Dark Circles - Split w/Abstracter

Dark Circles are a blackened crust/d-beat band from Montreal. Their most recent release is a split with Abstracter, which contains 3 new songs from Dark Circles and 2 new songs from Abstracter who are equally as dark and heavy.

Bandcamp

Facebook

Exits - Self Deprecation

Exits are a four piece hardcore band hailing from Edmonton, Alberta. Their debut full length "Self Deprecation" conjures up 12 tracks of chaotic hardcore in the vein of bands like Botch, Coalesce and Refused. Most of this album is blisteringly fast and doesn't really relent or let up until the album closer "Save Yourself" which even has its fast moment. I highly recommend checking this one out because these guys are definatly doing something right.

Bandcamp

Facebook

Guiltfeeder

Guiltfeeder are a four piece hardcore band hailing from Toronto, ON. Their newest EP came out last June, and features 5 tracks of chaotic fret work, throat shredding vocals, and a rhythm section so tight no way baby come out of there. I highly recommend checking these guys out, and if possible catch them at a show, their next show is March 12th @ Silence in Guelph with Mirrors & Tides and Teleportoise.

Facebook
Guiltfeeder Bandcamp
Get Party! Bandcamp

Petrify

Feedback ✔

Dissonance ✔

Getting my hopes up ✔

Petrify, a hardcore band from Alberta is off to a good start with their self-titled debut but just seem to fail to deliver (maybe the album is a grower).

Taking on a full-length as a debut release would be a grueling task for any band and like most bands who attempt it Petrify fall a little flat. Tracks such as My Own, Havens, and Room 446 are highlights off of the album, but these guys should have trimmed the fat and released a solid ep, 5 good songs is always better than 10 OK songs.

Holding everything together through the albums 10 ups and downs is drummer Jake Friedrich. Friedrich crashes, smashes, and bashes his way through the album and will be one of the few thing keeping you involved throughout the listen.

This band definitely deserves some attention and seems to be taking their art seriously, getting their album mastered by Brad Boatright who mastered some of last year's biggest releases (Harms Way, Full Of Hell/Merzbow, and Twitching Tongues) was another saving grace for this band.

All in all this is an OK release so I'll give it an OK score of 5/10

---Russ Walsh---

Facebook

Bandcamp

Speaker - Grow And Decay (Re-release)

Speaker recently re-released their debut EP "Grow And Decay". Drums and bass we're rerecorded for this and it's definatly beefed up the sound on it, check it out.

Facebook
Grow And Decay

Failgiver

Here's another band I had up on the previous site, Failgiver play a brand of dirty, chaotic hardcore with the perfect mix of metal thrown in. Their most recent release "Death Pose" came out last June, check it out.

Facebook
Bandcamp

Mad Trapper

Can we just take a second and talk about Mad Trapper? From what I gather, these boys formed the band in 2012, (and) taking a que from bands like Converge and other metallic hardcore bands like Coalesce they worked on what would become their first release "Kill Us, Start Anew" fast forward to 2015, they put out their first full length, the absolutly crushing "Dead Living", played a string of headline shows and got some opening slots on some great shows local to Toronto. I firstbecame aware of them when I saw them open for Retox and Whores on their tour for Retox's "Beneath California" album, I walked into the venue a couple songs into Mad Trapper's set and saw their bass player tossing his instrument as high as possibly with little regard for those around him and their singer throwing himself around like a mad man, doing barrel rolls while yelling and screaming the words without missing a beat. Now it's 2016, they got a sweet slot opening for Decapitated, recorded some music for Converse Rubber Tracks, and are poised to take over the Canadian hardcore scene. Keep your eyes and ears on watch for these guys because there's big things coming in their future.

Facebook
Bandcamp