INTRODUCTION: Actually managed to get the reviews up and running within the designated month for a change, so maybe at last, I am finally starting to get my shit together. Some more guest reviewers for you again this month, don’t forget if you want to right some reviews, you can do so by e-mailing them to me.Any labels that want to send me tracks for reviewing,Mail me. Also this month have news on what’s happening with the majority of the hardcore labels that are doing the rounds at the moment. All this info is courtesy of Steffan’s "hard regards" newsletter. Right the reviews.

As per usual with this review page, I start off with me favourite tune of the month (possibly the year for this one). This is from Skullblower (lasse steen). I much prefer the shit he writes under this moniker rather than when he’s writing tunez as Senical. This record is no exception and is probably the best thing he has written in a long time. God knows how Hardline Rekordingz from Perth managed to get him for their second release, but whoever has to do number 3 has a hell of a lot to live up to. Best tune of the EP has to be "Farewell to the funky flesh". This is the ultimate DJ mixing tool. Starts off with every second beats then into full on savage beats with distorted cymbals thrown in left right and centre. Then slowly but surely he builds up the main warbling dark riff which dominates the majority of the tune. When it reaches it’s peak mega distorted cymbals are dropped to intensify the impact of the riff. While the tune is dominated with the single riff you never get bored because he is always fuckin around with the percussion and the riff is so good it doesn’t need multiple breakdowns. That said listening carefully you can hear extra dark warbles being thrown in just to push you over the edge. Best bit has to be t the end when just as you think everything is dying off in comes a loud wooping sound, pure genius. Other tunes of serious note are "neverending attack of bollox" (some might say that’s a good title for this page) with a mindblowing altering acid line. "Back seed toyz" and "Forget my nuts" which are just super evil. The man is an element all to himself and no-one can write tunes like him (though many try). This 12" you could put on first thing in the morning and keep flipping it over and not get tired of it. I can’t give it a higher recommendation than, I loved it when I heard it first and it’s still doing it for me well over a 100 listens later. Don’t be intimidated by the speed or the distortion just go out and buy it and buy it today because I think it’s limited to 300 copies and I ain’t selling mine. Having trouble getting it try Steff at Soundbase stkuschel@metronet.de or Hardlinerekordingz@yahoo.com . "Something Hard is coming at ya"

Right after that last review everything else is going to pale into comparison beside it. Still I did get some other good shit that is well worth spending money on. This one is a combination between Total Brutal Records and the Kak-A wolves. This thing is major limited and might be sold out already, seeing as they were only selling 150 copies outside of Japan. Each takes a side with the TBR side being my preferred side. There was a rumour going round that TBR was finished but what with this release and the release this month of TBR#2 I think that can be dismissed. 4 tracks on the TBR side each member donating a track. Me favourite has to be Tremors of Fears "Devils Dance". Nothing new or original in this tune but still it’s effective speedcore, with metal guitars and nice dark string breakdown. Those of you who loved Industrial Strength when they made tracks full of screams and hate will love E605’s Extremity which samples all these classic tunes. The Noize Squads "Chaos Control" is some super speedcore which will simply rip you to shreds. There’s 8 tracks by the Kak-A boyz on the flip which are too short and don’t do much. 12 is worth buying for TBR side if you’re a speedcore head who’s just looking for something that just blows them away, I’m sure Lofty’s got a copy of this one.

Right now slowing things way down, we got a bit of hardcore/techno from Sass’ Hardcore Mafia label. Mastervibe famous for his classic "Power of the Herb" track makes an appearance on HM. I must say this isn’t what I was expecting of him, especially seeing as he wrote this for HM who normally take the Producer kind of vibe for their tunes. This however would sit very well on the Area 51 label. A 2 tracker, both tracks are on the same sort of vibe with "Destiny" just edging it for me. Starting off with eerie spacey synth sounds the tune kicks off with sold drums which alternate and move the track into weird warbling effects until we reach 2 distinct spaced out breaks which again are filled with more mad effects. The whole thing then kicks off again with nice off sync kicks. "Amazing" on the flip is on the same kind of tip with more spaced out vibes, which also has a very nice warped out dark break. A good starting tune or if ya wanna calm things down mid set it does the job nicely. As I’ve said before ya can’t have tunes that are full of breaks all the time, ya also need the tunes that lend a bit of depth as well and this is one of these tunes. Top marks to all involved for trying something different and not relying on all the usual elements.

