Botch

Botch were a four-piece hardcore/metalcore band from Tacoma, Washington that formed in 1993 and broke up in 2002. They are considered to be one of the most important and influential bands in "mathcore", which is basically a really technical form of hardcore with a lot of odd time signatures and other progressive shit. A lot of their influence can be credited to their magnum opus, 1999's We Are The Romans.

This was their second and final full-length, and it's the type of album to knock you on your ass. Very few albums capture the level of intensity that Botch brought on this. The riffs are very intricate but still definitive, they're heavy as hell, and the instrumentation is tied so tightly together that even the most technically complex passages seem to flow smoothly, while still hitting hard. The performances here are clearly far from rehearsal. The band is fully equip to devastate, displaying some incredible musicianship and tightness within the group. This isn't all that shocking, considering this group of fantastic musicians all would go on to be a part of other incredible and well-known bands such as Minus The Bear, These Arms Are Snakes, and Russian Circles. The vocals bellow with ferocity churning out very interpretative lyrics that can be taken as either a personal catharsis or a social commentary. We Are The Romans is an absolute classic, and an essential listen within the realms of hardcore and metalcore.

Of course I can't let the remainder of their discography go unnoticed, since it's solid all around. There's a few things to note about the releases down below. The first is their debut LP, American Nervoso in 1998. The version below is a remastered version from 2007 that includes demos and such. The same goes for We Came The Romans, which was also remastered in 2007 and included a bonus disc of demos. The EP An Anthology Of Dead Ends was their final recorded material, released just after the band broke up in 2002. Unifying Themes Redux is a reissue of a compilation they put out in 1997, The Unifying Themes Of Sex, Death and Religion. The original featured all the songs on their two released EP's. The reissue features the same songs, plus all their material put out on splits, as well as some unreleased stuff. Finally, 061502 is a live album that was recorded at their last show (take a wild guess at the date). That's about it really, Botch are a phenomenal band, and one of aggressive music's best outputs. Enjoy.

American Nervoso (1998)

1. Hutton's Great Heat Engine

2. John Woo

3. Dali's Praying Mantis

4. Dead For A Minute

5. Oma

6. Thank God For Worker Bees

7. Rejection Spoken Softly

8. Spitting Black

9. Hives

Bonus Disc (2007)

1. Stupid Me

2. Spitting Black (Extended Version)

3. Hutton's Great Heat Engine (Demo)

4. Rejection Spoken Softly (Demo)

5. John Woo (Demo)

We Are The Romans (1999)

1. To Our Friends In The Great White North

2. Mondrian Was A Liar

3. Transitions From Persona To Object

4. Swimming the Channel Vs. Driving the Chunnel

5. C. Thomas Howell As the "Soul Man"

6. Saint Matthew Returns to the Womb

7. Frequency Ass Bandit

8. I Wanna Be a Sex Symbol On My Own Terms

9. Man the Ramparts

10. Thank God for Worker Bees (Remix)

Bonus Disc (2007)

1. To Our Friends In The Great White North (Demo)

2. I Wanna Be A Sex Symbol On My Own Terms (Demo)

3. Transitions From Persona To Object (Demo)

4. Mondrian Was A Liar (Demo)

5. Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb (Demo)

6. C. Thomas Howell As The Soul Man (Demo)

7. Man The Ramparts (Demo)

8. Saint Matthew Returns To The Womb (Live In Seattle 4-21-01)

9. Vietmam (Live In Seattle 4-21-01)

10. Transitions From Persona To Object (Live In France 11-11-99)

11. Hutton's Great Heat Engine (Live In France 11-11-99)

An Anthology Of Dead Ends (2002)

