 | 25. ACHILLES – Hospice (Hex Records)
You can’t put a face to ACHILLES. You won’t be able to identify the band by their clothes, hair, or unenlightened MySpace postings. The group rarely tours, and they have no time for extraneous note-gathering, or scene politicking. But they do know a thing or two about technical metallic hardcore, and Hospice has the reliable, icy posture of an industrial meat locker.
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 | 24. MARITIME – Heresy and the Hotel Choir (Flameshovel)
Pages and pages of the music press fall into what I call “indie rock depression pornography.” This is where journalists construct mountain-sized portraits of artists/bands as one-dimensional moping bags; sad sacks of woe and grief, for which we can both pity, and happily exploit as we divulge our first-world problems on message boards and blogs. MARITIME’s brand of indie rock works because the band doesn’t place a big fat target on its back; the storyline is not for sale.
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 | 23. THE RED CHORD – Prey For Eyes (Metal Blade)
No witty write-up for this one… Prey For Eyes features unreal musicianship and songwriting that make a typically overwhelming form of music (metal/hardcore/grind) seem like a night at the Symphony.
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 | 22. CLOAK/DAGGER – We Are (Jade Tree)
Jade Tree’s release schedule was dramatically reduced this year, due in part to the tremendous changes filtering through the music biz. Still, the label released an instant must-hear with We Are, a blistering slab of fuzzed-out early 80s hardcore punk. Jade Tree put it best when it described the release as “Abrasive, in a good way. Ugly, in the best way.” Word.
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 | 21. HOT ROD CIRCUIT – The Underground Is A Dying Breed (Immortal)
The Underground Is A Dying Breed turned out to be a swan song for HOT ROD CIRCUIT and one of the final releases for Immortal Records as well. While the latter certainly won’t be missed (oh noes, what will we ever do for new music from A CHANGE OF PACE?!?!?), the ‘Circuit, held a nice notch in the indie/emo belt for the better part of a decade, and their longstanding mild alt-country influences put them ahead of the tide. A great batch of songs from a band knowing that it was running out of time.
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 | 20. TO THE LIONS – Baptism of Fire (Goodfellow)
Everyone has a sweet spot or two. I have three: Dunkin’ Donuts coffee, Chinese food, and mid-90s metallic hardcore. TO THE LIONS absolutely light up the goal lamp with Baptism of Fire, a surviving ode to smart, earth-quaking hardcore in the vein of TRIAL, ONE KING DOWN, and STRIFE. As Johnnie Cochran might say, “To the moshable, this release is unstoppable.”
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 | 19. FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES – Holding a Wolf By The Ears (Vagrant)
Normally, I don’t believe in “redemption releases,” but Holding a Wolf By The Ears more than makes up for the wildly dysfunctional FATA full-length Abandon Your Friends. With drummer Francis Mark permanently taking over lead vocal duties, and former frontman Ben Perri out of the picture, it’s as if the Hindenburg disaster has been lifted from the backs of the band. FROM AUTUMN TO ASHES have never sounded heavier, and songs like “Everything I Need,” and “Daylight Slaving,” lay waste to limp imitators. |
 | 18. CAREER SUICIDE – Attempted Suicide (Deranged)
BAD RELIGION’s How Could Hell Be Any Worse? comes crashing into the present day realm of Toronto punk/hardcore monsters FUCKED UP. Count me in.
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 | 17. MINUS THE BEAR – Planet Ice (Suicide Squeeze)
Not that I encourage distracted driving, but the pulsating groove of Planet Ice sounds its best when listened to on a country road, under dark, heavily forested skies, and without a streetlight in sight. The natural heightening of the senses will have the hair on your skin standing at attention.
