Best of 2019

Well, 2019 came and went by in a flash. I am not sure what the future holds for OnexPath, we shall see. There's still plenty of 90s hardcore I want to share, so hopefully I will get around to it in 2020... The blogging scene seems pretty dead tho, so I am not sure if there's still a demand...

In any case, that hasn't stopped me from checking out (and buying) new releases and still being excited about hardcore and discovering new bands. In that respect, 2019 has been a pretty good year with a lot of good releases and exciting new bands popping up. For whatever reason I've been drawn to demo's more than anything else this year... I guess I just love discovering new bands, hah.

So here's the list, I managed to keep it down to 20 (hah), listed in alphabetical order... Enjoy!

Avow - 2019 demo
Ex-members of bands like xRepentancex and Firm Standing Law going into full-on Strife mode.


Enslave - Spiritual Authority & Temporal Power
90s inspired straight edge metalcore from Tatarstan, Russia.
 
Frame Of Mind - Irieshun
Frame Of Mind is dead, long live Frame Of Mind. Featuring one of my fave musicians right now on guitar, Ben Woolf, this should be mandatory listening material if you enjoy bands like Burn, Absolution and Eye For An Eye.


Guilt Trip - River Of Lies
A great follow-up to their 'Unrelenting Force' 7". Riffs and spinkicks.


Hellhook - No Retreat demo
Excellent Euro-inspired metalcore from Arizona.


Hell Of Self - s/t demo
Kickback-worship done right. This band crushes.


Inclination - When Fear Turns To Confidence
Excellent straight edge metallic hardcore. We want more!


Machette - Deal With The Devil
Great crossover from Nantes, France.


Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End
This band plays 90s hardcore like no other band at the moment.


Moment Of Truth/Kruelty - The Beginning To The End split
Hard as nails deathmetalcore, for fans of old Japanese bands like Dyingrace and Second To None. Kruelty is s-i-c-k!


Mutually Assured Destruction - M.A.D.
Members of Fire & Ice, Bracewar and Break Away paying respect to 90s bands like Life Of Agony, Section 8 and Only Living Witness. So good!


Never Ending Game - Just Another Day
Detroit's hardest did a good demo some time ago, but this LP crushes it... My scrawny self shouldn't listen to this band, but fuck it. HARDCORE!


New Methods - Where We Go To Burn
Great catchy stuff. Would love to check out this band live. Their new promo dropped not too long ago and is also killer.


Null - Inferno
Great metalcore from Glasgow, UK. At first I thought it was alright, but man, this demo has grown on me a lot over time.


Rain Of Salvation - A War Outside And Within
Metallic straight edge hardcore. For fans of Turmoil and Despair.
 
Renounced - Beauty Is A Destructive Angel
They've become hardcore and heavier over time, and this album rules, hard.


Resilience - Demo 2019
Arkangel-inspired metallic hardcore from Switzerland. Nothing you haven't heard before, but I love it!


War By Other Means - The Damage/What It Once Was
More 90s hardcore inspired goodness. Somewhere between Outspoken and One King Down, WBOM needs to stay around for a proper release!


War Prayer - Spring 2019 demo
This demo is addictive as f*ck, sucks they've called it quits recently.


Watch Me Die - s/t demo
Heavy straight edge metalcore from London, UK. 'Human Damnation' is the straight edge anthem of 2019.


And that's after I had to drop a ton of bands off the list that all had releases worth checking out as well... Gulch, Combust, Excarnate, Cro-Mags, Chokehold, One Step Closer, Stages In Faith, Don't Trust A Soul, Abuse Of Power, Circle Back, Tausend Löwen Unter Feinden and so many more... It's mostly just that I've listened to the records listed above more than the ones that didn't make the list.

Lemme know in the comments what I should have added to the list... I feel like I haven't even heard half of the good stuff that was released this year!

Review: Time And Pressure - The Gateway City Sound

My last review featured a band on Safe Inside Records, and now another band on that label's roster contacted me about a review. Time And Pressure is a relatively new band from St. Louis, MI who just released their first album 'The Gateway City Sound' on Safe Inside Records. The album features 6 new songs as well as their 2018 demo.

I don't know if the bandname was inspired by the Run With The Hunted song of the same name, but stylewise there are some similarities, albeit that Time And Pressure include (even) more influences from early to mid 00's melodic hardcore. The style that Time & Pressure plays takes me right back to countless shows I went to in the early/mid 00's, when most hardcore shows out here would have at least one band on the line-up playing this style... Fast, melodic yet aggressive hardcore, always good for sweaty shows with plenty of crowd participation... And that is just what I imagine a typical Time & Pressure show to be like, kids moshing, screaming along, and generally having a great time. That is not to say T&P are simply rehashing a sound that's arguably been done to death and perfected by the likes of Go It Alone, Carry On, Heavy Heart, Betrayed and so on. They incorporate their own more modern sound as well, esp with the occasional guitar flourish, even sounding like The Effort here and there. It's a great take on a now classic sound, and I dig the vocals, hard. They might not be really different or anything, but there's just enough venom in the delivery to give this band a hard edge that makes them stand out for me.