1. Spaim

2. Japam

3. Framce

4. Vietmam

5. Afghantisam

6. Micaragua

Unifying Themes Redux (2002)
1. God Vs Science

2. Third Part In A Tragedy

3. Inch By Inch

4. The Opera Song

5. Closure

6. Contraction

7. Ebb

8. Stupid Me

9. In Spite Of This

10. End Of Discussion

11. Wounded

12. Liquored Up And Laid

13. Leavers Take On Genesis

14. The Lobster Song

15. Frequenting Mass Transit

16. Sudam

17. Untitled

061502 (2006)

1. St. Thomas Returns To The Womb

2. C. Thomas Howell As The "Soul Man"

3. John Woo

4. Japam

5. Oma

6. Frequency Ass Bandit

7. Thank God For The Worker Bees

8. Framce

9. Third Part In A Tragedy

10. Rock Lobster

11. Transitions From Persona To Object

12. To Our Friends In The Great White North

13. Hutton's Great Heat Engine

14. Man The Ramparts

One Twenty Two (2022)

1. One Twenty Two

We Were Skeletons

We Were Skeletons were a three-piece screamo/post-hardcore band from Lancaster, Pennsylvania that formed in 2007 and ended in 2013. They're equal parts aggressive and technical, and recall great bands like Hot Cross, Off Minor, and Fugazi. Their earliest works are quite chaotic and explosive, with frenzied guitars and vocals tearing over each other. By their final (and arguably definitive) LP Blame & Aging, We Were Skeletons had established themselves as one of the best screamo bands around. Their dark sound, angular chords and rhythms, blend of dissonance and melody, and tightness as a band had peaked, and the results are incredible. It's one of the decade's best output in terms of screamo, post-hardcore, whatever you want to call it. They were an amazing band, and thankfully put out a decent chunk of music to enjoy for years to come. Enjoy.

Summers (2008)

1. Accusations

2. Organs

3. Passions

4. Mistakes

5. Sewers

6. Naked As We Came (Iron & Wine cover)

7. Gravesites

8. Floorboards

9. Friends

10. Chemistries

Ryan Oatman (2009)

1. 99% Of The Time The Wolves Eat The Children

2. Who Are These Children And Why Are They Calling Me Their Mother?

3. I Am Orchid

4. Merchandise (Fugazi cover)

We Were Skeletons (2010)

1. Drawn From The House I've Burnt

2. Exposure To Heavy Metal Causes Whatever

3. Pudge Paws

4. It's Like Science

5. Kids

6. Her Stomach Is A Lioness

7. Bruce Willis Is Dead The Whole Time

8. This Destroys Us

9. Well, I Did Spend A Whole Year In College

4-Way Split (2011)

1. Florence & Libby - That's Where The Feathers Came From

2. Florence & Libby - Sunrise, Atlantic

3. Florence & Libby - Worth The Drive

4. Florence & Libby - These Days

5. Florence & Libby - Eggplant Caponata

6. Kids - Tony "Rocky Horror"

7. Kids - Crow Hobble (I Got This)

8. Kids - 24

9. Kids - I'm Sorry I'm A Creepy Fuck

10. Kids - Life Is A Grave, Dig It

11. Kids - My Man, The Girl

12. Kids - Our Backlash To The PC Hysteria Is Not A Fucking Joke

13. We Were Skeletons - Moleman Punched A Cop

14. We Were Skeletons - Weekend At Molemans, Pt. 2

15. Paxton - My Fallback Career As A Professional Wrestling Referee

16. Paxton - Tecmo Superbowl

17. Paxton - Caribou Queen

18. Paxton - Positive Life Choices

We Were Skeletons/мища (2011)

1. We Were Skeletons - Wolves

2. We Were Skeletons - The Ghost Of Jean Glam

3. мища  - A Midwinter Night's Dream

4. мища - ...At Least We Got Capri Suns

The Saddest Landscape/We Were Skeletons (2011)

1. The Saddest Landscape - Shifting My Clarity

2. We Were Skeletons - No Funeral

3. We Were Skeletons - Medication

European Tour Tape (2012)

