Reviews: Split with Winter in June and Urotsukidoji
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Les Hommes Du Président
My heart goes to the WINTER IN JUNE sharp hardcore. Doesnt need any other apellation. Sharp, fast, vocals screamed forward with mostly the same intonation, guitare/drums sections always well cadenced. Straight Direct and efficient: In your face! STEEL RULES DIES brings more melodies into this CD but still fast cadenced. I like less their vocals slower and lower. Their melodic hardcore as been many times referenced as the HOT WATER MUSIC one, I have their "A mile A Minute", clearly on the last part, close to RYDELL. In order to situate. At least, I do like the WINTER for their simplicity, and to find lines that catch me that much, its not that easy! (they do have another split, with UROTSUKIDOJI on the same label)
http://www.verydistro.com
A split from two UK bands. Urot. play aggressive screamo-inlfuenced hardcore. Vicious, harsh vocals with blazing fast, melodic rhythms, dark interludes, and dynamic breakdowns. We agreed that they remind of of good, mid/late '90s screamo like Fingerprint and Jasmine. are full of aggression and intelligent harmonies. Winter In June play fast, straight up hardcore with a slightly old school, slightly new school feel to it, comprable to Bane.
Pointing The Finger (#4)
This is another amazing CD I"ve had the pleasure of reviewing. Urotsukidoji kick things off, never heard them before, I think they are from Canterbury. They have these intensely heavy vocals with guitar harmonies that just add to the power of their three tracks. Think Converge with some added American Nightmare speed! Next if W.I.J. I think they sound a lot like Shutdown, which is a good thing, the UK needs some more youth-crew sounding bands. The vocals are screamed out passionately and driven along by a fast paced instrumental attack, and they do have a Schwarzenegger sample! Get in and start pointing those fingers!
Here Be Monsters (#26)
Three tracks each from two upcoming UK bands... and as tends to happen there's a winner and a loser unfortunately. The tongue twisting Urotsukidoji produce a fine line in swirling hardcore, ranging from fast, full in yer face crunchers to a slower more dynamic thumper. Add the damn class vocals and I think the big time awaits. It's a hard act to follow and I don't think Winter In June have matured enough to keep up, sounding naïve and even slightly out of time. Still, the vocalist has a good scream and in time it will all come together I"m sure.
Marianne Hofstetter at Heart Attack (#35)
This label has been putting out some good stuff. This CD is a good introduction to some English screamo / emo bands that I"d never heard before. The vocals are tough and distorted. Lots of tempo and mood changes as you would expect. This has pretty much been a joy to listen to. Maybe not the most original material ever, but still, this is pretty cool.
Unfit For Consumption (#6)
Urotsukidoji... the name thats on everyones lips... or then again, maybe not. I mean, how do you pronounce that after a few pints? Anyway they beat the living daylights out of their instruments, bringing on a Converge style battering. Its crushing and intense, like a wall of power and the vocals are incredibly harsh. Winter in June on the other hand play classic sounding hardcore sort of like Bane. They"re tight and rhythmic and know exactly when to write the breakdowns into the songs. They open with a cool "Predator" sample. Two very different sounding bands from South East England waving the flag of hardcore. Great contrast of styles. (TM)
Joost van Ingen at Inside Knowledge (#5)
I really like this record. It has got something of everything. From very melodic, to quite brutal. The Unpronounceable Urotsukidoji bring brutal emometallic hardcore. Therefore Winter in June bring back the oldschool fast and furious. With the speed of bands like Stretch Arm Strong and American Nightmare, WIJ brings a powerful tirade of oldschool lyrics with complete devotion..! A great album, a must have for everybody..!
UK Base (http://www.ukbase.org.uk)
6 song split, 3 each from Urotsukidoji who are based in Kent and 3 from Winter In June who I saw supporting Nine recently and impressed me heaps. First up is Urotsukidoji which I think comes from some Asian comic strip or something like that. Well all I can say about this is if your a person that was a little pissed off about Grade's change in direction this band will heal your scars. All three songs on here are in the style of 'Separate The Magnets' great heavy post hardcore meets metallic riffs, with harsh vocals, infact the vocals throw you as you would expect the music to go with them to be super fast but the vocals work real well and now and again there are some good back up vocals as well, though I'm still not sure about the 'woah hos' on Fly The Coop. This is Grade with the energy of a straight edge band, if you listen carefully you'll see just how good the guitar work is as there some magnificent lead work going of on this. Great band that I will be looking out for from now on. Next up Winter In June who I've now developed a soft spot for, the first two tracks on here though seem a little older than the material I heard live or maybe they have change slightly as this was recorded in July of 2001, but this is almost straight up SXE, similar to early Bold meets Chain Of Strength, but with slower more Screamo parts blended in, great stuff though with some good metallic riffs thrown in for good measure. Unlike the bands of yesterday Winter In June's songs aren't 2 minutes sprints but 4 minutes marathons..well in this type of music that's a long time. The third song reflects their recent live performance, with a large lean towards the Screamo side of their influences, and this is my favorite song on here as like Urosukidoji, the Winter In June guitarist is given a wider range of riffs to work with. Both bands on here are top notch, Urotsukidoji probably have the upper hand on this release, but you'd better watch out for Winter In June as I know from personal experience that they have more than made up the gap.
Rich T at Small Sailor (#10)
I heard this for the first time yesterday at work and now reading the press release which comes with it I have realised, for the first time there are two bands here, rather than just the one! After a good second listen, and having got past the 3 weaker songs I have discovered Winter in June... a good, tight, melodic, emo band with tough heavy vocals. Urotsukidoji sound very similar (hence the original mix up), but lack the tightness and vocal impact which I found with Winter. Six tracks in total and overall a good release.
Past And Present 2001 (http://www.geocities.com/pastandpresent2001)
The reason why I felt a little excitement when this disc ended up in my mailbox was the fact that I had heard a Winter In June song on a label-sampler the month before (yeah, the one reviewed last month) that I loved. So you can imagine that getting to hear a little more material from the guys was a treat, and they didn't let me down one bit. It's the same original but yet brutal hardcore with the occasional metal-influence thrown in that is present here, and it is definitely something any fan of true metalcore should be into. The other band on this disc has the worst band name in the history of music. They"re called Urotsukidoji, yeah, that's right, Urotsukidoji. I mean, come on, what kind of name is that? Even their fans probably have problems spelling it. Anyways, the music is pretty good. They"re going in kind of the same direction as Winter In June with a brutal-sounding hardcore mix. I don't find them quite as convincing in their approach as Winter In June, but they"re a band that fans of hardcore should be taking very seriously nonetheless. A new generation of UK-hardcore is rising, and Ignition Records are lucky enough to, at least, have two of the bands to watch out for under their wings.
Woys (http://www.woys.com/florian/)
Here are two very extremely talented bands from the UK hardcore scene. The first band, named Urotsukidoji, reminds me a lot of Zao. This is awsome because my favourite all time band is Zao, so you can guess that I love this band a lot. Urotsukidoji play a mixture of hardcore and metal. There's the heaviness of metal, the grooves and break downs of hardcore with intelligent harmonies. You better check them out to see what is all about. The second band is Winter In June. You can expect lots of solid, strong beats and rhythms in the songs. The sound is a combination between Bane and Boy Sets Fire. Very cool mixture, so of course this band shreds.
