A Life Once Lost Interview with Bob Meadows
Philadelphia’s A Life Once Lost are frickin’ heavy… Think Meshuggah with a slightly more Hardcore tinge. Since 1999, the quartet has been bulldozing their crowds with a sick blend of punctuated rhythm, technical riffage, and tortured vocals. It’s really fun to watch in concert.
Municipal Waste Interview with Tony Foresta
I frickin’ love Municipal Waste! This is the second time I’ve interviewed these guys in about 3 months, and they haven’t left the road yet. Upon finishing up an opening slot for Gwar and taking a very brief time apart (so members could go on other tours with other bands), the group promptly found themselves right back on the road to continue touring in support of their latest release, “The Fatal Feast.”
Miss May I Interview with Levi Benton
The new wave of American Hardcore and Metal… Sometimes I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m just aged out, but the whole tight pants, dyed black hair, whiny-singing-to-growled-vocal- changeup just isn’t really my bag. I always liked my Metal and Hardcore angry, and my Emo sad enough to slit a wrist. A lot of the bands out now should do some pushups or something. Eat a burger. Join a kickball league. Anything besides what they’re doing.
Abject “Try Again!” – self release
Abject is NYHC through and through. After my fourth listen in an hour, I’m diggin’ this album a whole lot! Clocking in at just over 16 minutes, “Try Again!” is 9-tracks born of beer, barroom brawls, and George Carlin’s unique take on society. Politics be damned… This is music to get in a fight to after a night of hard drinking. “What are you lookin’ at?”
I met guitarist Mattakins once in NYC. We got to a bar in Astoria to talk music at around 4pm, left at 10pm, and had drinks in our hands the whole time. It was a fun night, followed by one hell of a hangover. Grad school be damned, I wasn’t able to commit to any projects at that time, but I’m glad to know Craigslist isn’t just for hookers and shitty job opportunities.
Full of the crunchy guitars you’d expect, the album offers some excellent builds into ripping old school hardcore beats. The gruff, raspy vocals compliment the sound well, and the frenetic energy they bring to the recording makes up for any technical issues. I mean… It was probably recorded next to a keg, anyway.
Hilarious titles like “SUV Tard” and “Popped Collar Broken Nose” should give you an idea that Abject’s contempt for mainstream society’s trendy consumerism and fashion sense is not to be taken lightly, in a lighthearted way.
Best taken straight up with no chaser, Abject is great!
Archive: Interview with Alexis Brown from STRAIGHT LIVE STITCH @slsband1
Formed in 2000, Knoxville, Tennessee’s Straight Line Stitch is a 5-pc metalcore group with a long history. Boasting a 4 album 3 EP catalogue, the band has been pushing forward into the mainstream music environment, bent on becoming a force within the metal community. It hasn’t always been an easy trek (the group has had more than 10 members come and go during their tenure), but the most recent lineup is arguably the tightest, most driven they’ve seen to date.
