[engl] Over the past 3 years, Gilles Demolder — known for his guitar playing in dark metallers Oathbreaker and death dealers Wiegedood— has been silently working on finding a new sound and a new way of expressing himself. After what seemed like a lifetime of trial and error, throwing away song after song and a lot of endless nights of recording, Siem Reap arose. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, Gilles sings about daily life, thoughts about expectational masculinity, friendship, family and relationships, with substance (ab)use as a thread throughout his songs. His debut album Now What? deals with loneliness, loving and feeling loved, but most of all it is an honest experiment and a gateway into Gilles’ thoughts.

[engl] Silver is one of the new breed of hardcore exploding out of Northern Italy, where experimental heavy music is the norm accompanied by a unique visual art style. Based between Padova and Ferrara, Silver are part of a dedicated group of people who have been growing the DIY hardcore punk community there for some time, spearheaded by Venezia Hardcore Fest, one of the best in Europe. The members not only are part of the team behind the aforementioned fest, run a local label, Pariah Posers, book shows and screenprint merch, but also rock in a multitude of bands, namely 3ND7R. Since 2017 Silver has shown it is very much a product of this environment, showcasing a unique take on mid to late 80s NYHC. This is where street sorcery meets heavy metal knowledge, or to put it simply, extraterrestrial solos and divebombs with hardcore in the background are fronted by some sort of demon on vocals. The debut MLP, Bullet Ballet, is named after the 1998 film by Shinya Tsukamoto: a violent cry born from the scars of depression and self-destruction, which vocalist Alberto channels throughout his lyrics. After a demo, Silver released a remix tape as the members are also entrenched within the electronic music scene, and you can very much tell this from some of the rhythms meandering through leads that sound like they are being played at an enormous warehouse rave. It’s time to dance to Silver’s tune.

[engl] Finally! After two stunning demo tapes SIN MOTIVO created this untold hardcore punk 12" bastard. Born and bred in Fort Worth/ Denton, Texas' legacy of DIY, SIN MOTIVO seeks to push what it means to be punk in 2015. In equal parts Victim In Pain and Too Many Humans, SIN MOTIVO perpetually pushes Punk's lack of attention span. Psychedelic drudging interwoven with a classic hardcore punk formula balances out to create a true sonic seduction. All aspects mentioned before are finally realized in their recent opus, El Desierto, an LP brought to you by members of Wiccans, The Sentenced, and Treatment. Their recordings capture that energy perfectly and form some of the most driving and propulsive hardcore punk I have heard in ages. You need to hear this. These songs are chaotic and unrelenting. Constant changes make the songs feel relatively short although some of them stretch out over five minutes and even the shorter songs just plod along. Sin Motivo isn't afraid of frantically throwing anything and everything into a speedy, punk rock blender that persists of thumping around for a moment before exploding into a hardcore nail bomb. If you like your hardcore chaotic and turbulent, you're in for a hell of a ride. This is hardcore punk with demonic vocals and hard-as-nail beats that is extremely hard to shake once you have heared it. Ferocious, dissonant hardcore focused in intensity and all-out rage. A record full of uneasiness and trepidation.

[engl] Kuluttava Kone, the 2020 cassette from Sirkka, has been in constant rotation at Sorry State since it came out, and when the opportunity arose to release Sirkka’s debut record, we couldn’t say yes fast enough. While Sirkka began as a two-person recording project based in New York, on Viivyttely they’ve expanded to a four-piece lineup, albeit one whose members are spread across the US east coast and Leipzig, Germany. Vocalist Sanja’s commanding snarl serves as further evidence that Finnish is the best language for hardcore punk, while the band draws from their roots in early 80s New England hardcore and their fascination with 80s Finnish punk, creating a unique sound that fuses the former’s brute force to the latter’s subtle sense of melody. It’s like Jerry’s Kids, SSD, Rattus, and Kaaos in one giant pigpile. Five tracks of hardcore punk that crackle with intensity.

