TERROR:
TERROR has cemented its status in great stone letters as guardians of old school hardcore ethics while winning the pit fervor of the new generation of metal and hardcore fans. Ignoring current musical trends the L.A. based band has stuck to its guns playing aggressive, no frills, breakneck hardcore like “The Cro-Mags” and “Agnostic Front” before them. Ragged metal-tinged guitars, rapid fire drum lines, slithering bass lines and trademark double-fisted vocal attacks are trademarks of their sound. TERROR is a bundle of endless energy, leaping about stages, demanding nothing less than total crowd participation and interaction. They were founded the year 2002 and since that date the group has never spent more than a month off of the road and continues to tour relentlessly across the globe. TERROR’s previous releases “One With The Underdogs” (2004), “Lowest Of The Low” (2005) and “Rhythm Amongst The Chaos” (2007) struck the American and European hardcore scenes hard and there was nary a message board worldwide that wasn’t singing the praises of the group. This was fully backed by any live performance the band played and that quickly gave proof they were the real deal. While a TERROR live show is packed with aggressive energy, it also brings back the good-natured release of circle pits, stage dives and finger pointing anthems that are sorely missed by today’s hardcore scene. TERROR soon found itself popular touring partners across the country of such heavyweights as Comeback Kid, Converge, Hatebreed, Biohazard, Ignite, Sick Of It All and Madball, as well as being able to hang with metal groups such as Killswitch Engage and In Flames. It is this drive and desire that has cemented TERROR into the hearts of music fans worldwide and made them royalty within the touring front. The fact that they’re direct support to the reunited Earth Crisis right now speaks volumes. So, be now prepared for TERROR’s third full-length “The Damned, The Shamed”, surfacing on May 26th, 2008. This vicious slab of brutality was produced by the renowned Zeuss (Hatebreed, Shadows Fall) and is sure to please the band’s diehard fan base, while garnering a new legion of young maniacal supporters. Time off for TERROR is considered time away from their hardcore family across the globe, something that they cannot live without, so rest assured, the years to come hold many more releases and live appearances worldwide. But one thing is for sure: “The Damned, The Shamed” is the definitive hardcore album of 2008. Consider this your only warning.

ALL SHALL PERISH:

Death metal and technical grind have an interesting way of co-existing. While each genre shares characteristics with the other it would seem that many bands would rather stay narrow in scope and keep the two as oil and water. However some outstanding young acts in the last few years have managed to rejuvenate the underground by encompassing more of extreme metal’s tangents and delivering some very impacting and fresh ideas into a seemingly over-cooked stew. Despised Icon, Beneath The Massacre, Leng Tch’e and others have thrown all caution (and rules) into the wind and are re-defining the death and grind genres with vibrant ideas and unrelenting delivery. Oakland’s ALL SHALL PERISH are cut from that same jib; delivering brutal music that possesses a natural need to experiment and push the boundaries of the extreme underground. Their second offering, The Price Of Existence, will turn the death metal and underground hordes on their collective ear, and when all is said and more.... done the band is sure to be touted as one of the best young extreme acts from the West Coast in this new millennium. Finding common ground with a taste for such bands as Dying Fetus, Opeth, Cannibal Corpse, Hatebreed, Blood Has Been Shed and At The Gates, ALL SHALL PERISH formed with the intent of not being labeled with the restricting monikers of "death metal", "hardcore" or "metalcore", rather they simply wanted to brutalize audiences and get people moving. The band's 2005 Nuclear Blast debut Hate, Malice, Revenge proved that they were capable of blending various styles while delivering memorable and intelligent songs to all fans of metal and hardcore. Their live show brought the band's vicious attack from coast to coast with such known acts like Six Feet Under, Agnostic Front, As I Lay Dying, Bleeding Through, Brujeria, Dying Fetus, Diecast and Hate Eternal, and before anyone knew it ALL SHALL PERISH had racked up almost 10,000 units via Soundscan. ALL SHALL PERISH Change is inevitable, and when you’re 100% committed to your art it’s imperative that only the best people be involved. ASP took the necessary steps to outfit themselves with the best line-up available for The Price Of Existence. New vocalist Hernan “Eddie” Hermida’s delivery adds more depth and clarity to the band's overall impact, while the technical skills of guitarist Ben Orum and new axesmith Chris Storey are as top-notch as those of the most seasoned players in underground metal (“Prisoner Of War” and “There Is No Business To Be Done On A Dead Planet” are perfect examples). Powerhouse drummer Matt Kuykendall gives a heart stopping performance, immediately ranking him just under such elite players as Flo Mounier (Cryptopsy) and Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal). Tracks like "Eradication", “We Hold These Truths” and the ever-so-catchy “Wage Slaves” are brutal and would knock a gorilla on its backside, while “The Last Relapse” and the moody instrumental “Interlude” show a melodic side to the band which proves that ALL SHALL PERISH have forged ahead light years and have delivered a regal metal gem. The Price Of Existence is demanding indeed!


