1. FALL RIVER – Lights Out (Thorp): Screamy, blistering metalcore. Most of the songs are about two minutes long and the singer is a female who sounds she’s listened to a lot of WALLS OF JERICHO. Totally vicious stuff. COALESCE’s Sean Ingram makes a guest vocal appearance.

2. ONCE FOR ALL – Down for the Getdown (Harvest Earth): Straight-forward old-school positive hardcore with a mild metallic feel. Similar to early SICK OF IT ALL with a better grip on the mosh. Simple lyrics and instrumentation keep this release in the middle of the pack.

3. ALLISTER – Before the Blackout (Drive-Thru): This is the same band that released Dead Ends and Girlfriends?!?! ALLISTER were a bland, annoying, and strikingly immature pop-punk in their formative years, and now they’re just a bland, bloated “”mature”" pop unit. Time to hang it up fellas…

4. BARCODE – Showdown (Nuclear Blast): Another European band who has signed up to be on the MADBALL fastrack. That’s not really a bad thing though as these guys execute the speedy, crude and burly ‘core with plenty of punch and tenacity. The cover art features a couple of guys in suits with handguns for heads shooting at each other. I don’t get it either…

5. DROPPING DAYLIGHT – Take A Photograph (Octone): This sounds like TRAPT with a piano and a weird MUSE complex. Sigh…