[engl] 2 songs of blistering d-beat with wicked gnarly guitar solos from brand new Richmond punks Life Abuse, featuring a list of members from bands everyone loves, Limp Wrist, Self Defence Family, Das Oath, Male Patterns, Devoid Of Faith and more. And 2 songs of snotty, feral, ADHD hardcore from Britain's southeners Skrewball, originally released on tape through Hollow Life Records. Artwork by Krime (@krime_1) and pressed on toxic yellow wax. Bootlickers do not buy this record Flag shaggers do not buy this record Those in uniform that are free to murder and steal DO NOT BUY THIS RECORD! This record is for those that understand hardcore punk is more than simply an aesthetic. It is a protest! These songs come hard and they come fast and you're gonna be glad it's come so hard and fast all over you after you've listened. Punk lives! - Sean (Consolation)

[engl] Hyper-urgent and super pissed US style hardcore played by members of SCUMRAID and BLOODKROW BUTCHER with a cleaner than expected delivery given the pedigree. Tight, passionate and driven music that goes for the throat. Crew oriented but singularly realized. Not to be trifled with.

[engl] SLANT are back with 17 minutes of pure bristling rage. Corrosive hardcore music for the pit AND the pendulum recalling the stomping catchy vibes of recent luminaries like BOSTON STRANGLER or VIOLENT REACTION but channeling back to previous 80s hitters in the YOUTH OF TODAY/MINOR THREAT vein too. All with an absolutely visceral feminine, ahem... slant to it. Ha, I couldn't resist that one. This band is a shining light in the South Korean scene and is anxious to get out in the world once the world happens again. We can't wait for you to see that.

[engl] Italy has never had a shortage of ripping hardcore bands and SLOI is no exception. Featuring members of IMPULSO, TUONO and ASTIO, SLOI execute furious D-beat hardcore punk, channeling the clamorous spirit of legends past, such as WRETCHED, NEGAZIONE, INDIGESTI and STIGMATHE. They don’t let their influences overshadow their own work, however, which is firmly rooted in the eternal state of horrifying affairs. Hailing from Trento, SLOI take their name from a lead factory that poisoned the area over 40 years ago, called Società Lavorazioni Organiche Inorganiche. Many of its workers died of lead poisoning, while others took their own life in the Pergine Asylum, where they were being treated as mentally ill. SLOI vocalize seven nightmarish tracks in their native tongue, arguably one of the finest languages for spiting out hardcore punk, and each one will have you gripping the edge of your seat in white-knuckled fury. Swaying between full-blow D-beat assaults, complete with wall-of-noise fuzz, and pit-and-pogo ready bangers to satisfy your knuckle-dragging urges, they possess a razor-sharp production that is satisfyingly noisy and reverbed. In turn, each track assembles some of the finest features of the genre, hitting hard with nail-biting intensity: the drums crash on you like a pound of bricks, the guitars manically pace between savage riffs and crunchy chords you can sink your teeth into, and the bass is laid down throbbing and thick, pounding at your chest like an shock wave from a lead factory that’s just collapsed in a fire. Atop the wreckage stand SLOI, along with a cohort of peers currently flying the black flag of Italian hardcore resistance.

[engl] You ever spent a Saturday night dripping with sweat and lathered up for wanton destruction? Ready to rage at the drip of a drop, looking for action. Well that is SMUT in a nutshell. They're like that ALL the time. Lucky for us, they scraped together a couple hours to record the music. A late night drug fueled session to be sure. "First Kiss" feels like if Darby Crash could sing on time and his backing band was "Record Collectors..." era POISON IDEA without the stadium anthem tendencies. In other words pure snarling punk that is nastier than an unchecked venereal disease in the summer swelter. 500 copies on white vinyl housed in a 24pt reverse board jacket with poster and download card included. Tattoos by Alan Dubbs. Art by Sal Hernandez. Recorded by Mike Kriebel.

[engl] okyo, Japan's SOCIO LA DIFEKTA have bestowed upon the international punk community a barn burner of a slab in the form of this, the "KRESKI" EP. Featuring members of regional greats like UNARM and MALIMPLIKI among others, this smashing debut contains 6 tracks of rabid yet precise hardcore punk topped off by the dual vocals of Nanae and I?imura catapulting their fierce howls in the Esperanto language. Recorded by Shigenori Kobayashi at Tokyo's legendary Noise Room, each record comes in a stunning DIY print sleeve along with a fold out insert chock full of the lyrics and their translations into Japanese and English; all of which was designed and laid out by bassist and renowned visual artist Ippei Matsui.

