End of a Year 2020: Albums Pt. 2

 Here is part 2 of my AOTY list. Part 1 is here. This category is called...

Albums I was obsessed with/bumped all year.

This is self explanatory. Below are my heavy hitters for 2020.

Gulch

6. Jelly & Pi'erre Bourne -- Wolf of Peachtree (SOSSHOUSE)

Pi'erre Bourne is my pick for producer of the year after dropping two trap master classes with his SOSSHOUSE affiliates. Jelly, the first beneficiary, doesn't just allow his mentor to carry him past the limits of his ability. He excels in the format set for him. The hooks on this project are high energy. The verses are full of quotables. The songs are all short and sweet in that "leave you wanting more" kind of way. Wolf of Peachtree is the type of fun, easy listen you can come back to again and again.  I don't know how it will hold up, but I loved it in 2020.

5. Gulch -- Impenetrable Cerebral Fortress (Closed Casket Activities)

Gulch have been one of the biggest "newsmakers" in hardcore for the past two years. They break Hardcore Twitter any time they do anything, it seems. It comes as no surprise then, that their debut "full length" on Closed Casket Activities made the biggest noise of any hardcore release in 2020. It sold out of its first pressing in minutes, and subsequent pressings didn't last much longer. For good reason, too. Gulch mesh the blistering energy of punk with the technical brutality of death metal and the bouncy rhythm of moshcore. The result is something dangerous yet oddly digestible for all stripes of hardcore kid. My only gripe is that three of the albums' eight short songs were previously released. Plus the last track is a Siouxiee and the Bandshees cover. We got less than seven minutes of new Gulch material on this album. Seven great minutes, nonetheless.

Lil Uzi Vert

4. Drain -- California Cursed (Revelation)

Gulch's sister band edge them out on my list, partly because there was a fair bit more music on their Revelation debut. This album was a grower for me, but once you get used to the choppy key changes there's very little to criticize. Drain pour thrash riffs into a modern hardcore cast, resulting in perfectly dynamic, mosh ready burners. Unfortunately the songs weren't pit-tested. Drain only got to play one show on this album before everything was shut down in March. Too bad, because there are more than enough moments on California Cursed to make my old, fat, weak ass jump in the pit and hurt myself.  

3, Lil' Uzi Vert -- Eternal Atake (Generation Now)

Uzi's long awaited follow-up to Love is Rage 2 went through the full cycle of public opinion. First, there were over-zealous 16-year-olds calling it the best trap album ever. Then people suddenly grew off it (thanks, Fantano) and it was "mid" or "overrated". Now I'm starting to see people come back around a little bit. EA hardly left my rotation. The beats on this project are intricately crafted. It sounds like it was mixed by an alien with super-hearing on the planet of Protoolsia. Uzi can rap too -- as much as the Griselda heads don't want to admit it, this project has its fair share of sleepy-good bars. The production is what keeps drawing me back though. EA paints an out-of-this-world sonic landscape for Uzi and the listener to get lost in, proving that trap, as a genre, can innovate when it wants to.

Terminal Nation

2. Terminal Nation -- Holocene Extinction (20 Buck Spin)

I'm not entirely sure what to say about this album because I'm not super familiar with the source material it cites. I believe Nails are a band who pull from the similar well of early 90's Earache Records shit. The main difference is that while Nails like to pummel you over the dome with powerviolence flavoured brutality, Terminal Nation prefer to draw it out a little. The songs on Holocene Extinction provides a lot of touchstones for hardcore kids to latch onto. There are stompy mosh parts. There are lots of meaty riffs. The "long" songs are more crushingly repetitive than technically obtuse, and even then, they aren't that long. The lyrics are politically charged without being corny or stupid *coughvanguardcough*. This record is thoroughly enjoyable and there was a two week period this year where I listened to it on repeat almost exclusively.

1. 21 Savage & Metro Boomin' -- Savage Mode II (Slaughter Gang/Boominati)

I'm not gonna lie, the album art on SMII had me loving the record before I heard a note of music. I wasn't disappointed when it dropped either. This album was labelled trap because of who worked on it, but there's so much more going on. Metro's production touches on a number of different influences. He has soul samples, major key pop production, 90's drum sounds, 80's drum sounds, and more. Savage performs about as well as any pop or mainstream rapper in his lane. He's got punchlines, storytelling bars, concept songs and even ballads, all sewn up with his infectious flow and cool-as-a-cucumber delivery. There isn't a bad or even "just okay" song on this project. The whole thing bangs from start to finish and the narration from Morgan Freeman gives an epic, iconic feel to an already phenomenal musical performance. This record is just about perfect.

