Back catalogue: Punk/Hardcore

Review: Fat Dog make a riveting return to the spotlight with new single 'All The Same'. Following up their 2023 debut 'King Of The Slugs', their latest track is a hardcore stadium-crusher, hadron-colliding motifs of coldwave, EBM and anthem punk for an electronic statement reminiscent of Scalping or Yard Act, but to an end all of their own fashioning. It's no wonder this cold-punk five-piece group of lads are billed as "music to grow your hairline to"; despite the huge sonic histrionics present in their music, the track somehow manages to provoke the release of cortisol and oxytocin in the brain at the same time, nailing that ever so delicate blend of humour and tension.

Review: Two towering labels, Alternative Tentacles and Crispin Glover, break the mould for a momentary merger on this artistic collision of rogue planets: a new split reissued 7" housing that infamous syncretic, Patrick Fitzgerald, Motorpsycho and Jello Biafra, and their twin versions of Fitzgerald's original song 'Punch'. Fitzgerald is best known as a pioneer of folk punk, famously channelling his sardonic wit into a fleeting, light but somehow also epical sound. 'Punch' first surfaced in 2009 as a one-off single released under Crispin Glover's remit; it's now heard once more in both versions, tracking incendiary denunciations of politics on Fitzgerald's part, amid a suicidal, guitar-driven ascension into the air.

Review: The Flaming Lips' The John Peel Session of October 17, 1996, marked a pivotal moment in the trajectory of the Flaming Lips. Just before their rise to international prominence, the session captured their essence through four tracks that showcased their eclectic blend of neo-psychedelia, experimental rock, and indie influences. Peel, renowned for his astute ear for new talent, played a crucial role in introducing the band's unique sound to a broader audience. The session serves as an audio bookmark to their innovative approach and the impact of Peel's support in propelling them towards global recognition.

Review: Canadian hardcore art-punk collective, Fucked Up, seem incapable of respite. Following on from last year's momentous, 'Year Of The Horse' mini-LP; their next venture is the upcoming, 'Oberon' EP; named after the king of fairies from Shakespeare's, A Midsummer Night's Dream. If that mythology isn't deep enough, the trudging lead single, 'Strix', takes its moniker from the human flesh-eating mythical bird and bad omen of the same name. It's cryptic, dark, and unlike any form of hardcore you've ever heard. Essentially, it's Fucked Up, by name and by nature.

Review: Good, fresh pop-punk bands tend to be rare nowadays, but Californian four-piece Face To Face are pulling no punches, delivering a 12-track onslaught of gleaming, career-defining songs via 'No Way Out But Through', after rejoining the Fat Wreck Chords roster a few years ago. Frontman Trever Keith's voice is deep-toned enough to shift boulders, but still keeps an emotionality not shared by most vocalists. Meanwhile, from 'A Miss Is As Good As A Mile' to 'Vertigo', no song here is without a sense of crunching emo, with a central theme being goodbyes, missed opportunities and farewells. This is great music to trash your high school reunion to; you better unleash that teen angst, because you undeniably have it whether you're 14 or 40.

Review: Long before they were literally one of the biggest pop-rock acts on the planet, little known Chicago pop-punk upstarts Fall Out Boy would pool all collective resources, energy and funds into their 2003 debut full-length Take This To Your Grave; utterly reforming modern emo and pop-punk in the process. While it was 2005's sophomore follow up From Under The Cork Tree that would catapult the band to mega stardom, there's no ignoring the bevvy of legwork that their debut provided, especially lead singles 'Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is Your Boy' and 'Saturday', which clarified that this was far from another relatively catchy, acne-faced group of adolescents who'd dissipate with the next shower. These songs and the young men behind them were here to stay, which makes the heavier hardcore-leaning moments and breakdowns all the more bemusing to experience when assessing the career the band would embark upon following the record's breakout success.

Review: These days you are as likely to find articles entitled Is 'The Classical' By The Fall Racist? as you are glowing reviews of this album. Sure, times have changed, and modern attitudes are different to what they were when this album was released, but it's up to you to decide if that diminishes the music. The Fall's fourth studio record is best exemplified by the anthemic title track and the lyrics point to the band's hatred of the music industry when it was written. The late Mark E Smith said, "It was our way of saying 'fuck off!' to those people."

Review: The Fall's Mark E. Smith was having a rather torrid time even by his own standards when the band made The Marshall Suite in 1999. He was fresh back from a US tour on which he had been fighting with fellow band members on stage and was later arrested after carrying on the shenanigans back at the hotel. The album itself builds on the techno sounds The Fall had explored on the preceding album Levitate but also with something of a return to the rockabilly-influenced sound from earlier Fall line-ups. Cuts like 'The Crying Marshal' are as strange and complex as they come with thumping jungle drums powering it along.

