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Austin Texas boils to the top once again with this fast and furious, self described Street Punk(?) featuring members of GREEN JAG, IRON YOUTH (TX) and SAVE OUR CHILDREN, BEYOND STATE POWER gets right to the point with these 6 blistering anarchopunk anthems. Tight drums, gravely vocals that are just fuzzy enough to give them some bite and straightforward, ripping riffs. While not reinventing the wheel by any means, this is distilled punk at its finest; raw, politically charged and short enough to...

Contributed by F.A.R. COMPANY Doing a video promo for Roachy awhile back now I got given a glimpse into upcoming releases coming out on the ever so busy and consistent label from new york (Roachleg Records). In amongst this folder laid a folder called EVIL SPIRIT, ears pricked up like a scrap yard guard dog seeing an intruder on a Friday night when the tracks started to play. The sound quality was already sounding like it came from a boombox running on low batteries, so I was very keen to here ...

If the over the top album title wasn't enough of a big hit, INDUSTRY is finely distilled UK style anarchopunk that is sharp as a knife. Caustic yet clear vocals bark out politically charged lyrics, machine gun drums back tight, cutting guitar riffs and a never too slinky bass tone rounds out this debut from the Berlin based international crew. The second track "Totalitarian Domination" sums it up nicely with the repeated line "Look in the mirror and you will see a self-portrait at the stage of t...

Another Winnipeg, MB "USHC" band. Compared to HUMAN TARGET (who I saw/got a demo from at the same recent Legion show in Montreal), NUCLEAR TARGET seems a bit more "formulaic" when it comes to the self-applied "USHC" label. Which is not bad: the tones are dialed in, the lyrics are simple and hard to decipher (except for "Warhead": "NUCLEAR WARHEADS WERE ALL GONNA DIE"), the singer is some kind of hardcore punk cartoon character, the breakdowns are plodding and almost too slow. They know what they...

"Human target, I'm (on?) the target, you're on the fucking target, this is HUMAN TARGET." That's how the demo tape from this Winnipeg, MB band starts. An intro like that lets you know this is stupid music for stupid people. They were one of a pair of Winnipeg bands that recently played the first show in 10 years at the local legion here. This band self-identifies as "USHC" which might be annoying for some people tired of whatever trend that is, but this band was good. The riffs are stupid, the b...

Contributed by Harry Yams I got reacquainted with iPods right around the pandemic. I was working construction and so many times I would have my headphones in, high-up in a scissor lift, hands in awkward places or covered in something nasty. I would be listening to whatever late 90s / early 2000’s punk and Spotify would be like “oh you like this? Have you heard SCREECHING WEASEL?” It felt like the most punishing co-worker trying to relate musically but missing the mark. “Oh not that? What about ...

Contributed by Greg The Builder I am a furniture builder by trade. I mention this because the use of epoxy (with a Y) has become something of a plague to my craft. I fucking hate epoxy tables. Unoriginal, tacky bullshit. EPOXI (with an I) on the other hand, fucking rules. EPOXI is from Bloomington, IN and the label that put out their tape says they are hardcore that sounds punk and I'm inclined to agree. This is the type of ripping and raging punk I tend to associate with bands from the often ...

Welcome! This website is coming together and this weekend marks the release of the first print issue of The Counterforce print zine. It includes everything published on the site so far and is the first print issue of many more to come. You can print this zine out yourself and distribute it not-for-profit. Start a zine distro in your town or add this issue to an existing distro. Get in touch if you want to contribute something to the site and to be included in the next issue! We would like to se...

Hardcore punk as a mutual aid-based autonomous zone The hardcore punk subculture consists of people, bands, spaces and projects that perpetuate an internationally distributed autonomous zone. It is underground, existing outside the media mainstream of capitalism. Entities within this zone – bands, zines, distributors, promoters, labels, etc. – follow a largely not-for-profit, DIY (Do It Yourself) ethic to achieve common goals, either on the micro level (pulling off a show) or a macro level (the...