Lyrically the band has both socio-conscious lyrics as well as more personal lyrics, which are also quite poignant and poetic at times, as the lyrics to 'Scarring Time' prove (excerpt):

When we’re dead and gone
After the last song has been sung
We’ll have the proof we were here at all
The universe is infinite and we are just a blink in it
But we’ll always have the scars we left on time

Overall, I am quite impressed with Time & Pressure. They don't play the type of metallic hardcore that is my go-to style hardcore-wise, but f*ck that, if it's good it's good right? Musically, lyrically and vocally they are the real deal. Definitely give this band a chance, I'm glad I did!

Review: Rejection Pact - Threats Of The World

As I still haven't moved over all of my records and gear to my apartment in Brussels, Belgium, OnexPath has been a pretty quiet place, sorry about that! So it was a nice surprise when Rejection Pact recently contacted me on Instagram about their 'Threats Of The World' 7" which was released recently on Safe Inside Records.

Let me start of this review by saying fast youth crew style hardcore is not my thing generally speaking, altho there are always exceptions (Alone In A Crowd, True Colors). In any case, I decided to give Rejection Pact a chance as they clearly also took a chance on having me review their 7", heh...

The first thing I noticed was the cover of the 7" with its stark photo of someone cheering in front of a burning car (presumably during a protest/demo of some sort?). It already gives the impression of a band that is not content with rehashing the same basic lyrics about brotherhood and such. Lyrically the band touches on subjects involving politics, bigotry, (online) social justice warriors and complacency. Musically Rejection Pact's material also has a sense of urgency and desperation to it, especially in the vocal department. This feeling is also enhanced by the short length of the songs, this 7"contains 10 songs, so obviously their sound is very direct and focused. I do kinda wish the band would have upped the harshness a bit in their sound, as at times I felt the music was a bit too clean cut to match the lyrics, but I guess in a sense it comes with the youth crew territory, heh. But in terms of youth crew hardcore (and my fairly limited knowledge of it) RP's sound should please the youth crew fans out there. If I had to throw in a comparison, I guess I would go with Betrayed and Battery mixed with some True Colors.

As a bonus, track 'Nothing Man' features a guest appearance by Greg Bennick (Trial, XBystanderX) and 'Echo Chamber' has guest vocals by Tyler Short (Inclination), and both do a great job. 'Echo Chamber' is also my favorite track on this 7", it's got a great furious edge to it.

Overall, would I give this 10-song 7" a regular listen? No, probably not, but that has more to do with my tastes in hardcore rather than the quality of this 7". Would I recommend it to people who have a fondness for youth crew hardcore tho? Yes, definitely.

Review: Embitter - 'Orwellian 2018' tape

A year ago I did a post on Polish band Embitter, reviewing their 'Season Of Solitude' 7". They recently contacted me again to review their current release, the 'Orwellian 2018' tape which was released on Youth 2 Youth Records late last year. Compared to the 7", the new songs sound more focused and intense. The band has tightened their sound, there's more of a sense of urgency to it. The guitars are way heavier on these songs, losing the crunch from the 7", but it also makes their sound fuller and more in-your-face. Thankfully the production is open enough that things don't end up muddy or muffled, the leads still come through clear enough to add some variety and spice to their sound. The heavier, more metallic edge to their sound does seem like a natural evolution for the band, it will be cool to hear how they continue from here on.

If the title of the tape does not give it away yet, some of the lyrics on these songs are inspired by the book '1984' by George Orwell, linking 2018 to 1984. 'Orwellian' even starts with the motto of the nation of Oceania from that book:

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

And well... '1984' is still relevant, more so than ever, it does feel at times that ignorance and sheep-mentality are the new cool. It's cool to see a band not just mentioning a literary influence but also incorporating ideas from the book into their lyrics. Embitter is definitely a band where the lyrics are an important part of what the band stands for, and that is always a good thing.

Where I had some reservations regarding the vocals on the 7", which were a bit thin, those are no longer warranted. The vocals are strong and powerful on this tape. They also make the Morning Again cover on this tape, 'Dictation Of Beauty', stand out as his voice is quite different from Kevin Byers'. It's an excellent cover btw, and a great choice, as Morning Again was of course also a band where the lyrics were an integral and important part of what made them so special.

Overall, 'Orwellian 2018' is a great release, it's just a shame there are only 2 new songs here. I need more!