If you’re one of those people who read this site every day (God bless you, you fucking masochists!), you may have noticed a lack of premium content from yours truly these past couple of weeks. That’s because I’ve been in Japan soaking in neon, dining on fresh sushi, and recoiling in horror at the perverse underbelly of otaku. I did manage to hit up a few rock bars in Osaka (Rock Rock — check out who else has been there!) and Tokyo (Beat Cafe), but otherwise this was a pretty metal-free trip–and that’s okay with me.

So, shit, man. Quite a bit happened in the wonderful world of hardcore while I was away! Ruiner broke up. This Is Hardcore 2010 finally revealed its drool-inducing lineup and sold out in less than two days. (I wasn’t able to get my tickets in time, sadly.) Unsane announced a series of U.S. dates where they’ll play 1995′s awesome Scattered Smothered & Covered live in its entirety. Notable releases included Ceremony’s Rohnert Park, for which I’ll be posting a review later this week. Some pretty awesome tours were announced as well. Check out the dates for some of these below.

Looking forward to your “Welcome Back” sentiments in the Comments section!

Click to read more…

Hardcore often gets a bad rap from the aggressive music community. It’s usually screechier, more grating and abrasive than metal, which can require quite a bit of commitment to get into. However, thanks to countless regional bands and farther-reaching outfits such as Converge and Botch, the genre has become both a lasting movement and an art form.

It took me quite a while to get down with the frenetic off-kilter riffs and bloodcurling high-pitched screams that I consider to be “hardcore-styles” (who fucking knows anymore), but the more I came to understand that this type of music is all about taking those ugly risks and not concerning oneself with the oft-ultimate priority for metallers, almighty technique, the more I could appreciate. And clearly hardcore players almost always have more chops than the punk rockers ever did (at least most of them).

The innovative band Ink and Dagger is straight from the heyday of the gay 90s, starting in 1996 in Philadelphia as a face-painted Vampire-themed punk band (!) and quickly transitioning into what many would call one of the shining kernels of post-hardcore. They only lasted for a few years, announcing their impending break-up in ’99, and shortly after the group recorded their last album (which became self-titled), 27 year-old singer Patrick McCabe was found dead in a motel room in Indiana.

Who knows where McCabe would’ve taken aggressive music in his next band…

INK AND DAGGER — The Fine Art of Original Sin (1998)
1 — “The Fine Art Of Original Sin”
2 — “Philapsychosis”
3 — “We Live Despite Their Schemes”
4 — “Cut Throat Tactics”
5 — The Six Feet Under Swindle”
6 — “The History In E”
7 — “Vampire Fastcode Ver. 1.5″

[entire album downloadable here]

….but rest assured I did not put this link up, so if the litigious remaining members of the band wish to pursue legal actions, get yr e-tectiving on (i.e., don’t look at me!!)

-KW