Sai Nam
TBA
Label – Reaper Records
Release date – Winter 2012

Wanting to close out 2011 right, I hit up New York’s Highline Ballroom for the almighty Cro-Mags’ annual end-of-year gig. I arrived at the venue earlier than anticipated, my curiosity piqued over the first act of the night: Sai Nam. A so-unlikely-it-just-had-to-happen collaboration between Mike Dijan (Breakdown, Crown Of Thornz, Skarhead), Lou Medina (Breakdown, All Out War), and Justice Tripp (Trapped Under Ice), the group played its debut show to a receptive if docile audience–save for a little boy who appeared to be Dijan’s son. As this past summer’s sick sick sick teaser track “Comeback” promised, Sai Nam’s set showcased a hard NYHC aesthetic deftly blended with Tripp’s rapid-fire vocals. I have little doubt that once people become familiar with the material, the crowd response will soon reflect the stage-diving pit mania of a TUI gig.

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At this year’s Black N Blue Bowl, performers gave shout-outs to Trapped Under Ice so consistently that it became absurd that the Baltimore hardcore act wasn’t even playing the event. (They did play a rather memorable set at last year’s fest.) The band’s rise can only be described as meteoric these past couple years, but apparently that’s not enough for these guys. Drummer Brendan Yates fronts the SGT D APPROVED Turnstile, which recently released the Pressure To Succeed 7″ on Reaper, while guitarist Sam Trapkin is part of S.O.S., the supergroup we can’t stop talking about featuring dudes from Hatebreed, Madball, and Terror.

Now, TUI frontman Justice Tripp has gotten into the act with SAI NAM, a new project featuring two notable names in the world of NYHC: guitarist Mike Dijan (Breakdown, Crown Of Thornz, Skarhead) and drummer Lou Medina (Breakdown, All Out War, District 9). Justice first hinted about this project some months back via Twitter, but this week the band unveiled one of their tracks via Soundcloud and Facebook. “Comeback” is a barbed-wire wrapped brick of a track, and if this is what SAI NAM is all about, then I’m game for the pit beast of an LP these guys have in them. Check it out below.

Comeback by SAI NAM Band

-GS

One of the most anticipated sets of this year’s This Is Hardcore fest in Philadelphia came from Sheer Terror, the iconic NYHC act that appealed to both metal and hardcore audiences without pandering to either. Infamous frontman Paul Bearer dissolved the band in the late nineties, and save for two sold-out reunion shows at CBGB’s in 2004, there was no sign of life until this summer’s appearance, which you can stream in full here.

Fortunately, those who couldn’t get into the sold-out Philly show have another chance to experience the brutality and brilliance of Sheer Terror, who headline an all-day “homecoming” show November 28 at New York’s Webster Hall, a space once known to hardcore fans as The Ritz. A stellar selection of openers include former Blackout Records alums Breakdown, up-and-coming fan favorites The Rival Mob, and Agnostic Front guitarist’s Vinnie Stigma’s eponymous street punk project. Black N Blue Productions, the team behind the annual (and essential) Black N Blue Bowl / Superbowl of Hardcore event, are putting this one on and tickets are on sale right now. This will be sick and people will be punching people.

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When MetalSucks Maniac Jon Dolente e-mailed us to tell us about a song that “starts off as a breakdown, then [has] a breakdown on that breakdown, then [adds] another breakdown on that breakdown,” I assumed he was sending us a song by Bury Your Dead.

As it turns out, it was whatever this piece of crap is. Nice vagina in the artwork, though.

Okay, all I really wanna know is: is this wigger slam?

-AR