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 | 16. SOUL CONTROL – Involution (Rivalry)
Many QUICKSAND/BURN/ABSOLUTION influenced acts have pushed through the surface in the past decade, but have few have performed at the level of SOUL CONTROL. So strong is the band’s full-length debut Involution that one doesn’t need any of its “influence context,” to grab hold to the bass-heavy, beautifully rhythmic songs. Solidly written introspective lyrics prove that the use of the word “soul” in the band’s name is no mere token signal. |
 | 15. 108 – A New Beat From A Dead Heart (Deathwish)
It’s the revenge of “hardcore dudes in their mid-30s!” 108 caught the reunion bug hard in 2006-2007, and despite the band’s make-up of hardcore guys who have careers, families, and so forth, the band took to the reins with full force – touring when possible and releasing one of the most dramatic, tension-filled releases of the year in A New Beat From a Dead Heart. Eternal hardcore believers do not go down quietly.
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 | 14. STRUNG OUT – Blackhawks Over Los Angeles (Fat)
Undoubtedly, this is STRUNG OUT’s best release since 1998’s Twisted By Design. After shedding most of the awkward metal/screamo that invaded the band’s sound over the past couple of release, the Simi Valley staple has happily restored balance to its melodic punk and hardcore foundation, while not losing any of its uniquely technical edge. For awhile, it seemed like STRUNG OUT may have brushed shoulders with its expiration point, but stellar tracks like “Calling” and “Orchid,” prove that the group is not buried by its past.
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 | 13. LIFETIME – S/T (Decaydance)
In Dan Yemin we trust. Unlike the case of many other band reunions, these guys literally were given the chance of a lifetime (I couldn’t resist) by a particularly successful mascara-clad benefactor. Speculators were speculating about horrific results, but members of the Yemin Nation knew better. Eleven years after Jersey’s Best Dancers, the glowing posthumous legacy earned its certification in the form of a little tune named “Airport Monday Morning.”
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 | 12. AMERICAN STEEL – Destroying Their Future (Fat)
Around the same time I finished up reading the incredible Joe Strummer biography “Redemption Song: The Ballad of Joe Strummer,”AMERICAN STEEL’s Destroy Their Future landed in my maibox (ho-hum, another reunion release). The timing couldn’t have been better designed. Destroy Their Future is a treasure trove of CLASH-inspired punk rock anthems with sweeping reggae undertones, and a dash of ALKALINE TRIO/THE SMITHS darkness. Glorious hooks, and heartfelt lyrics make this well-rounded album an effortless listen. |
 | 11. COMEBACK KID – Broadcasting (Victory)
COMEBACK KID could have written another Wake The Dead. They could have worked out a spreadsheet and determined the requisite number of breakdowns, sing-alongs, and two-step dance parts needed for an “epically br00tal” listen. But they didn’t. Forced in part by the presence of a new vocalist, the band power-packed their already massive hardcore sound and expanded into the creative terrain previously mined by bands like RAISED FIST and SNAPCASE. A big-time step-up in every direction.
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 | 10. S.S.S. – Short Sharp Shock (Earache)*
Along with THE STEAL (noted in the next entry), S.S.S. were one of a handful of new bands to unhinge my jaw in 2007. Although marketed as part of the new thrash revival, these young lads sound like they really enjoyed listening to their older brother’s collection of CRO-MAGS, BREAKDOWN, SICK OF IT ALL and ANTHRAX records. Surely, S.S.S. knows a thing or two about geeeetair shredding, but the lead vocals are firmly rooted in early hardcore, before everything went unintelligible, and that’s where the band’s appeal grows in sevenfold. MUNICIPAL WASTE is still the modern gateway buzz-band for this kind of music, but I think Short Sharp Shock earns a higher place on the depth-chart. |
 | 9. THE STEAL – S/T (Get Outta Town)*
Falling under the category of “obligatory selection of best KID DYNAMITE interpretation in 2007,” choosing THE STEAL’s self-titled debut was a no-brainer. Note my use of the word “interpretation” rather than “impersonation” (remember that first SHOOK ONES full-length?). The incredibly flair and positive energy that comes from this UK band is uncontainable. GORILLA BISCUITS at warped speed; the DESCENDENTS colliding into MINOR THREAT. THE STEAL’s formula is old hat, but it’s the band’s supremely tight musicianship and attitude that creates the compelling scene.