Review: By the time Shift-Work came along, The Fall had put out 13 studio albums and been going for 15 years. Apparently ready to switch things up, Mark E Smith sacked guitarist Martin Bramah and keyboardist Marcia Schofield after the Australian leg of the tour for Extricate, cutting the lineup to four, for the first time in the band's history. Then he set to work finishing a record that had been started while on the road. Few would fail to pick up on the difference between here and before. While there's still plenty of those mesmerising, experimental, punk-not-punk goth moments, Shift-Work also embraces more pop sensibilities and seems to take more time to pay respect to rock & roll, or a gritty interpretation of it. Meanwhile, tracks like 'Edinburgh Man' and 'A Lot of Wind' feel introspective than ever.

Review: We all lost a big one in 2018 with the death of Mark E. Smith. One of the most prolific songwriters of the preceding decades, and the only constant member of The Fall, he channelled humour of the disenfranchised, rage of the people, punk sensibilities and experimental tendencies to create something that genuinely sounded fresh. Amazingly, it still did by the time he bid us farewell. That's some longevity of vitality, and when a band has such a lifespan it's almost impossible to even consider a Best Of type release. White Lightening is as close as you'll get, then, focusing on ten tracks recorded by the outfit, in various iterations, between 1978 and 2001 - amazingly, charting two-thirds of the 40 year story in a way which, while not necessary expansive, really conveys exactly what they were about at different points in that career, and throughout their entire era-spanning run.

Review: Legendary English post-punk band The Fall's 2018 album Imperial Wax Solvent gets the reissue treatment here with two extra bonus discs, including an unused version of the entire album which was recorded at Britannia Row studios in London, as well as a live set recorded at De La Warr, Bexhill On Sea in May 2008. It was the band's 26th album and featured the lineup of original member Mark E. Smith plus Elena Poulou on keyboards and vocals, Dave Spurr on bass, Pete Greenway on guitar and Keiron Melling on drums. This is the latest in the Cherry Red reissue series and it comes with notes written by Fall guru Daryl Easlea.

Review: While the third overall full-length from Sacramento, California post-hardcore heroes Far (following on from their independently released 1992 debut Listening Game and 1994's Quick), Tin Cans With Strings To You would mark their major label debut for Immortal/Epic; a project their manager Troy Davis has gone on to consider the first ever screamo album. While that bold declaration is up for debate, there's little doubt the record's extended platform was likely one of the biggest pushes from the label with regards to the hardcore and punk scenes of the 90s. Brimming with carnal angst, hazy hooks and bombastic riffage, it's no secret why vital alt rock acts such as Biffy Clyro and Jimmy Eat World still refer to Far as one of their most intrinsic influences. Arriving on a lush gatefold 180 gram red & blue marbled vinyl double LP, complete with an extensive booklet, limited to 300 copies, this long overdue reissue of a quintessential piece of crossover 90s emotive post-hardcore fury is sure to fly out and reappear on Discogs at similar inflated prices to the OG pressings.

Review: Death Is Nothing To Us has been a long time coming, and in many ways represents pinnacle moment in the Fiddlehead story. In 2010, Pat Flynn, who some knew though Have Heart, lost a father who left behind his grief-stricken mother. Faced with the profound impact death can have on those forced to pick up the pieces, and feeling incapable of helping, this emotional period directly informed Fiddlehead's 2018 debut, Springtime & The Blind. A little later, Flynn's first child came into the world, and the sadness that comes with having a kid but no father to introduce them to was distilled into 2021's follow up, Between The Richness. Now, two years on, Death Is Nothing To Us rounds off the fatalistic trilogy, a rousing journey from bleak depression to strength, which touches on ideas from sleeping off trauma to leaning on friends. The result is every bit the right way to conclude this odyssey - leaving us under no illusions as to how difficult life can be, but how important it is to acknowledge when it's there, all delivered through equally vital hardcore anthems.

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Review: With their high tempo combination of ska, metal, punk, funk, reggae and soul, many elements of Fishbone can be compared to other bands, but the group themselves have always sounded quite inimitable. Consistently invoking good times, they garnered a truly cult following, drawn by their diverse influences (and membership), pithy wit and razor sharp social commentary. A Los Angeles troupe held very close to many hearts, Fishbone, a five track EP, defines all that hyperbole. It's energetic, engaging, fun, but unarguably accomplished lyrically and musically. Featuring 'All We Have Is Now', their first single featuring longstanding member Chris Dowd since 1994 (he was with the band from formation in 1979 then went on hiatus), here's more than enough proof they're still as irresistible as ever.

