Perth Express - Discography; Disnihil - S/T; Ictus - Imperivm

I spent a good many years of my life listening to hardcore almost exclusively. While my musical tastes have certainly branched out since that time, I still get a little giddy when I hear a really good hardcore band playing really fast and loud.

Unfortunately, I just don't hear as much good hardcore as I used to. I'm not saying that good hardcore doesn't exist. It could be that I'm just out of the loop. I have a feeling, however, that the kind of hardcore that gets my blood going isn't really as popular with the kids these days as other sub-genres of hardcore that don't really do it for me.

Lots of people seem to like hardcore that's "tight," so to speak, but that's never really been my main criteria. For me, the perfect hardcore band is equal parts chaos and precision. A lot of my favorite hardcore bands feel like they're going to come apart at the seams any second, then somehow never do. They're constantly teetering on the edge of the cliff, but they always bring it back. I remember seeing Charles Bronson once and wondering how they could spend the entirety of each song completely falling apart then, somehow, as if by magic, all stop on a dime together.

This is kind of a metaphor for the perfect hardcore show, at least from my perspective: chaos and precision. I've always felt that there were two kinds of hardcore kids: circle-pit kids and kickboxing kids. I'm a circle-pit kid. The circle pit is, once again, equal parts chaos and precision. When everyone moves together like one massive, unwieldy, many-legged beast, everyone has fun, no one gets hurt, no venues get trashed, and everyone goes home happy and sweaty.

Most of the hardcore I hear now seems aimed more at kickboxing kids rather than circle-pit kids, but I wanted to take some time to highlight some really good hardcore that's come out in the last year or so.

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Up first is Germany's Perth Express, who I thought broke up, but who seem to be touring for a much of early 2008, according to their website. Teenage Disco Bloodbath Records has released an American version of their discography. There are two things you need to know about this record: it's beautiful and it kicks ass.

I can't really gush enough about how great this record looks. It's beautifully silk-screened gold ink on black, with a sort of train wreck theme (wait a second... I bet the Perth Express is a TRAIN! I get it!!!). It's one of the best looking records I've seen in a long time. Do not download this record. You must physically hold it in your hand.

The music has a lot of affinity with mid-period to late-period His Hero is Gone with some European screamy hardcore type influences (i.e. Yage, Nikad, Amanda Woodward) thrown in for good measure. There's really nothing wrong with any of that. The songs are solid and fun, if perhaps a little on the long side for this kind of music, and bring a good combination of the fast and the heavy.

I should also point out that this is one real consistent discography. You know how you buy a lot of discographies and of the two LPs, three 7"s, two splits, and two demo tapes collected, only about one record is good? This is consistent the whole way through. Even the demo tracks are pretty solid.

Perth Express Rocking Out

Perth Express Website
Perth Express on Myspace

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Next up is Disnihil, from the east coast of the U.S. This self-titled effort is probably my favorite of the three records I'm reviewing here. This record is exactly how I like hardcore, and then some. It reminds me a little bit of European "d-beat" stuff like Wolfbrigade and Skitsystem (go figure- a band whose name begisn with "dis" sounding like European d-beat?) cranked to 11.

Having said that, Disnihil do themselves a huge favor by writing really catchy riffs and throwing in some great, crushingly heavy parts that wouldn't be out of place on any Eyehategod record. It's a nice combination and Disnihil pull it off perfectly. It really does my ears good to hear a hardcore band move from a furious fast part into a good, crushing heavy riff that doesn't involve any chugging. I really can't recommend this record enough to anyone who likes hardcore. It's pretty much flawless.

Disnihil at "Jared Fest" (like the Subway guy?)

Disnihil on MySpace

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Finally, Ictus from Spain give us a record which will probably alienate a sizeable chunk of hardcore kids. The album is Imperivm, and it consists of one, nearly 40 minute long track. To be perfectly honest I'm not 100% clear if this is actually one big song or if it's several songs on one track (a la 108's Holy Name), but either way, it's a long listen for a hardcore band.

One time a reviewer in MRR said that the natural format for hardcore was the 7" because it begins to lose it's appeal after too many songs or too many minutes at once. I actually kind of agree with that. I think lots of hardcore bands are best in small bursts and fill their LPs up with too many songs (how many 24 song hardcore LPs do I have? Too many.). Just cause your songs are only a minute long doesn't mean you have to have 30 of them on a record. Ictus fight against this logic kicking and screaming with Imperivm.

The good news is that the music is spectacular. Real melodic crust kind of like From Ashes Rise. They also throw in a lot of slower parts, lighter parts, build-ups, etc. to kind of break up the 40 minute slab of rock on this disc, which is probably a good thing. Despite how infectious the music is, it is pretty difficult to get all the way to the end of the record. 40 minutes is a long fucking time to listen to any band, let alone a hardcore band, and no matter how good the music is after about 20 or 25 minutes I start to get a little antsy and think about reaching for the stop button. Despite that, I give Ictus a lot of credit for trying something different with their record, and pushing the boundaries of what might even be considered a hardcore "song" or a hardcore "album."

I should probably also point out that I also have their split with This Thing Called Dying which is a much more manageable 15 minute song, equally rocking as Imperivm, if you're not ready for that 40 minute hardcore song commitment, yet.

Ictus bring it.

Ictus Website
Ictus on MySpace

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Either way, I definitely recommend all three of these records. All the bands play hardcore exactly how I like to hear it, and do it in a way that really captures the energy of a live hardcore show in the, usually more flat, medium of recorded music. There's a few more hardcore bands I want to bring up in the future, so I'll probably follow this up with another "good hardcore bands in '08" review. Check back for it.