album reviews

Hassan I Sabbah- Discography
maybe it's just me being incredibly biased towards having the pleasure of speaking to this band's former members over the internet, but i personally think that this is the single most cathartic band in hardcore. albeit being underrated to the 9th degree, i believe these guys deserve more recognition than they get. the lyrics are very symbolic and the vocals carry an air of anger and frustration unequaled by anybody in within this type of hardcore. the drummer himself is very very good, ending up in bands like the Red Chord. the guitar and bass work are not over the top, but provide an integral characteristic to the band. the ability to convey desperate messages without appearing too cheesy or without sounding like a whole bucket load of false angst is something incredibly hard to pull off right. if you find these guys anywhere on the internet, send them a message and thank them for making all these songs. it might take a while for them to respond, but they always do, and it always makes them feel better.

Religious Nightmare- the Junkyard of Infinity
quoted for truth, i never noticed these guys were Filipino until i read about them on Incidental Afterthought. i could safely say they are now one of my favorite grindcore bands both here in the country and abroad. i have no idea how it came to the point where merely saying the word grindcore drew responses that referenced pig-squeal vocals and crappy chug-chug death metal, but if there is one thing i know, it's that this band isn't one of them. imagine a screamy beast on the level of grindcore legends like Brutal Truth with a Discordance Axis-esque aesthetic (see their cover art and their song titles) i usually don't want to name-drop, but i'm only stressing the point that these guys should be way up there in terms of quality grindcore. the drumming is perfect. the guitar and bass work is perfect. the vocals are perfect tortured screaming at its' finest.

Phoenix Bodies- Raise The Bullshit Flag
nudity, thrash, hardcore punk, grindcore and two crazy dudes moving around like deranged psychopaths. that's basically Phoenix Bodies in a nutshell. they are working on releasing a few new splits, but till then, let's pay our respects to this awesome album. athletic thrash drumming, punky and chaotic guitarwork, no bass, and two vocalists who do an amazing job of contrasting each other. their lyrics deal with practical issues like consumerism and the progression of society with a tongue-in-cheek demeanor. this is a perfect album if you're looking for a good time. everything on it is just right. Derek is a cool guy too, very talkative guy.

C.C.C.C.- Love And Noises
noise is a genre often reserved for people who wear robes while prancing around in the woods or pretentious art kids saying music is overrated. there are only two people in this band. an ex-porn star and some dude. whatever they do to make their band sound like this is fucked up, but it works. this kind of noise strikes me as very cerebral and maintains a very cathartic feel up till the end. i'm not sure if half the things i hear in it are actually there or are effects of the noise setting up such a tense mood. GET THIS ALBUM

Young And Dangerous interview (Malaysia hardcore punk)

ok, first question my friend, what is your name? and what do you do in the band?

hey. thanks francis. i'm Timmy and i do vocals for Young And Dangerous. the others in the band are xAdx on guitar, Kerk on drums and Kuchai on bass. we've been around since november of 2004 and we got some EPs, a split, and full length out. many upcoming releases too!

now, how did the band start? and how did you guys meet?

i actually had a band with Kerk called GAMPANG. we played thrashy violence. after a while, our band progress drastically slowed down because our guitarist stayed 5 hours away from town. after that, Kerk and I became very eager to play in another band. so we started Young And Dangerous.

i met xAdx in early 2004 through the internet. after i found out Ad played guitar, we decided to ask him to play for us. before kuchai came, we had Azam as our original bassist. he left us in middle 2006 when we were recording for our full length cd. eventually, we asked Kuchai to replace Azam.

i noticed some of you are edge, is Young And Dangerous an all sXe band? how long have you been edge?

nope. YAD is not a straight-edge band. only xAdx and I are sxe. Kerk used to be edge, but he isn't now. i claimed edge in early 2000.

what kind of music does your band play? and who are your influences?

haha. in the early days of YAD, we played straight thrashcore. heavily influenced by What Happens Next?, Lifes Halt, Vitamin X, Betercore, Rambo. before recording our material for the full length , we decided to add some other influences like punk rock, rock n roll, and youthcrew to it. now, we're more like a japanese hardcore band. kind of like Razors Edge, Jellyroll Rockheads, and Tomorrow.

as for lyrics and live shows, what do you usually sing about? and do you talk about issues like politics or others at shows in between songs?

yeah. we explain a lot about our lyrics at our shows because we still believe in spreading messages. our lyrics deal with sociopolitical issues in malaysian society. how crazy things get when we play small shows, how we love touring, messageboard punks, backstabber assholes, corrupt politicians, etc.

what's the hardcore/punk scene in malaysia like? how's the spirit of DIY there?

err.. its hard to say. many hardcore bands down here claim to be independent. i don't really know about them because i don't usually hang out with them. maybe they have different ideas regarding DIY/independent things. others still believe in the DIY method though. sometimes we do end up playing together, but for YAD, we still believe in the DIY ideals.

last question, do you have any upcoming releases you want to promote? and do you have plans of touring the other asian countries any time soon?

a split 7" with Santa Cruz from France, a split tape with Format Masa Depan from Malaysia. the Southeast Asia detonation release by 625 records. maybe 2nd full length by the end of 2008. we hope we can tour Indonesia in 2008 too. that's all.

thanks timmy, and to the rest of Young And Dangerous, keep cranking out the awesome because we fucking love it.