EPs of the year

Big Laugh

There were a ton of great EPs that dropped this year as well. Here are my five favourites.

5. Self Defense Family -- Long Island (Run For Cover)

Self Defense Family's prodigious output has dropped off in recent years, but they blessed us in 2020 with a two-month long dump of old unreleased material. This sounds like a throwaway from the Heaven is Earth days , which is my favourite period of SDF. This two track offering is grimy, seedy and washed out.

4. X. Kubrick -- The Sevel Levels of Happiness (Self-Released)

This was another standout from my podcast. Delaware's X. Kubrick makes a time capsule of late 90's hardcore rap that's full of hard ass bars and well written choruses. His expert-level flow betrays his relative inexperience as a rapper. 

3. Koyo -- Painting Words Into Lines (Self-Released)

This is a warm blanket for a post-hardcore fan, threading the needle on influences as diverse as Silent Majority, The Movielife and Saosin. This will scratch an itch for anyone who likes a bit of bittersweet melancholy in their punk rock.

2. Big Laugh -- Manic Revision (11PM)

Big Laugh's demo was straightforward youth crew revival with a distinctly basement charm. This EP dials up the weirdness, as the band cites Infest and Heresy as influences. Oddly enough, Manic Revision has a big-room production feel that gives it heavy crossover appeal. 

1. Pummel -- Our Power (Atomic Action)

Pummel was the last band I got to see before lockdown, and boy am I glad for that. This EP blends a ton of disparate hardcore styles through a distinctly "Boston" lens for something entirely cohesive and unique. Pummel is going to be the best band in hardcore if this EP is any indicator of things to come.

Honorable Mention:

Westside Gunn - Pray For Paris
Nick Enaigbe - The Sight Beneath My Eyelids
Polo G - The Goat
Code Orange - Underneath
Brick - The Intro
No Cost - Demo
Highway Sniper - Greatest Hits
Youth Collapse - New Form

Stuff I didn't get enough time with:

