Isolation was a new school metallic sxe hardcore band from Milwaukee, WI in the second half of the 90s. As far as I know they recorded only 1 demo, in 1996, and this 7", from 1997. It's an awesome 7", with great typical late 90s metallic hardcore with hoarse, almost blown-out sounding vocals. Their run as a band was cut short when their singer, Paul Gazo, died on October 1st 1997. He was into tagging all around Milwaukee under the moniker 'SEB', which stood for Straight Edge Bomber (as in tagger). One night when he was tagging an old abandoned building, he fell through a hole in the roof, and died from the injuries he sustained. The band disbanded after that, and the 7" which had already been recorded, was released posthumously. After the band folded, the remaining members would move on to other bands such as Up In Arms and Protestant.
For the record, both the Isolation demo and this 7" can be found on the amazing mkepunk.com site (here and here). But I decided to rip & scan my own copy of the 7" anyways, as this band/7" doesn't get mentioned nearly as often as it deserves.
One of the regular readers of this blog recently asked me if I had the Evolve/Mindwar split, and I do, so here it is. This split 7" was released in 1993 on Round Two Records. Evolve and Mindwar were both CT HC bands, and both bands tried to take a more mid-tempo approach to their sound with introspective and personal lyrics. Mindwar tried to do this with more indie-ish influences but they hadn't quite gotten their sound yet, they lack power. They would be better later on, as the video at the end of this post proves. Evolve had a more refined take on mid-tempo 90s hardcore, similar to bands like Atlas Shrugged, and they are the clear winner on this split 7" for me, they're damn good. But unfortunately I don't know what other records they did, besides the fact that their side of this split 7" was re-released on a comp 7" on Hearsay Records, which also includes a song from the Groundwork CT 7" I posted here. To make it even more crazy, Mindwar's side of this split 7" and the other song from the Groundwork CT 7" would also be re-released as a split 7" by Hearsay Records! In 1994 Mindwar signed a deal with XNO Records out of Germany, and they did a self-titled MCD and a CD called 'Degeneration' with them, as well as several European tours. I don't have these Mindwar releases but am looking to acquire them, and will post them when I do. Members of both bands went on to bands like Council Of Five Nations, Thinner, High On Fire and Below The Sound.
Here's the opening track of Mindwar's 'Degeneration' CD, which sound a lot better than the songs from this 7" I have to say:
...is a '90s hardcore blog, tho there might be some exceptions. Just some records and demo's from that era that I feel need to be heard. Despite the over-abundance of '90s hardcore mp3 blogs, and punk & hardcore mp3 blogs in general, I will try to put music on here that is worthwhile and isn't featured on other blogs.
If you're in a new band that is in some way inspired by 90s hardcore (of any kind), and want me to write something about your band as a 'new blood' feature, contact me here. No guarantees tho, my time is limited and I might not like your band anyways.
I also post photos of my record collection, among other things, on Instagram as @xhcnoirx. Check it out and follow me if you feel like it.
If you see a missing download you are interested in, leave a comment and I'll try to re-up it asap.
If bands or labels want their stuff removed, let me know.
Vegan sXe hardcore fanatic. My fave music is '90s metallic hardcore, however I listen to all kinds of hardcore, from '80s DC hardcore to '90s emo to current beatdown and pretty much anything inbetween. And yes, I love 108.
