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That’s right friends, our good buddy and friend through music, Jon Snodgrass (of Drag the River) made the executive decision to give away the mp3s for Drag the River’s live album, Live at the Starlight. There are no strings attached, no payment plan, no commitment to buy later. Just visit this link and download the incredible live album. While there are no strings attached, we do encourage you to complete your Drag the River collection as there are links to all of their releases which are all currently on sale! CDs are $5, and their vinyl is being sold at our wholesale prices (via Suburban Home / Vinyl Collective). Make sure you check out Jon Snodgrass’ releases and Chad Price’s debut solo album.

As some of you may or may not know, the CD version of Live at the Starlight has been out of print for a while now. Whenever a release goes out of print, a handful of enterprising individuals take advantage of the inability to easily purchase the release and sell their own copy(ies) through sites like Ebay or Amazon for outrageous prices. One such individual has Live at the Starlight for sale for $80 on Ebay. You can’t blame people for doing this, but Jon felt that if we gave the album for free, no one would feel the need to spend so much money on the CD… [more after the jump]

Download: DRAG THE RIVER – Live at the Starlight

Deathwish kicks off a busy late Summer and Fall season with three new heavyweight releases from LEWD ACTS, DOOMRIDERS, and RISE & FALL. While the former streets next week, the two latter releases are just beginning their promotional stride. In light of that, here is a new audio player from Deathwish (Doomriders), a new jam via MySpace.

DOOMRIDERS Darkness Come Alive CD/LP Out September 29th

RISE AND FALL Our Circle Is Vicious CD/LP October 27th, 2009 (audio player coming soon)

- The LEWD ACTS release is straight-up filthy hardcore. There’s not a ‘clean’ hook in sight, just 100% raw music with a surprisingly strong technical slant. Reminds me of TRAP THEM with early KILL YOUR IDOLS.

In what has been one of the most sought after additions to the eMusic digital catalog, melodic hardcore/punk pioneers HUSKER DU have finally had their classic releases, Zen Arcade, New Day Rising, and Flip Your Wig (among others) posted on the music site. SST’s discography has been a patchwork addition to eMusic over years, likely because of the effort that goes into digital distribution licensing concerning titles that were released well before the dawn of the internet. The eMusic page for HUSKER DU is here.

If you can find me a soul who is still excited about the southernization of metal/rock, and continues to see it as some kind of sound novelty, you deserve a cookie. Outside of the genre’s heavyweights (EVERY TIME I DIE, MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF DISASTER, THE SHOWDOWN), there’s the awfully thin amount of space [...]

North Carolina hardcore/metal band ADVENT (ex-BELOVED) have posted the song “Revival” to the band’s MySpace page. The tune is from the band’s upcoming and long-awaited full-length, Naked and Cold, which will be in stores on September 8th via Solid State.

As reported on Punknews.org, Red Scare has rescued the out of print catalog from 90s pop-punk staples SICKO and given them a new shot at life via digital distribution. I own a few SICKO records and while I can admit to not taking them out for a spin too often, they definitely held my attention when snotty, bratty, nasally pop-punk was always on my mind (c.f., THE QUEERS, SCREECHING WEASEL, BORIS THE SPRINKLER, SCARED OF CHAKA, etc.). Here’s one my favorites – Laugh While You Can Monkey Boy:

1. OH, SLEEPER’s Son of the Morning is streaming at AOL Music. Although still fervently in the vein of heavier UNDEROATH, the melodic parts this time around are an almost dead ringer for Dustin Kensrue’s voice on Vheissu. Weird.

2. AFI’s new single “Medicate” is up on MySpace. It’s four and half minutes long and it doesn’t really get all that interesting until after the first three minutes. Meh.

3. To the contrary, the always-exciting thrashers MUNICIPAL WASTE have their new full-length Massive Aggressive streaming here. Props for such titles as “Mech-Cannibal” and “The Wrath of the Severed Head.”

4. BOUNCING SOULS and BROADWAY CALLS on a full US tour. Swoon! I’ve been a ‘SOULS fan since I was 15 (almost half my life), and I hate to say it, but I think BROADWAY CALLS are going to knock ‘em right out of the building. I need to see this band live.

5. Trustkill has taken (and given) a lot of shit over the past few years, but today marks the release of what will hopefully continue the label’s turnaround with a new full-length from Italian metallic hardcore mashes AWAKEN DEMONS. The Mirror is streaming on MySpace and it’s the full-package of 90s style chugging hardcore with br00tal vocals. Definitely with the trip back to the sounds of bands like EARTH CRISIS, BLOODLET and DISEMBODIED.

Some of the best shows that I ever went to involved local hardcore bands that simply got on stage, played with little interruption but with blinding inspiration for 30 or so minutes, and then got out of the way for the next band. Unburdened by the demands of the touring lifestyle, these bands knew their [...]