Tuesday, December 31, 2019

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!