Review: Following on from their 1980 debut full-length No Questions Asked, the very next year would see Los Angeles based punk legends The Flesh Eaters unveil what many a fan considers to be, not only their magnum opus but one of the finest punk experiments ever contributed to the scene. A Minute To Pray, A Second To Die purposefully eschewed the breakneck pace of the expanding hardcore scene to channel outsider influences from the likes of swampy, Bayou-inflected roots rock to spasmodic jazz dirges to blues-laden malevolence. With depraved B-movie horror tales of violence and religious scandal; ultimately weaving a lyrical tapestry of the underbelly of LA, punk poet prophet Chris Desjardins immortalised himself as a commanding vocal presence with the type of penmanship to hypnotise, disgust and enthral.

Review: The combination of hardcore and pop-punk tropes that led to the term "easycore", has arguably had no greater example of its anthemic potential than on the seminal third full-length from Boston's Four Year Strong. 'Enemy Of The World' highlighted how comfortably hefty breakdowns could rest side by side with mega catchy hooks, imbued with earnest, emotive and motivating lyricism. From the stadium ready, 'On A Saturday (Tonight We Feel Alive)', to the chugging fan favourite, 'It Must Really Suck To Be Four Year Strong Right Now' (titled as such in response to a shady review of friendly rivals Set Your Goals' sophomore effort), the project has gone on to not only be regarded as the band's finest work, but also a definitive genre staple in the decade since its initial release. A long overdue reissue, and essential purchase for the sub-genre aficionados.

Review: Recorded in the spring of 2001, 'Live & Loud', is a snapshot of Rancid guitarist Lars Frederiksen's side-project at their most energetic and unhinged. Not long after the release of their self-titled debut, the band would hit the road with a riotous bevvy of anthems detailing street life, drugs, alcohol, youthful debauchery and lustful, dumb love. Repressed on hot pink vinyl, and boasting all of the best cuts from their aforementioned debut full-length, including the dynamite renditions of Billy Bragg's, 'To Have & To Have Not', and, 'Leavin Here' by Eddie Holland; take a fly on the wall earful of turn of the century punks at the height of their promise and attitude.

Review: Canadian experimental hardcore collective Fucked Up have grown into underground heroes throughout the years, thanks in no small part to their prolific slew of challenging, conceptual EPs and stellar full-lengths. Originally released in 2008, and described by their label as "an expansive epic about the mysteries of birth, death, and the origins of life (and re-living)", the band's sophomore LP The Chemistry Of Common Life has gone onto become one of the most adored post-hardcore works of the 21st century. Angular and angst-riddled yet exuding nuanced melodies and astute lyrical ponderings, this timeless album is still heralded by many as one of the all time essential "thinking man's" punk projects, and celebrates its 15 year anniversary with a vital reissue.

Review: A work that surely needs little to no introduction, 'Repeater', was the seminal debut full-length from post-hardcore visionaries, Fugazi. From the demise of emo pioneers, Rites Of Spring, and hardcore punk godfathers, Minor Threat, came the enigmatic pairing of Guy Picciotto and Ian MacKaye, with the latter's burgeoning artistry left fully untethered to conjure a work transcendent of post-hardcore or alternative rock. Mapping out the blueprint for punk and alternative music throughout the nineties, even predating the likes of Nirvana's 'Nevermind', or Pearl Jam's 'Ten'; few projects have stood the test of time or been cited as such an integral influence by a dynamic range of artists from Rage Against The Machine to The Dillinger Escape Plan to American Football. Aggressive, expansive and highly critical of issues still plaguing our world today, from drug abuse to greed and privatisation, the ethos of, 'Repeater', (quietly referencing The Beatles' 'Revolver') has only swollen with time.

Review: Needless to say, Fugazi were the kind of band whose first demo trounced most band's entire recording careers. Formed by four passionate musicians - from the ashes of Minor Threat, Embrace and Rites Of Spring - amidst a climate of idealistic fervour and youthful rage in Washington DC in the late '80s, this incendiary band took the energy and power of hardcore and broadened it out into a sound that was as expansive as it was incisive. This collection of ten songs, recorded incredibly at a point when the band had only played ten gigs, showcases an already unique and inspirational outfit creating a sound that would resonate around the hardcore scene of the world and way beyond.

Review: Full of Hell join forces with Primitive Man for the new release Suffocating Hallucination, a collaborative record that is followed up by both bands touring. The music is controlled chaos with lots of harsh sonics and violent textures across the tracks which all drag you kicking and screaming through pure metal misery and torture. Walls of guitar noise, heavy doom and gloom atmospheres and plenty of distortion define this most abrasive of listens - which will no doubt be a joy to the ears of hardcore metal fans. What a monster of an album and a real showcase of sonic scuzzery.