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 | 8. A WILHELM SCREAM – Career Suicide (Nitro)
Eventually, A WILHELM SCREAM will follow the course and break-up as a band. They will join the ranks of their fellow punk rock enthusiasts who were coerced into retirement by the cold reality of the marketplace. Hysterics will emerge from the gallery; eulogies will be spun by the critics, and several thousand people will look back on the past half a decade of the band’s releases and argue, quite vigorously, that Mute Print, Ruiner, and Career Suicide, are the “holy trinity” of punk rock in the 21st century. And maybe they’re on to something.
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 | 7. AGAINST ME! – New Wave (Sire)
I felt sure that Sire was going to make AGAINST ME into the next GREEN DAY with New Wave, for better or for worse. All of the marketing flash cards lined-up: brilliantly memorable, well-crafted songs by a bunch of youthful dudes with tattoos (ha!); an “edgy” background as folk-inspired anarchists (groan); and of course, the perfect storm of ambition and art vs. business controversy (…zzzzz). The bean-counters at Sire must be terribly bummed. |
 | 6. ALLEGIANCE – Desperation (Rivalry)
There’s a moment in the song “Out of My Blood,” where it feels like lead vocalist John Stark is tearing into his flesh and removing globs of extraneous cellular waste – the remnants of scorned time and people not worth their intake of oxygen. Desperation is the album MADBALL would have made if that band was playing with the intensity and sheer rage found on AMERICAN NIGHTMARE’s Background Music. This album should be the standard-setter for all things heavy hardcore in 2007 and beyond.
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 | 5. CAPITAL – Homefront (Revelation)
The realness of CAPITAL’s musical inspiration is the band’s focal point. “Crossroads,” a song about the entrenched conflict arising over illegal immigration on Long Island, is a reminder that there was a time when punk and hardcore’s social and political heartbeat was the relevant basis for discussion and not the exception. What do you want your band to be remembered for? Singing about dead women, buried in white-dresses, surrounded by falling roses? I didn’t think so.
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 | 4. DARKEST HOUR – Deliver Us (Victory)
Up until this year, DARKEST HOUR’s music was always overshadowed by something. Gothenburg. Devin Townsend. Being a metal band in a city known for harDCore, etc. Deliver Us has put an end to the framed angles for once and for all, and the Michael Schleibaum & Kris Norris School of Guitar Domination is thoroughly open for business.
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 | 3. BAD RELIGION – The New Maps of Hell (Epitaph)
Forget “Automatic Man,” BAD RELIGION is the “Automatic Band.” The fourth era of the band’s existence continues to grow in lore as the writing team of Greg Graffin and Brett Gurewitz pen blistering, timeless anthems for a new generation of kids. The masterful drumming of Brooks Wackerman seasons this iteration of BAD RELIGION with a rhythmic flair that they haven’t fully explored since Against The Grain. If you’re looking for one song to sum up politically the last seven years in the United States, dig no further than “The New Dark Ages.”
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 | 2. CRIME IN STEREO - … Is Dead (Bridge Nine)
Maybe it’s because I grew up barely a mile from the fellas in CRIME IN STEREO and likely attended the same Long Island shows they did in the mid 90s, but I can’t help but feel an extremely strong connection to their music and the battleground the band collectively faces as the strains of early adulthood coming roaring through. “The other path,” won me over, but when I listen to CRIME IN STEREO, I can vicariously peer into the riptide of chasing the dream that takes this band into the ears of people across the world.
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 | 1. MODERN LIFE IS WAR – Midnight In America (Equal Vision)
We don’t care what you think
We don’t care what you say
You don’t get to decide
It’s ours. Go away. Shut up.
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