TWO KNIGHTS - QUILT CHAMBERLAND

Two Knights are a pair of crybabies from Denton, Texas, USA. The band in their earlier days were more on the math rock side of things but recently they've been drifting in a more skramz-y direction. This EP is the band in their top Math Rock form. Very tight riffs/rhythms laid down by these two babes. Kind of a shame though, as the Two Knights haven't played these songs in quite some time. (C'mon Parker play Bangarang for us just one more time <3 ) 

None the less they're still an incredible band and snippet of the booming north Texas DIY scene. Gutterth dropped this EP a couple years ago, and in all honesty I dunno if there are any copies left, look into it and buy this, but not before you got their new EP. 

Wait! For! Me! 

INSTITUTE - DEMO 2013

Sick, dirty new Punk from Austin featuring members of Glue, Recide, Wiccans, Iron Youth and more. This tape is dirty and just leaves you feeling outright uncomfortable. Very slow to mid-paced punk akin to Iron Youth. This band took me for a loop when I heard about them due to the arrangement of the members, particularly Albert from Recide playing drums.

Austin's False Form Tapes just dropped this, find a way to get it cause it's worth it. Until then, jam the tape.

MACE MANIAC - GET MACED

Sick fuzzed out Hardcore from Arizona. My old band played a show with these guys when they played in Fort Worth last January. But what is really cool about this band is their back story; the band Gay Kiss was on a winter tour in early January. At some point through the tour several members had to drop out and return home, the other three dudes who were able to stay the course formed Mace Maniac, wrote a tape's worth of material and did a run of 50 of those tapes and completed the last week of the tour as Mace Maniac.

While that happened the music on this tape is gnarly as fuck. Fuzzy, feadback drenched riffs hammered out in a midpaced swagger that essentially calling forth thoughts of slamming. Vocals drenched out in reverb, one complaint is how damn short the tape is but under the circumstances it is comprehensible. 

The shame of it is that upon returning home Mace Maniac dissolved. All the while they were an incredable act to see, and the show we played with them was what I've always considered to be the best show any of my bands has ever played. Oh well, enjoy the tape!

STAGNANT YOUTH - DEMO 2013

TEXAS ON TOP! This band is phenomenal in every sense of the phrase. Stagnant Youth is a new-er band out of Houston, Texas featuring three of the dudes from Back to Back. They played their first show at the Taqueria in Denton, Texas and absolutely killed it. This band blends a style of hardcore in the vein of Hoax and Gag and throws one of the most monstrous vocalists over the mix (dude sounds quite a bit like Martin van Duren of Pestilence in his prime, imo). There are so many cool parts strewn through this tape such as the mosh parts in "Deviant" and "Shameful" to the dark, fuzzed out solo, if you would call it one, in the middle of "Invasion / Reign". 

This band is still quite active and I would recommend seeing them live. I managed to catch their set at Chaos with S.H.I.T. and they just tore it up. If you see them, buy a shirt, buy a tape, and mosh your fucking brains out. But until then, prepare yourself.

OUGH.

GAG - THIS PUNK SHIT IS COOL AND ALL BUT I HOPE I AM ROB ZOMBIE BY THE TIME I AM 28

Goddamn that title is a mouthful. But I digress, Gag is a band from Olympia, Washington and are a flagship of this new wave of hardcore. Filthy, scummy sounding vocals juxtaposed over harsh feedback drenched tunes, this record rips. On the subject of the vocals, I have to say god damn, those are some gnarly fucking vocals. You see he uses a delay pedal (What brand/model, I do not know) but the effect it has on his voice is perfect.

I heard this band for the first time seeing them at Chaos in Tejas, and I liked them so much I missed the first fifteen minutes of Bolt Thrower's set to run up the street and see these guys a second time in the same day. I saw them again a third time when they ventured north and played a post Chaos show in Denton with Hoax. 

Gag is soon returning to Texas and beyond next month, they're doing one hell of a tour on their way to Not Dead Yet in Toronto. So do yourself a favor and see them in your town and get this and their 7" records they have out. But until then here's this little LP to hold you over.

