Cruel Hand

Cruel Hand are a five-piece hardcore band from Portland, Maine that formed in 2006. Since they began, they've been keeping very active and have certainly set themselves apart with their unique style of hardcore. Their last.fm page puts it best, describing them as "equal parts New York hardcore and west coast thrash". They do still stick to the classic chug of Madball, they go beyond that as they go further into their career. Their intelligible vocals, hard rock attitude, and inclusion of guitar solos are just part of what defines them and has helped them garner such a large fan base that goes beyond hardcore purists. They've worked with labels such as 6131, Triple B, Bridge 9, and Hopeless. Also, if anyone has their Sound and Fury set, please send it to me! Cruel Hand have been requested forever, so here they finally are, enjoy!

FFO: No Warning, Trash Talk, Expire, Backtrack, Bane

Without A Pulse (2007)

1. Without A Pulse

2. Trust Me

3. Fact or Fiction

4. Lack Thereof

5. Severe Character Flaw

6. Crashing Down

7. Nothing Between Us

8. Under The Ice

9. Never Fall

10. The Countdown

Prying Eyes (2008)

1. Above And Below

2. Dead Weight

3. Life In Shambles

4. Begin Descension

5. Motions That Lie

6. Hounds

7. Damaged Goods

8. Heart Failure

9. No Known Graves

10. Prying Eyes

11. House Arrest

12. Wisdom Pain

Life In Shambles (2008)

1. Life In Shambles

2. House Arrest

Cruel Hand (2010)

1. Cruel Hand

2. Still

Lock & Key (2010)

1. Lock & Key

2. Cruel Hand

3. Day Or Darkness

4. Broken Glass

5. Labyrinth

6. One Cold Face

7. Rotations Of Hurt

8. Dismissed

9. Two Fold

10. The Bottom (Of Munjoy Hill)

America's Hardcore (2010)

9. Intro/Face To Face

Vigilant Citizen (2010)

1. Vigilant Citizen

2. Cheap Life

Born Into A Debt, We All Owe A Death (2013)

1. Heat

2. 3's

3. In Time We Strike

The Negatives (2014)

1. Pissing - Spitting

2. Battery Steele

3. Why Would I

4. The Negatives

5. Scars For The Well-Behaved

6. Heat

7. Unhinged - Unraveled

8. Monument Square People

9. Vigilant Citizen

10. Gasoline

11. Still

12. Cheap Life

Your World Won't Listen (2016)

1. Nowhere, Nothing, Never

2. Decompose

3. King

4. Dead Eyes Watching

5. Too Far From That

6. Your World Won't Listen

7. Through With You

8. Deep Six Hole

9. In This Alone

10. Buried Inside

11. Liquid Paper

12. Threes

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Old Scarf Avenue

Band submission. Old Scarf Avenue are a three-piece band from Mount Desert Island, Maine, with members who are about 17 years old, which is always nice to see/hear. These guys are really interesting to me, since every song on this presents a different idea from the last, so it constantly holds my interest, but keep the overall aesthetic similar enough to make it feel consistent. That makes it sound really serious, which isn't quite the case. This EP/demo is simple, but the right kind of simple. The instrumentation is quite bare and straight-forward, but always seems to do the right things at the right time. The lyrics, as basic as they are at times, were really entertaining and enjoyable to read along to it, as well as being relatable.

I'm finding it kind of of hard to lump this into a specific genre, not because it sounds radically original, but because it cleverly blends elements of different types of music into this folk/punk/indie/emo kind of thing, I guess These 6 songs are all great, catchy jams that definitely seem to have quite a bit of replay value, so I highly recommend checking it out, and look out for what they'll be doing next.

FFO: Paul Baribeau, early Tigers Jaw, early Joyce Manor, early The Front Bottoms

Manifest Tibet (2013)

1. TWAWKI

2. Shirt Pocket

3. Worst Of The Worst

4. Clementine

5. dollhouse

6. Splatter Paint

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