42 Dugg - Young n' Turnt 2
Chavo & Pi'erre Bourne - Chavo's World
Kodak Black - Bill Israel
Mozzy - Occupational Hazard
Spillage Village - Spilligion
Undeath - Lesions of a Different Kind
Fluids - Ignorance Exhalted.

~~~

Thanks for another great year everyone. Part 1 is here.

End of a Year 2020 - Albums Pt 1.

 *Staind Voice* It's been a while.

I haven't posted anything on here for eight months. I know it's not entirely out of character for this blog, but I've still been busy. Check out my new podcast and follow me on Twitter for fuck's sake. 

Part 2 is here.

I've had more time to listen to new music this year than ever before, due to circumstances I'm sure you're aware of. That means I've got 20 fuckin albums to talk about instead of the usual 10. I'm doing the rankings a bit different this year too. This year is gonna be a lot more personal, and that starts with dividing the albums into three categories based on listening habits.

Category 1: Good albums I didn't listen to often.

I only spun these albums like five times all year, despite thoroughly enjoying them. I feel like I'm going to revisit a lot of these down the line, but for whatever reason, they just weren't top of mind in 2020.

Ecostrike

20. Peace Maker - Peace Be With You (Self-Released)

This album is arguably the best thing I reviewed on my podcast. Peace Maker spits complex bars over mellow production with a gritty but honest sensibility. It's hard without having to front and smart without smelling its own farts.

19. Internal Rot -- Grieving Birth (Iron Lung)

I don't know how to contextualize this album because the world of DIY caveman grind is pretty new to me. Grieving Birth is brutal to the point where it's hardly even music. It's way too cool to leave off this list, though.

18. Ecostrike -- A Truth We Still Believe (Triple B)

The lyrics on this record push it into contention for one of the corniest albums of the year. I don't think you'll catch a single "cool" hardcore kid saying they like this. Fuck those kids though. Ecostrike moves further into their own lane and away from the cries of "Strife worship" on this album. They also write some of the best riffs of their career.

Three Knee Deep

17. The Fight -- Their New Aesthetic (Triple B)

Triple B are the masters of finding the best and most accessible bands in every subgenre of hardcore. The Fight, like Restraining Order, are playing basement music to festival kids. Their New Aesthetic is ferociously catchy d-beat with oi and street punk garnish that every stripe of hardcore kid can enjoy.

16. Three Knee Deep -- Three Knee Deep (Triple B)

Holy shit. Three Triple B records in a row! This album is incredibly fucking stupid, but in the most endearing and enjoyable way possible. The Florida band's first full length is a cacophony of mosh parts interspersed with numerous strange vocal stylings, including a rap song (featuring hardcore legend Danny Diablo). This might suck if it took itself even a little bit seriously. Luckily, 3KD are fully in on the joke.

15. Heavy Discipline - Heavy Discipline (Painkiller)

The saturation point of the Disembodied revival has been reached. Sanrio-hoodie-gate has laid the fashion-core posers bare. Discerning hardcore aficionados are now looking for something punk inspired but with a bit of crunch. Heavy Discipline scratch that itch. This is idiot hardcore for the thinking man. Or thinking man's hardcore for the idiot. Really though, it just sounds like Rival Mob. Who's complaining? Not me.

Gag

14. Burning Strong -- The Fire Rages On (From Within)

This album comes out strong with the 90's worship vibe of bands like Magnitude and Ecostrike, but it doesn't take long to roll over and show its Amazingcore belly. The stomp on Fire Rages On is all New Age, but the melody and structure conjure up ghosts of Have Heart and Bane. I don't know if that's intentional. Either way, people aren't browbeating that style to death these days. Burning Strong also manage to avoid the corny pitfalls of over-earnestness. This album is a winner for those reasons.

Category 2: Great albums that didn't thoroughly resonate.

These albums are (mostly) a cut above in quality, but didn't quite move me in the way my favourites of the year did. I don't think I'll revisit them often, but it would be silly to leave them off this list.

13. Seed of Pain -- Flesh, Steel, Victory (Plead Your Case)

This album kind of grew off me after being one of my early-year favourites. Still, it's ferocious, high energy, and full of ass-beating mosh parts. Seed of Pain nail the 90's metallic sound without the nu-metal bullshit I wish these bands would either lean into fully or completely avoid. This record gets a little repetitive, but on a good day it will have you bedroom moshing like an idiot.

12. Gag -- Still Laughing (Iron Lung)

I don't really want to like the new Gag, because the people in my town who go to these shows kind of annoy me. I don't have a choice, though. This record is too good. Still Laughing displays a deft songwriting skill, an infectious ear for melody, and a weirdness that's often imitated but seldom replicated. It's a great hardcore record, all in all. I probably would have been at the back of the show watching this with my arms crossed while idiots pogo'd into each other.

Freddie Gibbs

11. Conway the Machine -- From King to a God (Griselda)

The Griselda collective dominated online hip-hop discourse this year, dropping a staggering number of projects. Conway the Machine's "debut" studio album, From King to a God is the most interesting and well-crafted of them. The typical Griselda "64 bars over a piano loop" formula is here, but it's interspersed with actual attempts at songwriting and a desire to do something different production-wise. Mix that with Conway's expert pen and you've got something worth going back to.

10. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist -- Alfredo (ESGN)

Freddie Gibbs is one of my favourite rappers ever. He consistently appears on my year-end lists and 2020 is no different. The Alchemist doesn't hold up his end of the bargain on this album, otherwise it probably would rank a lot higher. Either way, Afredo is the most lauded "coke rap" album to come out in a year when that style dominated the discourse. It's also the best.

9. Mil-Spec -- World House (Lockin' Out)

World House is a late-year drop. I expect it to grow on me once I see it (again) in a live setting. Hometown heroes Mil-Spec take a big step forward from their already great 2018 EP Changes on this new record. The Revolution meets Revelation hybrid has been tweaked, with nods to bands like Leatherface and maybe even The Tragically Hip. Some physical copies of the 12" came with a beautiful 90+ page coffee table book, boosting World House to "must cop" status in 2020.

Young Dolph

8. Rat Cage -- Screams From the Cage (La Vida Es Un Mus)

I find D-beat to be miss more than hit. Bands can come firing out of the gate on a record, just to get bogged down by rhythmic sameness. Rat Cage completely avoid that pitfall by being unreal songwriters. The riffs are super catchy and creative. The vocal melodies are ripping and infectious. The band's feel for dynamics and transitions are immaculate. Screams From the Cage has an almost-pop sensibility, but it's being played sloppily at breakneck speed. Not bad for only playing two different drumbeats. 

7. Young Dolph -- Rich Slave (Paper Route Empire)

Young Dolph would be the biggest rapper in the world if he was flowing over snare-less piano loops. The Memphis rapper has all the braggadocios, pimp-a-liscious swagger of your favourite coke rapper. He just approaches his craft from a distinctly southern viewpoint. "Manny Fresh was my Jam Master J" he remarks on "Benz", a line that perfectly encapsulates this project. Dolph spits Cash Money inspired schemes over splashing hi-hats (including a few beats from the legendary Juicy J). The relatively out-of-vogue style mixed with the independent release made Rich Slave a bit of a sleeper this year. The substance is there, though.

