the lowest - divided

boy, i loved the self titled e.p. from this polish band called the lowest. it was so full of energy and some kind of novelty in today's hardcore scene. at least to me. usually when you listen to a new band you come up with some comparisons to put the band into a certain corner. in this case the lowest are the corner. some might say this is just another metallic hardcore band but to me, they have a sense for desperate passion that can only be evenly matched by harms way.

and yes "divided"keeps all this, what the self titled record promised. heavy mid-tempo riffs with that unique feeling for pumping, dark melodies. the lyrics are full of anger, angst and distress for a cold and relentless world, in which everyone seems to fight for their own. a dark picture painted by the greedy hands of a few, framed by the helplessness of us all. ah yes, "divided" makes me feel real poetic tonight. be sure to check them out right here.

the presentation is pretty lovely too. i like the simplistic cover art. it's vice versa to the first release of them now coming in white and black instead of black and white. the insert has an apocalyptic drawing by dawid rudziński on one side which simply looks awesome. the same picture is also etched to the b-side of the vinyl. superb! buy your copy from the d.r.a. webshop.

this record actually appeared in february this year but due to some delays of another record of my order i just recieved this two weeks ago. i wrote a mail in april to ask marcel/d.r.a. about the whereabouts of my order but got no reply. then, before two and a half weeks i wrote another, this time yet unpleasant, mail. i think marcel was just pretty busy and maybe forgot about answering the first mail, but i believe he wanted to make up for the hassle. so i got a special printed fold over cover with artwork by rafał wechter, that is supposed to come with black vinyl only. nice move, marcel! 100 copies made on this black w/ white marble vinyl. 50 copies on marbled clear red, 100 on clear blue and 250 on black vinyl. demons run amok ent. 2014.

demons run amok pt. II: the lowest, solid ground

the lowest - s/t

oh boy, how i love this one! the lowest are a band from poland, warsaw to be exact. i love finding good bands from countries of which i didn't think their hardcore scene would produce something great like this. thinking of eastern europe i can only name a handful of bands (action-cz, abhorrence-sk, fallen into ashes-hu, xangelreichx-pl. well, that's not even a handful and i couldn't even tell if these bands are still active - fallen into ashes definitely isn't). so it was a nice surprise to me reading the unregular appearing demons run amok newsletter with a link to the lowest bandcamp site. after listening to it i had only one chance finding my inner peace again - ordering it!!! it's pretty dark, down tuned modern hardcore (d.r.a. says: chokehold meets terror meets have heart) with lyrics about poverty, social injustice, desperation.

it's a cooperational release of d.r.a. with the polish label pop underground. 100 are pressed on white, 300 on black and another 100 on clear w/ black smoke of which i could nab one. the sleeve is not an actual sleeve, more a big folded poster of thick quality (to reduce costs i assume).

the colouring is pretty clever i think because it looks a lot like the photo on the centre label of the vinyl and on the sleeve inside which shows the inner texture of a tree.

demons run amok entertainment / pop underground. 2012.

solid ground - can't stop now

a swiss hardcore band which is not active anymore. i ordered a copy way back to last year. the one i got had a scratch - not big time, just a small one but pretty deep and unlistenable. because it just cost me 5 bucks and was an addition to a bigger order i didn't make a big deal out of it. i asked marcel (the guy running d.r.a.) to send me a new one. he said he would but never actually did it and i just completely forgot about it. so without even reminding the incident he seemed to remember it this time and unaskedly added a new copy. i was quite happy about it :)

good old school hardcore with hints of madball, skarhead and the like. i have the regular pressing of 300 on clear red w/ black smoke (there's a tour pressing of 100 on clear red and pre-order pressing of 100 on clear blue). printed dust sleeve. demons run amok entertainment. 2008.