The warmachine keeps rolling

Germany was responsible for upping the metal factor in the new school sound in the late 90s thanks in large to Caliban and these vegan warriors, the almighty, Heaven Shall Burn. For me, Heaven Shall Burn pre-Century Media were the rightful successor to Day Of Suffering as the quintessential vegan metal band. Whilst now they are more like a straight melodic death metal band, back in the late 90s HSB were causing absolute destruction with their material. Melody was an integral feature that helped them to conjure their pieces but it wasn't utilised in such a manner that lightened the atmosphere (like later material), rather it aided in creating an even darker atmosphere that enhanced the feel and impact of their pieces.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/876feh - Heaven Shall Burn - Cold

http://www.sendspace.com/file/m6m0wh - Heaven Shall Burn - The Drowned And The Saved

http://www.sendspace.com/file/0rom1j - Heaven Shall Burn - Asunder

Now I thought this was out of print, hence why the whole thing is up (sans the 25 minute track at the end with a hidden bonus cover) but it turns out, it is available here http://www.verydistro.com/moreinfo.aspx?id=1515.

For Liberation

The wait for this album was agony. When news that Liberation had another 'vegan straightedge weapon,' ready to be unleashed I began foaming at the mouth and who wouldn't after such a proven track record? Well, when Mostomalta were unveiled they fulfilled every expectation that I personally have for a vegan straightedge band in this new millenium. This being, relentless buzzing (blackened) riffs forged as much from the classic new school of the mid to late 90s as metal (Mostomalta even sited Deicide and Emperor as prime influences). Plenty, and I do mean plenty of apocalyptic crunching mosh and of course, scathing vocals and Mostomalta excel in this department as they have not 1 nor 2 but 3 vocalists on board thus adding an even more furious dimension to their already seething brew.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/edggg5 - Mostomalta - Intersticio (title track)

http://www.sendspace.com/file/cl0ojt - Mostomalta - Intersticio

As I said, the wait for this album (well, its more like a extended EP what with 7 tracks and barely 20+ minutes of material) was agony, I checked the Liberation website constantly, waiting for snippets of information. Eventually they put the title track online and I rinsed it for months and then finally the CD became available which as soon as it was, I was badgering Marcos (the owner) for my copy.

Given that Liberation no longer focuses on third world hardcore anymore, this CD didn't get much exposure or distribution throughout the rest of the world, an absolute travesty in my mind. This of course makes it difficult to get, you can get it here http://www.001shop.com.br/lojas/liberationstore/produtos.asp?produto=17&categoria=2
but you better be able to read Portuguese or have a lot of patience navigating the site.

Otherwise, you have all the tunes here to enjoy ;)

Strength Through Diversity

Ok so sendspace has been driving me crazy this past week. I've had stuff uploading and everytime it has timed out leaving my post left in tatters (usually because I am trying to get it up before I go to work).

Anyway, so here we go again, this post is going to be super brief because I have loads to do tonight.

Subzero are an amazing NYHC band, this is their debut from 1997 and whilst its not as heavy as their later material on Stillborn and is absolutley succulent in its songwriting. The band has so much going on and each song is so diverse and different, so much so, this really shouldn't work, there are so many contrasting elements mixed here that most other bands would be botch when it came to melding them together. Subzero manage not to do this and instead create an album that is a true classic of the New York scene.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nhmv3g - Subzero - Boxed In

http://www.sendspace.com/file/rd2xm4 - Subzero - Happiness Without Peace

Copies going here for DIRT cheap, so don't be a sucka, pick it up cuz its outta print - http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B000005HNH/ref=dp_olp_1/102-2454382-6636115?ie=UTF8&qid=1190745164&sr=1-2

PS - I cannot find the CD, hence no artwork :(

Let's go

Discovering that there were hardcore bands in South America that were good was something of a revelation for me, more so that they were amazing. Point Of No Return laid the foundations (as some of you will know, their last album was posted up on here), but the continent's and in particular Brazil's potential as one of the new hardcore stronghold's began to manifest when xConfrontox and Children Of Gaia dropped on the scene. In fact, the former are veterans releasing their first demo (which I am looking for) way back at the end of the late 90s and have gone onto release a MCD, this split (and a European edition with Fall Of A Season) and then their monumental full length 'Causa Mortis,' in 2005. Children of Gaia ascended to one of my favorite bands in 04 when they dropped their debut full length 'I Prey To Watch You Bleed.' They toured Europe that year and played the Ieper fest which I had planned to go in order to see them but alas, financial constraints (too much hapless spending on records) and a month long sojourn in Italy meant that I had to earn before going anywhere. I've been waiting for their return ever since and I think that wait will continue until they record that cursed second full length which has been some 2 and a half years in the making, fingers crossed.

Anyway, Children Of Gaia sounded more like the Italian new school on this release, their full length was grittier and incorporated more of a mosh approach ala Terror and Throwdown mixed with their earlier style, that being what is found here which was total new school fury. Taking the best parts of Italian legends like Reprisal and Sentence and then adding the scathing vocals of Mario made this a vicious, confrontational and of course, invigorating sound that was obsessively addictive.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/ivqdok - Children Of Gaia - Gaia

http://www.sendspace.com/file/hg35oi - Confronto - Alicerce

Both bands are still active, and as stated above, Children of Gaia are working on their follow up to 'I Prey to Watch You Bleed.' Meanwhile Confronto toured Europe this summer (and should have come here but didn't :( ). This record has now gone out of print since Liberation dropped the x's and decided to be a vehicle for releases for Trustkill, Century Media and Ferrett in South America, so hit http://www.ebay.com/, however, there is a copy here - http://www.pyrrhus.be/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=187075 but as I have said in the past with this webstore, they can be a little slow.

Meanwhile the Confronto full length and Euro edition of this split (with Fall Of A Season, whose songs were awesome) are avaliable here - http://www.verydistro.com/search.aspx?typeofsearch=artist&keywords=confronto.

Please be aware that the rest of the tunes will be going up, the reason they haven't is due to my internet connection being a fucker and crashing before the main bulk of the files have uploaded.

Kicking back

I was informed that the Kickback files went down, so here it is for those of you that need it.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/bgowpm - Kickback - Les 150 Passions Meurtrieres

For those of you that don't have it or think you don't need it, you do.

I will return...

It's been a while. Too long in fact. Well, I will be coming back, posting will be resuming this week, I had time to think in Japan and I decided that giving up was to easy, I'm carrying on with this, so stand by, cause a storm is brewing.