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I've been following Set Your Goals since my friend Matt turned me onto them some years ago. Of course, he was biased. He is their tour manager. Luckily for him, they are an awesome band and chill dudes. I'm a pretty big fan of their previous albums, and even interviewed Matt a few years ago. I've been looking forward to this album ever since Merrick started singing snippets of it.

Now that I have it in my hands, I am not disappointed. Of course, it isn't at all what I expected. Which is not an issue, just surprising. I was expecting SYG to go super poppy for this one. And you know what, I was completely wrong. This album is HARDER than any other release they've dropped.

And you know what? This album reminds me of the Judgment Night Soundtrack. I know, I know, "lay off the reefer, Brian," but hear me out. Judgment Night was this dope mid 90s movie where the soundtrack was all artist team ups. So you had Biohazard and Onyx on one song, Helmet and House Of Pain on another (ill, ill song) and Sonic Youth + Cypress Hill on another. It was just this ill little mashup of bands dropping insane songs where each song had a completely different vibe. That's what this album has. One song has an ill double kick and metal up your ass, while another has a perfect pogo bounce. Throw in some guest spots by Hayley Williams (Paramore), Chad Gilbert (New Found Glory), Vinnie Caruna (The Movielife), Jon Gula (Turmoil, oh what??), and you've got a pretty sick sound.

You can catch these dudes touring constantly. If you are lucky, you hit up Gig Life and witnessed a good time. They even have tshirts for "grown ass men." If you can't find one in their tour merch, peep Ebay. You never know what you may find. Go ahead and spend those dollars on this release. You won't regret it.

The Golden Age is a band I can really get into. I'm not sure what exactly grabs me, but it grabs tight. Could be the mixture of sounds. Like a weird cross of Set Your Goals (minus a lot of pop and a singer, of course) and Earth Crisis. Or maybe mid-era Lifetime and Count Me Out. It's a great little mix.

Of course, the epic Straight Edge anthems don't hurt either. I'm going on record right now saying, "The Constant may be the Straight Edge anthem of 2009." And as you know, the year is only halfway over. I love a great fucking straight edge sing along. It's not generic youth crew, but it's got balls. "A song can change your life and open your eyes, transform energy, reveal what's inside!"

These dudes are going out on tour with a couple of great bands this summer: No Harm Done and Offsides. Three excellent bands worthy of all your attention. So when they play, quit texting and mosh hard. If you don't heed my warnings and are IMing your friends all night, you'll have to scour Ebay the next day because you'll WANT this CD. Pick up some merch while your at it, bub.

Inhuman is for Brooklyn Bastards. If you don't know what I mean, then chances are, you are not a Brooklyn Bastard. These guys have love and pride for their little borough. And it isn't in a I-ride-a-fixed-gear-bike-and-wear-floppy-hats sense. But rather the roots of Brooklyn. Remember that movie Gangs Of New York? I can envision Leonardo moshing to the music of Inhuman while waging an all out street war. I can't really picture Leonardo flying his little airplane to the tunes of Inhuman though. That just would not work.

This last album has a strong resemblance to modern era Sick Of It All or Madball. Lots of heavy, fast tunes, with that nod to more melodical hardcore. Merely a nod. No full blown crooning here.

Not sure if this album is still in press. I'd guess so. Mike handed me a copy at the SOIA/Bane/Capital/Inhuman gig so the band still has them. If that doesn't help you, you can always check out Ebay.

Make Do And Mend hail from West Hartford, Connecticut. Normally, when I discuss bands from CT, you would expect to hear me talk about Mosh Metal, Ground Zero, or Connecticut Brotherhood. That's not going to be the case today. In fact, I can't really imagine anyone kick boxing, let alone mosh, to this band. It has a very post hardcore vibe. Think a mixture of Quicksand, Hot Water Music and All Chrome. Honestly, I was pretty damn surprised when I put it in the old cd player. Real surprised. Thankfully, it is the good kind of surprise.

The one thing I really know about West Hartford is that it's a stones throw from Farmington. Which is the home of the China Pan. Oh man, those citrus spare ribs are for me. No idea why they would dump those from the entree menu. Dumb move. Now if you don't hang out at China Pan or in West Hartford, you may want to peep ebay for all the hard to find gear and merch. Feel free to head over to panicrecords.net for the latest releases.

Rearranged hail from the great white north. North of Turkey, that is. This demo traveled many miles to find its way to my tape deck. Thankfully, the trip was worth it, and it's on heavy rotation.

Listening to this, I hear lots of influences from California. Mostly Insted. Some Uniform Choice. Then the song Letter To A Friend came on and I had to check if it was a Youth Of Today cover song. It's good, real good.

The demo I received is numbered. I think it's either 19/100 or 49/100. I can't really tell. The first digit looks like an upside down 4. I'm going with it being a real fancy 4. 49/100. It is specially branded with the I Drink Milk Fanzine logos. I'm guessing the two came together on purpose. After some digging, I found that to be true (IDM Demo Tapes). Peep later reviews for the zine review ...

If you aren't lucky enough to live in Russia, you can download the demo via the MySpace page. You should also order it pressed onto vinyl, courtesy of Brainwreck Records. And if none of that suits your fancy, there is always Ebay. But don't delay. Pick this up!

Common Cause is friggin incredible. This is not a lie. I've been slacking on my reviews lately (obviously) and Common Cause forced me to break the slump. Not sure how I slept on listening to this or reviewing it for so damn long. I'm sure Ange will give me a hard time for that. I bet he LOVES this band.

