end of days - hate anthems

early european death metal/hardcore e.p. from 2003 by this short lived german band. somehow it seems people still have a soft spot for it twenty years later. i definitely have. 100 on clear red w/ black splatter vinyl. beatdown hardwear. 2023.

ryker's - never meant to last

it's not that long ago that german hardcore legends from kassel released their return album after a fourteen year long hiatus. ryker's were back in 2014 with 'hard to the core'. well, it was an ok record. good, sure, but as i said back in this post i rather drop the needle on their classic nineties stuff. all this didn't hold me from being there when pre-orders for their new record 'never meant to last' went up. only one year after their last output.

just like it was the case with 'hard to the core', i was too slow for the most limited colour-way on blue marble out of 75 copies. so i snagged the second to most limited version on white with red and green marble vinyl. seems like white wax is my way to go with ryker's vinyl. four out of five coming on this colour. anyway, for 'never meant to last' the band experienced a substantial line-up change.

founding member kid-d left the band because of decreasing motivation and no time for recording new stuff, but no bad blood apparently. as a permanent stand-in ryker's introduced dennis of brightside fame. at first i doubted that he could replace kid-d properly. i mean, kid has a real characteristic voice and was therefore part of my love for the band. in then end all my worries have been washed away. dennis pulled it off real nicely.

generally the album is better than 'hard to the core' in my book. that mixture of old biohazard and sick of it all stuff is heavily to be felt and i really like that a lot. great to see that this band is still able to put out valuable music. at the beginning of the year i was lucky enough to catch them live with kid-d still being part of the ensemble. now i'm eager to see them with dennis on the mic. check some tunes here. 100 made. beatdown hardwear. 2015.

mad at the world - domination

beatdown hardwear has a pretty solid roster. i bought a lot releases of them in the more recent past. always quality stuff as long as packaging is concerned and in most of the cases content-wise as well. thus i always keep my eyes peeled for new releases and attendant pre-orders. they build quite a reputation among collectors in germany and therefore limited stuff goes fast for the more popular bands like nasty, ryker's or bitterness exhumed.

so when pre-orders for the quite new and unknown band mad at the world from france went up, i made sure to check them out quickly and decide whether to get it or leave it. well, i made my decision towards the latter and have now the full product in hands. the band comes from paris and plays some pretty heavy metallic hardcore. there's a lot of sepultura groove going on and i definitely dig it.

you can check out the whole output at their bandcamp page. they already released a two-song demo last year but only on tape. conveniently beatdown threw them onto this platter as a bonus. even more convenient as 'domination' is rather an e.p. with its only six songs, so adding two more pieces just made sense. mad at the world doesn't re-invent this musical style, which isn't known for innovational strength anyway.

but they have a real good song-writing on the plus side and they manage to keep their stuff fresh. all in all i won't spin this on heavy roation but it's good to let go of some aggression every once in a while. the presentation is very good, as usual with beatdown hardwear. the record comes in a nice gatefold sleeve with pretty cool artwork, a poster and on hot yellow/orange marble vinyl out of 75 copies. some still available. betadown hardwear. 2015.

hardside - the madness

the new hardside record in my hands. their last album 'time is punishment' was a rager and even got better the more i listened to it. i loved this ace mix of heavy hardcore and heavy metal-ish sung choruses. therefore i was stoked when beatdown hardwear announced pre-orders for 'the madness'. i was pretty early in the game and snagged a copy of the most limited colour-way. strike!

when the record came in and i listened to it for the first time, i was a bit underwhelmed. their heavy, groove-laden hardcore stayed but somehow the cool sung parts were missing. not completely but i had to turn the record for the b-side to get what i craved for. after repeated listenings i like the a-side too and have to say that 'the madness' is a great album, but 'time is punishment' is better in my book.

you can stream the whole record at beatdown hardwear's bandcamp an make sure to check out 'resurgence' and 'till my blood runs dry'. the presentation of 'the madness' is awesome. lovely cover art, matching red printed dust sleeve, nice poster and the very lovely yellow with red marble vinyl record. all out of 75 copies. well done, well done. all colours still available! beatdown hardwear. 2015.

