Straight Jacket - s/t CD

A few years I posted the 'Losing Face' compilation, which featured mostly upstate NY hardcore bands. One of them was Straight Jacket from Albany, NY. Here is their self-titled CD from 1999, which was released on Step Up Presents. Awesome heavy metallic hardcore with great gruff vocals, which falls in line with the rough Albany HC sound of the time, but also displays more intricate song stuctrures and musicianship than you might expect. Underrated stuff for sure! I don't have a lot of background info on the band, but it seems they were around from the early 90s to around 2000. Aside from this CD they also appeared on a 3-way split with Skinless and End Of Line, and also did a CD called 'I See Nothing'. Unfortunately I have neither. Singer Greg Kennedy moved onto to Disciples Of Berkowitz and then Wasteform after Straight Jacket broke up. I have no idea if the other band members did any other bands afterwards. In any case, enjoy!

Straight Jacket - s/t CD

No Exit No Return comp 7"

Here's the first release on Upstate Records, a Syracuse, NY based label run by one of the guys in Oversight. This 'No Exit No Return' compilation 7" was released in 1991 and has 4 bands on it, Process Of Elimination, Dead Image, Refuse To Fall and Encounter, playing mostly late 80s/early 90s melodic hardcore. Of the four bands on here, Process Of Elimination from CT have the most straight-forward sound, similar to their self-released 7". Dead Image is the least memorable band on here, I'm not into their take on melodic hardcore. Refuse To Fall's track has that early 90s sound that they also showed on their 'Soul Fire' 7", good stuff! Encounter's song is a typical Encounter song and really good, but it sounds almost like a rehearsal recording unfortunately. Damn shame, I love Encounter, but I have the give the edge to Refuse To Fall as best band on this comp. In any case, a decent comp, so check it out! Oh, and that weird start to Encounter's track is the way it starts on my 7", maybe it's a mastering error?

No Exit No Return comp 7"

New blood: Dretch

In the mid to late 90s Florida spawned a ton of awesome bands, from Morning Again to Culture to Cease to Omega Man to Scrog etc... And there's still quality bands coming out of Florida. Such as Dretch, from Ocala, FL. They released their first demo in late 2015, and it's a rager. The demo's 3 songs are all under 2 minutes long, not counting an almost 2 minute long movie sample at the end of 'Pledge Of Convenience'. Get in, fuck shit up, and get out, seems to be their motto. I'm not complaining when it's done as well as here. Stylistically the band's sound is similar to that of bands like Rise & Fall and Enabler while also adding small hints of bands like old Integrity and Converge, but with a no frills and stripped to the bone approach. Definitely a band to keep a close eye on.