged by Negative Approach, these Belgians hit us with their second 12" of pounding hardcore. Not too much deviation from the original formula of fast, throat-grabbing intensity, which is fine and dandy with me. Props to them, though, for the closing track, "Letting Go", which has a bit of experimentation.
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Capsule - "Capsule Plus" (2006)

Total off-time complicatedcore mayhem as only these guys could do it. Truly hard to describe, this is pretty much weird as fuck, haunted, dark and desperate "mathy" hardcore madness. Members are/have been apart of Tyranny Of Shaw, Tunes For Bears To Dance To, Jesse Washington, Heroes And Hearsay, Dead Lions, We're Scissors, Devices, and many more. Simply incredible stuff. Seriously...get this now.

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Monarcs - "Apocalyptic Bebop" (2006)

These dudes have an enormous drive and power. Combined with angular riffs and a great sense of timing makes sure that the 4 songs on this EP won’t leave your head soon. Get this.

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Malady - "Self Titled" (2003)

The hardcore punk scene suffered two great losses when City of Caterpillar and pg.99 both dissolved in 2003. Fortunately for the rest of us, members of these two bands have come together to form Malady and Level Plane is proud to present their self-titled debut full length. Remarkably, Malady has inherited the intensity of the two aforementioned bands, but has also created a brand new sound and approach to songwriting. Jeff Kane continues where he left off in CoCa and weaves a tapestry of dark and epic melodies, which perfectly compliment ex-pg.99 vocalist Chris Taylor's singing.Malady' debut is sure to please fans of both City of Caterpillar and pg.99, as well as attract new enthusiasts who will appreciate a more diverse approach to hardcore punk.

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Amber Inn - "All Roads Still Lead To Home" (1998)

Great '90s emo hardcore. One of the bands that helped to define the genre.
Passionate singing and delicate melodies combined with a strong sense of rhythmic energy. Amber Inn hits the highs and the lows with a style that uses volume diversity to great effect. Pulsating and always emotionally charged.

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Building Better Bombs - "No Hospitals" (2006)

Minneapolis' Building Better Bombs, who have been an active part of the Minneapolis punk scene over the past several years. They plays catchy screamy hardcore/punk rock. Features Rhymesayers' P.O.S. on guitar/vocals. Also, there are guest vocals from Travis Bos of Song of Zarathustra/Chariots, Annie Awesome of THE Soviettes, and Kat Naden of The God Damn Doo Wop Band.

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Despise You - "West Side Horizons" (1994)

power violence, from Inglewood, CA. They were one of the best ultrafast, uncompromising power violence units during the mid-’90’s that didn’t only played their own songs, but covered classic bands like D.R.I., Circle Jerks, and Possessed in their own brutal way.
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