Ok, I know this ones been on the go for quite a while now, but I’m always slow to get the new Deathchant stuff (I’ve got up to DT14 and they’re just after releasing DT17). So for those of you who are even slower than me here’s a review of the album. All the boyz who have ever written for Deathchant have come together to remix the most popular tracks and added one or two new ones. Tracks of merit are all of them being honest but too pick ones that really stand out would have to be the Polaris remix by Dolphin, Who da Fuck are You by Dolphin and Tox and the Running Man by Hellfish. But even if none of these tracks were on it it would still be worth the cash to hear Hellfish’s megamix, where he sequences all of the old classics(Where Angels Fear, The Ripper) and rearranges them and basically makes a whole new track out of them, proving that once again he is Mr. Hardcore/techno. I’ve been told that 15,16,17 are all super tunes as well. So if you ain’t got them you might as well go on a buying spree and get em all and while your at it pick up any of the back catalogue that you don’t have, cause they’re all well worth the cash.

There are 2 reasons why this record which is well old is getting reviewed. One because it’s an absolute classic which I’ve only just got ma hands on and two in anticipation of getting Surgeon #5 I thought I’d remind ya all why you should be first in the queue to get your hands on a copy of #5. It’s really hard to pick between these two (or should that be 3 seeing as Pressurehead is two people???). I mean it really all depends how savage or how musically minded you want your tracks. Pressurehead kicks your fuckin door in, rapes your loved ones, wipes his gism all over your face, vomits on your dog and that’s all within the first couple of seconds of the first lethal drumroll. Kicks off with savage rolling effects backed up by rolling kicks until it hits the first breakdown. This contains a sinister string that seems to be looped and gated over itself(weird but good effect), which brings back the rolling drums until mayhem kicks off once again. 16 clips is also well worth the mention with I’ll murder you samples and other harsh shit going on. Good break with a deadly rap sample which breaks to a huge distorted explosion. Then the carnage starts afresh. After all that can you imagine that, that was the lighter of the two sides!!!!! UK Skullfuck should only be listened to by those of you who like sick twisted demented music. Skullfuck specialises funnily enough in music that will fuck your head. So it’s no surprise that "Radio Rapist" and "Nuclear Family" do both that. Radio starts with savage kicks load of distortion, fucked up percussion and varying degrees of madness lobbed in. Works to a dark string which he cuts with savage snares and then rolls over with well planned kicks and actually makes you think that this might be a nice song. WRONG. Tune kicks in with more distortion and screams plunging you into a world of pain. Just when you thought things couldn’t get worse they do with Nuclear family. The most fucked up ideas used here, which actually shows the way as to how he made such a fucked up tune on surgeon #4 with Psychic Punk. In nuclear percussion is all over the camp and leads you all the way to a break of someone being butchered, class stuff. To finish off he does the unexpected and makes a trip hop tune which, although I’ve heard fuck all trip hop is the best one of this genre I’ve ever heard. Why do I go on like this, well the answer is simple. I got this tune and apparently it had been lying in the shops for months with no-one buying it. These guys are deadly producers as well as being excellent DJ’S and are getting fuck all credit. So go out and get educated and if you hate what you hear send all hate mail to me. All I have to say is roll on #5 and also roll on the new Special forces as this is done by Skullfuck under the guise of the Masachoist. Can’t fuckin wait!!!!!!!!

Showing just how diverse the Australians are here we have another Australian based label. Fresh from his Womanizer Ep and after having a track on Rage #5. Noizegenerator hits us with his new EP. A 6 tracker with most of the tunes pitched around the 250 bpm mark I can see the British DJ’s liking this one. It’s not heavily distorted as you might expect from something at this speed so the hardcore/techno headz will like this a lot, pitched down. All 6 tracks are faultless groovers which carry out what they’re supposed to. Favourite of mine is the title track Repulsive Mind. Nice tempo with fat beats and sinister sounds going off in the background and a "repulsive mind of killers" sample accompanying them. What really does it for me is the main breakdown, real dark evil bastard strings clashing against each another with the aforementioned sample being played in full. After the break all hell breaks loose again using the same elements as before. Until we hit the break again. Nice simple effective, easy to mix tune that should be included in your set. Other 5 tracks are nice again but aren’t as evil so don’t do much for me but are still well laid out and shouldn’t be overlooked. The man knows his stuff.