DESTRUX - ENTER THE THRASH KICK

Cool, fastcore from Rochester, New York. Band wasn't around for very long based upon my research, they dropped this 7", did a split 7" with Bad Eating Habits and then I believe had a comp track before they fell apart. This music though is fierce. Fast as yell, yelping vocals rapid fire over the band. Interesting enough this was the first punk 7" I ever bought and the tunes on this download are rips from my copy of it. 

Give this a spin and their split with Bad Eating Habits (which in all honesty I think is their better material). But if you like your music fast here you go.

CONSIDER THE SOURCE - ARE YOU WATCHING CLOSELY?

Let the outright fangirling begin. 

A few years ago when I first stumbled into the music scene a couple of friends continuously name dropped a band named Consider The Source. They came to town early on in my days in the DFW scene but I wasn't able to attend due to suffering from a car accident two days prior. So I gave them a spin on youtube and realized how bummed I was that I had missed them that March eve. But lo and behold I was informed that in June of 2011 they would be returning, even more thrilling was that they were playing in Denton on the night of my 18th birthday. But life has funny ways of making things happen my friends. I missed Consider The Source again for a second time that summer, due to an accident that occurred in West Virginia while my family and I were on vacation. Later that summer one night while I was playing minecraft with my friend Alex he decided to give the album "Are You Watching Closely?" a spin. Prior to this point the only CtS material I had heard was from their third album "That's What's Up!", an album phenomenal in its own right, no where near hooked me quite as much as "Are You Watching Closely?" got me. 

I ordered a copy from the local record store and it didn't come in until early October of 2011 and the rest of that year and up until this point now where I am typing this out, I am still utterly in love with this album.

Consider the Source is a hard band to pin down on what they play, they have prog moments, jazz, metal, sci-fi, funk, and even middle eastern moments in their music. It is literally all over the place. But what separates Consider The Source from a good chunk of prog and jam bands is that they do not sacrifice technicality for clever songwriting. There is not one boring moment on this album, the trio shift through moments of serene beauty to moments of pummeling force and back again. The most prime example of the CtS sound would be the second track "(Good Point) Wandering Bear" where in the middle of the song comes out this phenomenal slap riff on the bass and the guitars just begin to shred. 

Consider the Source comes through DFW about once or twice a year, most every time playing in Denton. I finally caught them in April of 2012, to date this is the only time I have seen them and literally the best band I have ever seen live. If you aren't into prog or any sort of music like that, give this album a shot. If you like this for the love of satan go buy this and see them. They do not let down. 

JAM IT!

ACHTÖNE! - S/T

And now for something entirely different. Achtöne! were a band from Denton that were around for a couple years and then dropped from the face of Earth. The band's sound was easily described as Psychedelic Post Rock, and is some seriously chilled out tunes. 

I remember catching them once at Rubber Gloves on the recommendation of a friend of mine (mainly as something to do, the fuel pump was out on my truck and I was dying to go see Creamers at 1919 but alas that didn't happen). That was a very chilled out show for the most part, but I remember Achtöne! being phenomenal that night and buying their CD.

The band's sound is a very good representation of their live sound, very smooth, very jammy and at times having some very Pink Floyd esc moments (A Falling Canyon And Green Grass in particular). And a definite shout out to the bassist of this band for holding down these monster grooves on this little EP.

Soon after the release of this EP, Achtöne! put out one more single this time adding vocals to the frey. While not bad in any sense, it didn't seem to have the same atmosphere that this EP had. Not long after the single hit bandcamp, Achtöne! broke up. Copies of this CD are still lingering around Denton, Recycled Books for one has about six copies of this discounted down to $3 a piece. But if you feel like giving this a go right now you can download it here.

COMPLETELY FUCKED/INNARDS - TOUR 2011 TAPE

A split tape from two North Texas locals, Completely Fucked was a Powerviolence/Hardcore band and Innards is a Skramz band both hailing from the Fort Worth area. Innards many of you will know, due to the fact that they are the best band and dudes in the world and one of the foremost Skramz bands on the map. They have gone on to do many other splits with bands like The Reptilian and put out a monste of a LP called "I've Lost Everything".