1. Wolves

2. The Ghost Of Jean Glam

3. No Funeral/Medication

4. Moleman Punched A Cop

5. Weekend At Molemans, Pt. 2

6. Who Are All Of These Children And WhyAre They Calling Me Their Mother?

7. Summerholidays vs Punk Routine (Refused cover)

8. Dead Things

9. Merchandise (Fugazi cover)

Blame & Aging (2012)

1. Ruined/Wasted

2. Long Night

3. King Of Tricks

4. The Buried Seat

5. Blood Tongue

6. Disease Artist

7. End All Suffering

8. Blame & Aging

9. Appear, Disappear

10. Slow Death

11. Tremors

12. Pain Is Not The Cleanser

13. Haunting The Ghost

Bandcamp

Alexisonfire

There's a few things to mention before we get into this band: first off, this will be Sophie's 500th post. Holy shit, I did not expect it to have kept going for this long. As always, I hope you've all found something you've enjoyed in this increasingly expansive catalog of free shiz. Also, a long-time frequenter of this blog is celebrating their birthday today actually it was yesterday, I'm a little late getting this post up (Happy belated Birthday Anthony), and he requested this band. I can't say no to that, plus this band is perfectly fitting to celebrate numero 500. Enjoy.

Alexisonfire are a five-piece post-hardcore band from Saint Catherines, Ontario, that formed in 2001. They called it quits in 2011, when Dallas Green (vocalist/guitarist) left to focus on his solo project City and Colour, and Wade MacNeil (guitarist/vocalist) became the lead singer for Gallows. However. they reunited the following year to embark on a farewell world tour, and played their "final show" on December 30, 2012 at Copps Coliseum in Hamilton. The band announced their return in 2015, with a headlining set at Riot Fest. Though they're not as active as they once were, they will be doing a handful of shows in Australia in 2017, so in some capacity Alexisonfire are in fact, back again.

To contextualize Alexisonfire's influence, they emerged in the new millennia, following a decade long build-up of post-hardcore in the underground. A ton of bands were pushing the envelope on traditional punk and hardcore, including more dynamics, more melody, and sometimes even more aggression. They got experimental, incorporating off-kilter rhythms and chord structures, and essentially whatever the hell else they wanted. This culminated in Refused's The Shape Of Punk To Come, which title says it all. This evolving sound broke loose at the turn of the century, when a ton of new, up-and-coming bands rode this new wave of post-hardcore. The production was cleaner, the songs had more hooks, so much so that they actually made it into the semi-mainstream. Bands like Thursday, Thrice, Glassjaw, as well as Alexisonfire can all be credited for exposing an entire new generation of people to post-hardcore.

Up here in Kanada, Alexisonfire were incredibly popular, especially around Watch Out! and Crisis. A small personal anecdote here, but I first heard "Accidents" when I was 9. That was my first exposure to any form of "aggressive" or "extreme" music, and it's obviously come a long way since then. I suppose their popular appeal isn't much of a surprise. The blend of George's howls and Dallas' VERY catchy and melodic choruses are infectious. The band not only brought an uninhibited energy, but some legitimately good songwriting. They've got the best of both worlds, so to speak. In addition, they never put out a bad album. All four of their full-lengths are fantastic (my personal favourite is their debut), and are an absolute essential for post-hardcore fans. There are some things missing from this discography, most notably some live stuff. If anyone has that, or anything else I don't, please feel free to send it to me so I can add it. Otherwise, here's the majority of their discography. Enjoy.

