Reviews 2008

* Atlas Losing Grip - Shut The World Out
* Birds Of A Feather - The Past The Present
* Broken Distance - Hourglass
* Comeback Kid - Through The Noise
* Death Is Not Glamorous/Another Year - Split
* Dillinger Four - Civil War
* Go For Broke - Open Your Mind
* The Hunger - Hope Against Hope
* Lions Den - s/t
* My Turn To Win - Weight Of The World
* Rise Against - Appeal To Reason

The Hunger - Hope Against Hope (cd)

As you might or might not know I'm not a huge supporter of metal influences in hardcore. So when promotional talk is about Entombed, I'm not really looking forward to hear a record. I've had my cup of tea of bad Slayer riffs, weak Morbid Angel grunts and wannabe blast-beats.
Surprise, surprise! Dutch band The Hunger has some metal in their sound, but they hide it well enough for me to enjoy the record. 'Hope Against Hope' is Unbroken and The Hope Conspiracy colliding with Insted. I know that sounds weird and I guess I'm the only one making the comparison but between the gruffy, heavy sound and edgy lyrics there is a hint of light, a positivism unseen with these kind of bands.
It's that the glass is half full feeling combined with the great vocals of Nico (ex Omission and ex Paint It Black fill in) that sets The Hunger apart from the Deathwish catalog.
Songs 'Angels To Ghosts' and 'Never Cry Wolf' make me wanna sing a long and join the Hunger on their path through the dark forest to the shining lights. With only six songs on this record the Hunger keeps me hungry for more.
The record is going to be released as a one sided 12" as well, keep your eyes out for that one!
Myspace: The Hunger
Label: Shield Recordings

Paint It Black replaces singer

Paint It Black - Arnhem - 12-09-08
Originally uploaded by xroldx

So I was looking forward to seeing Paint It Black again for a long time. You bet I was dissapointed past friday when I found out Dan Yemin wouldn't be singing.
Apparently Paint It Blacks guitarplayer was so smart to wash his passport and wasn't allowed to leave the country. So Dan had to play guitar and this dutch guy Nico (from the Hunger) was found to do the vocals, the new unit only had time for one rehearsel. Still Nico did a pretty good job, considering how difficult the lyrics and songlines of Paint It Black are. Nico also went with the band to Sweden to do another show, the guitarplayer however should be in Europe right now, getting back on tour, which means Dan will be back on the mic. I hope to see that myself when they visit my hometown next week.


You can read Dan Yemin's account of what happened here.


Oh besides Paint It Black, Trash Talk played as well. I've never seen that band before but damn they blow everything away. Somehow it reminded me of the first time American Nightmare played in Europe. Citizens Patrol was also on the bill and did a great job as ever. Our own set didn't go as good as I think we can be. It was sloppy but people seemed to like it fair enough.


Click here for more pictures of this show.

Cursed got robbed so we're playing a benefit show

Canadian band Cursed recently got robbed on one of the last days of their European tour. That sucks. What sucks even more is that a part of the money that was taken belonged to Reflections Records. Since the hardcore scene still is about helping out others en each other (though it seems to be less and less that way) people are organizing benefit shows, selling stuff for a discount and giving a percentage of their sales to Reflections and Cursed etc.
We jumped on the bandwagon as well and are playing a benefit show next week with Belgium's fastest Reproach, upcoming darkness of The Hunger and European all stars Rise and Fall. Solid line-up and State Of Affairs might be selling shirts and tapes!