Oregon’s PRIZE COUNTRY have been around for 3.5 years now, and owe their name to seven releases, including two-lengths, their latest being With Love, on Hex Records. Having not been very familiar with their prior works, I was extremely thrilled to learn that the group’s sound is in the vein of post-hardcore bands like SNAPCASE, [...]

POLAR BEAR CLUB will visiting Europe in February 2010, and taking along SHOOK ONES and TITLE FIGHT. The first two weeks of dates are posted on their MySpace page, with more to follow. The group is currently wrapping up the Bridge Nine tour, and will soon embark on a ten show run with THRICE and DEAR HUNTER.

- This is BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME’s OPETH moment. Once you put out  a full-length with three songs over 11 minutes long, there’s no turning back. The nearly 18 minute closer isn’t so much a song as sketch-pad squiggly line translated into music form. Last fall, when I spent hours blowing leaves into piles and bagging them, I put BANE on the iPod, and used all of my posi-energy to get the job done; this year I might give BTBAM a try and see if the more mellow, but overly advanced songwriting of The Great Misdirect can get my body to trigger a more fit army of allergy fighting antibodies…

Long Island hardcore band THIS IS HELL have signed a deal with Rise Records. This comes after two full-lengths and an EP for Trustkill and a recent EP on Think Fast! Records. A new full-length is expected in Spring 2010.

DESCENDENTS fans take note – Aggronautix has detailed the upcoming Milo Aukerman “throbblehead,” a toy that should raise the hackles of punk rock nerds everywhere. Below is the product write-up and an image of the thing. Pre-orders are now available here.

“Milo, the charismatic frontman of THE DESCENDENTS, is now available in Throbblehead form. This fella is limited to 1000 numbered units, stands at 7 inches tall, and is made of a lightweight polyresin. Displayed in a tri-windowed box, here Milo is accurately sculpted right down to the nerd glasses and bitchin’ stage stance.”

Milo joins GG Allin, Tesco Vee, and Blag and HeWhoCannotBeNamed from DWARVES as part of Aggronautix’s throbblehead series.

- “Somebody give me a book!”

As Thorp Records gets back into the swing of things, the label has announced the signing of Massachusetts metal/hardcore band HELL WITHIN, who previously put out a couple of solid full-lengths on Lifeforce Records. A new release is expected in May 2010, and a new mp3 titled “Condemning the Bloodline” can be downloaded here.

In other Thorp news, the label, for the first time is doing a huge sale for its lengthy discography. The “20 CDs for $20″ deal is a bundle of releases selected by the label (no requests!). More information is available here. Some of the bands to release albums with Thorp include THE BOILS, ABOVE THE WORLD, I DEFY, RAMALLAH, BREAKDOWN, BRAIN FAILURE, MY REVENGE, EDGEWISE, STRIKING DISTANCE, FORDIRELIFESAKE, MADBALL, NORTH SIDE KINGS, PRIDE KILLS, PAINT THE TOWN RED, SHEER TERROR, SLAPSHOT, SCARS OF TOMORROW, and many more.

Trustkill Records may have witnessed THROWDOWN jump ship to join E1 Records (formerly Koch), but there will be no void in ‘chugga-chugga’ bruising hardcore as long as AWAKEN DEMONS (ex-SENTENCE, REPRISAL) are around to pick up the slack. This straight-edge Italian hardcore band has been kicking around for a number of years now, and The [...]

SAY ANYTHING – S/T

THE ALMOST – Monster Monster

WE CAME AS ROMANS – To Plant A Seed