Math Sheets Demo (2002)

1. The Philosophical Significance Of Shooting My Sister In The Face: An Essay By James Secord

2. Counterparts And Number Them

3. Little Girls Pointing And Laughing

Pink Heart Skull Sampler (2002)

1. .44 Caliber Love Letter

2. A Dagger Through The Heart Of St. Angeles

Alexisonfire (2002)

1. .44 Caliber Love Letter

2. Counterparts And Number Them

3. Adelleda

4. A Dagger Through The Heart Of St. Angeles

5. Polaroids Of Polar Bears

6. Waterwings (And Other Poolside Fashion Faux Pas)

7. Where No One Knows

8. The Kennedy Curse

9. Jubella

10. Little Girls Pointing And Laughing

11. Pulmonary Archery

The Bled/Alexisonfire (2004)

1. The Bled - Ruth Buzzi Better Watch Her Back

2. Alexisonfire - Counter Parts And Number Them

Brown Heart Skull Sampler (2004)

1. Sharks And Danger (Demo Version)

2. Get Fighted (Demo Version)

Watch Out! (2004)

1. Accidents

2. Control

3. It Was Fear of Myself That Made Me Odd

4. Side Walk When She Walks

5. Hey, It's Your Funeral Mama

6. No Transitory

7. Sharks And Danger

8. That Girl Possessed

9. White Devil

10. Get Fighted

11. Happiness By The Kilowatt

The Switcheroo Series: Alexisonfire vs. Moneen (2005)

1. Alexisonfire - Passing Out In America (Moneen cover)

2. Alexisonfire - Tonight I'm Going To Wash The Hippy (Moneen cover)

3. Moneen - Accidents Are On Purpose (Alexisonfire cover)

4. Moneen - Sharks In Danger (Alexisonfire cover)

5. Moneen - Bleed And Blister (Version 2)

6. Alexisonfire - Charlie Sheen vs. Henry Rollins

Crisis (2006)

1. Drunks Lovers Sinners And Saints

2. This Could Be Anywhere In The World

3. Mailbox Arson

4. Boiled Frogs

5. We Are The Sound

6. You Burn First

7. We Are The End

8. Crisis

9. Keep It On Wax

10. To A Friend

11. Rough Hands

Crisis Bonus Tracks (2006)

1. Thrones

2. My God Is A Reasonable Man

Old Crows / Young Cardinals (2009)

1. Old Crows

2. Young Cardinals

3. Sons Of Privilege

4.Born And Raised

5. No Rest

6. The Northern

7. Midnight Regulations

8. Emerald Street

9. Heading For The Sun

10. Accept Crime

11. Burial

Old Crows / Young Cardinals Bonus Tracks (2009)

1. Two Sisters

2. Wayfarer Youth

Dog's Blood (2010)

1. Dog's Blood

2. Grey

3. Black As Jet

4. Vex

Australian Weekend EP (2010)

1. The Northern (Acoustic) (Triple J Radio)

2. I'm Stranded (Acoustic) (Triple J Radio)

3. Old Crows (Live @ Soundwave)

4. Young Cardinals (Live @ Soundwave)

5. This Could Be Anywhere In The World (Live @ Soundwave)

Aussie Tour 7" (2011)

1. The Dead Heart (Midnight Oil cover)

Death Letter EP (2012)

1. Born And Raised

2. Midnight Regulations

3. You Burn First

4. Accept Crime

5. Burial

6. Happiness By The Kilowatt

Live At Copps (2016)

