Barque - Coffin Cutters LP - IFB102

Straight outta Lille, France, Barque delivers 5 tracks of searing dark hardcore.  They hit all the right buttons with the beat-down heaviness of Lich, a touch of mathy chaos in the Coalesce realm, and that vibe of dread and frustration that Lentic Waters does so well.  Sometimes pounding, sometimes swirling, sometimes blackened blasting - if you like your hardcore bringing the best of multiple genres and creating genuinely bleak moods, this should do it.  These are sold out.

Listen - Barque 

Lentic Waters - The Path LP - IFB088

Lentic Waters from Munster, Germany has been flattening forests with their swirling wall of sound for a few years now.  This monster of an LP continues with huge and heavy screamo laced hardcore coupled with epic building instrumental passages bringing elements of post-metal and doom to the table.  Definitely a dark and emotional masterpiece, complete with a large lyrics booklet with some additional writings.  Split label release with IFB Records, React With Protest, Maniyax, Suspended Soul, Deadwood, and Zegema Beach.  They are sold out.

Listen - Lentic Waters - The Path LP

Old Soul / Lentic Waters - split LP - IFB081

Old Soul is back from the icy pits of Michigan to deliver another epic dose of massive post rock infused hardcore.  This is their heaviest and most intense material to date and blasts away with massive power.  Germany's Lentic Waters continue with their ultra heavy atmospheric hardcore, combining a dark oppressive mood with bits of chaos and doomy breakdowns.  This is housed in a beautifully screenprinted fold-up sleeve.  These are sold out.

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Old Soul / Lentic Waters

Old Soul - Nature's Arms Encircle All LP - IFB076

This is Old Soul's first output, finally put to vinyl after circulating on tours in CD format.  Expect crushing screamo inspired post-metal with quiet gorgeous interludes, layered guitar work and the pounding drums from Adrian of Cloud Rat.  Michigan wins again and again.  This record will follow the packaging format of their first two releases with a screenprinted inner sleeve, booklet and outer sleeve.  These are sold out.

Listen - Old Soul

Planks / Lentic Waters - split LP - IFB052

A constellation of two German monoliths - both unique in what they do – still a harmonizing team. The A side shows Planks taking yet another step away from their Hardcore roots. In the vein of their last output The Darkest Of Grays, they deliver their unique blend of gloomy, melody ridden, downtuned heaviness that incooperate aspects of Doom, Black Metal and Dark Wave - but this time they even go one step further and take on Grunge methodologies in Leave And Never Come Back. All they did on their last records finds its way into these three tracks but everything seems more organized, filtered, more mature and in better sound.

Lentic Waters' B side of the split delivers the first three new songs after their impressive first s/t LP. The still fairly new band took the time on the road during the weeks of tours they spent, to distinguish what they are capable of and what they do best. Those tracks bring their facets of grinding emoviolence, double-bass frenzy and super catchy melodies. Also the sound of the recording improved and therefore offers the listener a better inside into what this band is able to. Three string instruments that play three different things at the same time just to have one big harmony in the end. Melodies shattered by ravishing outbursts to flow into massive, epic endings. It should be interesting to see how much more this band has to offer in the future seeing the transition they undertook in such short time. This is a split release with React with Protest and Apocaplexy. These are sold out.

Lentic Waters - s/t LP - IFB035

A peaceful village is interrupted by the sight of an armored bulldozer in the distance. As the dozer nears, swarms of creatures emerge jabbing at the fleeing villagers with sharp skeletal appendages. The destruction is total, as one survivor emerges from hiding and surveys the damage. This is the scenario that plays out as I listen to this record - dark building epic heaviness gives way to swirling chaotic HC, only to hammer you again with a wall of crushing sound. These Germans, including mem. of Resurrectionists, have created a great album that seamlessly combines the epic and neurotic sounds that the region is known for. This is a split release with Apocaplexy and React With Protest. Europeans get in touch with those labels. Maik from Apocaplexy did an amazing job on the packaging, combining screenprinting, letter pressing, and pasted paper. These are sold out.



Download the massacre here - Lentic Waters