Danish band Lifesick mightn’t have reached a household name status by the beginning of 2024, but they’d definitely marked out a place as one of the cult acts within the European underground. Four releases into their career, they’d already become somewhat of a fixture on the Scandinavian festival circuit, had associations with the legendary Southern Lord label (sometime home of Boris, Goatsnake, Mondo Generator and others), and already shown a great gift for brutalist hardcore riffs.
Tag Archives: hardcore
LASSITERS – The Charred Remains Of Gusso The Clown
London based band Lassiters aren’t doing things by halves on their second release ‘The Charred Remains of Gusso The Clown’. In ten songs and approximately half an hour, the three piece band whip up a brilliant musical storm where the tunes are noisy, and the lyrics sometimes knowingly silly, but there’s always a real focus within their hardcore stance.
WYOMING YOUNG AND STRONG – Wicked Upon You EP
Recorded and mixed by Bloodhag’s Jeff McNulty and mastered by the legendary Tad Doyle, this EP from Seattle stoners Wyoming Young and Strong has a huge, live in the studio sound that makes similar works by renowned producer Jack Endino seem half-arsed. Presenting a wall of distortion coupled with sludge/hardcore riffs that sound like early Tad battling with ‘Ozma’ period Melvins, the band take the stoner metal sound from their earlier ‘Black Wire’ LP and ramp everything up about three fold. The results are absolutely devastating.
ADVERSE96 – Clear The Lane
Adverse96 have worked hard to build a following since their formation in 2012. Extensive live work has seen them trek across Europe, sharing stages with 90s legends Dog Eat Dog, ska band The Interrupters and cult punks Against Me. The fact that they’ve managed to support such musically differing rock bands is testament to their huge crossover sound. Their 2023 full length ‘Clear The Lane’ takes in a swathe of melodic hardcore influences, a smidgeon of rap metal and even a few cues from US inspired melodic punk. This huge melting pot of sound often centres around melodic hardcore breakdowns to give the overall sound a common thread, but in terms of whipping up some familiar sounding (and often retro) excitement, it’s clear that this Belgian band know, almost instinctively, how to push all of the right buttons.
THE HOLY NOTHING – Vol. 1: A Profound And Nameless Fear
On this debut EP, The Holy Nothing wield some genuinely enormous riffs. Creating a sound that takes a huge influence from stoner metal and mixes that with a few grungy influences and a pinch of hardcore, their sound shifts between crunchy, sludgy and the groove laden, ensuring this musical trio are often more interesting than your average Orange Goblin, Fu Manchu and Kyuss wannabes.