Ritual - Kissing Pavement - 7"

The German masters of hardcore, style and great shows are back. 'Kissing Pavement' is the new two song 7" from one of the best hardcore bands around in Europe at the moment. Exaggerating? Just put the needle on the A-side of this 7" and hear a band that comes close to the quality of The Hope Conspiracy without truly emulating said band.

The song ' Greenest Meadows' is somewhat faster than the songs on Ritual's previous full length 'Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone'. Whereas the song on side B ' Kissing Pavement' has the same tempo as the songs on 'Beneath Aging Flesh And Bone', yet bring new structures, melodies and great guitarwork to the Ritual sound. Almost making it sound like a mix between The Hope Conspiracy and Refused.

This ep is a teaser of the new Ritual full length which will be released next year. It shows that these Germans have grown and it makes anyone into this kind of hardcore want more.

The 7” is packed in a big fold-out poster consisting of six photographs demonstrating the yin and yang-metaphor that lies within the songtitles 'Greenest Meadows' vs. 'Kissing Pavement' - natural vs. urban elements.

Midnight Souls - July 15 - Tilburg

It's bloggerin' time. My vacation is over, so it's back to the computer and back to my blog. Posts about Right Idea and Rearranged are coming up soon. But first I want to share the show of Midnight Souls in Tilburg on July 15.

Midnight Souls is the latest addition to the Reflections roster. A 7" entitled 'Colder' is coming soon with artwork by Linas Garsys.

The last time I saw the band was when they opened up for The Hope Conspiracy in Antwerp. Big stage, big venue so I was curious how these new Belgium heroes would do it in the small intimate setting of the Little Devil.

Boy they blew me away. Midnight Souls is somewhere between Modern Life Is War and American Nightmare. While many bands play a similar style, Midnight Souls bring something extra which makes them stand out from the rest of the wolfpack. They have a very intense show. The future is bright for these guys, though their lyrics are kind of dark.

Can't wait for the ep to arrive.

The Hope Conspiracy - January 9 - Antwerp, Belgium - show

When The Hope Conspiracy plays anywhere near your town don't hesitate. Go and see them. They don't play too often but, at least in my opinion, they're the only existing band to come out of the American Nightmare, Panic, Suicide File, Count Me Out - scene.

That said when The Hope Conspiracy plays an hour drive away from you but the weather forecasts are really bad, you must check all weatherforecasts from minute to minute to see if there's just a slight chance the weather will be better the next hour.

After some calls between Johan Reflections and myself we decided to try and get the new Reflections van on the road and see if we could arrive in Antwerp safe and sound. Well the roads were way better than the news told them to be (never trust the media, and yes I'm a journalist myself) so after only 75 minutes we arrived in Antwerp safe and sound. We unloaded the van and brought the crates filled with vinyl, cd's and books inside the club.

People started coming in shortly after and I guess there were at least 250 more kids who ignored the weatherconditions and decided they would take their change to see The Hope Conspiracy. Well not before Belgian bands had their say.

The show started with newcomers Midnight Souls who sound a lot like Modern Life Is War. Sometimes those influences were a bit to obvious but they did have a great presence on stage. I liked them better than the next band called The Jonah who were all about nineties hardcore riffs I couldn't stand back then and still don't enjoy. They played a way too long set before Teenage Lust hit the stage with their fast American Nightmare-esque songs. I love this band but think they could still improve writing songs that really stick in your head.

Then the audience was up for a surprise when Rain came on stage. This band broke up some 12 years ago and apparantly is now back. I liked the two new songs they played.

Rise and Fall are a worldwide hardcore machine by now but I think the amount of shows they play really takes its toll on singer Bjorns' voice. The new songs sound great though and they sure got the Belgian kids rocking.

But we were all in the club for one reason. To witness the band that released records like ' Cold Blue' and ' Endnote' a long time ago. The band that didn't play Belgium for the past six years: The Hope Conpspiracy.

And damn what a great performance. They played lots of songs of ' Endnote' with ' For Love' as a highlight as well as songs from ' Death Knows Your Name' and the ' True Nihilist' ep. It has been a long while that I saw an American band having so much fun on stage, playing their hearts and guts out. If this show was in 2009 I would have said it was the best show of the year. Since it's just early in 2010 I won't go as far as say that, but I predict it will be in my top 3 of the year.

After the show was over, Johan and me loaded the van and went back home. Both with a ressurected love for hardcore I guess.

The Hope Conspiracy - True Nihilist - 7"

The Hope Conspiracy are they still around? In mainland Europe people seem to believe The Hope Conspiracy broke up a long while ago. Not that strange taken into consideration that the band didn't do many shows between 2004 and 2009 and 2006' Death Knows Your Name didn't get the attention previous Hope Con records got.
When the band announced several European shows early 2010 I immediately started playing 'Death Knows Your Name' again and it struck me that I actually like that record better than, by now considered a classic, Endnote.
When visiting the Reflections household today I picked up the latest Hope Con release and after playing it several times I'm looking even more forward to the live shows.
True Nihilist is heavy, dirty and 100 procent hardcore. It's what Black Flag would have sounded like if they came from Boston and were a band right now. Well maybe that's not totally true but I hope I get my idea across. This is threatening, agressive music with intelligent lyrics and without becoming metal or whatever.
A real plus is the artwork that consists of a mindblowing giant poster with great japanes style artwork of a skeletonbird carrying the earth.
Yes The Hope Conspiracy are still around and yes they still kick ass more then most new bands do.