Nuke Cult - We Play Ugly Music, Fuck You! Tape

Nuke Cult are the truest dawgs and one of the coolest bands to catch live. While their first tape has been out making the blogspot circles for a year or two now, their second tape has been a bit harder to locate online. I know that this was released on it's own originally but has since been re-released twice as a split with the Dirty Work tour tape ( I have a copy from the second round which was dubbed over a Christian how to pray tape of some sort).

I definitely prefer this tape to the demo from 2011, which in it's own right was good, but this tape has some stronger material in my opinion. But decide for yourself and download here.

Chainchomp-S/T Tape

Grab your denim jacket, bust out the whips and chains and prepare to fucking slam. Chainchomp was a short lived band from Denton, Texas (only lasting about 5 months). Made up of former members of Meaner Demeanor and Bokonon, a revolving door of drummers (including Miles of Two Knights and Johnny of Innards) and Payton Green of Wiccans/Video/Glowgod this band was a powerhouse live. 

Music here is hard hitting punk like you like to hear in this new day and age and the intro to this tape is probably still one of my favorite intros in this new wave of Hardcore. Payton Lower's maniac vocals in a frenzy over the chaos what is the music. Just hit this already.

I remember seeing just about all of this bands shows (with the exception of the Sin Motivo tape release) and remember people going hard for them every time (I took a thumb to my left eye moshing for them one night). Sadly the band fell apart in June 2013, with only Daniel and Payton Green coming out and still making tunes. While Chainchomp has never been officially declared dead there is hope for one more show one day, until then go nuts.

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.

Big Zit - Big Zit International Players Club Introduces Big Zit

Big Zit is a sick punk band out of the blossoming scene in Chicago, Illinois. I first heard about them from the Sin Motivo dudes after they got home from tour. Jeramy from Sin Mo showed me their tape one night and I was utterly floored. This band rules and there really isn't anything like them in this new wave of Hardcore. That being said, this band gives straight up Bad Brains vibes, in everything from the sound to the vocals. So if you dig the brains you'll eat this right up. 

There isn't much out there online about these guys, here's to hoping they go on tour soon and hit up North Texas. Until then, jam the tape! 

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.

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.