REVIEW: Out Cold- Planned Accidents 7"

Out Cold- Planned Accidents 7"

The one thing that Out Cold pull off better than just about anyone else is the mid-to-fast paced, three-chord, kick-and-scream hardcore song that crashes headlong into a slower, mid-paced, punchy hardcore tune. Point of fact: bear witness to the awesome transition between the first song on this disk, “This Virus Kills Time” and “That Hurt.” It’s obvious from listening that these cats know their rock and roll, and Out Cold can pull of this kind of song in a way that Negative Approach only wished they could. (I know it’s blasphemy, but it’s the fuckin’ truth) The key to it, as far as I’m concerned is John Evicci’s drumming; the guy virtually punishes his kick drum, and it’s always high enough in the mix to give the music a deadly back-beat, something lacking in MOST hardcore bands.

This Out Cold line-up with Deuce and Mikey Flynn is the most stable the band’s ever had, and rivals the original line-up. All of that said, an incredible hardcore release by Out Cold, but you already knew that.

Acme Records

REVIW: Reproach- Is What it is 7"

Reproach- Is What it Is 7”

Close to ten years ago now, when the youth crew thing was starting to wane, and a faster, thrashier, noisier hardcore started taking its place, us saps in New Jersey knew we had some kindred spirits in the Netherlands by way of Henk Smit and crew surrounding Kangaroo Records. I had long associated neighboring Belgium with its absolute glut of mosh-metal; the likes of which New York hadn’t even seen in the heyday of that style of music. So it took me by surprise when I found about this kid Stijn who knew his hardcore, followed some of the bands from our area, and was starting this band “Reproach.” I wasn’t familiar with Dead Stop at all yet, so this was a rather cool anomaly, and his ‘zine “Stand Apart” was a good one.

Well, that same Reproach wound up getting around quite a bit in the world of DIY hardcore, and this record, their 2nd for Deep Six Records shows them to have turned into quite a band. They definitely outlived the “bandana thrash” trend that reared its head when Reproach were just releasing their first 7”, both in terms of longevity and quality!
What we have here on this whirlwind 7” is 9 songs of hardcore thrash influenced by skateboarding, horror movies, and a good deal of youthful resentment. Although the songs are short, they don’t skimp on songwriting, and they pack enough hooks into a one-minute thrash song to rival Dead Nation. The slightly metallic guitar tone brings to mind Infest (especially in “Boiling Inside”) or early Drop Dead, with all of good qualities those comparisons imply. Well done!

Deep Six Records

Quick Fix fanzine-- premier issue!

A lot of you folks might have heard of this already, but Dave K of Hardware 'zine fame has masterminded a new fanzine project called Quick Fix, of which issue 1 was just released after new years. It's aggregating a lot of the writings, reviews, and activities from various blogs including mine (Mad at the World blog), Cultpunk, Hardware Media, and many others. It's a free, pdf format zine distributed over the internet. The first issue looks great and harks back to the late, great Hardware zine.

Check out Quick Fix Fanzine issue 1 HERE!