Saturday, March 28, 2015

Chloe - Soon Enough 7"

Chloe was a band from Boston MA in the early 90s. For a band with such a lovely non-hardcore name, they sound much rougher than you'd expect. Their sound is a mixture between Boston's Toe Tag and Detroit's Pittbull. Their 'Soon Enough' 7" was released on Gawdawful Records in 1991. Only 2 songs, but both are solid if yer into the aforementioned bands. There is no lyrics sheet with my copy, so I have no idea what their lyrics are about. In 1992 they would do another 7" called 'Shaman', released on Cinderblock Records. I don't have that one unfortunately, if I get my hands on it, it'll end up on here tho, count on it, haha...

Anyways, with a name like Chloe, finding information on this band is next to impossible, heh... So if anybody has some more information on them, please leave a comment. I am really interested to find out if the band members played in other bands before or after, esp the singer who has an awesome voice! I did find out that someone (maybe from Chloe?) created a bandcamp page for them with some live-recordings, so do check that out if you like what you hear!

Chloe - Soon Enough 7"

Thursday, March 26, 2015

Review: Lay It On The Line - A Prelude To The Process EP

London, UK's Lay It On The Line was formed in spring 2012 with ex-members of Hang The Bastard and Phinius Gage, and has since been carving out a name for themselves. If you hadn't guessed from the circle logo on the cover, the Process from the EP's title refers to the Process Church of the Last Judgement, also the bands inspiration for the lyrics on this EP. I wouldn't necessarily put LIOTL's sound under the Holy Terror banner tho.

The band's sound lies somewhere between the rough and gritty hardcore punk sound of bands like Tragedy and a more modern hardcore sound like The Carrier. Defunct and IMHO underrated UK band Burning The Prospect also came to my mind. It's an interesting mix that also works well because of the vocals, which fit the range of influences and sounds well.

I wasn't aware of this band until this release, so I also checked out their previous releases. 'A Prelude..' continues in the direction set by their previous material but also has a darker and more focused sound. I am really into it, and I'm looking forward to their upcoming full-length album. The one thing I feel is lacking somewhat is that the production is a bit thin, I feel their sound could use a bit of extra heaviness. But it's a minor complaint, as I said I am digging this band a lot. Check it out!

Saturday, March 7, 2015

Center-Point - Reflection demo

Spirit filled hardcore was quite big in the 90s, with some labels devoted solely to this Christian section of the hardcore scene, such as Tooth & Nail Records. On 2 of their 'Helpless Amongst Friends' comps, a band called Center Point appears (they're called Centerpoint on the 2nd one). The band was from the Lakewood/Artesia area inbetween Los Angeles and Long Beach and was made up of mostly young teenagers. They started out under the name Center-Point in 1992 and remained active till 1997. They went under the radar pretty much and aside from a 1994 demo and those compilations, I have no idea what other recordings they made/were released.

Anyways, here is that demo, released in 1994 on Resolve Recordings, still under their original name Center-Point, altho they also use Center Point for their address... Make up yer minds kids! They played fairly straight-forward mid 90s hardcore, decent but nothing great. The potential was here tho, closing song 'In The End' is pretty good and hints at an Unashamed-like sound. A track from this demo, 'United We Stand' also appeared on the 1st 'Helpless...' comp.

My demo copy has a drop in sound at the start of opening track 'Relieved', sorry about that. Nothing I can do about it I'm afraid, so I've left it in as-is. Members of Centerpoint later played in Redlight Halo, which also had members of Exist, another Christian band I wrote about before.

Center-Point - Reflection demo