This band plays the old style of hardcore. No new jack shit. Likely influences include: Uniform Choice, Youth Of Today, Floorpunch and Rain On The Parade. This is real friggin good. The next time you are hanging in the Netherlands (Editor's note: Klaas pointed out this mistake. Oops ... Norway, duh. OC HARDCORE!), you should check out this band. And since that's not so likely, you should start a petition for them to tour the US and then follow them like they were the Grateful Dead. They are worth it.

Try your luck on Ebay. Or hit up Powered Records and try to score some ill limited colored vinyl. I got a nice powder greenish one. Looks good. Great color choice. They have some pretty cool shirts too. Quit sleeping!

Ruiner picked a damn funny album title. It's actually a really smart reflection of the scene we live in. I'm guilty of it, no doubt. My reviews always come off as "good band, great dudes" rather than some deep look at tuning, bridges and chords. Hell, I was super sucky at music class. I couldn't even come up with good keywords for the last sentence. What it all comes down to for me is a) do I like it or b) do I not like it. I'm guessing it boils down to that for a lot of people.

Good news for Ruiner, I like this fucking album. It's really good. It makes me want them to tour with Down To Nothing and This Is Hell. Imagine that mosh and stage dive fest! Amazing. This album definitely hits me harder than the last album. I also like that they moved away from the art cover concept. Clean images in black and white speak volumes about this band. It's rather fitting.

Australia, prep yourself because they are coming your way soon. Aren't you lucky? You can pick this album up from B9 soon. Maybe next week or the week after, I think. They are putting together some cool package deals. They always do ... If you want some older gear, try your luck on Ebay.

War Priest is on a chill, underground tip. You can't find them on the internet. You can't find them on MySpace (well, at least I couldn't). Hell, even their record label has almost no presence on the internet. Check streetcleanerrecords.com yourself for proof. It's strange, in the digital age, these guys are keeping it old school. AND IT FUCKING WORKS.

This album shreds. It reminds me heavily of Black Sabbath's Master Of Reality. Now that could just be the heavy black and purple theme going on, but it's heavy and rips. And not in the Goat Island, weird lack of robes nod to black metal sludge, but with fast, hard metal riffs and smashing drums.

And the vinyl "gimmick" works on me. Not really a gimmick, I suppose, but a one sided 12" EP really catches me. It certainly made me set it aside for further investigation. I mean, check these pics.

That's just cool. I'd love to tell you where you could pick up this album, but I have no friggin clue. Contact Ahron or try your luck on Ebay. Peace.

Here are a few facts about Ceremony as they pertain to me AND hardcore, in general.

- I have only "seen" this band play once. It was at Posi Numbers 2005 and I probably missed actually watching them because I was too busy listening to morGODo talk about his roast beef not being refrigerated. He thought it was gross, but that didn't stop him from eating a ton of deli slices. Something about getting protein before getting a good pump. You know how morGODo rolls.

- Everyone has a million and one good things to say about this band. Alternative Press thinks they are going to blow up in 2008. You can't stop seeing their name in text on message boards. It's crazy.

- Kids like to mosh.

Fuck, that last bullet has nothing directly to do with Ceremony -- Maybe distantly because I'm sure kids love to mosh when this band plays. Seriously, a two item list is barely worth making a list at all. Give me this one, ok?

As for this album, I'm not sure I see it. After all the hype, I was expecting my head to be blown back, like full on fall over in amazement. It didn't happen. This album is chill but it comes off as Integrity Lite to me. Way less evil. More Motorhead, less Ringworm.

Do you remember the first time you listened to the Systems Overload cd on Victory and the demo tracks came on at the end? That shit BLEW MY FUCKING MIND. Literally. I was blown back. And then listening to Those Who Fear Tomorrow. Well, fuck. Mind numbing good. This album IS good, but I think the hype overshadows it for me. My expectations were unfairly raised. Sorry boys.

I will say this, they have some damn fine looking tshirts. Great merch coming out of that camp. Head over to b9 to grab some or paw around on ebay for some recent limited tour gear. I'm sure they had a gem or two at Sound And Fury. Word.

hed pe is apparently "the best hardcore band around!" as seen on amazon.com. Believable? No. Ten Yard Fight once said, "We Know the Truth!"

Here's how I see it. If you have ever been through Boston, you've probably heard WBCN radio. It's located around 104.1 on your old FM dial. Back in the mid 90s, they played the cutting edge in alternative and punk. Lots of Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Green Day, ... whatever was hot and upcoming. Fast forward 15 years later, they still are playing the same (now) stale, fart rock. Seriously, listening to that radio station is like traveling back in time. So much Weezer, Smashing Pumpkins, blah blah blah.

WBCN also LOVES to play Sublime, 311 and that song by Cracker (the about being a stone, NOT being stoned, maaaaan). The connection to HED PE is tenuous, but it is there. You know why? HED PE sounds like a mixture of those 3 bands, at least in my mind. Or maybe they sound like the vibe WBCN puts out when they play those songs, especially when played back to back. Please tell me you know this vibe because it is seriously hard to describe without using one million words.

And somehow, the term "hardcore" keeps getting thrown around. "American Hardcore act (hed) p.e...." How is this hardcore? I don't get it. Or maybe still, they don't get it. It's like when your weird cousin thinks you like jungle or house because you talk about hardcore. "Oh, like happy hardcore, maaaaaan?" No. That's the closest connection hed pe has to hardcore - your weird cousin.

That's it for me. I'm going to listen to Youth Of Today now. Peace.