Ice Hockey

From: USA

Genre: Emoviolence, Screamo, Skramz

For Fans Of: Joshua Fit For Battle, Orchid, Neil Perry

 If I had to take a wild guess, I'd say that these guys spent a significant amount of time listening to the "Brothers from other mothers" Joshua Fit For Battle/Neil Perry split. Now, in no way is this a bad thing. Ice Hockey is everything an emoviolence band should be. Raw, passionate, in your face. These songs don't just make you sad, they pummel you into submission until you're forced into being sad. And the songs don't just get violent and sad either. Like their forefathers, Ice Hockey acknowledges that what sets emoviolence so far above the rest of hardcore subgenres is the fact that it knows how to mellow out a bit in the midst of all the chaos. The band doesn't just wildly flail through their songs, but also slows down and gives the melody some room to breather, allowing each song to take on a much more distinct and unique sound. A lot of bands playing in extreme music genres forget that each song actually needs to be recognizable on some level as its own song. Ice Hockey doesn't simply painstakingly push through blasts of emoviolence, but instead allows them to grow and flourish.

Tunes: https://icehockey.bandcamp.com/album/wavefunction-collapse

Wreaths

Wreaths are a post Black metal/Blackgaze/Skramz/shoegaze band from San Antonio, Texas. While Post Black Metal is filled to the brim with bands who now simply want to rip off Deafheaven, Wreaths truly stands apart. They may only have one demo up, but it is more than enough. Take the first song, for example. It starts with a very twinkly-esque emo guitar part before launching into a furious assault of reverb-laden black metal section. The transition is seamless, and makes for a truly beautiful song while still maintaining the raw fury and drive of black metal. The band also displays that they are not simply talented solely at black metal though. Upon hitting track 3, the listener is submersed in a shoegaze song that sounds much more influenced by Ride or Slowdive then it does by Darkthrone or Emperor. The layers are beautiful, and the vocals soft to match. The drummer also deserves recognition as this is a drummer who certainly knows how to add a certain element of melody to his playing and really contribute to this song. However, the song doesn't remain mellow for too long, once again launching into a black metal part. The transition is smooth and clean, leading into a section where the drums and vocals are very black metal oriented while the guitar remains very shoegaze driven. The guitar joins the frantic black metal pace before the whole song transitions once again into a chaotic and beautiful shoegaze song once again. Overall this demo is fantastic, and I would highly recommend downloading it and listening to it as obsessively as I have been. In a scene where too many bands have cut and paste choppy transitions between the black metal and shoegaze sections of their music, Wreaths truly stands out.

For Fans Of: Alcest, Lantlos, Deafheaven, An Autumn for Crippled Children

Free Tunes: http://wreathstx.bandcamp.com/

Viva Belgrado

Viva Belgrado is a screamo/post hardcore band from Cordoba, Spain, and holy crap. Upon my first listen of this band and their new record, I pretty much emptied my pants in a pure burst of joy/flatulence and astonishment over how good this band was. The guitars provide some beautiful, shimmering textures over which the pounding drums and screeched (yet oddly controlled) vocals fit over fantastically. The band also displays a fantastic amount of control over the more instrumental sections, filling in the space between vocal bursts nicely and providing a perfect backdrop over which the vocalist can do some nice spoken word pieces, which I'm sure are very emotional, despite me not being able to understand them as they are in Spanish. This band and record seriously just blew my mind upon first listen, and I'm extremely excited to see what else they will have to put out. Lost State records is doing a run of 600 copies of their newest album Flores, Carne (which I would give a solid 9/10) on vinyl. Also printing this are: Walking is Still Honest Records (Andalusia), Koepfen Records, Shivery MMXII, Dingleberry Records, Mosh Potatoes, Same Grey Records, Upwind Productions, Sad Panda Records, Unlock Yourself Records, Bookhouse Records, and Ancient Injury Records. 

For Fans Of: Raein, The Saddest Landscape, Flowers Tape to Pens, I Would Set Myself on Fire for You

Free Tunes: http://vivabelgrado.bandcamp.com/album/flores-carne (They also provide a link to mediafire to download their album for free if free downloads are out on their bandcamp)