TOGETHER

Band: TOGETHER

Genres: Punk / Post-Rock / Hardcore / Post-Hardcore / Metallic Hardcore / Emo / Hardcore / Thrash

Related artists: The Wild Rumble.
Country: Aschaffenburg, GERMANY
Years Active: 2009-present
Song: "September Nights"
Album: "The Odyssey"
Year: 2010
Label(s): I For Us Records / Viva Love Records / Sincere Records
This post's artist is from the December 2014 Mix. This is track #10.
You can download the December Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2015 Mix#1 here.
For fans of: In Pieces, Poison The Well, Hopesfall, Snapcase, Abhinanda, The Bronx, Refused, Black Love, Furtive Forest, Arktika and Young Mountain.

Mixing punk, post-hardcore, metallic hardcore and some thrash, Germany's TOGETHER recruited a foreign singer and quietly released the sadly overlooked 'The Odyssey' 2x7" gatefold back in 2010.

My personal favourite "September Nights" is a banger with some lush instrumentals that hover somewhere between Hopesfall and Jungbluth. The vocalist really shines here and belts out some excellent vocals that really bleed right into the song. The last half of "Lover. Sinner. Thief" is really heavy and sounds like it's going to collapse in on itself at the 2-minute mark. The title track, "The Odyssey" starts with some much slower Isis-like ambient instrumentals followed by a more precise metalcore venture with no vocals. It's not the greatest release, but it is certainly worth a listen if you went through the Hopesfall, Poison The Well and Thrice phase. Oh, and the cover art is amazing.

I never dug the band's first EP 'Together' as it was too loose and unrefined. While writing this review I realized TOGETHER has released another EP and LP since I stopped following them. 2012's 'Prologue' seems pretty decent, with a very The Bronx and Abhinanda feel to it with additional vocals like Arktika and bass like Furtive Forest, as well as a few snazzy rock'n'roll licks. 2013's 'Of Life and Love and Some Things In Between' isn't too bad, but I didn't find it as magnetizing as the middle two EPs. It's not bad, I just think the band has just run its course for me.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2009 - Together 7"EP (stream/download here)

2010 - The Odyssey 2x7"EP (I have one copy, purchase here and stream/buy here)

2012 - Prologue 7"EP (stream/purchase here)

2013 - Of Life And Love And Some Things In Between LP (stream/purchase here)

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(2010) TOGETHER - "September Nights" (from 'The Odyssey')

(2010) TOGETHER - "Lover, Sinner, Thief." (from 'The Odyssey')

(2010) TOGETHER - "The Odyssey" (from 'The Odyssey')

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TOGETHER additional links

Bandcamp

Facebook

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HEAD WOUND CITY

Band: HEAD WOUND CITY

Genres: Punk / Grind / Hardcore / Thrash / Mathcore / Noise-Rock / Psychedelic Rock
Related artists: The Blood Brothers, The Locust, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Challenge Of The Future, Karen O And The Kids, Holy Molar, All Leather, Crimson Curse, The Ground Unicorn Horn, The Retox, Some Girls, Struggle, Swing Kids, Cattle Decapitation, La Butcherettes, Rats Have Eyes, Jaguar Love, Past Lives, Le Shok, Cold Cave, XO Skeletons, Vade and Zu.
Country: Seattle/New York/San Diego USA
Years Active: 2004-2006
Song: "I'm a Taxidermist I'll Stuff Anything"
Album: "Head Wound City"
Year: 2005
Label(s): Three One G / Under The Gun Records / Epitaph Records
This post's artist is from the December 2014 Mix. This is track #8.
You can download the December Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2015 Mix#1 here.
For fans of: The Blood Brothers and The Locust.

HEAD WOUND CITY was a very short-lived but much hyped side project from Jordan Blilie (the low singer in The Blood Brothers), Cody Votolato (the guitarist in The Blood Brothers as well as Rocky Votolato's brother/guitarist in Waxwing), Nick Zinner (guitarist in the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Justin Pearson and Gabriel Serbian (both from The Locust as well bands like Some Girls, Cattle Decapitation and Swing Kids, to name a few). They were dubbed a supergroup, but I'd take The Blood Brothers over them any day of the week. That being said...

