Rakkaus - Jokainen Päivä on Taistelua

Rakkaus is a hardcore punk band from Finland. They started playing in 2003 and continue play today. The name "Rakkaus" means love in Finnish and all of their songs are in Finnish as well. They are fast d-beat punk, with a lot of hardcore elements thrown in as well. Female singing is belted and guitars and bass are strong. I would say something about the nature of the lyrics, but I understand no Finnish. Unfortunately, the North American label (Barrage of Salt) website has been down for quite some time, so I'm finding it difficult to buy any of their music. Standout tracks on this album are "Testamentti" and "Syvaa Unta".

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Hellshock - Only the Dead Know the End of War

Hellshock is a d-beat stenchcore band from Portland, Oregon. They've been around for a good while, and this album is one of my favorites in particular. This album starts out heavy as fuck, and ends the same way. The levels are this album are also virtually perfect. The bass is just loud enough and deep enough, and doesn't need heavy distortion to feel powerful as fuck. Vocals are low and growled, and as expected, Hellshock delivers brutal fucking melodies along with heavy and fast progressions. I have seen this band live twice, and both times have been thoroughly impressed. If you're into stenchcore or heavy as fuck d-beat at all, check this band out. Best tracks in my opinion are "Your World" and "Olympus".

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Shades of Grey - Freedom/Incarceration

Shades of Grey is a half female crust band from Sweden that started in 2005. They remind me a lot of Wolfbrigade and Skitsystem, but they definitely have their own sound. They make best use of having two guitarists by use of heavy as fuck riffs and changing interlocking melodies, which sounds awesome. The bass has a deep dark tone, with heavy distortion. Singing is dual female vocals by the guitarist and bassist, in a mid scratchy and powerful screams. This album is heavy and powerful as hell; definitely crust at some of it's finest. In addition to this LP, they also have a demo and split with Massmord. Standout songs on the album would be "Indoctrination" and "Sort the Gods Out".

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Driller Killer - Total Fucking Brutalized + Total Fucking Hate

Driller Killer is a D-beat band from Sweden, surprised at all? Driller Killer's style has changed somewhat over the years, considering there is only one constant member: singer Cliff Lundberg. Out of all of their variations, I think this album is their best style. Guitars are distorted, bass is loud, noisy and crunchy. Singing is more of a shouting and most songs are at a pretty fast speed. This is D-beat at it's core through and through. The average song length on the album is around two minutes, but at 26 songs, there is certainly no lack of substance. Lyrics can tend to get a little corny at times, but it doesn't hurt the album in the grand scheme of things. Best songs would probably be "Futureless" and "Skaneland" is one hell of a cool song. Total Fucking Brutalized is a good solid album; nothing revolutionary, but a damn good album nonetheless. A solid block of total fucking d-beat. 

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Leadershit - S/T

Leadershit is a band from Spain formed from ashes of Ekkaia, Disface, Cop on Fire, Cementerio Show, Karton de Vino, and Caos Ok. This band is again one of my personal favorites and are fast and heavy as anything. The sound is traditional crust, with melodic guitar and d-beat elements tossed every which way. Vocals are belted out and there is some sick guitar work in here. Standout songs on the album are "A Perro Mojado" and "Hacia Dias Sin Cadenas", not to mention some awesome looking artwork. Expect me to post their split up here with Derrota sometime in the future.

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Lost Tribe - The Dawn

Lost Tribe is a band from Richmond, Virginia and plays a style I've never quite heard. Lost Tribe plays dark, gothic punk. I had never heard of them beforehand, but they were playing a show with my band and I was blown away. Every instrument plays something different, but everything flows and goes together perfectly. They're very heavy on the reverb, but it works in this case, and extremely well. Vocals are more shouted and chanted than screamed, which is an awesome effect, especially in their live performances. This is an awesome demo, but they're live sound can't be replicated, and is definitely a band I would recommend seeing if you even like them a bit. The song "Vexed" stood out to me most, but this is one solid demo, and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on their newer releases.

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Punch - S/T

Punch is a female-fronted hardcore band from San Fransisco, California. They used blistering fast guitar progressions and scratchy high speedy vocals. The whole band is just really fucking fast and heavy, good stuff to be sure. Many, if not all, of the songs have breakdowns in them, and while I think overusing breakdowns just sounds stupid, they manage to make it work. They still tour around, and have another album called "Push Pull". The standout songs on this album are "Get Back" and "We're Not In This Together".

 

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