The Counterforce - Issue 12

ALBUTEROL - Demo

2026-07-02T19:22:47.000-04:00

Are there any bands named off of medications that don't rock? Please send examples to Counterforce HQ. What we got here is five (5) tracks from the newest medicated hardcore punk outfit outta Atlanta. This is what we in the biz call no-frills hardcore punk. We're not reinventing the wheel here but I will happily sit my ass down and enjoy the bizzaro ride. Emphasis and just playing fast and fun. Yeah we hit an occasional "mosh riff" but who cares, that's not why were here.

The vocals here are unlike your regular styling. A kinda dream like vibe over the fast riffin. Definitely the key element setting this apart in a sea of contenders. Track 3, "Can't Get By" feels like a clear homage to Atlanta's best kept now defunct secret - WARM RED. Intentional or not? Doesn't matter when the riffs are this good.

The first recording outing by this newer project, off to the fucking races with this one. Oh yeah, there's a lyric sheet that looks like a doctors prescription note. Finally, some good fucking news.

Listen here: https://albuterolatl.bandcamp.com/album/demo

DEMO, by Albuterol

5 track album

AlbuterolDay-V

LAMICTAL - Collection

2026-07-01T13:07:24.000-04:00

This tape has no actual title but we're gonna call it "Collection". At the time of release this had all music previously released by LAMICTAL plus a few bonus versions. Orange County California. True freaked out, whacked out punk. Solo project of Alex from the OC's almighty X-ACTO.

20 tracks of that frantic nervous hardcore punk you crave. If the sour patch kids candy started a band, it would sound like this. File this under "Music to drink a lot of soda and rearrange my furniture to". The longest song is under 90 seconds, most under a minute. Within the first ten seconds of track one "Aura" you will either be tossing this tape in the trash or diving head first into this looney tunes ass hardcore. Wacky guitar leads, instruments switching off, freaked out vocals. What driving through LA traffic does to a fool.

I think all the previously released tracks are all recorded with a drum machine. The last seven songs that don't appear elsewhere are all real drums, I think. If I'm wrong just pretend I'm right and let's forget about this. No lyrics insert. Shame. I can assume all the songs are about feeling ~wEiRd~ but come on, lemme read 'em!

Bandcamp - https://lamictal.bandcamp.com/album/lamictal

Hard Pill To Swallow, by Lamictal

4 track album

Lamictaltinman73

Archive.org upload with correct tags and unreleased tracks https://archive.org/details/lamictal-collection

Lamictal - Collection : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Lamictal - Collectioncassette rip of previously unreleased tracks

Internet Archive

DEAF DUMB & BLIND - Demo CS

2026-07-01T13:06:03.000-04:00

Sometime in 2011, somewheres in and around Buffalo, NY, the MALLWAKERS were performing "Ten More Years (of 80s Hardcore)" and it seems it was more like ten and a half or twenty.

Perfectly cromulent, nothing ventured, but nothing beyond the cool little guitar freak out in "Maniacy" that would make me think about DEAF DUMB & BLIND again.

And that should have been the end of the review, but somehow DD&B pulled the tape's closer, "Trapped Inside" out of their fuckin' asses. Scrap the rest of the set and write more like that one.

1.5/6, but goddamn does that 1.5 put in the work.

Listen and judge for yourself here: https://hardcoreheadache.bandcamp.com/album/demo-2

Demo, by DEAF DUMB & BLIND

6 track album

Hardcore Headachebearbowlbreakfast

THE DISILLUSIONED - 3 Song Demo CS

2026-07-01T12:58:10.000-04:00

Fourth tape of the year from NC's HARDCORE HEADACHE label. You'd be forgiven for thinking they're running for Unlawful Assembly, but this quick ripper is the best thing either label's done so far.

Lots of palm muting and little metal deedle-dees, strained vocals, in and out in four minutes, the art is ugly and illegible in the best of ways, big news for all you "Eye For An Eye" fans.

Listen loud here: https://hardcoreheadache.bandcamp.com/album/3-song-demo

3 SONG DEMO, by DISILLUSIONED

3 track album

Hardcore HeadacheB

BIG - Dance Music

2026-07-01T12:04:31.000-04:00

Big yellow cover art, BIG all caps band name. Dance Music? This is already speaking to me. Hardcore punk, leaning more hardcore (non-derogatory). Four piece band outta Oakland. Put this band in a medium sized room. Small stage just big enough to launch off of and don't mic up anything. Throw in some pool noodles to hit each other with, turn the lights on, and now we got some Dance Music.

Track 3 features some real East Bay Ray style riffing in the intro before hitting you with a mid tempo mosher. Vocals screaming at you demanding you to get loose. A hint, a taste, dare I say an influence of screamo vibes here. If those words scare you don't fret. This is still at its core hardcore for people who like to have a good fucking time. Listen to exactly five second long bass and floor tom part in the song "The Muse" and tell me this isn't some Dance Music.

