Last Witness Final Show Tonight!

If you're around London tonight head down to Camden it's the final show of Last Witness with some great support! Don't sleep on this.

Last Witness
More Than Life
Breaking Point
Prowler
Rough Hands

Ashes Forever: 'All You Love Will Put You'

Ashes Forever - 'All Love Will Put You'

Ashes Forever are a New York based two piece that have developed a genre of their own. They released a 1 track EP last year titled Love, Leave, Forget, Repeat which I reviewed here. Since then it seems they have been busy recording new material and what better time to announce it than now. All You Love Will Put You is an exceptional piece of song writing and is definitely a breath of fresh air in the scene. There’s no set genres, no set style, they write music on their own terms. This record is released on August 2^nd so do not hesitate to jump on this.

What I love about Ashes Forever is that every song is completely different and just when you thought you've caught on to a genre specific part, it throws you off again into something different. This time round the recordings are all about musicianship and are instrumental showing off their remarkable musical talent. The sound is raw and elegantly transcends from track to track. Ashes Forever delivers a decent melodic, progressive start to the EP in On the Ledge at Gunpoint, splitting between steady hardcore rhythm and powerviolence drum beats.

The next track You are the Storm kicks in with some furious, breakneck speed drums, symbol crashes and more progressive guitar melodies. I don’t want to say they have any specific influences but I can hear a little tinge of  Between the Buried and Me and it came to no surprise learning that this EP was mastered by Jamie King. The best moments on this record are the irregular tempo changes, diverse styles and their methodical approach to song structure. From Your Lips to Gods Ears takes a more technical and metallic approach to the music throwing in high pitched guitar chords and pounding drums.

The final track Influencing the Influences adds the cherry on top of what is a faultless record. This down-tuned slower track builds up to another explosion of technical sounds. Matt and James are a duo with amazing skills and put them on display perfectly. Each track is more vibrant and powerful than the last. To me this album is carried out with flawless execution and is one not to missed out on. You can check it out and buy it here.

Bandcamp

First Try - Upstart 'Through the Hardships' (Split)

First Try - Upstart 'Through the Hardships'

This split record has been out since February and I cannot believe that I have only just had the chance to listen to this. Both First Try and Upstart have pieced together a bombardment of aggressive hardcore tracks which compiles Through the Hardships which is a split definitely worth checking out.

First Try kicks the record off with 5 brand new tracks, if you are already familiar with their style from listening to Ill-Gotten Life then you will know what to expect as they have kept their trademark sound. These tracks are an assault of fast paced hardcore music with 110% aggression. The introduction of the tracks start off quite melodic but don’t be fooled the screeching vocals and heavy riffs kick in just after this. This City Belongs to Us contains a perfect mix of fast paced, heavy slow breakdown parts and progressive guitar parts to create a fierce and ferocious monster of a band. The next track Back in Business starts off with a slow side to side mosh part which really gets you in the mood to move around. There’s a nice mix of ear piercing screams and deeper rough screams which I found entertaining mixes things up a bit. In this track and Ethic Fail there are some spoken words too which leads to more heavy riffage and rapid drum beats.

All I can say is that I really enjoyed the first 5 tracks and they deliver a nice aggressive style through their varied sounds and this is far from boring. A very energetic band that keeps you entertained throughout. Check out their older tracks too if you dig these.

Upstart is up next with their 5 tracks brand new to the Lyon hardcore scene and sound in the vein of Terror, Blacklisted and Sick of it All. From these influences you couldn't expect anything less than a straight up in your face sound. The track My Pride kicks off the second side of the split with fast paced drums and heavy guitar riffs. Alongside the pummelling instruments, the vocals are very strong and angry resulting in a sound that is very Terror like. Although we've heard this style come across in a lot of modern hardcore bands I just can’t hate it. They produce some very hard-hitting tracks and To an End and Walk Out prove this is a band who I am sure is here to stay. The recordings are of great quality and Upstart have got the transitions between tracks perfectly running smoothly through the record.

As a whole, although this is nothing ground breaking, both bands smashed it on this split and have produced some good quality heavy hardcore. If you haven’t heard this split yet or these two bands check them out here below.

First Try Facebook

First Try Bandcamp

Upstart Facebook

Upstart Bandcamp