Overview
Debate continues over what genre this band fits into and this EP was probably where it all started. The opening track, "Outgunned", has metal qualities – including Slayer-like riff flourishes, but the vocal style throughout is undeniably hardcore punk.
"Rattlesnakes", "The Screaming", and "Marked For Life", on the other hand are more in the straightforward hardcore punk mould, especially influenced by the New York hardcore subgenre. Fast-paced songs with trademark refrains – commonly referred to as breakdowns. While "The Screaming" does contain a small amount of metal influence, "Marked For Life" is probably more comparable to an early Black Flag track. The EP's closing track, "Trial By Fire", brings all these influences together to form a song which is, in the early part, quite technical metal. It has a mellow, Bane-like interlude in the middle which then breaks out into a typical hardcore punk, complete with background gang chants. Despite the credits, founding members Jon Morozowski (bass) and Paul Jafre (drums) played on this recording.
Poison Idea was an American punk rock band formed in Portland, Oregon, in 1980.
Discharge are an English hardcore punk band formed in 1977 in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The band is known for influencing several sub-genres of extreme music and their songs have been covered by some of the biggest names in heavy metal and other genres. The musical sub-genre of D-beat is named after Discharge and the band's distinctive drumbeat.
Embodiment 12:14 were an Australia Christian metal band formed in Adelaide, as Embodiment in 1992, initially they performed death metal. They released two albums, Elements of This Man-Made Man (1998) and Inroads Out (2005), before disbanding in 2006.
Crime in Stereo is a Long Island-based hardcore punk band. The group released four full-length albums and a compilation, recording for the labels Blackout!, Nitro, and Bridge Nine before disbanding in 2011 and subsequently re-forming in 2012. Since 2012, the group have performed sporadically and released a single song on a compilation in 2021, the group have previously stated that they are writing their fifth full-length album.
Cataract was a Swiss metalcore band signed to Metal Blade Records. The band formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2013.
Sore Throat were a British crust punk band formed in Huddersfield, England, in 1987. They are known for being one of the earliest exponents of the grindcore subgenre known as "noisecore", as well as for launching the careers of several prominent members of the British heavy metal community.
Racetraitor is an American hardcore punk band originally from Chicago, Illinois. The band attracted controversy in the late 1990s, before any releases, as a result of their radical take on racial politics, which focused on ideas like systemic racism and white privilege before they were widely discussed topics in popular or underground culture. Racetraitor was also a key proto-metalcore act being one of the first few bands to incorporate extreme metal influences, such as death metal, grindcore, and doom metal, into hardcore.
Too Bad You're Beautiful is the debut studio album by Long Island-based post-hardcore band From Autumn to Ashes. The album is unique in that it features the dual vocals of Benjamin Perri and drummer Francis Mark. Perri provides the hardcore-esque shouts while Mark sings and occasionally contributes background screams. The album was reissued in 2005 with the Sin, Sorrow, and Sadness demo as bonus tracks at the end.
The Faith was an early American hardcore punk band, from Washington D.C., with strong connections to the scene centered on the Dischord label. Along with Minor Threat, The Faith were key players in the early development of hardcore, with a (later) melodic approach that would influence not just associated acts like Rites of Spring, Embrace and Fugazi, but also a subsequent generation of bands such as Nirvana, whose Kurt Cobain was a vocal fan.
Sheer Terror are an American hardcore punk band from New York City. The band was one of the first to combine elements of heavy metal with a hardcore punk base, pioneering a heavier style of hardcore that would create many bands in the following decades. Formed in late 1984, the band stayed together until 1998, through numerous lineup changes and shifts in musical style. In October 2004, the band reunited and gave two shows at New York City's CBGB Club.
Ensign is an American hardcore punk band from New Jersey. They formed in 1995 and signed with Indecision Records in 1996. They signed to the larger label "next door", Dexter Holland's Nitro Records, in 1998 and finally came to rest at Blackout Records in 2003 after a brief sortie back to Indecision in 2000.
Your Murder Mixtape is the first full-length album from New Jersey, U.S. band, The Banner. It was released on Blackout Records in December, 2003 and it follows the Posthumous EP which was released in the same year. The album takes influence from several musical styles with an overall melodic hardcore sound.
Each Breath Haunted is the second full-length album from New Jersey, U.S. hardcore punk band, The Banner. It was released in August, 2005 on the Ferret Music record label. It follows their late 2003 release of Your Murder Mixtape and the EP, Posthumous. This album's sound is heavily influenced by The Misfits. In addition, the horrorcore imagery prevalent in all their works continues on this album, this time taking a more gothic horror direction with lyrics about mythical subjects such as werewolves, vampires, and other hell-beasts. The cover was created by the vocalist, Joey Southside, a professional dark comic cartoonist.
Arma Angelus was a metalcore band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2002. Members of the band were Pete Wentz, Tim McIlrath, Jay Jancetic, Daniel Binaei, Adam Bishop and Timothy Miller.
Killing Time is a New York hardcore band. From their beginnings in 1988, under the name Raw Deal, they went on to record two full-length albums and several EPs, singles, and compilation tracks. The band went through three hiatuses before formally disbanding in 1998. However, the band re-formed in 2006 and has been touring/playing since. Work on their third full-length album was completed in March 2009.
Brightside was the first of three full-length albums released by New York hardcore band Killing Time. It was released in November 1989 on In Effect Records, a division of Relativity Records, and subsequently re-released in 1995 by Lost & Found Records in Europe, and Victory Records in the U.S. – both with bonus tracks. Both re-issue versions have three tracks from the Happy Hour EP released in 1992. The Victory Records re-issue also has material from the first Raw Deal demo made in 1988, of which five tracks were re-recorded for this album.
Breakdown is an American hardcore band formed in Yonkers, New York, in late 1986. The band emerged from the mid-1980s New York hardcore scene, where they helped to pioneer the sound of beatdown hardcore.
No Grounds For Pity was a compilation album of early demo material by the New York hardcore band, Sheer Terror. The tracks were recorded between 1985 and 1988 and released in Europe on Blackout Records in 1996 – a year after the band made their first major label release, Love Songs For the Unloved, on MCA Records.
Twelve Tribes was an American metalcore band, from Dayton, Ohio, United States. Originally established in 1998, the group were signed to the independent record label Ferret Music. They were influenced by a cross cultural array of music such as punk rock, hip hop, classic rock, drum & bass, metal and hardcore.
Kill Your Idols is an American hardcore punk band from New York, active from 1995 through 2007 and again from 2013 to the present. They were signed to SideOneDummy Records. Their releases on SideOne were Funeral for a Feeling (2001), a split with 7 Seconds in 2004, and From Companionship to Competition (2005). Other notable releases by the band were No Gimmicks Needed and This Is Just The Beginning... which were released on Blackout! Records. The band released several 7-inch EPs, splits with other bands, multiple compilation tracks, and two full-length LPs in their 11-year run. Most of their records were released on vinyl as well as compact disc. Some were released on different colors of vinyl, different sleeve covers, hand numbered tour presses, and picture discs, making their records a favorite among collectors.
