Shadowtalkers

By Ryan Germ, Photo by Unknown This is gonna be super super fucking specific and I doubt any of you know who this band is, so I’ll start you off with a story. I was 9 or 10 and I was super into music sim games on my old iPad, there was this one Aussie/NZ one I downloaded and I heard this sick band in that game. Said band being none other than New Zealand indie punx Street Chant. Now despite Scotty D doing the garage punk artist spotlights I’m gonna steal that because before really diving into HC I was a huge garage punk kid. This originally was gonna be an album spotlight on their debut LP, Means, but considering how I’m in non credit (basically my schools equivalent of fuckin jail) and I only have my liked songs at my disposal I’m gonna talk about those. So what am I yammering about? Let’s spotlight these unsung legends. I feel like the best place to start would be with the first song I’ve ever heard by them, it’s called The Fatigues. It starts off with some ambience and feedback from...

  By Scott Danshaw I first became aware of the genius of Zachary Ross’s music back in the early 2000’s as a kid in South Jersey with his old melodic hardcore/emo band Front Page and followed along through the Man Overboard years to Bright Green to Zachary Ross and The Divine but being someone that truly loves that bubblegum garage punk style of Jay Reatard & early Wavves I think Zac may have hit his peak here with Chew Toy.   This demo is 6 tracks of full on pop punk meets garage punk. Singalong hooks, catchy riffs, and relatable lyrics. I’m not going to give a track by track review because at 6 tracks you should just go listen yourself.  I will say two high points of the demo for me were “Girls So Cool”, a catchy power pop tune about having a crush on the perfect girl, and “Built To Last” a fucking rocker that shows Chew Toy can do pop but also top it off witn this rocker of a riff. Go listen to Chew Toy and follow them on Instagram for updates on shows and new relea...

By Ryan Germ Emotional beatdown. 2 words that shouldn’t go together. But South Jersey Metallic HC outfit Coming Up Roses is trying to change that. This release clocks in at 11 minutes with only 3 tracks on this demo, Jesus Christ. Vocalist for CUR, Keller, shot me over the masters so I can get the least compressed version for spotlighting purposes, so shoutout to him. I normally keep to myself at shows and stay in my own bubble but he’s one of the first people in my local scene that hung out with me and supported Shadowtalkers from the jump, so all love goes out to him. I’m not gonna let that stop me from saying my honest feelings on this demo though, so let’s dive in. The first song, Metalcore Song #1, starts with this kinda Black Metal esque riff before the drums kick in and go into a punishing blast beat assault. After that it goes into a heavy brutal breakdown for the verse, Keller then lets out this pig squeal which goes into an even more crushing breakdown. It goes back to just t...

  By Ryan Germ Suicide Eyes is going to be this generations American Nightmare. There, I said it. If you know me I’ve been saying this since I first heard their demo but now that they released an LP I finally feel like I can say this and state my point clearly. I’ve seen Suicide Eyes more times than I’ve seen any band in 2025, probably more than I’ve seen my own dad’s band that year and spun this record a solid 10-15 times on its release week and let me tell you it’s for a damn good reason. Don’t believe me? That’s fine because we are about to dive into their debut record, The Love Is Gone. The first track Misery Loves Company opens with feedback before immediately slamming you with a groovy 2 step part on the toms which you know I’m a sucker for and emotional screams from vocalist Ben Stuckey. It then transitions into a standard fast part for a little while before switching onto the ride for the second half of the fast part before going half time on the crash giving a stompy feeli...