Back catalogue: Punk/Hardcore

Review: Pinhead Gunpowder are most famous for featuring Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day in a more furious mood than his day job requires, but the band was originally formed by Aaron Cometbus who remained the main songwriter. In 2000 they released a split EP with Dillinger Four, and the three Pinhead Gunpowder tracks from that release now make their mark on this release. Included is the searing 'At Your Funeral', which sounds like classic Armstrong finding artful ways of expressing his hatred for someone in snotty punk style. The B side is made up of live cuts from radio shows, making this a must grab for fans of the band and West Coast punk in general.

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.

Review: Album six from the mighty Paramore has been kept pretty close to the band's chest. And the collective chest of mighty Atlantic Records, with at least one UK national newspaper accidentally (or not?) breaching a review embargo stopping any critical editorial appearing before the actual release date. How's that for a sign of the brave new world we've wound up living in.

Of course, last minute - or on the minute - is the way things make sense these days, with pre-album singles usually peaking a week or so ahead of the full release and tickets often only shifting in the final days before an event. That said, we had our first flavour of this record in the form of title track four months or so ago, Paramore's first single in four years, and fans have been rightly chomping at their bits since. Yes to more emotionally charged, musically accomplished alternative but accessible rock, yes to the ever-mesmerising voice of Hayley Williams, and yes to less is more promotion.

Review: Parkway Drive are huge metal stars from Aus and this is the band's 20th anniversary. Winston McCall (vocals), Luke Kilpatrick (guitar), Jeff Ling(guitar), Jia O'Connor (bass), and Ben Gordon (drums) are marking the occasion by making their Don't Close Your Eyes album available for the first time ever on vinyl. The eight original tunes re included as well as some bonus cuts from their split record with I Killed The Prom Queen and compilation albums What We've Built and True Til Death, Volume 1. Several versions of this one are out there and this is a limited edition gatefold with translucent gold vinyl so is not to be sniffed at for fans old or new.

Review: True to the Radiation knack for reissuing only the most vital and unfairly forgotten gems of their time, the blues punkabilly grit of 'Pissed & Proud' has finally found a modern home on wax. The harmonica-blaring, ludicrously catchy oi-punk tempering of Peter & The Test Tube Babies was a far cry from their impish, boyish upstart demeanour, while timeless scrappy anthems such as 'Banned From The Pubs' are an era keepsake unto themselves.

These live collections were recorded over an August Bank Holiday weekend in 1982 with performances in Hammersmith and Wood Green, as well as their hometown, Brighton, and they couldn't sound more of and ahead of their time, simultaneously. You can practically hear the absorbed pub walls dripping with dingy sweat.

Review: Pinhead Gunpowder started out as a recording project only back in the 90s. Bt the band soon realised they had a fully formed sound that translated well, as evidenced by this 1997 album Goodbye Ellston Avenue. It's a record that takes cues from brands like The Big Cats and Green Day but with their own fresh influences. It originally came on Lookout Records and for this one has been recut at 45rpm on limited edition and coloured vinyl. This is the first part on a multi-phase and ongoing reissue project across 2022 so fans should keep their eyes peeled for more.

Review: Featuring members of modern hardcore prestige acts such as Turnstile, Angel Du$t and Have Heart, there's an undeniable merging of the older and newer interpretations of the scene found within the sound of Praise. With a sound both energetic and ferocious, yet inescapably melodic, 'All In A Dream' marks the group's sophomore effort, recorded during lockdown, and comes courtesy of iconic punk label Revelation, as well as modern hardcore and metal home, Deathwish Inc. Until now, a hushed side-project, Praise look set to elevate themselves to independent respect and regard with this exceptional new full-length.

Review: Originally released in 2017, In Riot We Trust is the second of two studio albums so far released by feminist protest group Pussy Riot, whose provocative punk regularly takes potshots at Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his regime. Since 2011, the Moscow band founded by then-22-year-old Nadya Tolokonnikova has had the membership of 11 women, who are arguably most well known for their guerrilla gigs and stunts, often in sites of national, cultural, or religious significance. Despite the real focus of the group being on speaking out against issues such as Russia's ingrained sexism, homophobia, and racism, totalitarian rule and oppression of rights, and the limelight falling on their IRL actions, this is more than enough evidence that their rage and talent can be distilled onto record to some degree. Potent to say the least.