[engl] In the ripping hardcore scene that has recently cropped up in Pittsburgh surrounding bands like Living World, White Stains and Necro Heads comes Speed Plans; a writhing, drug fueled, violence machine of manic hardcore in the vein of Repos or Ripcord. When we were first contacting Speed Plans on account of their absolutely raging cassette output, they mentioned wanting to do an LP that was "15 fast ones and 1 slow one." We were sold right then and there. If mean, fast, low-fi and low brow is what you're after then look no further, you've arrived.

[engl] Dishevelled, mid-tempo punk has a way of getting under your skin and SPIRITO DI LUPO are the perfect representatives. Raw and snarling, they play short and snappy hardcore punk inspired by the ’80s Italian sound. Based between Milan and Bologna, SPIRITO DI LUPO features members of KOBRA, SKALP, CERIMONIA SECRETA, HORROR VACUI, TUONO and an array of other fine projects. This diverse musical background serves SPIRITO DI LUPO well, as they lurk and jerk between the angry edge of hardcore and the darker dwellings of anarcho punk. Mixing the raw with the rudimentary, their compositions are as ominous and sulky as they are ecstatic and wild. This mix works unusually well and, as a result, their five tracks manage to sound both militant and frolicingly chaotic. Sharp, catchy, almost psychedelic riffs meet a strong and brooding bass, which in turn complements the primitive and raucous drumming. The dual male and female vocals take this notion one step further, with the deep, slurring and sarcastic male vocals contrasting effectively with the strident, more urgent female ones. Their overall sound is aggressive and yet inviting, and this jovial ataxia is none more evident than on their redo of their opening track, “I miei occhi sono chiusi”. The atrocities of humanity often highlight the beauty of the world, and this paradoxical aesthetic comes through in SPIRITO DI LUPO’s artwork, lyrics and sound, complete with stormy weather field recordings on the closing track.

[engl] Bursting through the door with a raw martial snap, SDL blast out snarling anarcho-hardcore anthems inspired by the raspy maniacal sounds of the 80’s Italian punk greats and the sloganeering/passionate-rant lyrical delivery style of the UK’s legendary anarcho punk scene. A riveting combination that doesn’t pull any punches and serves to highlight the beauty of the world rather than dwell in the brooding fodder that usually haunts those genres. Catchy, rudimentary and ecstatic music of the highest order.

[engl] "Stylistically rare masterclass of melody and restraint from Stages in Faith on their debut LP for QCHQ and Advanced Perspective Records. This band inhabits the moments of departure and reflection that seems to have affected so many of the bands that worked on pulling hardcore out of the cataclysmic drilling directness of the explosion of punk, moving the formulaic into calculated musicianship and off centred splashes of colour and emotion. Sounding like a too hot high school summer under the umbrella of Government Issue, American Standard, All, Bad Religion, Quicksand, a rumour of Southern California hardcore, and a whiff of early pop punk. Standout!” Jonah Falco, Fucked Up / Career Suicide Stages in Faith have been carefully crafting a post-hardcore sound in London since 2017, having learned their chops in UKHC bands such as Frame of Mind, Blind Authority, Mourning and Splitknuckle. After two 7" singles and tours with Fiddlehead and Glitterer, Stages in Faith are ready for the format they were meant to be on with their Delside LP.

[engl] The Brighton bag-head boys are back to finally follow up their 2016 demo ‘Tory Party Prison’. Not straying far from the NWOBHC blueprint of NY83 and classic UK Oi sounds, Built For Destruction is a brick through your living room window, and it’s screaming Britain’s fucking burning mate! Snotty southern vocals that bring to mind DEAD MANS SHADOW, scrapping with brash guitars and thumping beats that kick and punch like THE ABUSED, while keeping the raw intensity that THE INSANE captured so perfectly when the Tories were picking this country apart piece by piece the last time round. Housed in a sleeve depicting a harsh modern reality with an image that burns into your retina, stating exactly what STATE FUNERAL are shouting about - there’s still no future.