THE ACACIA STRAIN:

It’s a relatively cool night for May and the peaceful silence of a small Massachusetts town is shattered. Although it is not overbearingly loud, keen ears perk up as the members of THE ACACIA STRAIN turn their collective head towards the building. Production mastermind Zeuss (Shadows Fall, Hatebreed) is inside, dialing in the sounds at Studio Z during the band’s first excursion with the aural expert. Then again, we are talking about THE ACACIA STRAIN, Springfield, Massachusetts’ heaviest band, returning with their latest offering: Continent. The name alone implores and implies something massive and demanding, exactly what this album is. “This album is definitely darker than anything we have done in the past. It’s more proper, if that is even possible. It is our most angry release to date,” says vocalist Vincent Bennett, with an ever so slight emphasis on the word ‘angry.’ From the social critique on the lull of cultural comfort, the deep-rooted resentment that festers inside has darkened. “Continent is basically my absolute disgust towards everything. The whole album is based on the concept of nihilism. The world as we know it was a fluke and there is no meaning in anything. It is about pulling yourself out of society because everything makes you sick. It is about purposefully leaving everything behind and destroying everything you think you love. It is about hatred, anger, rage and resentment. Nothing is sure to me anymore. Everything has been tainted. This album is pretty much exonerating myself from it all.” The band’s sound is undeniably darker on Continent, yet THE ACACIA STRAIN manages still to likewise hold true to the band’s established identity, retaining its signature sound while still combining more speed, brutality, and more atypical song construction. That said, THE ACACIA STRAIN has effectively established themselves at the front of a pack of ever-expanding – and equally evolving – extreme music contenders. “We write music that we like playing,” Bennett continues. “Too many people in bands lately have just been putting out records and playing shows so they can BE in a band and be popular. There is no passion anymore; it’s all an internet popularity contest. We write the music we do because we like playing it, and if people are into it then that’s an amazing bonus. There are so many useless arguments on the internet about what kind of band is metal or metalcore or deathcore or hardcore or whatever. Shut up. Listen to music. The minute you try to define it is the exact moment it loses all of its actual meaning.” Undeniably, meaning is something high on the band’s list for the release of Continent, the third release for Prosthetic and fourth overall for THE ACACIA STRAIN. Tying lyrics and music with visual interpretation once again is artist Paul Romano, uniting Continent’s theme of nihilism and misanthropy with the album’s visually stunning mural of destruction. Now, with the band’s line-up stable, rounded out by guitarist DL, bassist Jack Strong and drummer Kevin Boutot, THE ACACIA STRAIN is poised to continue down the road of growth and progression, something they have been doing since The Dead Walk’s release in 2006. Proving their power on the road time and time again and leveraging their sonic devastation in cities across the US and Canada, 2008 shall be no different for THE ACACIA STRAIN. The only difference is Continent will be the end of everything.


DOWN TO NOTHING:

Down to Nothing is a straightedge hardcore band based out of Richmond, Virginia. Since their inception in 2000, DTN have relentlessly toured all over the United States, Europe, and Australia, pausing only briefly to write music and pick up road kill. In July of 2007, they released "The Most," their long-awaited full length on Revelation Records. Drawing from influences like Judge and Four Walls Falling, Down to Nothing plays a fast, crisp, aggressive, angry version of the hardcore that they grew up listening to. In February of 2008, Revelation Records will re-release the band's first two (formerly out-of-print) albums on one CD/LP entitled "Unbreakable." With a full schedule and a positive attitude, Down to Nothing have no plans of letting up soon. Don't miss them when they come to your town.


THICK AS BLOOD:

is a very proud hardcore band from Miami, FL. Formed in '04, they started out as a seven man team but recently trimmed down their roster to five, bringing out a more focused sound. They released their debut album "Moment Of Truth" in '07, toured the states numerous times including Canada sharing stages with the likes of Madball, Terror, Bleeding Through and much more. "Embrace" is the much anticpated follow-up to their debut "Moment Of Truth" which finds THICK AS BLOOD evolving into a much heavier, faster and more brutally honest band. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered at the infamous Machine Shop (Lamb Of God, Every Time I Die) in Weehawken, NJ. Drums were recorded at Nuthouse Studios, Hoboken, NJ. The track "Decimator" musically highlights their thrash/heavy metal influences while at the same time lyrically touching on their feelings toward deceivers. "Misery Loves Company" incorporates a whole new melodic side of THICK AS BLOOD while still bringing forth a new level of intensity and also lyrically dealing with envy and how pathetic it can make someone. "Embrace" also includes a special surprise that showcases another musical side of THICK AS BLOOD but still keepin' it street. They plan to tour both the U.S. and beyond extensively to support "Embrace".


VERA CRUZ:

Band bios are always redundant. We should tell you that we’re the best, that we’re gonna tear everything up wherever we go and that we are your new favorite band. Even if it’s all true, we’d rather tell you that Vera Cruz is the sum of 57 years of experience in the music industry (which is a rate of 11.4 years per guy), that it’s 5 brains focused on rock music and such, that it’s 10 arms & hands of which 8 are thoroughly trained for a job well done (the singer’s arms & hands are not very useful for that matter so we didn’t count them), that it’s 5 pairs of legs devoted to stage fury and that all in all, we’re just 5 guys whose common goal is to inflame the crowds (well, people that came to see us live) with our rock/hardcore/punk/metal that we like powerful and vigorous. All that’s left is for everyone to make up their own opinion! (always end with a hypocritical tone).