Top Split 7”, Singles and Demos of 2019

Usually year end lists leave off these sorts of things (maybe not splits but this was a dry year for them, maybe it has been for a while). Below I have compiled some of my favorites, several really stuck out but they are all worth checking out. 

Top split 7”

Reginal Justice Center / Wound Man (Atomic Action Records)

Not a big year for splits or at least ones that hit my radar. I pulled this out from EPs or anything else really because it is two of my favorite current bands crushing out seven songs on one 7” record. If you haven’t checked it out do so straightaway.

Top Singles

Anxious – Promo 2019 (Triple-B Records)

Denzel Curry – I Against I (PH Recordings)

Fake Eyes – Promo 2019 (New Morality Zine)

Members of Magnitude playing some of the best post-hardcore I have ever heard. Their demo last year blew me away and this promo has me so excited for what is next.

Fiddlehead – Get My Mind Right (Run For Cover Records)

Gel - HC For the Freaks / Promo Tape (Self Released)

Mil-Spec – Just Our Imagination (Self Released)

Soul Blind – Promo 2019 (New Morality Zine)

I have most likely listened to this thing fifty times already.

Sunstroke – Fall Risk (New Morality Zine)

Vantage Point – Promo 2019 (Triple B Records)

War By Other Means - The Damage/What It Once Was (The Big Idea Fanzine)

Top Demos

Affront – A Demonstration of An (Self Released)

Band is made up of ex and current members of real deal hardcore bands from Chicago. I was lucky enough to snag the tape in Chicago when I went to see Method of Doubt in October. 

Buggin Out – Demo 2019 (Personal Favorites)

Don’t Trust A Soul – Demo ’19 (Self Released)

End On End – Demo (Dog Years Records/New Morality Zine)

Love & Trust – Demo 2019 (Trip Machine Labs)

This is something I find myself coming back to over and over again already. A band I am really trying to keep my eye on.

Renegade – Demo 2019 (Nuclear Family Records)

Sunami – Demonstration (Viewpoint Records)

Demo of the year, if you don’t agree “your a bitch”.

Victimized Youth – Demo 2019 (Self Released)

Top EPs of 2019

Throughout my entire life as a “hardcore kid” I have heard people talk about how bands can write a great 7” but miss but not a great LP. This year though proved them wrong, a few bands (or artists) are on both the on my best LP and EP lists and a few more will hopefully have LPs out in 2020 that I am incredibly excited for (I’m looking straight at Method Of Doubt, Anxious, Life's Question, One Step Closer and Ekulu). Below is a list of my top EPs of 2019. 

Top EPs

Anxious – Never Better (Triple-B Records)

I saw these guys live last month and I can only imagine it was what it was like to see Saves The Day when they were first starting out. Incredible band.

Colonial Wound – Untitled (Self Released)

Ekulu – Half Alive (Triple-B Records)

Their 7” last year blew me away and this one did too. Only two songs, some may call it a single I feel they hold themselves up so well it’s an EP. If I heard right they have an LP coming out this year and I can only imagine it will be on my top albums of 2020 list.

Get A Grip – Running Out of Time (Criminal Records)

Gumm – Farther Apart (Dog Years Records)

Ian Shelton & Pretty Matty – S/T (Self Released)

Jackal – S/T (Painkiller Records)

Life’s Question - A Tale of Sudden Love and Unforgettable Heartbreak (New Morality Zine)

I saw this band in February and the blew my fucking socks off. Their singer had one of the best vibes while on stage that I’ve ever seen (reminded me of Freddy Madball kinda). Their last two releases are in my opinion perfect, I cannot wait to hear an LP from them.

Low End – Summer Blues (D2B Records)

I saw this band at least 4 times this year, every single fucking time they killed it.

Lurk - Electro-Shock (Pure Noise Records)

Method Of Doubt – Accepting What We Know (I.O.U. Records)

The best release of the year, not just EP but best damn release across the board. Their demo from 2018 was also fucking fantastic. I’ve lucked into a copy of each version of this 7” and if I can track down a test press I’m gonna have to snag it.

Negro Terror – Voice Of Memphis (Chicken Ranch Records)

R.I.P. Omar.