Completely Fucked on the other hand were initially known as Prognosis Negative but were forced to change their name to Completely Fucked due to the existence of another Prognosis Negative. About the time of the name change they put out a tape and named it with their former band name. The Prognosis Negative tape was a speedy little endeavor with 11 Songs in 8 minutes. But with this tape Completely Fucked offered up a much thicker sound, all of the instruments sounding thicker and Ramón's vocals sounding lower than the previous tape. 

This would be the final release for Completely Fucked before they split up mid-2012 with Al and Phil continuing on with Special Guest and Jeramy and Ramón going on to do Sin Motivo. 

A great split from two solid North Texas bands, the tape has been gone for about a year or so now, but you can download it here.

SMEAR - DEMO 2013

It seems like in North Texas every time you turn around there's a new band sitting there raring to go. Smear formed at the start of the summer of 2013 and played their first show August 24th of that summer. Blunt and to the point is the name of the game of this trio of dudes. I'm definitely interested to see where this band goes from here. But give it a go for yourself and jam their demo now.

Something worth mentioning is the guys in Smear make up two completely separate bands as well, the pop punk band Fairbanks and the Joke-Powerviolence band ATWHC. 

BACK TO BACK - FLESH & BONE

Whoa man, if you are into this new wave of hardcore that's been in swing for this last year or two and you haven't heard about Back to Back yet, you are fucking up. No joke. I remember seeing them live at Taqueria El Picante last spring being blown away (as well as the group's other band Stagnant Youth, but we will save the fan-girling of that tape for another post). The first riff on this little EP makes me just want to smash things when I hear it. Furious riffage and a good well rounded mix behind it tally up quick and give it an edge over most of the current contemporary hardcore. 

In all honesty I cannot say enough good things about this tape (I have both the tape version as well as the new Lockin' Out 7", Tour 2012 version.) And once more if you have yet to have listened to this do youself a favor and download it now!

EXECUTION TAX - DEMO 2011

Execution Tax was a dirty Punk band from good old Denton, Texas, USA. Formed sometime around 2010 in the infamous, and now defunct house venue, Lions Den and disbanded in June 2013. The band has been described as blackened punk or as one person referred to them as "If Hellhammer suddenly went punk". The one certain thing that I remember of Execution Tax was how catchy the riffs that they wrote were. After seeing them the riff to their song "Strider" (which is on this demo) would be stuck in my head for the rest of the night. 

I remember seeing them several times through early 2012 on most punk and metal shows at the Lions Den but the band quickly went dormant after the tenants of the house moved. Before they broke up Execution Tax played 3 more shows, one at Rubber Gloves in Denton with Spectral Tombs, another soon after at the short lived Tapatio Studios in Dallas with Long Knife, and the final show was a post-Chaos in Tejas show with Nerv from Iowa at Bruiser's Dojo in Denton, Texas. 

Before their separation Execution Tax put out two demos in 2011 and 2012, the ladder of the two is still available for streaming on their bandcamp. But you can get the 2011 Demo here.

Also to be noted members of Execution Tax have also been involved in these other North Texas projects; The Sentenced, Chainchomp, Meaner Demeanor, Mean & Ugly, Kid Prison, Dark Forces, Final Club, and Glowgod.

DRUG PROBLEM - S/T (2009)

Drug Problem were a rather short lived band from New Zeland. Combining elements of Powerviolence and Sludge this is one wretched sounding band. Shifting violently from spastic punk moments to crawling moments of Sludge, topped off with some of the most disturbed samples ever heard in music. Listening to the group brings Dystopia to mind very quickly and some may go as far as calling this band Dystopia worship. 

This album was initially released as a CDr by the band in 2009 and the group soon collapsed. Sometime recently though the dudes at Diseased Audio picked this album up and gave it a formal vinyl release. I believe copies of this are still available from the Diseased Audio store, but not too many is my assumption.  

Member(s) of Drug Problem eventually went on to form the band Meth Drinker who at this point have a fantastic LP out and it is worth checking out as well, but for now, here.