I’ll start off by saying that from the title of this it might not be what you think it is. It ain’t an album full of white noize tracks (though there are a few0. What this is a possible set that Freak might play if you were to book him. Now I don’t buy much of this shit so I can’t tell you if it’s all exclusive material or not. 12 tracks in total means that Freak visits a lot of the genre, maybe just a bit more on a fucked up tip. Best way of reviewing this I think is to tell ya the artists and what kind of tunes they are and then you can make up your mind if it’s a worthwhile buy. Ok 3 tracks by the man himself. Two of which are total noize workouts (the title "white noize black tie" might give it away). His third isis typical to what you might find on his hard of hearing label, real tough punishing kicks with varying sounds. 2 tracks from VDD Energise are in a real purist kind of vain, repetitve patterns with very little going on, the odd kind of weird noize thrown in for good measure. 2 tracks from Somatic Responses also in the purist vein but stand out a lot more, very similar to what the Beast boyz make, nice. 1 from Syndicate and straight off ya can hear the less refined FT2 sound, a nice acid workout much easier listening than some of the other stuff, with breakdowns which makes it stand out. 2 from ACAB serious noize/speedcore workouts. The beats are so distorted that they are lost but seriously good use of acid in both tunes. 1 from EVO which is similar in vein to ACAB but just not as effective mainly because the key elements are lost in too much distortion. Bets ‘til last, Embolism hit home with a seriously dark stringed evil as fuck speedcore workout. Some might say too simple but I reckon ya get the key elements together and ya don’t need to get over complex. So what can I say it’s definitely different and takes time to grow on ya but I think if you even use just 3 tracks off of it you’ll definitely be making your set sound different. Think about before buying, but definitely consider, but don’t do it too long as I’m sure this one is mega limited aswell

Right same as last month, I got some guest reviewers together to review tracksthat I didn’t get me hands on. This week we got 2 Heads Talking and DJ Frisky doing the reviews. Remember if you wanna do some reviews just drop me a mail and I’ll post them giving you full credit. if ya wanna visit the reviewers webpages just click on their name.

A.1 Loftgroover The Homage Track

A.2 Wax Head Subjects

B.1 HMS Feat.Faceless Evil Tings

B.2 Loftgroover Shadows of Disquiet

Top quality speedcore terror! Not too obvious, but still bangin and pacey as fuck. The

A.1 DJ Renato World Eclipse

A.2 DJ Wicked Throw The Jams

AA.1 DJ Mastervibe Teknodrome

AA.2 USD Intoxicate

Good to hear something of the Dutch sound for a change! DJ Renato keeps it hard and dark for A.1. Again the BPMs are kept relatively low, but there's definitely no skimping on darkness. Its DJ Wicked up next, a much more obvious tune compared to A.1. Harder and faster kick drums, with the old 'rock the jams' sample thrown in all over the place. Not a bad tune really. Area 51 old boys Mastervibe and USD represent the UK on the AA side. The usual minimalism from Mastervibe, rather dark, sounds a bit like Friday only harder, and faster. But why bother with those stupid MC vocal samples? You can tell from the title that this tune's a tribute to Helter Skelter.

Texas Hardcore warrior DEAD CHANNEL provides us with the latest installment in the return of the INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH labels (in terms of quality for anyone who thinks they have been lacking it).The first track to get put to the test is unsuprisingly the first track on the EP. "Skeptical", this track starts and ends with a high pitched sound with the Techno kicks bild up over the top off and eventually completley take control, theres a good 'Industrial' type breakdown and plenty of breaks while the drum patterns change, pretty good track.

Next up is "Material Damage" which breaks staright in with a nice electronic riff which the claps and kicks again using the same formula take care off. Again another good tune.

In my opinion though it is side 'B' which really makes this EP. The first Bside track "Defective" provides us with some doom, gloom and a faster more mental brand of Hardcore with loads of bleeps, claps, kicks and a hint o Breakcore lurking in there behind the Satanic synths. The whole track breaks down suddenly and in comes some Sludge Metal Guitar samples and everything goes 'wham bam fuck you gabba slam' (jizm). This tune is wicked buy the way. As if that was not good enough the last track "Black Jack" REALLY hits the nail on the head. This well daft Rap repeats it self while DEAD CHANNEL sets of some crazy buzzers and other noizes. In comes the breakbeat, in comes the kick and well thats me sorted out. The beats wallop you through some TWISTED VINYL type riffs and the vocal gets you chanting along.

Overall: well be honest I am not that keen on the 'A' side but the other two tracks really are damn good. So the chances are at least on side of this will appeal to you, go find this record and have your wicked way with it.

