Via MySpace:

With all due apologies in differing matters of degrees, KILLING TIME is happy to announce that the new album Three Steps Back will be released on February 9th, 2010.

The album is being released by NY diehard hardcore label Dead City Records and will be exclusively distributed overseas by Coretex Records (Europe) and Jukeboxxx Records (Japan). The album will also be available on iTunes, Amazon MP3 and all other major digital download sites the same week. For more information on the hardcopy CD, go to deadcityrecords​.​com.

The album, which started off as a minor suggestion in 2008, quickly turned into an obsession for every member of the band, and we are all excited that it has finally come full circle. During the time we have spent writing and recording the material, we have experienced the loss of two loving parents and have also experienced the births of two precious children. So it goes.

A record release party is being planned for Saturday, February 27th at the new Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY. Doors open at 07:00. At this time, confirmed opening acts include Maximum Penalty and Suburban Scum. We hope to see you all there.

In the meantime, sample tracks from the album can be heard on our MySpace page. We will probably be adding more as we get closer to the release date.

A colleague at work earlier this month mentioned to me that her 13 year old son was into GREEN DAY, RISE AGAINST, and ‘other punk bands’ and asked if I could recommend her some music she could get him for Christmas. Conveniently, I had THE LAWRENCE ARMS’ Oh Calcutta on the stereo when I got her email. It was a natural recommendation, as I have come to think of “Requiem Revisited” as one of the best two-minute representatives of the genre. Hopefully my passing thoughts were acted on.

Panic Records hardcore band OUTRAGE has completed recording two new songs for an upcoming split 7″ with WOLF WHISTLE. A label and release date have yet to be announced, but the band promises to make available one of the new songs in the coming weeks. OUTRAGE released their debut full-length, Broken, earlier this year.

Tony Sly has posted the song “The Shortest Pier” on his MySpace page. The tune is from his upcoming full-length 12 Song Program, for Fat Wreck, which will see its release in mid-February. This is not Sly’s first shot at a solo recording – he did an acoustic split with pal Joey Cape for Fat in 2004.

Brooklyn, New York punk rockers THE REVELING have their debut four song EP, 3D Radio, streaming on their Punknews.org profile. The self-released EP brings to mind bands like THE LOVED ONES and early GASLIGHT ANTHEM.

- A bullet point to the band is that they feature Jay Weinberg on drums, son of legendary drummer Max Weinberg. Do you think Jay ever had a choice of instrument growing up? Was there ever a moment where he was like “Dad…. I think I want to play the clarinet instead…”

Equal Vision sent out a press release earlier today mentioning that 2010 will coincide with the label’s 20th anniversary. That got me thinking about some of their earliest bands, and one that immediately crawled into mind was SERPICO, melodic rock band from New York that defied any kind of specific genre classification pegged to it. The closest band I can think of with these guys is early SAMIAM, but even that only sticks to a few tracks. Their 1996 full-length Rumble is my favorite from their discography, check it out below.

Relapse Records, the long-running extreme music label is conducting a brief survey to improve the label’s information about the listening habits of its fans. One lucky entrant of the survey will win a big prize pack from the label that will include apparel, CDs, concert tickets, posters, stickers and more. Enter the survey here.

Germany’s MAN THE CHANGE play surging screamy hardcore in the vein of UNBROKEN, HOPE CONSPIRACY and INDECISION. If you like the bass in a song to vibrate heavy pieces of furniture, these guys have your jam. The band will be releasing an 11 song full-length in January via Deafcult Records. Several songs from the outing, titled Forgiver, are presently blaring on the band’s MySpace page.