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Editorials

RINGWORM AROUND THE COLLAR

 Thursday, January 7th, 2010 at 3:30pm by

Chronic Youth, which is an awesome website you should definitely familiarize yourself, has been singing the praises of Ringworm as of late, and so, for the second or third time over the course of the past ten years or so, I have made an effort to understand what the big deal is about Ringworm. And I just don’t get it. Sorry.

So someone explain it to me. ‘Cause it sounds fairly generic to these ears. Was the band just part of a moment in time that I missed, or is there something legitimately awesome about their sound I’m just not picking up on?

-AR

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  • Mike2

    That guy on drums probably took lessons from Lars Ulrich on how to adjust your snare.

    TONK! TONK! TONK! TONK!

  • Hubble

    You guys wet your pants over Converge but don’t get Ringworm?

    oh well.

    Venomous Grand Design and Justice Replaced by Revenge are outstanding albums.

    • human furnace

      Justice Replaced by Revenge is fucking killer. Good call

    • stu1

      Agreed! Top fucking notch!

    • SonOF

      Are you trying to say that Ringworm are even in the same UNIVERSE as Converge? If so, please rethink that one. Converge are original and infuential. On the other hand, there are about 100 bands that do (or have done) what Ringworm do, but do it better..

      • Hubble

        I’ve seen Converge live twice (Mastodon openers).

        I’ve given No Heroes several listens.

        I cannot, for the life of me, understand their appeal.

        • Genial Gentile

          To be fair, No Heroes definitely isn’t the best album to start with. It’s a pretty challenging listen even for long-time fans.

      • John

        Ringworm started a year before converge man. They helped pioneer the metallic hardcore sound thats pretty popular right now (Trapped under ice etc etc)

  • Genial Gentile

    Ringworm is the last man standing from the 90′s Cleveland hardcore scene and are one of the originators of metallic hardcore. Sure, some of the stuff is pretty repetitive, but bands you jock like Hatebreed wouldn’t have a fucking leg to stand on if it weren’t for the likes of bands like Ringworm and Integrity. They made hardcore sound fucking evil.

    • stu1

      I’m sure Hatebreed and Converge would both say they owe a LOT to Ringworm.

      • SonOF

        I am almost positive I have heard Jasta say he was influenced by Ringworm..he does a great job of going out of his way to give props to Hatebreed’s influences (their cover album was basically a catalog of Hatebreed influences).

    • SonOF

      I know what you mean about making hardcore sound evil. As far as that goes, I always thought early Zao was a hardcore band that did a good job of sounding evil (which is pretty ironic, since they were a strict Christian band),

  • http://www.metalsucks.net/category/scraping-genius-off-the-wheel/ Gary Suarez

    Much respect to Ringworm for keeping the crossover sound alive in the 21st century.

    • SonOF

      Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem like their sound has evolved with the times.

  • Crxtenvengratnyum

    Considering quite a bit of this site epitomizes generic, I’m suprised you don’t get it.

    • Brownsound

      GOOD MORROW TO YOU, SIR.

      • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

        This is the greatest response to anything, ever. I’m totally stealing this to use in everyday conversation.

  • Jim

    Human Furnace’s vocals are amazing. End of story.

    And their part of the Holy Terror hardcore of Cleveland with Integrity (another fairly generic band with unique vocals).

    • Genial Gentile

      I think they sounded anything but generic compared to most HC at that time. Before that, I don’t think I had ever heard a guitar solo in a hardcore song. Oh yeah, Human Furnace IS a fucking madman.

      • festernaecus

        Agnostic front, warzone, slapshot, sheer terror, cro-mags, bad brains… do you need more examples of hardcore bands including guitar solos in their songs long before ringworm?

        • stu1

          Slapshot and War Zone… you can barely call those solos

          • festernaecus

            listen to sudden death overtime again. and yeah, the warzone solos are shitty, but they’re solos noetheless.

        • Genial Gentile

          I love all those bands, but c’mon man, lets be realistic here…Aaron Melnick’s solos were light years beyond most mentioned there with the exception of the Bad Brains. Slapshot had some metal-influenced solos on SDOT, but I don’t think they hold up as well as or fit the music as well as Melnick’s. I should have specified….

    • Jim

      Just realized the type. “They’re” had to do it.

    • stu1

      Nothing generic about either, at the time.

  • http://www.chronicyouth.com ChronicYouth

    YEAH, MAN. Shit is pissed. And has been more pissed than a majority of “metal” bands for years and years. Crucial.

  • Abraxas13

    Are you serious? Nearly every band on Deathwish right now is influenced by Integrity and Ringworm, and you don’t get it? and generic? seriously, ha.

  • Maybe

    I always thought, they sound like INTEGRITY. Who came first though?

    • Jim

      Integ -1988
      Ringworm 1991

      • stu1

        If memory serves though, weren’t they very incestuous, as far as line ups went?

        • Genial Gentile

          Frank was in both (as well as Hatebreed & Terror too!) and Chris Dora played drums on Integ’s “Seasons in the Size of Days”, human furnace did backing vocals on some tracks on “Humanity is the Devil and I’m sure lots of others. So….yeah, the old Cleveland HC scene was a lot like the New Orleans metal scene in that way, lots of interchangeable groups and members.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Keith-Brown/537636633 Keith Brown

    vocals remind me of Unearth, even though I should probably assume that the ringworm guy came first

    • SonOF

      Have you had your hearing checked recently? Those vocals sound nothing like Unearth’s. And yes, Ringworm came like 6 years earlier (not that I am a RIngworm fan, just stating a fact),,

  • SonOF

    Axl, I agree with you on this one. Ringworm ARE pretty generic. I’ll take old school Vision of Disorder, Integrity, All Out War, Martyr AD, or even Earth Crisis if I want metallic hardcore done well (and better than Ringworm).

    • SonOF

      I am going to replace “generic” with “boring,” because they were actually one of the pioneers of that sound, although I don’t think they do it well.

    • The Roan

      you cant say that ringworm is generic and name drop old earth crisis as a valid alternative.

      • SonOF

        I switched generic to boring, and am not much of an Earth Crisis fan at all, but do prefer them to Ringworm. Neither are particularly creative, I agree.

  • http://www.easttexasunderground.net DaylightReckoning

    Loud, agressive, simple but not too repetitive. I liked it. I’ll go have my dinner of white bread, ham, and tap water now.