Croydens Hardcore veteran TOTAL OUTPUT dishes up the latest bit of vinyl in the as ever unpredictable in the OUTCAST CLAN catalogue. The first track it has to be said is an epic, 15 minutes long but do not despair "Trick The Devil" will maintain your attention till the very end. The track is based around a couple of samples from "The Usual Suspets" which have been given the cut and paste treatment. Plenty of darkness, plenty of evil and plenty of Speedcore are some of the ingredaints applied. This tune is brilliant for mixing in and out of other records (or if you have money to spend another copy of the same!) and the length of time just makes it even more suitable. -Good Job.

Flip this bit of vinyl over and we get two more of the hardest and darkset offerings about. Title track "Lethal" uses the same ideas, but with one damn wicked riff spookin' it up and giving it more of a 'Techno feel'."Anti3" finishes things up very nicley and even harder, loads of cool tech-e noizes, screams, phazers can be heard through a solid dosage of terror in the form of the kick drums. We are even treated to some acid lines and other such technotic warbles as the chaos continues. This EP is another fuckin brilliant one about this month. If you would like to obtain a copy of this or any other OUTCAST release your best bet is to contact the Clan direct: 0181 405 1064, records I believe are priced at £5.50 (inc.p&p).

"Sacrifice" gets started real slow with those kicks drums that JAPPO & LANCINHOUSE fans will be well accustomed to and bass noises fading in and out with the obvious "Sacrifice" sample. Everything stops and during the break we get a quite long speech sample with the machine gun type build up subtly doing what build ups do, louder and louder until it all stops again! In come the inevitable dark choral 'Nu style' synths and then JAPPO trademark kick drum is back in full effect, slow and hard until the end where the tempo picks up a bit, this has to be one of the better tracks about at the moment using those choral synths - nice one, Italian geezers.

"Feel with Power" builds up with lots of false starts with manipulated and "power" samples. Then those kick drums do the business until you get some more choppy and darker choral synths with the kick drum bangin away over the top - simple but effective formula. The way the large variety of samples break up the kick drum and synth means that buy the time it really gets going you are really gaggin' for it (well I was) - Yep another tippyity toppety tip top tune which takes this whole new style malarky a wee bit-e further. For the last tune "Trash Fucker" we are given the good old outro treatment. For those of you not familiar with J&L's "Outros", the usual way JAPPO & LANCINHOUSE like to finish off his really hard and really fast, take no fuckin prisoners. The basic message is "Fuck Off" and with good use of these immortal words we are provided a very good bit of Speedcore, loads of incy wincy teny weeny breaks, each time the tempo gets faster and faster. Overall this bit of vinyl is simply the dogs bollocks, and must be got.

Cheers boyz, nice in depth reviews, for those of you who have limitless amounts of cash to go out and be envy of all your mates. Seeing as I got the "Hard Regards" newsletter from Steffan in soundbase, and knowing most of you won’t have it heres some of the things that are happening with the various labels over the next few months.

In a follow up to the stormin drum n bass tune by Mark N. on Bloody Fist 17, the next 2 releases will be Fist 18 Syndicate-Visions of Death (already heard people raving about this one) and Fist 19 Embolism-A Matter of Convenience. You’ve already read the review to the new Rage Records one by Noizegenerator and the follow up to that is to be RR07 Brutal Chud Cleans Sydney. On their sub labels UHF006 is to be Hedonist-Hardcore is Dead. On their other sub label X, X3is to be heX. From England new releases from Born to Kill Records with Parish-Bedroom Tracks v1.0 . Also newies from Statik, Evil Spirit and Genotype. Epiteth 12 will be done by DJ Radium (one half of Micropoint).New one by Tieum and Deus on Tcher No Beat as well as a new one on Gobble, Gobble 5. War will be releasing War 13 S.W.A.T- Scream EP and War 14 Beagle and Bullfrog. Violent 6 will be done by Curse. From the Shockwave crew there is a new 7" in the works as well as Napalm 11. For those of you into a more Dutch flavour Nordcore 5 will be released soon. Lord Nord also has a release on EBE-3 and finally Lasse Steen’s Sut Rov label releases "Popey You Know"

So there should be something there for everyone’s shopping list. If you got any news of new releases or information on up coming gigs, drop us an e-mail.

If you’ve read this far you must really love your hardcore, because there’s a fair amount of stuff here. Hopefully I’ll be able to give the same depth next month, but funds are tight so if any labels out there wanna send me freebies or promos I’ll be only too happy to review them. Until next month, keep it hard………