Kill Your Trust in Metal

This is a sampler that was put out by Trustkill Records and was passed out for free at many gigs that bands on the label played at. Although the label sounds primarily like a metal record label, the project began as a hardcore fanzine that eventually turned into a record label which now has releases distributed through Universal. Here are some of the better tracks from the sampler that was released a few years back.

The opening bit to the track by Poison The Well (or PT-Dub, as they like to be called) sounds really promising and then the melodic bits that occur right before the chorus let you know that this is actually a metal song. It's weird to think that Guitar Magazine actually declared the album relased by these guys in 1999 as "one of the greatest hardcore albums of all time." Interesting definitiion of hardcore...

Throwdown: These guys are really fucking intense to see live, even if it was an accident to go to their gig during SXSW. Apparently, their forebears are bands like Pantera, Machine Head, Sepultura and early Metallica. They're from Texas so they can't be all that bad.

Nora: There are probably a whole lot of hoarse voices amongst the band members after they play a gig. Their latest album Save Yourself is being touted as along the ranks of Master Of Puppets, Reign In Blood, and London Calling. Make up your own mind on this claim.

Eighteen Visions (or 18V): Awesome drumming on this and then the vocals kick in, which make me think of Axl Rose a little but not near as snarly in a rock star kind of way, then the whole vocal style changes to screamo type shouting at points. Is it the same singer? Or someone else entirely? Did the audio engineer sneak a drunk Axl Rose into the studio as a prank? Well, these guys had a song called Victim, which became the official soundtrack for WWE Vengeance. Maybe that explains something. NIce shoes, though.

Most Precious Blood: Nice guitar sound on this one. The vocalist's style is slightly reminiscent of old Sodom. If you haven't heard their variety of metal from the '80s, give it a listen. These guys claim a hardcore DIY lifestyle and they have some interesting things to say: “We’ve got World War 3 going on; we have no time for poetry and guitar solos. It’s back to the old school of hardcore, get in, say what you want to say and get out. More than ever, hardcore should write that the end of the world can come tomorrow, instead most bands are writing like we have our whole life ahead of us. We wanted to write an album that isn’t dumbed down but has short songs with lyrics you can relate to immediately... We want hardcore to be something different again, like you feel you’ve discovered some secret society not a homogenized rebellion.” Unfortunately, these guys found their distributor threatening to shelve their upcoming album from 2005 as a result of this attitude and shift in their musical style.

Walls Of Jericho: Great fucking drum tuning for this recording! The screaming by the vocalist is astounding as well; probably because it's a woman- Candace Kucsulain! Walls Of Jericho hails from Detroit; this is probably what makes their front woman so tough. She's sustained head wounds and broken noses while on stage and still kept singing, covered in her own blood, until the gig was over. THEN she went to the hospital for treatment. She's even been known to hop on stage to sing while sporting two black eyes! Check out their video There Is No I In Fuck You!

Here are the tracks from this sampler!