Vaccine

Vaccine has been talked about on here before. They are a powerviolence band from MA featuring Will Killingsworth. Since Carl talked about them last they put out three releases, all of which are below. Support this band, they are cool. Word.

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Crimes in Blood

Vaccine / Coke Bust

Dead Inside

Ampere - Like Shadows

I don't really try as hard as I once did to get these hot new albums first and throw them up here, so I let all these other blogs go out and get em for me. There are only so many new records that are coming out that I really give a shit about, so my interest in intensive blog lurking has wained dramatically. Last night in between bong sessions and Magic The Gathering battles I saw that Damian Jozwiak, some jaded kid from Indiana who seemingly spends most his day on the internet and runs a tumblr music blog called Re-Winded Tapes posted up this album. If he had it then I would imagine that he got it from Circling The Drain or something, because that blog seems to be pretty on top of their shit.

Ampere's new full length, Like Shadows, sounds like a continuation of All Our Tomorrows End Today, which arguably was their best release as a whole. They had some preview songs up on soundcloud for a minute and one of those tracks was a second part to a AOTET song, Escapism. This is the first release the band has put out since their split with Off Minor back in '08, so of course this shit is a BIG FUCKING DEAL. It seemed that Ampere took a back seat to Will Killingsworths recording profession and his slew of recent side projects (Weaklings, Failures, Vaccine).

Like Shadows is ridiculously good. I'm serious. Obviously anything this band puts out will be bad-ass, but this is a really solid album, which like the new Beau Navire, does not have any fluff tracks on it. 15 fucking awesome tracks ranging from like 20 seconds to like 2 minutes. I don't really know what else to say about the album. If you like Ampere you already know what you are getting yourself into: no one else sounds like Ampere.

The release for this record is coming up in Easthampton right? Its like in the first half of June I think. They are also playing the You and I reunion in July. I would imagine that Clean Plate is putting out this record, but there might be some other people involved. If you like the fucking record buy it. This is one records that is really worth your money.



Word.

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Like Shadows

Vaccine - Human Hatred 7"

Vaccine's first "full length record" was not pressed on LP. The exercise would be incredibly pointless. With a full running time of 4.1 minutes and the longest song on the record clocking in at 36 seconds, it barely warrants the two sides of a 7" that it was pressed on.

What the record lacks in running length, however, it makes up for in an unrelenting assault on your eardrums. Vaccine's nihilistic, straightedge aesthetic, which sneers at the entire world while still taking time to reflect inward and lament, as well as their unique and powerful take on the powerviolence genre, makes them a heavyweight contender in the modern hardcore scene. Take the lyrics to the third song on the LP, "Failure":


Hollow faces / Empty heads / Humans are vile / Succumb to this / Rotten existence / There is no excuse / Minds are diseased / Addicted by nature / Humans are / The worst fucking failure.


Let's just say that the mood doesn't lighten at any point during the record. Self-loathing, contempt for anything non-straightedge, religion, capitalism, and civilization all get their fair share of abuse from vocalist Matt KcKeown.

Musically, the band picks up where it left off with their self-titled demo (which you can download from Chug Life here), which is basically playing an absolutely fucking brutal brand of hardcore. Matt Swift's guitar is all over the place here with tasteful, classic breakdowns taking center stage between feats of strumming so fast that you're sure the sound of his wrist snapping is sure to break up the song any second. The a-side has it's share of strong moments: the album's opener, "Your Life's A Joke," which basically sets the tone for the record; the one-two-three punch of "Failure," "Soul Fuckers," and "Limited Edition," where "Failures" and "Limited Edition" serve as bookends for the breakneck attack of "Soul Fuckers," which lasts a grand total of 16 seconds.

The entire b-side of the record may be the best part though. It flows flawlessly and combines bone-crushing breakdowns with wiry, perfectly placed feedback and heady fill parts. The last 10 seconds of "Rotting Away," perhaps my favorite song on the record, puts Will Killingsworth's (guitarist of Orchid, Ampere, Bucket Full of Teeth, Failures, etc. etc.) bass in the forefront before Swift's guitar joins back and the band plays a riff you could two-step to if you wanted: except it only lasts for a couple seconds, and before you know it, the record is over following the best breakdown of the album, "Waste".

You can buy the record for a cool $4.50 here from Painkiller Records.

The art direction for the record was handled by Christopher Norris of Steak Mtn, who has made a name for himself by handling projects for bands like Against Me!, CombatWoundedVeteran (which he was a member of), and Orchid, and I even saw a profile of him that someone did up in Alternative Press, which I found both perplexing and intriguing at the same time. The above photo of the band was taken by Mark McCoy (Charles Bronson, Failure, Das Oath, and a respected punk artist in his own right), and is featured on the record's insert. All in all, this is a well put together, great sounding release that would be a great addition to any hardcore fan's record collection.

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Human Hatred (2010)

Vaccine

Here's another hardcore super group featuring Will Killingsworth. This band features members of Relics, Ampere, Orchid, Think I Care, Failures, Glue, Bucket Full of Teeth...okay, basically every band Will Killingsworth has ever been in plus a few others.

Vaccine plays very fast, very powerful, very short powerviolence with a straightedge message. And by very short, I mean extremely fucking short. Like, their five song demo clocks in at a little over two minutes.

This demo was originally released on a cassette limited to 100 copies which has been long since sold out.

You can order the one sided 7" from Killingsworth's label Clean Plate, or Red Room Records. Each site had only 35 copies of colored vinyl for sale, so I'm sure they're gone for now, but there should still be copies of black vinyl available! (I would reccomend Red Room, since Clean Plate can be a wee bit slow sometimes...)

Vaccine's website

And guys, sorry about not updating much lately. I'm really going to start posting more frequently!

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Demo (2009)