The Sentenced - Demo

YES!YES!FUCKING YES!!!

The Sentenced are a band from North Texas comprised of current and previous members of Wiccans, Sin Motivo, Breakout, Truth, Night Crimes, Video, and Execution Tax. If that doesn't get you riled up already then I don't know what is wrong with you. 

The Sentenced came into existence last March playing their first show at a Taqueria at about one in the mourning. People fucking lost it and since The Sentenced have been a favorite of the North Texas scene. Primal Hardcore in the vein of 86 Mentality, and written with moshing in mind. It's hard to listen to this tape and not want to wreck your surroundings. 

False Form is about to drop this gem soon, and I've heard hints of a possible 7" release forthcoming. But until then snatch this up now, soon enough you'll find yourself chanting along with this group of babes.

OUT FOR BLOOD.

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.

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.