bitterness exhumed / optimist - split

bitterness exhumed's first full length release 'a place for many ghosts' was one of my favourite releaes from 2013. i really love their heavy mix of crust, doom, sludge and hardcore. so after that i was eager to get more stuff of them. in 2014 they released an e.p. on a twelve inch via demons run amok, called 'desperate and miserable'. unfortunately it couldn't really live up to 'a place...'.

so i was a little sceptical when beatdown hardwear announced a split together with optimist. of course i wasn't that sceptical to miss out on the pre-order of that thing. i was early in the game and so i snagged the most limited colour way. when it finally arrived last week and i dropped the needle on it, all my worries had been causelessly.

the doomier parts that were missing on 'deperate and miserable' are back and beside their noisy and fast outbreaks, the slower, ominous parts round out this bastard. great stuff! optimist on the other side is one hell of heavy old school death. does anyone out there remember the band end of days? they released a full length called 'dedicated to the extreme' in 2005 on alveran and century media.

optimist is kind of the follower band and do sound pretty similar, not least because of kevin otto's voice. skull crushing death metal in the vein of obituary. like the bitterness exhumed side better, but that's just my personal taste. optimist delivers! the presentation is lovely. nice matte card slip sleeve, big poster with all lyrics, the split on cd, a sweet obi strip and clear red vinyl with black smoke. all out of 100 copies. thumbs up! beatdown hardwear. 2015.

coldburn - down in the dumps

coldburn is one of my favourite german bands. i love their dark and gritty take on hardcore. they manage to sound modern enough to stand their ground in today's scene, but still have an undeniable old-school edge that shows where they have been coming from. it's been four years since their first 7" and three since their last lp. quite a long time for a sophomore output but they took their time and the wait was definitely worth it.

while on 'the harsh fangs of life' they couldn't keep intensity up throughout the whole record, 'down in the dumps' takes all the good ingredients of 'harsh fangs' and adds a healthy portion of grown musicianship and song-writing skills. if you like stuff in the vein of downpresser and alpha and omega, you should definitely give them a try. speaking of, via this link you can check out the album in its entirety.

i was lucky as to how i came to know about pre-orders for the new record. the new nasty record gone on pre-order something like a month before 'down in the dumps' did. i was checking the beatdown hardwear facebook page for some snap shots of the vinyl colour configurations of 'shokka' and came across the anouncement concerning the coldburn record. up to this incident i wasn't even aware of a new coldburn album coming my way.

that's the irony of life. without having an acount and despising facebook, it was this very social network that helped me out. i thought i snagged the most limited colour way on opaque pink marble vinyl out of /100. after checking discogs i know that there is a clear pink marble edition out of /75 and another colour limited to 100 copies. green marble which was sold by the band. whatever, love the artwork. but who is this guy and is that a bat in his hands? somebody knows the story behind it? beatdown hardwear. 2015.

nasty - shokka

the half belgian half german steam roller strikes again. this time they release their shokka (is that shocker or what?) onto the world. and boy, they are pissed. nothing changed here you might say? right you are! if you loved nasty beforehand, after listening to their fifth record you'll love them even more.

next to the nasty trademark sound, that probably got a bit faster which is good in my humble opinion, again the lyrics are remarkable. simple truths told with direct words. they name and shame shady acting towards the other sex from both sides, money fueling the decadence of few and breeding the poverty of so many and how politics fuck you over with false promises. best in my book is the song 'politessenhass' (meter maid hate). lovely.

you can check the whole album here. 'shokka' went on pre-order in early january and i was lucky to get a copy of the most limited colour purple marble out of 100. the whole first press sold out pretty fast and all at pre-order stage. so quickly bdhw came up with a second press on green marble vinyl. get your copy here. goodfight also did an u.s. pressing. beatdown hardwear. 2015. 

born from pain - dance with the devil

long life hardcore bands are always a bit impressing. i mean, your ordinary hardcore band makes something like four or five years?! and i don't even say that with an contemptuously undertone. it's quite natural. members part because of life getting in the way. jobs, family, age and so on. furthermore your ordinary hardcore band just cannot make a living by playing this kind of music. only a few out there can. hardcore isn't the place to get rich. and right so!