The band proudly claims to have no social media presence. +1. You can text a number for band updates. +1. No lyric insert with the tape. -1. Do the math yourself, the answers the same. This is some good hardcore. From the bandcamp description itself "BUST-A MOVE MUSIC FROM THE BAY AREA'S BEST KEPT SECRET."

Listen here: https://bighc.bandcamp.com/album/dance-music-ep

DANCE MUSIC ep, by BIG

6 track album

BIGthe5thdegree

ANIMATED VIOLENCE - The First 4ish Years

2026-06-25T18:30:50.000-04:00

Compilation tape of two previous releases from Orange County's ANIMATED VIOLENCE. Looney Tunes hardcore punk. The front cover says "1,000 YEARS OF VIOLENCE", the spine says "The first 4ish years", so who knows actually what this release is called. When in doubt go with the spine. Crudely drawn art of someone getting their neck snapped by a blurry pic of Michael Jordan. Perfect.

The first 5 tracks come from the demo tape and simply kinda fucking rock. Fun and furious hardcore, no mosh part pandering or overly distorted instruments. Cool ass riffs and upfront clean vocals. The type of demo you can perfectly place yourself in the middle of the practice space this was recorded in with minimal mics, minimal mixing, and zero re-dos. "Self-Made" is the standout here, starts with playful guitar riff mid tempo riff into a classic guitar and bass switch off to fast part. Come on, I'm simply pumping my fist in ultimate satisfaction.

The second half of this tape comes from a crudely recorded 2024 Tour tape. The drums sound like nonsense. Take that as a compliment or diss, you decide. The Tascam 4-track was putting in work on this batch of tunes. "Super Toys Last All Summer Long" is an all timer. That guitar riff has been stuck in my head ever since I first heard it. Fast punk bands don't play riffs like this and I wish they did, this shit rules. Vocal mix in your face. Props to any hardcore punk bands willing to put vocals forward in a mix and not hide behind reverb and delay like some cowards.

Smoke on the street is there's an LP coming soon from this band. Combine the intensity of the second half of songs, with a slightly better recording quality of the first batch then we got a real deal award winning combo. Refreshing hardcore punk outta California with this one, just what I needed. No lyrics sheet and my tape was snapped and poorly dubbed. -1 points for that. I did some DIY tape surgery and dubbed my own tape from the bandcamp files.

Bandcamp - https://animatedviolence.bandcamp.com/

DEMO, by ANIMATED VIOLENCE

5 track album

ANIMATED VIOLENCEB

Archive.org upload with correct tags and cover art https://archive.org/details/animated-violence-the-first-4ish-years

Animated Violence - The First 4ish Years (2025) : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Animated Violence - The First 4ish Years

Internet Archive

BARREN CANYON - A Virulent Steam

2026-07-04T13:24:05.000-04:00

BARREN CANYON began in 2014 as a self-described "spa metal" project, taking atmospheric black metal and attempting to place it in literally atmospheric context: the hot steam, vapors, and scented smoke of the nordic spa. Twelve years later and our world itself is increasingly resembling the environment of the spa, but with a sinister toxicity and no chance for relief. Whereas the spa could once provide a exhilarating moment of extreme heat in the sauna, or brief and cleansing blanketing of dense steam, we now find ourselves inescapably suffocated by these atmospheric conditions in our daily lives. Healing inclusions like eucalyptus and cedar are replaced with industrial exhaust and forest fire smog. And so, BARREN CANYON has followed this dense atmosphere out of the spa and into the wider world where rather than respite and relaxation, it brings us death and sickness. A Virulent Steam the context and origins of these oppressive atmospheres that our polluting industries and consequent climate change have wrought.

Musically, A Virulent Steam is much more synth-driven than the 2018 release World of Wounds which sounds much closer to a guitar-driven black metal project you'd expect from one of the founders of ENSORCELOR, CIRCLE OF SALT and SPECTRAL WOUND (before he quit and the rest of the band kept playing his songs against his wishes). On A Virulent Steam you can barely hear the guitars (or perhaps you just think you can hear them), instead a synth-heavy influence is draw from contemporary darksynth/synthwave (think of some of the vibier tracks from early PERTURBATOR).

Most atmospheric black metal is best enjoyed cold, being associated with long and dark winters, cold rain, blizzards, the bottom of the ocean, or the vacuum of space. By contrast, A Virulent Steam is meant for the 40 °C humidex heatwave I've been suffering this past week in Montreal, and which it seems we all deign to suffer more year-by-year.

Released by Avant Garde. Listen here: https://avantgardemusic.bandcamp.com/album/a-virulent-steam

A Virulent Steam, by Barren Canyon

5 track album

Avantgarde MusicDave Aftandilian