~~~

That's the first part of my year end list. Part 2 is here. -- the rest of the albums and my favourite EPs. I might also do some extra fun shit this year, Who knows?

End of a Year 2019 - Albums

It's March 2nd, and I still haven't gotten around to posting my "albums of the year" list for 2019. I don't know why. It's not like I've been busy or anything. Oh well, here they are.

10. Wristmeetrazor - Misery Never Forgets (Prosthetic Records)

I don't think I could come up with a more melodramatic band/record name if I tried. It's fitting of the music though. This scratches that old "wave" itch of mall-emo influenced hardcore for me, but with more chugga-chuggas and an intense scene aesthetic.


9. Polo G - Die a Legend (Columbia)

One thing that pisses me off about rap these days is how lazy and forgettable the choruses are. Two of the choruses on this album are among 2019's most singable ("Pop Out" and "Finer Things"). The rest are kinda standard issue boring, but Polo's flow, bars and beat selection make the songs enjoyable anyways.


8. Knocked Loose - A Different Shade of Blue (Pure Noise)

Two years ago, Code Orange was the coolest heavy hardcore band and Knocked Loose was "for posers". Those roles have now been reversed thanks to the fickleness of hardcore kids. Code Orange has gone off the deep end into twiz territory and everyone hates them now. Knocked Loose are the heavy hardcore kings, thanks this album, where they sped up and trimmed the cheesy parts away. ADSOB will probably be remembered as a tent-pole hardcore release in a few years.

7. Youngboy Never Broke Again - Realer (Never Broke Again LLC.)

Up to this point NBA has always struck me as a singles rapper, putting out great songs amid a ton of sameness and mediocrity. He finally nailed a full project on Realer, with no skip-able tracks and four or five legit good songs. He then followed it up by releasing a shitload of watered down mixtapes amid some genuinely interesting singles.


6. Denzel Curry - ZUU (PH Recordings/Loma Vista)

I didn't get enough time with this album, but I really liked it. Denzel is like a throwback to 2012, when people were actually trying to be lyrical AND make great songs at the same time. He reminds me of a young Cole or Kendrick before they got too heady. This earnestness and creativity is gold in a landscape of 35 year-olds too high on coke to be hungry and literal children being exploited by their labels for baby formula.


5. Abuse of Power - What on Earth Can We Do? (Triple-B)

AOP took the Turning Point formula and made it fast as fuck. There's nothing revolutionary about this, but it's still really good. I feel like the band will be more remembered for their EP, but the full length might actually be the more interesting release.


4. Freddie Gibbs - Bandana (ESGN/RCA)

Of the aformentioned 35 year-old cokeheads making easy-listening rap in 2019, Freddie Gibbs is the only one who feels like he has a stake in it. He's getting structurally inventive, improving lyrically, and not entirely up his own ass. He spits some unhinged "aging hip-hop dude" nonsense occasionally, but it only adds to the charm.

3. Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End (Triple-B)

The only thing more idealistically satisfying this year than listening to a 35 year-old rapper freak out about slutwalks and vaccines was hearing a group of 22 year-old hardcore kids shriek about their commitment to straight edge and veganism. It's deeper than that, too. If nothing else, this album gets by on sheer conviction. I'm interested to see how this will hold up in five years, but in 2019, it was thoroughly enjoyable.


