Stephen Caparella | The HARD DATA

In the current hardcore world of 4 track releases, remixes from just about everybody who can operate a DAW, and huge compilation releases on a regular basis from various labels, the release of a single track is a seriously bold statement. The label is basically saying “yeah, it’s that good” – and Masters of Hardcore follows through with a seriously banging, one track, mainstream release from Dyprax and Norphine titled “Don’t Fear Death”. The kick has an absolutely wonderful texture of a hard nose coupled with cymbals and a fat bass tail with thick distortion without being too over the top in the mids and highs. I for sure caught myself head-nodding to the flow of the kick. To sum it up, it just sounds and feels right. The break is ethereal and pad heavy which supports the “death is a saint” vocal sample but doesn’t feel over done and drawn out. It gets to the point and comes back to the track with synths filtering in and a short build. The melody is definitely catchy and drives the rest of the track, again without being overly long and drawn out, to give way to pads which fill the musical spectrum the rest of the way – well done in my opinion. I wouldn’t be surprised if you were to find this track in any of my sets or mixes and I’d seriously consider giving it a purchase if you’re more into mainstream hardcore. I wasn’t able to find it on Juno Download but you can find it at Hard Tunes.

-CAP

Making a debut into some slower industrial, the uptempo monster eDUB shows that he sits right at home at any tempo with his latest release on Oblivion Underground Recordings.

“I’m Not The Only One” – This beauty features screaming synths that sit ominously in the background with upfront 2/4 snares that fit in the mix perfectly. Not that it really needs mentioning but that characteristically brutal eDUB kick is there and rocking.

“Industrial Meat” – The track that initially got me interested in this release definitely delivers. The slowed down eDUB kick with it’s hard nose and tone heavy reflexive tail does well creating a dirty yet bouncy slow industrial monster. Effective kick edits and vocal sample use drive the track and the ominous break in the middle do service to add feeling to the track.

“Right Behind You” – The title track of the release does not disappoint. We have some of the screaming screeches in the back with good spacial effects much like first track in the release but with eDUB’s drum and bass influence and uptempo speed. The break and sample use of “Right Behind You” keeps up with eDUBS overall vibe of ‘electronically creepy’. If you do uptempo, this ones for you.

“Primitive Technology” – This track featuring Alexander Head turned out to be the one that I didn’t see coming and, despite there being a 150 BPM banger, my favorite of the release. The kick is fat and ultra noisy and seems to incorporate all the other sounds of the release nicely into one gnarly track; ominous synths to fill the background, the 2/4 snares sitting nicely above the kick, the break has movement and motion to it rather than being dull and limp, the 4-4 snares after the break really ramp up the energy after the drop. Out of a whole release of nasty, dirty, rough, and noisy industrial tracks, this one tops it for me.

-CAP

Dedicated to the harder sound of electronic dance music.