Faithealer - Bound and Chained

Faithealer's Bound and Chained

in fitting in with themes, here's another great aggressive vocal performance from a girl. Faithealer come from Texas featuring a variety of members from groups such as Hatred Surge and Mammoth Grinder. their sound mixes a variety of influences to make a truly unique metalcore based sound. i guess if you wanted to you could maybe label this under that movement "deathcore", but i hate that term and the influence of death metal is extremely slight in this band, only translating itself in the form of the vocals which reach guttural levels at some points. the strength for this group though is obviously in their melodic portions which relieve the aggressive portions with an almost sludgy feel. all shitty genre puns aside, this is a record that definitely emblessishes on what hardcore in general can instrumentally procede. definitely indebted to '90s groups like Unruh and their release 'Setting Fire to Sinking Ships' which kinda mixed the aggressiveness of groups like Biohazard with the atmosphere of One Eyed God Prophecy. anyways, cop this from inkblot. it is going to be a classic someday.


Faithealer - Bound and Chained (2008)

Punch - Eyeless EP

punch

i had heard about punch through a variety of facets. seeing Loma Prieta lots of the merch was present, Ghostlimb gave them a few shout outs when i saw them in Seattle, and when i went to see Portraits of Pasts in late December the group also got some mention. after hearing about them from so many great bands i figured that there must've been something legitimate about the group. after hearing this 7" i realized what a mistake it was to not check out the group earlier. a combination of thrash, '90s hardcore, and grind-like rhythms Punch is definitely one of the more aggressive and interesting throwback groups currently playing. of course, the main draw point for many is the female vocalist Meghan (what's up with Meghan's in hardcore?) who is certainly a great front(wo)man and brings the perfect compliment to the already fericous enough music. lyrics center around the dislike of California society or rather society in general, but the success with Punch mainly comes from their ability to as i constantly say about bands to draw on new and old trends in music. if you have interest in hardcore, this is definitely a recommendation.


Punch - Eyeless EP