Plague of Strength

Before the lot of you descend into jibbering about my off topic posts, know this- I get a shitload of emails asking me to recommend new bands.  As I spend a shitload of time researching new bands anyway, I figure it wouldn’t hurt to give a few more suggestions, which I’ll break up into genres for the sake of sparing some of you from the pain of exposure to new shit.

Hardcore Punk
Chest Pain- 7″
This band is exactly what you’d expect from a band that’s considered hardcore punk- fast, brutal, political, and brief.  Their longest song, by far and away, clocks in at a minute and a half, and that includes 5-10 seconds of ringing out before they go fucking nuts.  If you liked any early to mid 80s hardcore, you will love this band, guaranteed.  Additionally, I’ve found that this band is perfect for anything that needs to be done fast and fucking hard- like high rep pullups or dips, and could work well for shorter-duration lifts for time.  Honorable mention:  Minor Threat, Warzone, and Judge. 

Tough Guy Hardcore
Knock ‘Em Dead
Though I’m sure half of you were still busy playing Four Square and A-Ball (are kids still allowed to play that shit at school?  I’m betting that fun shit went out with Kill the Cow and would now result in criminal charges if they played it in school) in 1997, I was a rep for Equal Vision and pretty much did nothing but kick people in the face at shows and lift weights.  Those were the days- just before the influx of skinny jeans and white belts, where you’d show up to a show in workout shorts, a hoodie, gardening gloves, and a hockey mask with nothing but blood on your mind.  Well, at least that’s what I did- I was straightedge, so I didn’t have shit else to do.  In that era of hardcore, shit sounded Knock ‘Em Dead- two steps, breakdowns, and lyrics that made you want to stomp someone’s throat.  Honorable mention on this deal goes to The Last Charge, Lionheart, Your Demise, and the almighty Bulldoze, whose song Beatdown is the perfect song for singles.

Download the Album

Anarchist Techno-Hardcore
Atari Teenage Riot- Everything they’ve done
Before any of you get your panties in a bunch, give them a listen.  This band’s cool as hell, innovative, and apparently has started a reasonable number of riots, although I doubt their on the level of Bad Luck 13 Riot Extravaganza.  In any event, this shit is perfect for high rep, frenetic stuff, and is IDEAL for sparring.  You will hyperventilate and puke, but if you’re just going to crash and straight blast half the time, or crash and ground and pound, this is the ultimate pace-setter.  Forewarned is forearmed- this shit is definitely not for everyone.  Honorable mention:  Nothing, really.  Gabber fucking blows, and the male vocalist from ATR’s solo work blows.

Download their new shit here.


Deathcore
Jerome- EP
Frankly, deathcore bores the shit out of me half the time, since every goddamned band sounds the same.  On the one had, you’ve got Acacia Strain knockoffs who all tune to A and somehow mimic each others’ vocals precisely, and on the other hand you’ve got what amounts to Dying Fetus knockoff bands who can’t decide if they want to play endless breakdowns or just be a fucking death metal band.  Jerome, however, combined the best of all possible worlds for their short-lived tenure as the best fucking deathcore band of all time, and broke up under the weight of their own awesome.  They reformed, more or less, as Monsters, but that band’s not nearly as amazing.  Honorable mention here goes to deathcore pioneers Red Sky,  party metal icons Dr. Acula, and Cuz Seven Ate Nine, if only for the best song names ever.

Download the EP here.

Tech/Djent Metal
The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza- III
This band is just fucking sick.  Odd timings, but unlike the odd time signature bands that immediately spring to mind (*cough* Meshuggah *cough*), they lose none of the brutality.  I’ve actually got a couple of this band’s songs on my lifting mix, in addition to honorable mentions Into The Moat (who have the sickest lyrics of all time in the linked song) and Psyopus. I find these bands to generally be great for listening to while writing, but shit for lifting, unless they’re heavy on breakdowns (like TDTE) or they get “groovy” like the aforementioned bands.

Download it.

Metal
Man Must Die- No Tolerance For Imperfection
Though I rarely venture into “mainstream” metal like Lamb of God, this shit is fucking awesome, and is probably some of the most accessible stuff I’ve got in this blog.  Honorable mention: I’m willing to bet anything you guys post in the comments will probably suffice.

Download

That’ll about wrap it up, though I think all of you should have the following song on your mix.  I know you’ll all whine that it’s rap, but it’s fucking Necro and Jamey Jasta from Hatebreed.  The lyrics are awesome, the chorus is awesome, and it’s imminently applicable to lifting.  There’s no link for a single song download, but you can find it all over the place if you like it (which you fucking better).

For those of you who hated this entire blog, a hearty “go fuck yourself”, and tits.

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