born from pain is around since 1997. eighteen years. chapeau! this band went against all odds and is still here in one way or another. ten fromer members and only one original being there right from the beginning. even carl schwartz and scott vogel (as a stand-in on a tour) were once members, more or less.

after all this time they released a new record. 'dance with the devil' is the title and i was pretty curious if these dutch champions can ever come close to famous stuff like 'sands of time' (over ten years ago, holy crap!). their last effort 'the new future' was a bit disappointing to me, so i hoped for the best. after some listens i have to say this record is solid. i spoke to a friend lately and we both came to conclusion that the only thing missing is a hit. something that lifts the other songs by its sheer aura.

nevertheless i really enjoy 'dance with the devil' and fans will dig it as well. listen to 'cause and effect' and 'truth of the streets'. and wei, of course there is an scott vogel guest appearance on this one, haha. pre-ordered at bdhw. solid green vinyl out of 100 copies. beatdown hardwear. 2014.

warhound - next level

the new warhound lp. with their debut full length 'colder than ever' it was a bit like a surprise box. i wasn't sure of what i was going to get. in the end it turned out to be a pleasant surprise. the record was reminiscent of nineties hardcore crossover ala biohazard, life of agony and even a bit dog eat dog. i really liked it and still do. therefore i was eager to hear their new material.

i get the regular newsletter of beatdown hardwear records and through this channel i heard news about a coming sophomore record. as soon as pre-orders were up, i headed over to the store and placed my order. the record and some others had been delivered right at release date and so this was an all smooth transaction, as always with bdhw. cool when things work that hassle free.

so now to the record at hand. well..., after only a few listens i'm pretty underwhelmed. they strayed from the path with this new record now playing some kind of experimental dark hardcore. i don't know how to describe it. this reminds me of a freaked out version of emmure. and if you know emmure, you know it's hard to sound even more freaked out than emmure does already. everything sounds so overdone without the right sense for composition.

it's a shame but gone are all their cool ninties reminiscences. i don't think i'll spin this very often. it's going to be filed away with the hope for better releases of warhound. maybe you like to check for yourself. feel free to do so. i snagged the most limited colour which is clear and out of 100 copies. mine is #9. a nice low number. beatdown hardwear records. 2014. 

ryker's - hard to the core

mighty ryker's. back in the day when i came into contact with hardcore music for the first time, classic nineties stuff was the law. like i probably said a thousand times before in other posts but never get tired of, milestones such as "madball - set it off", "biohazard - urban discipline", "sick of it all - scratch the surface" or "life of agony - river runs red" had been my door openers to heavy music in general and hardcore music in specific. i hold them in an iconic like memory and always love to drop the needle on those vinyl discs.

the band i always seem to forget but were just as influential, is ryker's from kassel, germany. lese majesty, indeed. back in 1994 the german label lost & found records put out their "payback time" mini-album. i loved the shit out of it. it's simply hardcore perfection to me. a blatant shame it never got the vinyl treatment. thankfully the first full length "brother against brother" has been put to everyone's favourite format last year (i don't count the picture disc from '94). but enough talk of former heroic deeds. onto the present. and the present is "hard to the core". and man, they are close to those classics.

but yeah, a tiny bit is missing somehow. i mean "the world as i see it today" got this reminiscent early ryker's riffing and "time heals..." comes around with those crossover guitar solos that makes the hair of my neck stand up, but too much of the stuff sounds like they wanted it too much. hard to explain. it's a damn good re-union release never the less, but i'll probably prefer putting on their old stuff when i feel like listening to ryker's. was a bit late to the pre-order, so i got the second to rarest version on white out of 100 and already gone. red marble out of 75 copies and sold out too. blue /125 still available. beatdown hardwear. 2014. 

bdhw rec: the setup - this thing of ours

the setup - this thing of ours

i really like the setup's early stuff. their first two records 'the pretense of normality' and 'minister of death' are real steamrolling metallic hardcore galore. the record they released afterwards called 'torchbearer' never made it to my ears due to never being pressed to vinyl. so i'm not sure if the new direction they are going started with 'this thing of ours' or with the last album. but anyway, this new record is a hell of a good hardcore record.