1. Young Cardinals

2. Boiled Frogs

3. Heading For The Sun

4. .44 Caliber Love Letter

5. Drunks, Lovers, Sinners And Saints

6. No Transitory

7. Crisis

8. Rough Hands

9. Charlie Sheen vs. Henry Rollins

10. Born And Raised

11. Waterwings

12. You Burn First

13. We Are The Sound

14. Keep It On Wax

15. Accept Crime

16. Malibox Arson

17. Get Fighted

18. Old Crows

19. The Northern

20. Dog's Blood

21. Accidents

22. Pulmonary Archery

23. This Could Be Anywhere In The World

24. Happiness By The Kilowatt

Otherness (2022)
1. Committed To The Con

2. Sweet Dreams Of Otherness

3. Sans Soleil

4. Conditional Love

5. Blue Spade

6. Dark Night Of The Soul

7. Mistaken Information

8. Survivor's Guilt

9. Reverse the Curse

10. World Stops Turning

Cerce

Cerce are a five-piece hardcore band from Boston, Massachusetts that formed in 2011 and broke up in 2013. They played a very raw and energetic form of punk, that was mixed in with a lot of noisy and chaotic elements. Each song is a loaded burst of aggression that takes off as quickly as it ends. The band knocks out a ton of heavy, feedback-fueled riffs topped by these screeching, charismatic female vocals. A notable comparison that tends to be drawn is to Punch, which definitely makes sense; however Cerce at their best are really in their own element. In my personal opinion they put out some of the best hardcore in the past few years, particularly their self-titled EP, which is particularly incredible. They unfortunately didn't last very long though. When they broke up, most of the members started another band called lovechild, while their vocalist went on to start Sisterwives. Enjoy.

Teen Bible (2011)

1. P.O.N.X.

2. How To Be A Woman

3. Love, Alaska Young

4. Something About A Broken Heart

Cerce//leer. (2012)

1. Cerce - D.I.D.

2. Cerce - Direct Tribute I

3. Cerce - Direct Tribute II

4. leer. - Statler

5. leer. - And

6. leer. - Waldorf

Tour Sampler CD-R (2012)

1. Weary

2. Choices

3. D.I.D.

4. Direct Tribute I

5. Direct Tribute II

Cerce (2012)

1. Mare

2. Weary

3. Choices

4. Concussion

5. Libel

6. Fornication

An Miracle (2012)

1. I Kill Giants - (Feelin' Kinda) Weary

2. I Kill Giants - (Positive) Choices

3. Cerce - L.I.F.E. (Life Instead Of Sleep)

4. Cerce - S.L.E.E.P. (Sleep Instead Of Life)

Cerce/Stresscase (2013)

1. Cerce - Damaged Goods

2. Cerce - Intrusions

3. Cerce - Blossom

4. Stresscase - Lonely Leech

5. Stresscase - In Her Eyes

6. Stresscase - Instrumental

7. Stresscase - Shallow Gasps

Adieux (2014)

1. Untitled 1

2. Love Song

3. Slowdance

4. Untitled 2

5. Replacement Parts

6. Untitled 3

7. Surface Area

8. Sistine Chapel

9. Untitled 4

10. Life Etiquette

11. Blocked Out

12. Untitled 5

13. Harsh Consonants

14. Semblance

15. Ides of March

Cowboy Music (2021)

1. Back From The Dead

2. Fate

3. Baby Teeth

4. Kill Me

5. Ghosts

6. Bats

7. Dreary

8. Blood For You

9. Begging For Death

10. Pink Rose

11. Worthless Cheaters

Bandcamp

Crossed Out

Crossed Out were a four-piece powerviolence band from Encinitas, California that were around from 1990 to 1993. They put a few 7"'s and splits with some other incredible bands, including Dropdead and Man Is The Bastard. Crossed Out themselves are up there with them as well as a classic, essential powerviolence band. In 1999, their discography was released titled 1990-1993. like any good PV band should be, they're blisteringly fast, their vocals are shouted manically, and they push hardcore punk into a whole new territory. Their discography is an essential for the genre, and a gruellingly intense 45-minute listen. Enjoy.

