Better Than A Thousand
Just One
Revelation (1997)
Seeing how I feel about Youth Of Today (i.e. I do not really care for them at all), it may come as a surprise that I do enjoy Just One from Better Than A Thousand (probably considered a blasphemous notion amongst many “Youth Crew” aficionados), particularly considering that the band was a “Youth Crew” –esque project from Ray Cappo (Youth … Read more
Bold
The Search
Revelation (2005)
Some honesty is required with regards to Bold because while I think some of their music is completely ripping, I have always kind of considered the band a bit of a farce or unintentional parody of the “Youth Crew” era of punk and hardcore in the way that in a live setting a bunch of kids (and I do not … Read more
Burn
Last Great Sea
Revelation (2002)
Burn holds a semi mythical place in the pantheon of the hypothetical New York Hardcore Olympus as they were relatively short lived and only had a couple of recording sessions (releasing at one point only a single four song EP and a couple of compilation appearances) while impacting many with their volatile shows and powerful presence that seemed to surround … Read more
Burn
Self Titled
Revelation (1990)
Now this is a classic Revelation release and for some, the classic Revelation release; Burn kind of blew up some people’s sense of what a hardcore record could be, springing from a New York hardcore scene with what at the time were some pretty known names in that scene (members of Absolution and Beyond comprise this group’s make up or … Read more
Capital
Homefront
Revelation (2007)
There is presumably no one this side of the Mississippi that is more stoked than me on hearing the latest offering from the Long Island hardcore outfit Capital. Bands like Capital, Thieves and Assassins, Agent, and even Crime in Stereo have made many of us older hardcore fans forget about recent "Strong Island" emo superstars like Taking Back Sunday and … Read more
Chain Of Strength
The One Thing That Still Holds True
Revelation (1996)
“TRUE ‘TILL DEATH!” If you subscribe in any way to the adage that life is about living in the moment, then no matter where the people may be at in their lives or what they do with themselves, perhaps millions of people have sung along to this line through countless plays of this record and the myriad of covers that … Read more
Curl Up And Die
But The Past Might Be Through With Us
Revelation (2003)
Seeing Curl Up And Die the first time has always vividly stuck out in my mind if not for the band’s wild and manic performance but also for the large swathe of their audience wearing these weird devil masks while they played (at least my fading memory tells me it was devil masks), and while I came away from the … Read more
Damnation A.D.
Kingdom Of Lost Souls
Revelation (1998)
Sometimes over the course of a lengthy tenure in being completely absorbed in music in some fashion, certain bands and musicians can fade in and out of a regular rotation of what you are listening to at the time; Damnation AD has for some reason been one of those bands for me and through no reason because their music is … Read more
Down to Nothing
The Most
Revelation (2007)
Ryan Groat should be presented with some sort of award for the riffs he came up with on The Most, Down to Nothing's third full-length and first for Revelation Records. Seriously, not only are the riffs thundering and inventive, they get stuck in your head for weeks, even months on end. Mr. Groat I award with this Riffy for Most … Read more
Drain
California Cursed
Revelation (2020)
Santa Cruz is a convoluted place. It feels like the rest of the country erroneously thinks Santa Cruz is just like Santa Monica. It’s much more of a town than a city, and in a lot of ways it’s a microcosm of everything in California: conflicted and nuanced, beauty found at a high price with an oft-ignored grimy underbelly. Is … Read more
Drowningman
How They Light Cigarettes In Prison
Revelation (2000)
“Try to kill me / motherfucker!” That my friends, is how you kick a record into gear; without a doubt Drowningman laid down a gauntlet of sorts with How They Light Cigarettes In Prison, as other bands of the era struggled to remain relevant, this Vermont (what band comes from Vermont, seriously) band refine their approach and add some sickeningly … Read more
Drowningman
Rock 'N' Roll Killing Machine
Revelation (2000)
You know that there was never a genre of music that was named something along the lines of sarcastic bastard core or something along those lines, but if there ever was, then Drowningman would have been the undisputed kings of just such a genre; Rock ‘N’ Roll Killing Machine (the only album that they released for Revelation) was not only … Read more
Elliott
False Cathedrals
Revelation (2000)
There are those records out there where people can point to them as a turning point in their musical taste or a shift in their musical aesthetic and say that the record really changed how they viewed entire swathes of music or entire genres, and I will never forget the day that I bought False Cathedrals from Elliott in part … Read more
Elliott
Photorecording
Revelation (2005)
This is not a re-release. Photorecording is Elliott's last testament. Allow me to regress a few years. I had always dismissed them as overrated. US Songs was okay, but it just seemed like it was missing that little extra something. When False Cathedrals came out, I gave them another chance; it was their statement, an almost perfect 10 in my … Read more
Elliott
Song In the Air
Revelation (2003)
It's always sad to see a pioneer go. Especially when it feels like they have reached the peek of their game. This was the case for Elliott. Since their birth back in 1995, Elliott has cemented themselves as a trailblazer in the "emo" game. With every release, they set new standards on how the game should be played. Your first … Read more
End of a Year
Sincerely
Revelation (2006)
I have decided that a review for End of a Year's Sincerely should mimic the album's defining characteristics. So this review will be written quickly with an abundance of energy and a smattering of thought. Sincerely is an album that is so engulfed by its own influences that it almost seems like it doesn't even exist. But it does. End … Read more
Gorilla Biscuits
Start Today
Revelation (1989)
Simply put, Start Today is one of the greatest hardcore records that has ever been written; and there is no way that you can argue against that statement of fact, and if you try, you are not just fooling yourself but also robbing yourself of the experience of hearing one of the most innocent and pure odes to being young, … Read more
Gracer
Voices Travel
Revelation (2006)
I feel sorry for emo kids these days. Rather than being a certain clique that listens to a certain type of music they have become an entire entity within themselves. What we have in 2006 are a bunch of mopey teenagers with Livejournal accounts, bad haircuts and their mother's cheapest strands of pearls. Instead of being a community of kids … Read more