One Step Closer - From Me to You (Triple-B Records)

Band caught me off guard not just musically but with their incredible album art and their strange yet really cool merch ideas. I’m excited for everything they do next.

Physique - The Rhythm of Brutality (Distort Reality)

Protocol – Bloodsport (Dynastic Yellow Star/11 PM Records)

Result Of Choice - Place of My Dreams (Advanced Perspective)

Rule Them All – Dreams About (Flatspot Records)

The Royal Hounds – God Bless The Royal Hounds (Oi! The Boat Records/Contra Records)

Self Defense Family - Performative Guilt (6131 Records)

Sunstroke – Bloom At Night (New Morality Zine)

If it is on New Morality Zine, I will love it. But Sunstroke is the band that of this label. Bloom At Night is a follow up to their debut LP Second Floor / Seven that I still listen to every few weeks. Even with all this other amazing music coming out in the last year.

Trita – Tunguskan (Self Released)

Truth Cult – S/T (Advanced Perspective)

Vantage Point - An Answer You Won't Find (Triple-B Records)

One of the best straight forward hardcore releases I’ve heard in ages. I feel like I don’t hear enough people show these guys some love.

Victory Garden – Madeleine (Self Released)

Top LPs of 2019

Last year was quite the year for music, though for the most part I only paid much attention to hardcore. I had many intentions of staying up with this blog but lost myself in other things beyond just the hours required for my college coursework. Tangible pieces of art, including un-commissioned flyers and a t-shirt design and two issues of two different zines I started this year. The zines took up a majority of the time I would have used to work on the blog, but beyond that I just lived more. Reflection is a constant in the way my mind works but I had more things happening around me that kept me in the now.

The next few posts are the top LPs, EPs, singles and demos of the year in my humble opinion (meaning these are unquestionable facts). Instead of just limiting myself to a particular amount of releases I am going to single out a few. The list is in alphabetical order but a top release will be highlighted and others will be singled out. I begin with a list of the top LPs of 2019.

Top LPs

Abuse of Power – What On Earth Can We Do (Triple-B Records)

Amygdala – Our Voices Will Soar Forever (Prosthetic Records)

The Berries – Berryland (Run For Cover Records)

Bracket - Too Old To Die Young (Fat Wreck Chords)

Ceremony – In The Spirit World Now (Relapse Records)

Ceremony might have put out some records I didn’t click with at the time (post Violence Violence) but ever since the L Shape Man they are back in position of being one of my favorite bands.

Deflect – Mass Delusion (Eighty-Sixed Records)

Fury - Failed Entertainment (Run For Cover Records)

Some of my favorite songs in years are on this record.

Gazm – Heavy Vibe Music (11 PM Records)

Generation – Call It A Life (I.O.U. Records)

This record came out of left field and kept my attention longer than many other records I loved this year.

Inclination – When Fear Turns To Confidence (Pure Noise Records)

Krust – Sex Noises (Self Released)

They could have split up the songs different and had this be a split LP of two different bands. I love the way they did this though, not every song has to sound exactly the same and you can take fucking risks and still be a great hardcore band. I would love to see Krust live.

Magnitude - To Whatever Fateful End (Triple-B Records)

The best hardcore LP of the year and if Mindforce hadn’t put out Excalibur it might be the top 12” of the last decade.

Never Ending Gave – Just Another Day (Triple-B Records)

Physique – The Evolution Of Combat (Distort Reality)

Pretty Matty – S/T (Get Better Records)

The best LP of the year, though it only came out on cassette and I wish it would have had a vinyl 

version.

Seizures - Reverie Of The Revolving Diamond (Sun Terrace Records)

Another Seizures record that I wish had come out on Head2wall Records.

Strange Magic – Unfortunately (Self Released)

I don’t know how this got on my list, I must have been hacked. Ctrl-Alt-Delete these assholes.

TV Crime – Metal Town (Alien Snatch! Records)

Big ups to Demolisten Podcast. Without them I don’t know if I would have ever heard this incredible band.

Wild Side – Who The Hell is Wild Side? (Triple-B Records)