2. Never Ending Game - Just Another Day (Triple-B)

This album took me back to the time when I was an earnest 21 year old spinning that Xerxes LP three times a day. It's not at all sonically similar. It's just that I haven't been as excited about an album in easily six or seven years. This sounds like kids who grew up on Trapped Under Ice trying to sound like Cold as Life. Which is fucking sick. It's so unique and so re-listenable.


1. Wild Side - ...Who the Hell is Wild Side? (Triple B)

If I'm being objective, the NEG album is better than this one. But I'm not being objective, my g. I saw Wild Side three times this year and that definitely coloured how I'll remember their long awaited full length. It's a pretty great album, regardless. It's classic NYHC, coloured by some high-risk/high-reward songwriting and an undercurrent of classic rock worship.


Honourable mention:

42 Dugg - Young and Turnt, Fury - Failed Entertainment, Hangman - One By One, Young Thug - So Much Fun, Pandemix - In Condemnation, Blueface - Famous Cryp, DaBaby - Baby on Baby, Kodak Black - Dying to Live, Sunami - Demo 2019.

Top Five EPs

5. Ekulu - Half Alive
4. Rejection Pact - Threats of the World
3. Gulch - Promo 2019
2. Friction - Demo 2019
1. Deniro Farrar - Re-up

This was a great year for music. Probably the best in the last half of this decade. Everyone PLEASE check this shit out.

ATTN HARDCORE KIDS: Slipknot is clown ass bullshit

Y'all be listening to these guys?

It has been widely accepted that nu-metal is terrible since it was invented in 1994. However, in the last five years, kids who listen to extreme music have gone from sheepishly admitting they liked nu-metal when they were 12 to aggressively stanning it. Slipknot seems to be at the forefront of this revisionist history, as they appear more credible now than they've ever been. I have no idea how, because that shit sucks ass. Before I break down why, here are some caveats.

1. It's okay to enjoy music you liked when you were 12 years old. I listen to Hybrid Theory once a year and rock the fuck out. It's also okay to like shitty music. I will unabashedly listen to at least three Limp Bizkit songs on occasion. Liking music for nostalgia or novelty isn't much different from liking it because you think it's good. We can accept this and come to the objective realization that something is bad.
2. I am not Slipknot's target market. I grew up in a white-collar household and had a pretty serene childhood. I am not trying to belittle your experience. If this band genuinely helped you through a tough time, you get a pass to like them non-ironically and also to send me hate-mail. However, if your feelings on Slipknot are anything other than "this band saved my life and I owe them a lot" you should aggressively reconsider taking them seriously.
3. I've only ever listened to Iowa and a smattering of singles. I am open to suggestions. I used to think Youth of Today was clown bullshit for herbs and now I think they're pretty okay. I approach most music with an open mind, so feel free to try and sway me.

With that out of the way, let's begin.

My first introduction to Slipknot was watching the 2004 Grammys. My initial thoughts, as a pre-teen, were: "Wow. Nine dudes who wear clown masks and beat on garbage cans. That sounds pretty fucking stupid." 

I was a bright and discerning child. 

For many years, my opinions on Slipknot were never challenged. I got my music opinions from MuchMusic and Classic Rock Q107, whose snobby, Toronto-based talking heads constantly affirmed my disdain for nu-metal. Slipknot was sold to me as objectively bad and for weirdos.

Then I went to college and got into hardcore (haters: feel free to screenshot this, as if the fact that I started liking a genre after you did somehow makes Slipknot good). The people I met in the scene admitted that they used to like Slipknot in high school. Not anymore though, of course *hehehe*. Then, slowly but surely, the tide started to change. I would see a Slipknot shirt here, a positive tweet there. I distanced myself from the scene for a few years to focus on making rap (c'mon haters, I'm giving it to you on a platter), and when I came back, the love for Slipknot was full blown.

Like I said before, I have a pretty open mind when it comes to music, so I said to myself, "maybe Slipknot isn't as bad as I thought." I decided to listen to Iowa after about a year of seeing the band name plastered everywhere. I listened to it distracted, on the train. I didn't love it, but I could totally see why a hardcore kid would be into it when they were 12. I put it on the shelf for about a year, until last week, when I decided to listen to it with a more discerning ear.

