Breakfall - Words So Softly Spoken MCD

Breakfall was a short-lived straight edge hardcore band out of the UK, with members from Scotland and Northern Ireland. The band played a nice mixture of up-tempo crunchy 90s inspired hardcore with old school influences. This MCD was released in 1998 on their own label, Strength In An Age Of Weakness Records. I think this also served as a demo, I am not aware of any other recordings by this band. Members went to Circle Again (who appeared on the awesome 'More Than The X On Our Hands' 6x7" compilation) and Some Days Better. Apparently the drummer moved to the US and played for Ensign for a while? In any case, enjoy!

Breakfall - Words So Softly Spoken MCD

New blood: Zero

More new blood! Zero are a youth crew-inspired band from Canada. While I am not exactly the biggest youth crew fan, good stuff is good stuff, such as True Colors (RIP) from Belgium and Insist out of the UK in recent years. And Zero falls into that category as well for me. They take cues from the old CTHC scene, think of Cornerstone and such, but they don't simply rehash that sound however, they add slightly different elements to it, so they do stand out a bit from the pack. They recently released their debut 7" on Insight Records (US/Canada) and Powered Records (Europe). If you're into youth crew and/or more old school-inspired hardcore, check out this band!

New blood: Fractured

For whatever reason I'm on various band promoter's mailing lists who obviously have never bothered to check out what OnexPath is all about, sending me info about shitty shoegaze, rock and ambient spaced out whatever the hell it is bands... So that makes it all the better when an actual hardcore band takes the time to email me personally. One such band is Fractured from Shallotte, North Carolina. I had never heard of them before they emailed me. Shame on me, cuz this is awesome shit! Their latest EP, 'Debt To Pay', was released online a few months ago, and it's tight as hell! In some parts I'm reminded me of the heavier 90s bands like Turmoil while they also have a modern hardcore sound, bands like Atlanta's Foundation also come to mind. It's an excellent combination, and I urge anybody who visits OnexPath regularly to check Fractured! You will not be disappointed. The band also seems to enjoy playing out and has just done a small tour around several states. So if you live anywhere near NC, be sure to catch this band live, I'm sure they kill it live!

Fallen - Cold Turns On Cold CD

Fallen were an emocore band from the Worcester, Massachusetts area. They were around in the mid to late 90s, in various line-ups, but didn't release a lot of material. Their sound mixed the softer emo sound with a harder more metallic sound, influenced by bands like Converge, Cast Iron Hike and Cave In, and at times the band also sounds like New Day Rising. In 1998 a couple of their recordings sessions, which were originally meant for releases that never happened like a split 7", were released on a CD by Pensive Recording Group, who also released a Forcefedglass CD that same year. After this CD the band also did a split with a band called Kilnemia, but I've never seen it, let alone heard it. Around 2000 or so the band split up. Bass player Nick Van Someren went on to play in Ink Cartridge Funeral and Silent Drive, I have no idea if the other members went on to play in other bands. If you're into emocore with a metallic edge, you might find this interesting.

Fallen - Cold Turns On Cold CD

Grasp - s/t 7"

There is something about a certain style of artwork that screams 90s hardcore to me, and when I see such a record, I want to check it out. Like this self-titled 7" by Grasp, a short-lived band from British Columbia, Canada. As you can already guess from the cover with its typewriter font and badly copied art (probably copied from some historical/art book), this has 90s written all over it. Hell, the 7" even comes with a handmade DIY patch. Released in 1995 on Construction Records, this record has 5 awesome tracks of intense mid-tempo metallic 90s hardcore on it with screamed vocals and socio-political lyrics dealing with subjects such as rape, pro-choice and addiction. The inserts even have explanations for the, already pretty self-explanatory, lyrics. There really is nothing bad I can say about this 7", it's just another great, and fairly obscure, 90s hardcore record. Members also played in bands such as Render Useless, Jonas and Lost Cause. Unfortunately, this is their only record I'm aware of, if anybody has any other recordings of this band, please share them!

Grasp - s/t 7"

Fasten - Our Dynasty Is Nigh... 7"

My first post of 2016 and this is by far the worst record I've put on my blog since its inception, sorry about that. But... it was time, it kept popping up every time I flipped through my 7"s, begging for a post. Fasten was a shortlived militant sXe band from Venice, Florida and as far as I know they did nothing else besides maybe a few demo's, and this 7" called 'The Dynasty Is Nigh...' which they released on their own label, Upheld Records. I can't give you a year of release, but I am pretty sure I got this some time in the late 90s, so you do the math. My copy is on red and hand-numbered out of 300, I have no idea if other versions exist, if they do I've never seen them. In any case, good or bad, Fasten is and also was a pretty obscure band, playing heavy 90s chugga chugga metalcore style.

Unfortunately for them they were kinda mediocre at it with some pretty bad vocals. Actually, 'Acquittal' is rather decent really, all things considering. But as I mentioned casually above, this was a militant sXe band. Or should I say a MILITANT STRAIGHT FUCKING EDGE band? I don't think there are many bands that took the line 'The militant edge, it's not a joke' from A Chorus Of Disapproval's 'No Part' as serious as this band. Check out the opening of 'Soaked And Showered':

Tapping the vein of the scum I slay
The final blood bath
I stand alone
Soaked and showered from the spray
Of their precious lives
Taken by me the executioner

And yes, they mean xbusinessx, as the song ends with:

Victorious in the name of the X

Man, I doubt my edge is real enough for these straight edge warriors.

All joking aside tho, it sounds like Fasten was a bunch of kids who found the edge and truly believed enough in themselves to release their songs on 7". And that is more than hardcore enough for me. Even if the 7" is not that good.

Fasten - Our Dynasty Is Nigh... 7"

Through The Haze comp 7"

So here's another of many compilation 7"s that came out in the 90s: the 'Through The Haze' compilation 7", which was released by Overdose Records in 1994. It was Overdose's first release, they would do 7"s afterwards by bands like Disbelief and Time's Expired. Those bands aren't on here tho, this 7" has tracks by Eternal, Frail, Disregard and Temperance. Aside from Eternal, who plays full-on heavy metallic hardcore, the bands are on the emocore end of the spectrum, while still having that crunchy 90s sound. Disregard is easily the weakest band here, especially the vocals don't do it for me. The other three are all winners in my book, with Temperance doing almost a ballad like Strife's 'Slipping', not their best stuff but still decent enough, for me anyways, haha... Eternal did a couple of demo's (which I don't have, hint hint) but they never did a 7" or anything, which is a real shame, their song shreds. The other bands all have other releases out there, seek them out if you like what you hear. In any case, a solid compilation, so check it out!

BTW, the band order on the back of the 7" is wrong, Disregard and Temperance are switched on the 7" itself, which is the order I've used.

*edit* Awesome, Buske just posted Eternal's 1993 demo on his blog, An Attitude Exhumed!

Through The Haze comp 7"