...HEAD WOUND CITY only released a single EP in 2005/2006 aptly titled 'Head Wound City' with 7 blistering tracks in just about 10 minutes and it still kicks ass, it's just no The Blood Brothers. What does it sound like? The Locust instrumentals with the low-end singer of The Blood Brothers doing his patented, high, shrill scream. That's pretty much the band in a nutshell. Screamy, grindy, chaotic noise-thrashe with much more emphasis on awkward, jarring post-punk than the electronic scream/pop that The Blood Brothers focused on near the tail-end of their existence.

That's it, really. The Blood Brothers meets The Locust, aka the recipe and sound of HEAD WOUND CITY. Interesting note, the band wrote, recorded and produced every song on this EP in the span of one week. I also heard that the band has "reunited" and has played some shows and written some songs which are located here in this youtube link. Download their only available release here.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2005 - Head Wound City cd/cassette/10"EP (download here)

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NEW SHIT/live performance October 2014 (thanks Blade Brown!)

(2006) HEAD WOUND CITY - "I'm a Taxidermist I'll Stuff Anything" (from 'Head Wound City')

(2006) HEAD WOUND CITY - "New Soak for an Empty Picket" (from 'Head Wound City')

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HEAD WOUND CITY out of print mp3 discography download / additional links

(download here)

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GUIDELINES

Band: GUIDELINES

Genres: Punk / Emo-violence / Grind / Hardcore / Black-Metal / Emo / Screamo / Thrash / Skramz
Related artists: Ubasute and Gifts.
Country: New Jersey, USA
Years Active: 2010-present
Song: "IV"
Album: "S/T_EP"
Year: 2012
Label(s): Self-Released
This post's artist is from the December 2014 Mix. This is track #9.
You can download the December Mix#12 right here or get the new January 2015 Mix#1 here.
For fans of: Beau Navire, Youth Novel, Amydgala, Funeral Diner, Avvika, Welcome The Plague Year, Meryl Streaker, Nayru, Yusuke, Gas Up Yr Hearse!, Jeromes Dream, Eyelet, Deadseraphim, Old Soul, Deafheaven, The Assistant, Joshua Fit For Battle, ...Who Calls So Loud, Rats Into Robots, Loma Prieta and Textbook Traitors aka PROPER SCREAMO.

Tylr Brns, I thank you from the bottom of my heart, as this band owns. I will spend about half of this review primarily on the dissection of a single song, because it is easily one of the best things I've ever heard. "IV" is structured like a bomb:
-after an atmospheric opening, the band obliterates the listener with a pummeling assault of emo-violence and grindcore
-at 52 seconds the band layers amazing softer instrumentals over dispersed screaming, constantly hinting of something hard and epic to come, and the band certainly delivers starting at the 1:46-mark
-chaos ensues until 2:30 when shit gets ridiculous, as seeing from 2:30-3:00 live would absolutely floor me
-just after 3 minutes the band transitions back into atmospheric, slow noodling and rolling drumming before a surprisingly focused meandering into the outro
-the huge epic outro with dual screaming is fantastic and has an Old Soul feel to it

From the same 'S/T_EP' "III" combines the angelic and breakneck guitars simultaneously right from the get-go, but as good as the song is, "IV" is my baby - my ugly, angry and malformed baby. Get the fuck on this already.

The band's first album 'Rules of the Sife' is much less refined, but instrumentally indicates where the band may head. It's the vocals that don't do it for me, as they are yelled/screamed and I personally enjoyed the all-out "murder scream" of the 2012 release. It's worth a listen if you are a fan, but otherwise I would recommend starting with the 'S/T_EP', although "In Retrospect" sounds very much like Funeral Diner, ...Who Calls So Loud, Coma Regalia and early Textbook Traitors, which is pretty awesome and should garner a few listeners based on that comparison alone.

The band has gone through some lineup changes, but I'm still pumped to hear anything this band produces and if it holds even a light up to the 'S/T_EP' you can bet Zegema Beach Records will attempt to be all over that. If you've never heard of GUIDELINES and you like the screamy stuff, holy moly I just made your day.

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DISCOGRAPHY

2010 - Rules of the Sife digitalEP/LP? (stream/buy/download here)

2012 - S/T_EP digitalEP (stream/donate/download here)

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(2012) GUIDELINES - "IV" (from 'S/T_EP')

(2012) GUIDELINES - "III" (from 'S/T_EP')

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GUIDELINES additional links

Bandcamp

Facebook

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