I got four tracks in before I had to turn it off. 

Yo, I'm sure this shit was sick back before you had pubes on your dick, but you're a grown adult. Please think critically. I guess it's kinda cool that they were playing blast-beats on a major label release, but there are three corny butt-rock riffs for every one "cool" part. The lyrics sound like they were written by Dylan Klebold. I'm sure hearing "people equal shit" 64 times in one song made your heart pound when you got grounded in Sixth Grade, but for fuck's sake, that was 15 years ago. It totally baffles me that some of the people I see on Twitter will clown on Code Orange for saying "It's real now, motherfucker" and then go listen to a band that says "I wanna slit your throat and fuck the wound" like that isn't some stupid edgelord shit the trenchcoat kid in high school would be too ashamed to carve into his desk. Let's also not forget the fact that Slipknot, well into their 40's, are still a costume band. They're the fucking Wiggles in gimp masks, my friends. This shit is CORNY.

10x cooler than Slipknot

It's the year 2020. Let's all stop pretending Slipknot is geared towards anything except being a 12 year old in Middle America, watching StickDeath and drinking Jolt Cola. And if you're one of these GOOFS on Twitter aggressively shitting on Code Orange out one side of your mouth and then jizzing over Slipknot out the other, just wait till I'm crowned Supreme Leader. You're getting a one way ticket to the fucking gulag for being a grade-A poser. Might want to get deleting those Tweets while you still can.

Which Democratic Primary candidate can beat Donald Trump? A PR perspective

The American Democratic Primary is all but underway. Voters in Iowa will be heading to the polls on February 3rd.  Twelve candidates are vying for the unenviable task of taking on Donald Trump in November's general election, where they will be most likely brought to tears by the Donald's incessant bullying and stubborn refusal to recognize material facts. Nine of the primary candidates don't have a shot at winning the party nomination. They're essentially wasting fossil fuels and donor money flying across the country. Three candidates -- Joe Biden, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders, have an actual chance to win nomination. I've analyzed their messaging, strategy and policy for a couple weeks. I think only one of the three has an outside shot at beating Donald Trump.

I believe Joe Biden has the worst chance of the three major Democratic candidates to become President. He does, however, have arguably the best chance to win the primary. He was a good Vice-President in a likable regime. He also looks and acts like the type of dude who would be President. This gives him enough cache to sway the people who vote in primaries -- namely, politically savvy party-lifers who are out of touch with common people. The buck stops there, though. Americans on both sides are sick of boring centrist platforms. They're also sick of stuffy, quaffed white dudes in well-tailored suits. Can you imagine a single soul who didn't feel obligated to do their civic duty getting off the couch and voting for Joe Biden? The dude is like a Democratic Mitt Romney. He looks like a President, but he has no messaging, no platform, and no chance.

Elizabeth Warren is a more likable and PR-savvy candidate than Biden. Her base is riled up and ready to support her. Unfortunately, I don't see her appealing beyond that base in a way that can meaningfully challenge Trump. Her angle seems to be "I'm With Her 2.0". After last week's primary debate, she attacked Bernie Sanders on stage for lying on her name. This has been the most memorable part of her campaign to date. I feel like her game plan, if nominated, would be to bring that same energy at Trump. She'd attack him for being sexist, racist, brutish and uncouth. In a sane world, that would be a pretty good plan. However, Trump has proven --for five years-- to be the Teflon Don when it comes to that shit. Everyone who thinks Trump's a bad person already knows he's a bad person. Everyone who thinks Trump's a good person is convinced he's some sort of divine machination sent to dismantle a pedophile cabal. There's no point in beating a dead horse. Besides, Warren might have some good progressive policies, but honestly I don't know what they are. That speaks to her lack of a cohesive message.

From a PR standpoint, the only candidate I think has a snowball's chance in hell of beating Trump is Bernie Sanders. Sanders' campaign is humming. He has a target audience, messaging, and a strong brand. He's targeting working class millenials -- many of whom face student loan debt or precarious work. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau can attest to how powerful this voting block is if you can mobilize it. Sanders' messaging is crystal clear - It's time to reduce wealth inequality in America. He's going to do that with higher taxes on the rich. This will provide the funding for universal healthcare and student loan relief, without burdening the working class. That's his message, whether it's realistic or not. The "Bernie brand" is strong. Sanders comes across as someone who's consistently championed progressive ideas. This consistency has earned him an endorsement from podcast superstar Joe Rogan, whose massive fanbase is largely apolitical or populist. The primary may have left some chinks in Sander's armour. He's faced criticism about the sexist undertones of the Warren beef and some blowback from people who think Joe Rogan is alt-right. The people who care about this stuff aren't voting for Trump, though. If Sanders wins the primary, I expect this will be swept under the rug.