1990-1993 (1999)

1. Internal

2. He-man

3. Locked In

4. Fraud

5. Crown Of Thorns

6. Force Of Habit

7. Crutch

8. Supremacy

9. Ulcer

10. Neglect

11. Suffocate

12. Selfserve

13. Homegrown

14. Crown Of Thorns

15. Internal

16. Practice Hatred

17. Pure Delusion

18. Society

19. Lowlife

20. Scapegoat

21. Vacuum

22. No Truth (Christ On Parade)

23. Fraud (Demo)

24. Letch (Demo)

25. Never Forget (Demo)

26. He-man (Demo)

27. Suicide Of The Species (Demo)

28. Selfish Achiever (Demo)

29. Advice? (Demo)

30. Locked In (Live)

31. Fraud (Live)

32. Ulcer (Live)

33. He-man (Live)

34. Internal (Live)

35. Suffocate (Live)

36. Supremacy (Live)

37. Force Of Habit (Live)

38. Homegrown (Live)

39. Selfserve (Live)

40. Crown of Thorns (Live)

41. Neglect (Live)

42. Jihad

43. Protester

44. Pure Delusion (Live)

45. Lowlife (Live)

46. Nightstalker (Live)

47. Practice Hatred (Live)

La Quiete

La Quiete are a five-piece screamo band from Forli, Italy that formed in 2000 and are surprisingly still around now. though they haven't released anything since 2008. Their name should be already known to most, since they're one of the biggest screamo bands to emerge this century. They also share members with another very noteworthy Italian band, which is of course Raein. A few notes on their discography: they've only released one LP, which came out in 2004. It's a skramz essential, so don't pass that up. Between 2001 and 2005, they released a slew of splits and such, all of which are compiled on Tenpeun. Two self-titled 7"'s followed, both of which are included on 2006-2009. The splits with Louise Cyphre and Phoenix Bodies weren't included on any compilation, so I included the actual splits down below. La Quiete are a defining band for European screamo/hardcore, and simply one of the best bands in their genre, so enjoy.

La Fine Non È La Fine (2004)

1. Raid Aereo Nel Paese Delle Farfalle

2. Metempsicosi Del Fine Ultimo: Nevrastenica Oscillazione Fra Poli Estremi

3. Notte Dei Cristalli A Rue Des Trois-Frères

4. Ciò Che Non Siamo, Ciò Che Non Vogliamo

5. Il Destino Di Un Ombrello

6. Super Omega

7. Merce Cunningham

8. Uncaged

9. La Fine Non È La Fine

La Quiete/Louise Cyphre (2005)

1. La Quiete - Fai finta di non girarti

2. La Quiete - Cosmonauta Gigarin, non volarti indietro

3. La Quiete - Tutto Lasciato A Meta

4. La Quiete - Al citofono era Anthony Hopkins

5. Louise Cyphre - Revolver AKA Schall und Rauch

6. Louise Cyphre - For those about to destroy pigs

7. Louise Cyphre - In the end... everyone dies alone

8. Louise Cyphre - Your punk rock, our friendship

9. Louise Cyphre - Felicità

Tenpeun 01.05 (2006)

1. Mandorle Amare Al Traguardo Della Mille Miglia

2. Greyskull

3.  Musica Per Un Giardino Segreto #3

4. Lettere Che Avevo Intenzione Di Scivere

5. Fobbeo

6. Fiori Neri Per Ilich

7. Musica Per Un Giardino Segreto #1

8. *

9. Teorma Di Peters

10. Helas

11. Ai Bambini Occorre Educazione

12. La Maestra Non Sa Che Illich Mi Ha Parlato Del Programma Occulto

13. Istruzioni Sul Funzionamento Della Macchina Di Arthur

14. Che Tu Sia Per Me Il Coltello

15. Riflessioni Sul Peccato

16. La Parte Sinistra Del Corpo

17. Mancanza Di Originalità

18. Una Vita Veloce

19. Alle Foglie

Phoenix Bodies/La Quiete (2008)

1. Phoenix Bodies - Get A Job

2. La Quiete - Animali De Fede E Di Memoria

2006-2009 (2009)

1. Sulla Differenza Fra Un Sorriso E Una Risata

2. Giugno

3. Era Questa La Mia Prigione Di Carte?

4. Cosa Sei Dispoto A Perdere

5. Musica Per Un Giardino Segreto #4

6. Le Conseguenze Di Un Abbraccio

7. Gemelli Siamesi