Excessive Force - In Your Blood (1995)

Excessive Force was active in the mid-90s and was the project of Dan Gump, founder of Life Sentence Records (XLifeSentenceX in the 90s). My friends and I came across them sometime around in the 7th grade when we were all getting into weird, loud music with screaming that our sometimes concerned parents nevertheless viewed as an unthreatening, youthful fad. Little did they know. In Your Blood opens with 'Those Who Were,' the extended instrumental opening to which contains drumming that essentially single-handedly inspired me to start playing drums. In retrospect it isn't 'unbelieveable' or anything like that, but over the last 16 years this album has held up better than most metallic hardcore from the 90s. It still sounds pretty damn good, especially I think in the guitar tone, and the album throughout has its moments of rage that still raise the pulse. Rounding out the whole endeavor is a surprisingly mature sense of dark melody that introduces atmosphere and emotion to a genre of music that is prone to being light on the dynamics and melody. Also, it doesn't take long to notice that these guys were militantly straight edge to a perhaps uncomfortable degree, but if anything that just lends credibility to the band's vitriol. Don't miss the extensive but rad use of gang vocals on 'No Excuses.'

DL

Extinction - Hypocrisy Breeds Traitors

Extinction, from Chicago and active in the 90s, played beefy but surprisingly pissed hardcore with a metallic edge, falling somewhere between early Hatebreed and Integrity, amongst other great Victory bands from the mid to late 90s. Extinction themselves weren't on Victory, though members have gone on to do big things in a surprising array of bands, from Fallout Boy (wtf?) to Suicide File and The Hope Conspiracy. If you listen to one song on Hypocrisy Breeds Traitors it should be Replica. That song was posted on plus/minus records' website when I was in 8th or 9th grade and my friends and I would listen to it repeatedly. It's oddly catchy for having a minimum amount of melody. I'll also add that I really like how the drums sound on the recordings, especially the snare. Yeah.

DL