There are two major things working against Sanders, should he win. The first is the connotation of the socialist bogeyman in America. You can be sure Donald Trump will call Sanders a socialist at every turn, as that word definitely has power among people over 40. Sanders would do best to ignore this. Admitting he's a socialist could be political suicide. The next thing is Sanders' poor health. Expect Trump to pull at this string as hard and often as he can. Trump destroyed opponent after opponent using personal attacks in the 2016 campaign. Nobody is going to beat him at character assassination, and trying to reason with him is a fool's game. Any Democrat who wants to be president in 2020 needs to rise above. They need a strong message and the willpower to stick to it. So far, it seems like Sanders has that. Warren and Biden do not.

T O H C COMP, Vol. 3 review

T O H C Comp, Vol. 3 is a comprehensive snapshot of Toronto’s “metallic hardcore” community. The Greater Toronto Area is big enough to have at least four distinct flavours of hardcore, and this one is probably the biggest. The fact that there are 20 active bands on this comp demonstrates just that. This scene has glimpses of outside support, but most of the momentum is being carried on the backs of the TOHC faithful. Locals-only shows do well. When local bands open for touring acts, people show up early and go off. These bands are doing it right – hitting the road and building support from all corners of the GTA. As a result, it’s not rare to see someone sporting TOHC merch when you’re out on the town.

With that in mind, I’m afraid an earnest review of this comp might get my head split.

Most of T O H C Vol 3 is basically the same song idea, played with varying degrees of competency. You could have told me ten of these songs were by the same artist and I would have believed you. In fairness, a scene is supposed to be cohesive. Homies are gonna share records and go to the same shows. A lot of these songs sound like they were produced in the same spot. My question is, would this comp sound different if you had made it in any other North American city (besides New York)? I don’t think so.

A lot of these bands aren’t doing their own thing. Most fall into what could loosely be classified as Midwest hardcore. It’s very Expire-ish – mid-tempo, tuned down a step or two, full of breakdowns and sprinkled with the odd panic chord. By about song 14, I was thinking “I’m going to jump out my window if I have to hear another one of these two-step parts.” The sameness is a big knock against the comp, but it’s to be expected. It would be impossible to have a 20-band local comp with every band being a genre pioneer. Still, I would encourage whoever’s making T O H C Vol. 4 to reach out beyond the homies, to other avenues of what the city has to offer.

With that being said, the bands who stand out on this comp are worth mentioning. These bands are pulling from the same well, but do the formula a little spicier:

• Powerbomb – totally by the book metallic hardcore, but with strong musicianship and structure.
• Die Hexe – incorporate some Deadguy/atmospheric metal type noodling for a rather dynamic song.
• Perfect Limbs – the only band with clean singing. They have a Rise-core/Ghost Inside type thing going on. They’re not reinventing the wheel, but they do that style well. I would listen to a full EP from them.
• Jock – from what I can tell, they have the only female vocalist on the comp. They have a nu-metal/Rage Against the Machine vibe and possibly the worst (but most charming) recording.
• Mourn – These guys are veterans compared to most of the other bands. They mix in a modern NYHC flavour a la Bitter End. While they don’t stick out like a sore thumb, you can tell they’re digging a bit deeper.
• Writhe – part of the last quarter of the comp, which has flourishes of death metal/powerviolence influence. Interesting vocal effects create a jarring juxtaposition over their fast parts. They’re probably the fastest band on the comp.
• Damage Control – have far and away the most flavourful song. It has a punk energy, but shows the band’s metallic hardcore roots in a tasteful way. Best vocals on the comp.

Despite my objections, I’d call this comp a “must listen” for any Toronto-based hardcore fan. There’s a good chance you’ll discover a couple tracks to spin and some cool bands to support. The music on T O H C Comp, Vol. 3 isn’t objectionable. It’s just not as creative as we may have hoped.