Profound Effect - 'Lashing Out' CD

Here's the full-length of this short-lived 'NYHC supergroup'. Apparently featuring members of S.F.A., Yuppicide, Warzone, Die 116 and Rejuvenate, this band is hard as nails. While not as good as some of their older bands, nor sounding like them really, Profound Effect's album is definitely too good to pass up. A very dark, heavy and raw metal/hardcore hybrid with tough, burly vocals and no melody whatsoever. Also, the usage of samples in some of the songs is killer, they really add to the grim & cold atmosphere of the music. One weird track tho is 'Represent', which is essentially a spoken thanks-list, no joke. The album was released in 1995 on their own D-10 Hard Recordings label in the US and on the infamous Lost & Found Records in Europe (whether it was a legit release or not, I have no idea).

I don't know if the band ever really got out and played or if it was merely a project? Doesn't matter, at least they left us with this album. Lost & Found also put one of the tracks from the CD, 'One In The Chamber', on a split 7" with Killing Time. The same track also appears on several compilations. I don't think Profound Effect did anything else tho? Either way, great CD.

I scanned the layouts of both versions of the CD and included them with the download. Notice how the L&F layout is almost identical to the D-10 layout, but with different fonts and other fairly minor changes.

Profound Effect - Lashing Out CD

Strength Through Diversity Compilation

Here's another '90s hardcore/metalcore compilation. 'Strength Through Diversity Compilation' was released on Upfront Records, in 1996 or 1997. Upfront Records was a label run by Darrell Tauro, frontman of Groundzero (currently in Wrench In The Works), who are also featured on this CD. It's got plenty of great '90s bands, some relatively well-known, some not so much. Here's the full list of bands: Drowning Room, Groundzero, Ghidrah, Life Drowning, Follow Through, Silent Mourning, Section 8, Beyond Reason, Tenfold, Inner Dam, Age Of Reason, Tyrant Trooper, Leela, Red Tide, Voice Of Reason, Eventide, Capharnaum, Chokepuppy, Coming Correct, Divided By Hate. Almost 3/4th of the bands were from Connecticut, and the rest from New York (state), New Jersey and Massachussetts. Plenty of greatness to be found here, as well as some mediocre tracks, but overall a good compilation. Check it out, there's bound to be at least 1 or 2 bands on here you've not heard before and will like.

Strength Through Diversity Compilation CD

Crosscheck - Persist 7"

I imagine it's been close to 10 years since I last listened to this 7". One of those 7"s I got, played a couple of times and liked quite a bit, but that still ended up getting lost somewhere in the vinyl pile anyway. I gave it a spin again earlier tonight, and as I was listening to it I decided to post it on here. I totally forgot how good this 7" is. Unfortunately I know very little about this band tho. Crosscheck were from Iowa/Illinois, and singer Greg Thompson was also in a band called Butt Lynt, which I only know cuz he was mentioned on the amazing Double Cross Webzine. They released this 7" in 1995 on Ignition Records out of Vermont, its 1st (and only?) release. Good mid-tempo hardcore with pretty decent lyrics. Nothing outstanding, but good stuff nonetheless. I would love to hear more of this band if anybody has a demo or whatever.

Also, if anybody has info on this band, please leave a comment. It would be especially awesome if someone can say whether or not the Brian Peterson who plays bass on this 7" is the same one who wrote the 'Burning Fight' book. Seems he is!

Crosscheck - Persist 7"

Ultimatum self-titled MCD

Here's the self-released & self-titled MCD of Ultimatum, the first Australian vegan sXe metalcore band. They started out in 1995 and broke up in 2000. After one demo in 1995, they self-released this EP in 1997. Afterwards they also did a split with Australian band Not For You in 2000 before calling it quits. They also appeared on several compilations, 2 of which I ripped and blogged about before here and here. There's quite some info on their Wikipedia page, so I won't repeat it all. Damn good heavy mid-tempo vegan sXe metalcore that should appeal to plenty of readers of this blog. Just check it out.

Ultimatum - s/t MCD
Ultimatum myspace

Cutthroat - Hatebreedsrage CD

Cutthroat out of Clifton Park, NY. A tight, hard & heavy mix between hardcore and Pantera-like metal. I was lucky enough that this release's label, Ruffneck Records, sent me this CD and Section 8's first CD to review back in the day. Both bands are awesome, and their records are quite hard to come by unfortunately. This album, 'Hatebreedsrage', was released in 1995 and it's hard, really hard. The only other stuff I have by this band are the songs they contributed to the 'East Coast Assault II' compilation, which I ripped and uploaded here. They also appeared on a few more compilations. If tracks such as 'Hate Breeds Rage' or 'This World' don't make you want to punch a hole in the wall, I don't know what will. Apparently Cutthroat did 2 more albums after this one, but I've never seen either of them, and info on this band seems pretty hard to come by online. If anybody has any of their other records, hook me up! Thanxxx to Andrew & Fred for hooking me up!



Cutthroat - Hatebreedsrage CD
Cutthroat myspace

Shutdown - Demo 1996

Shutdown started out in NYC in 1994 and lasted till the early 2000's. They played a sweet mix of heavy NYC and more posi youth crew inspired hardcore, especially cuz of the more high-pitched vocals of Mark Scondotto. He's Mike Scondotto's little brother btw, who's known from bands such as Confusion and Inhuman. They've done a bunch of records including a split 7" with Indecision and several albums on Victory Records. This demo was done in 1996, and I believe 4 of these 5 songs ended up on the 'XDecideX' 7". The sound-quality is pretty shitty, but hey, it's a demo, take it or leave it.

As a sidenote, Shutdown is back together and even writing a new album according to their myspace. Sweet!

Shutdown - Demo 1996
Shutdown myspace

New Tools For The Hunter compilation CD

'New Tools For The Hunter: An Australian Hardcore Compilation' is a hardcore compilation from 1997, featuring 10 Australian hardcore bands doing 2 tracks each. It was released on First Blood Records, a label formerly known as X Jedi Knight Productions X, and run by people from the band Shadowcast. Not sure if the label released anything else? Anyways, the quality of the bands is pretty mixed, and with styles ranging from NYHC to old school hardcore to metalcore to emocore to rocking hardcore with a saxophone. Yeah, a saxophone. Standout bands for me are Mindsnare (heavy hardcore), Ultimatum (vegan sXe metalcore) and the aforementioned Shadowcast (heavy metallic hardcore with enviro-/socio-political lyrics). Overall a good overview of the Australian hardcore scene from the late '90s.

From the insert:

Hardcore is a vehicle. Hardcore is an instrument. Hardcore is a weapon. It is a means of expression. An outlet for ideas. A conveyor of emotion. Hardcore is an instrument from which we create solutions. It is a weapon against the outside world. It is a vehicle to channel out our hurt, our pain, our fear, our anger and our defiance. Hardcore is our outlet. Hardcore is our instrument. It is our weapon. This is hardcore and these are our New Tools For The Hunter...

New Tools For The Hunter compilation CD