good mix between up- and mid-tempo parts, loads of great melodies and nice crew shouts. all the ingredients needed for a well-tolerated dose of european hardcore. reminds me sometimes of old blacklisted. check the songs 'trapped under the weight', 'walking blind' and 'burn'. if i would do such thing as a best-of-year-list, this great record would probably make it into the top five.

actually i'm bit surprised at why my mate willem didn't post about this earlier. as these guys are coming from belgium and their music should be right up his alley, i can't see why he seems to be sleeping on them. you living under a rock lately or what? just kidding, man!

i pre-ordered this thing as soon as it was up. i struggled a bit with what colour i should take. the following options were and still are available: 200 on black, 125 on blue, 100 on red and 75 copies on grey that were originally bound to a pre-order package which i didn't want to spend extra bucks on (you can buy it seperately now). at first i was flirting with the blue vinyl which i simply like as a colour. but then i opted for the red because it matches the cover a little bit looking at the 'this thing of ours' lettering and because it is more limited.

beatdown hardwear records. 2013.

bdhw rec: warhound

warhound - colder than ever

when i was ordering the latest nasty record i checked other stuff at beatdown hardwear records. warhound was among a few others and i remembered seeing a tape of warhound on ebay with a biohazard 'urban discipline' rip off cover. didn't check them out at that point but the time had come, i thought. so, as pretty much always i jumped over to youtube and searched for some tunes. first song i listened to was 'colder than ever', the title track. the biohazard comparison was quite accurate and as i have a soft spot for biohazard in my heart i wanted it.

some days after i pre-ordered the record i came across a warhound video called 'the demonstration 2013'. boy, that's horrible! i mean i can enjoy a well dose of hip hop influence from time to time but this is just shallow. i regretted that i ordered. as the record came around i thought to myself, ok i paid for it so i can give it a shot at least. i was happy to find that this demonstration song wasn't on the record. the music is actually quite good. the lyrics are far from embarrassing. 'the realness' features some real positive lines:

nothing more, it's what i need

the beauty, what i've seen

it surrounds me

hardcore is forever 

that's cool. i even read an interview in a german fanzine called 'fuze'. the answers sounded pretty reasonable plus i really enjoy this record. hopefully that video was some kind of joke. otherwise i don't know how to justify myself, haha.

beatdown hardwear records pressed four colours of the debut of this chicago based band. 50 on a blue-red-purple mix colour, 100 on marbled white vinyl, 250 on black and 100 on my marbled blue version. they are all hand numbered, mine is 59/100. it comes with a download card. beatdown hardwear rec. 2013.

bdhw records: nasty

nasty – love

a heavily and critically discussed subject in germany's hardcore cosmos is the sub-genre beatdown hardcore. i'm not quite sure about it. there are bands that call themselves 'beatdown' and are just a bunch of idiots wearing sweatpants, ear-plugs so big to fit a dick in, empty lyrics and slow music that bores me to death. not to speak of the so-called fans who's only goal at a show seems to be to be the toughest and most violent one in the pit. no unity, no respect, nothing of which is hardcore to me. but then again there are bands that really surprise me. one of them is nasty. they released their first album in 2006 called 'declaring war' which was one of the definers of that sub-genre and pretty much everything i don't like about it. the follow-up 'aggression' was better, no flat hip hop attitude anymore. number three was 'give a shit' and here they grabbed me. great lyrics about media indoctrination, talking shit on the net, social disparity. of course brought to you in their very own style but always real.

so as i heard news that they would release their fourth album on vinyl too, i pre-ordered it from their new label beatdown hardwear (the other three albums on goodlife recordings). put against 'give a shit' they made another step forward. added some slight melodies and again some german lyrics. all fits well into the heavy nasty sound.

my record has a little flaw. it was cut out not perfectly round. it's best noticeable in picture one in the bottom left corner of the record (i know that a round record has no corners but you'll get the idea). has anyone a copy with the same flaw? it was pressed on white vinyl according to the beatdown hardwear description. 100 in quantity. as you can see, mine is more of a cream colour with black marble. willem of 'records with history and future' has a 'white' one too which looks the same way as mine. we are not sure if these are transitional copies or if the whole pressing looks this way. maybe someone knows? if so, leave a comment please.

beatdown hardwear. 2013.