Formed in late 2016, Embitter is a veggie/vegan metallic hardcore band from Warsaw, Poland. They just released their debut 7" on Bound By Modern Age Records from Germany, and they have (ex-)members of bands like Incitement, Outbound and Heatseeker. Guitarist Patryk contacted me about his band and told me their sound is inspired by bands like Morning Again, Culture, Unbroken and Mean Season... While you can definitely hear those influences here and there, Embitter is far from a carbon copy. Their sound is not quite what you think of when you think of those bands, even if at times you can hear a guitar line or progression that reminds you of those bands. The way they've structured their songs tho, does remind me of bands of that era in general. It's definitely a 90s approach to songwriting. But Embitter still sounds fresh and modern, and not stuck in the 90s (not that there's anything wrong with that, I know I am, haha)...
Production-wise it sounds like the band spent quite some time perfecting the sound of this 7". It's very layered and they've tried to mix things up with the guitar sound, the rhythm guitars are crunchy while the leads are much cleaner and sometimes even have some effects applied for a more open sound. Interesting to hear, and I'm sure the experience the band members had in their previous bands helped here... The 7" isn't perfect tho, I wish the vocals were a bit stronger, but the band shows a ton of promise, and I hope they stick around for a while longer than their previous bands did.
As a bonus, here's my buddy Tim, who does Bound By Modern Age Record, talking about the 7" and why he released it:
Here's another demo I picked up recently, New School's 1st demo from 1990. New School was a crossover band from Queens, NY, blending NYHC with metal and rap/hiphop, even throwing in some scratching and funky bass-lines. Definitely an acquired taste, nobody can say this band sounded like yer average late 80s/early 90s NYHC band... The band would do several demo's and a full-length CD in 1993 called 'Hardharderhardest' which includes a re-recorded version of this demo's opening track 'New School'. From what I heard of their later material the scratching and hiphop influences only increased, making this demo the best, and hardest, material I've heard by New School... It has a ton of energy to it, and at times the singer, when he's not trying to rap, sounds like Lou from Sick Of It All. Songs like 'Hard As Steel' and 'Off My Piece' are simply great! If you dig the Judgment Night soundtrack, you might get a kick out of this demo (not that this demo ever reaches that level, that's impossible!). Give it a shot.
...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.
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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.
