Anchor
Captivity Songs
Refoundation (2007)
One thing that I love about hardcore bands from the 80's and 90's is that they often included background info on the songs' lyrics. Perhaps this is because the music then seemed to be fueled more by the substance of its words as opposed to how the music sounded - this fact can be argued to death and I have no time to do so. No matter what side ends up coming out on top, the fact that there are still bands today that include song meanings/backgrounds with their releases is a testament to a time when what the band had to say meant just as much, if not more, than what they sounded like. One of the subscribers to this school of thought is Anchor. Born out of the ashes of Damage Control and Set My Path, this Swedish hardcore group delivers unto the listener five tracks of metallic hardcore filled with meaning. By no means is this an attack on the bulk of today's hardcore bands, it's just that going the extra step these days means a lot to people like me, who are bombarded with hundreds of identical sounding bands. Captivity Songs immediately sets the path for … Read more
A Second from the Surface
The Streets Have Eyes
This Dark Reign (2007)
There's been a lot of words used to describe Minneapolis' A Second from the Surface: metalcore, grindcore, crustcore. All of … Read more
Living Hell
The Lost and the Damned
Revelation (2007)
Revelation Records has made quite the turn-around in the past two years. Besides mainstay Shai Hulud, the once hardcore-proud label … Read more
Empire! Empire! (I was a Lonely Estate)
When the Sea Became a Giant
Independent (2007)
The key word that comes to mind when listening to When the Sea Became a Giant is light. Everything is … Read more
