Back catalogue: Punk/Hardcore

Review: The ultimate sleeper hit, All We Know Is Falling was the great almost for Paramore, the Tennessee emo outfit who would go on to huge things, just not as an immediate result of this album. Having recorded the emotionally charged guitar anthems that make up the record in Florida, the group were advised to allow word of mouth do its thing and slowly build a cult following.

In some ways it was shrewd - they now have a lot of loyal disciples - from other perspectives it wasn't, with this outing failing to enter the Billboard 200 chart when it was released in 2005. Skip forward to 2014, though, and thanks to the success Paramore became, and the blessing of fans looking into their back catalogue, All We Know Is Falling was certified gold in the US having already achieved that coveted status in the UK a few years earlier. Which makes perfect sense given this is benchmark setting stuff for the genre.

Review: Parkway Drive are huge metal stars from Aus and this is the band's 20th anniversary. Winston McCall (vocals), Luke Kilpatrick (guitar), Jeff Ling(guitar), Jia O'Connor (bass), and Ben Gordon (drums) are marking the occasion by making their Don't Close Your Eyes album available for the first time ever on vinyl. The eight original tunes re included as well as some bonus cuts from their split record with I Killed The Prom Queen and compilation albums What We've Built and True Til Death, Volume 1. Several versions of this one are out there and this is a limited edition gatefold with translucent gold vinyl so is not to be sniffed at for fans old or new.

Review: Back in 1999, four years before the release of what many perceive to be the self-titled debut full-length from Canadian post-hardcore heroes Billy Talent, the band first released Watoosh! under their original moniker of Pezz (which they subsequently changed after running into legal trouble). Whilst receiving a CD re-release in 2005 via Atlantic Records, the album has never been made available on vinyl until now. Remastered by Harry Hess at HBomb Mastering and distributed by longstanding Canadian punk label Dine Alone (home to the likes of Alexisonfire and City & Colour), the newly revitalised tracks bear all the trademarks of the band's eccentric yet gnarly approach to punk with a notably less reliant focus on instantaneous hooks prevalent in their major label latter days. While the multiple blank tracks of silence have naturally been omitted for the wax pressing, the one instrumental piece "Track 13" remains as the re-titled 'Organ Interlude' before closing with the blistering cover of The Tragically Hip's 'New Orleans Is Sinking'.

Review: Pinhead Gunpowder started out as a recording project only back in the 90s. Bt the band soon realised they had a fully formed sound that translated well, as evidenced by this 1997 album Goodbye Ellston Avenue. It's a record that takes cues from brands like The Big Cats and Green Day but with their own fresh influences. It originally came on Lookout Records and for this one has been recut at 45rpm on limited edition and coloured vinyl. This is the first part on a multi-phase and ongoing reissue project across 2022 so fans should keep their eyes peeled for more.

Review: Returning with their first new music in 16 years, Unt is the latest (comeback?) album from lesser-known true punk lifers Pinhead Gunpowder. Often perceived as the side-project of Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong, real ones will be quick to let you know that the first incarnation of the band back in the early 90s didn't even feature the songsmith, who would join during their second reformation, as they were never truly a band with a direct mission statement or cohesive through-line. In other words, they were about as punk as you can get in terms of ethos, camaraderie and disorganisation before even touching on the music. Having last performed live together at a benefit show at 924 Gilman Street in Berkeley, California on February 12, 2010, while more than a full decade would pass until all of their previous albums were reissued on vinyl in 2021, all of these moving pieces (many of which took shape during the COVID lockdowns) have seemingly been in service of their true return with Unt. As Armstrong confessed in a recent interview - "We haven't really made any plans outside of making an album - except for some fantasies about maybe doing some touring", it appears the pinheads haven't lost one iota of lackadaisical uncertainty, while this half-hour of frenetic punk-popcore reassures they haven't missed a sonic (d)beat either.

Review: Aussie metalcore crew Polaris dropped their influential debut album The Mortal Coil back in 2017 and seven years on it has aged well and is still regarded as a classic with fans. As such it gets a reissue via Sharptone on limited clear white & blue splattered vinyl and includes an insert. It is a wild and visceral ride through some thrash metal chords, intense drums and guttural vocals that raise utter hell and come at you in waves of larger-than-life sound. Essentially it is as good as metalcore gets with catchy melodic choruses and heavy riffs and screams.

Review: Returning from a near-decade long hiatus with their first album in eight years, At Peace marks the eighth full-length from Manitoba punk heroes Propagandhi, serving as their follow up to 2017's Victory Lap. Channelling an anti-fascist ethos of skate punk meets thrashcore since 1986, their latest effort showcases a band doing their utmost to come to terms with the despondency they've been warning about since their inception. Recorded shortly before the re-election of Donald Trump and his assertion that the band's home country of Canada become the U.S.'s 51st State, the messaging here is as earnest and vital as ever, yet admittedly more worn out and exhausted following three decades of the same oppressive system, with vocalist Chris Hannah somewhat accepting defeat and altering what we can about our outlook - "Now it's the existential dread of eking out a life worth living in this completely failed society."

Review: Hailing from The Gret White North's Toronto, PUP (Pathetic Use of Potential) are your favourite current punk band's favourite current punk band. Originally formed in 2010, the past decade and a half has seen the group deliver one consistent album of bangers after the next, with their new fifth full-length Who Will Look After The Dogs? arriving three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand, proving that prior titular statement to be mistaken information. Expanding their sonics as far as their musical palettes, the LP showcases the debaucherous yet earnest Canadian troubadours pulling simultaneously from both more radio-centric college rock as well as more intense hardcore this time around, while modern punk legend (and once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin) Jeff Rosenstock makes a standout appearance on the latest single 'Get Dumber'. Gritty, melodic, and sincere, all within the same breath (or verse), it's a tough year for any punk band to compete whenever PUP rear their grimy head.

Review: Toronto's PUP are your favourite modern punk band's favourite modern punk band. Over the past decade, they've delivered one consistent album of bangers after the next, and now they return three years on from 2022's The Unraveling Of PUPTheBand to prove that title as mistaken information. Who Will Look After The Dogs? serves as the fifth full-length from the debaucherous yet heartfelt Canadians, stretching their sonics as far as their palettes, pulling from both more radio-centric college rock and simultaneously much heavier hardcore this time around, while once Bomb The Music Industry lynchpin and nowadays punk rock troubadour legend Jeff Rosenstock makes an appearance on latest single 'Get Dumber'. Not so much the "Pathetic Use of Potential" that PUP still claim to be.

Review: Originally released in 2017, In Riot We Trust is the second of two studio albums so far released by feminist protest group Pussy Riot, whose provocative punk regularly takes potshots at Russian leader Vladimir Putin and his regime. Since 2011, the Moscow band founded by then-22-year-old Nadya Tolokonnikova has had the membership of 11 women, who are arguably most well known for their guerrilla gigs and stunts, often in sites of national, cultural, or religious significance. Despite the real focus of the group being on speaking out against issues such as Russia's ingrained sexism, homophobia, and racism, totalitarian rule and oppression of rights, and the limelight falling on their IRL actions, this is more than enough evidence that their rage and talent can be distilled onto record to some degree. Potent to say the least.