TDON CD Sampler Breakdown

I received this free promo CD from the record label Thirty Days Of Night through Rock Sound and HMV and was impressed by the failure of both my computer and the Internet to locate the track and artist names – good work on the watermarking/encoding there. Suffice to say, none of these tracks have titles and there’s no way in hell I’m trawling last.fm to look for tracks that are of similar length and guessing because that would indicate I actually give a toss. Here are my results:

TRC

One positive thing to say about this is at least TRC’s ‘vocalists’ (that word used in the loosest possible terms) aren’t trying to emulate some nasally American with copycat try-hard accents. In fact, both seem to shun the notion of singing even in tune, let alone with any prefix to their style. The gruffer sounding meathead makes up for this by doing some feeble impression of the ginger bloke from Gallows, whilst the other guy settles on an embarrassing “nnaaa, safe bruv, innit, yeah?” Mike Skinner-meets-Skinhead Rob style hardcore rap over some elaborate, yet tinny nu-metalcore riffs. I thought this shit had been phased out years ago. (They actually made a video for it as well).

EastStrikeWest

I don’t want to say post rock, because this isn’t really. It’s more SLOW rock, choosing to go down the route of sluggish drum rolls, that guitar sound that’s all “woweeeowwweeeooowwww” (you know, the one that sounds like a Scalextric being stamped on.) It’s actually quite spacey, all washing synths, under a deep, rumbling rhythm and the vocalist has a surprisingly decent voice and range, which can be quite easily heard over the heavy haze of sound and glitching noises.

Sioux

Despite the feminine name, this is anything but graceful and elegant. Like continuously punching the floor, until your knuckles crack, broken bone poking through the fleshy rips; Sioux are a bloody mess of hoarse vocal shreds, down-tuned, guttural riffs that aren’t a million miles away from Black Sheep Wall.

Confession

Possibly ripped off Sioux or at least share several members, as the vocals are almost identical. There’s more of a Botch element to Confession, with their odd squealing flourishes; but the clean chorus vocals sound as if they’ve been recorded in a cupboard – muffled and unimpressive. I’m guessing they’re supposed to counter balance against the relentless screams of the lead vocalist who is content to bury the notion of anyone out-singing him, which shouldn’t be too difficult, considering his voice box must look like a slaughter house.

Santa Karla

Santa Karla work best when they’re racing through this song like a runaway train. A no-frills, twisted, hardcore-metal onslaught, that gives nods towards ‘Opposite Of December’-era Poison The Well and the barbaric viciousness of Converge.

This Is Colour

Apart from the double-bass pedal drumming and “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to be playing?” guitar riff at the beginning this is mostly a load of old pig cock and 5 minutes too fucking long.

Gold Kids

When this eventually gets going, after about two false starts of ‘supposed build up’ Gold Kids (sounds like some rap group) are actually competent hardcore. Can’t understand a word of what’s being said, most of the vocals are akin to someone spitting over a microphone. Has that harsh, scrappy gasp of disgust and contempt.

Dead Swans

Wow, probably the best thing on this compilation so far. Channelling the rage of Give Up The Ghost, with the vocal-lead of Kevin Baker from The Hope Conspiracy into some of the most pissed off and determined hardcore I’ve ever heard. Chugs a fair bit, but the wonderful backing vocal roars makes this sound very awesome to these ears.

Lonewolves

Lonewolves must be on a tight budget. This bare-bones racket of rumbling drums, that threaten to drown everything else out and “I’ve been eating broken glass” vocals thud along with very little compassion and a mean-spirited, lip-curl of sneering hate. Brilliant work by trying to sound like something that was recorded about 20 years ago – gritty, dogged hardcore done right.

Breaking Point

“WITNESS! THE RISE! OF THE SUN!” Stop shouting you muppet. Bridge 9-sounding mongcore fodder, avoid like the plague.

Closure

Basically a hardcore punk version of Insect Warfare. 64 seconds of stop-start noise that was once possibly a song, but seems to steer towards someone shouting as they fall into a room full of saucepans.

Headcase

I nearly skipped this because a) it was over three minutes and b) what’s the fucking point really? CHUNGA, CHUNGA, CHUNGA, CHUNGA, GGGGUURRRRRRNNKKKK GUURRRNKKKK – yeah, good one. Just about redeems itself from shitsville with the hilarious rapid-fire Circle Jerks-style vocals that were possibly recorded by a man who stands outside bottle banks swigging medicine and likes to shout at dogs.

Thirty Seconds Until Armageddon

Awful bass on this – why did they bother? You'd be better off watching the film 'Armageddon' than listening to this toilet.

Verdict?

Lonewolves, Dead Swans, Sioux, Gold Kids, EastStrikeWest and Santa Karla = all great sounding bands and well worth investigating if you're a fan of screaming and killer riffs.