Shadowtalkers

By Ryan Germ and Scott Danshaw   After a long hiatus throughout the past almost 2 months, Top 5 Thursday has returned and we’re back with a moderately loud bang. We’re coming at ya with a T5T that I’m quite frankly shocked we haven’t done. It’s none other than our top 5 favorite melodic HC records. No, I’m not counting Youth Crew records because that’s its own thing despite it laying the foundation for melodic HC and I’m saving that for a rainy day. There’s bound to be some heaters on here so what are we waiting for? Let’s dive right in. Scotty D’s List: First of all it feels good to be back. Had some technical issues and needed a new phone. I’m baaack. Lifetime - Jerseys Best Dancers: Do I really need to write a paragraph? These guys epitomize “melodic hardcore”. All I have to say is out of their discography I had a hard time picking my favorite, each one represents an aspect of the genre but this one is definitely that middle ground blending pop sensibilities with punk rock furio...

By Ryan Germ   Today we’re delving into one of my favorite PAHC records. So much so that everyday in art class I blast this on my headphones whenever my Chromebook isn’t dead. It’s punk, it’s thrashy, it has vocals that make me ask “how the fuck did Bob do that”, the mosh parts hit like crack, the drumming is super tight, and the riffs? Chefs kiss. Yes everyone, we at Shadowtalkers are FINALLY spotlighting III by Mother Of Mercy. So while I’m waiting for my cheesesteak to get to my place (shoutout Donkey’s) let’s listen to and gush about this record. The opener, Divide, starts out with feedback before just exploding into the verse. The drumming is at a breakneck pace that I can barely replicate. I will admit the lyrics are kind of basic (“I see the divide/grow everyday/in front of my eyes/slipping away”) but it’s perfect for singing along at shows and the delivery makes it sound fresh and full of passion, this was tailor made to mosh to. After the first verse it goes into a side to...

  By Ryan Germ Coming out of the Kutztown/Lehigh Valley area we got the debut EP by young emocore outfit brushburn. If you like shit like Saetia, Orchid, Swing Kids, and really all that somewhat sassy real screamo shit then this might be an early contender from EPOTY. The EP kicks off with the opener Ballet With Handguns, which itself starts with a moody sounding riff before stopping and going into a fast part with frantic, somewhat high pitched vocals. The fast part stops and goes into a very stop and start part interspersed with leads before going into an arpeggiated part which builds into a slower old school screamo influenced part. A few leads ring out sending us into a breakdown to close out the opener. Very solid way to open the record. Tongue Tied is the next track and it kicks off with ambient guitar, sounding like a less chorus-y version of Ceremony’s Into The Wayside. The track kicks into high gear with the verse, the main riff of this track is very good as it builds to h...

  By Ryan Germ For a very very long time I hated UKHC besides bands like Gallows and Discharge. The accents got on my nerves very quick because it sounded like they exaggerated their accents (see bands like Pintglass for example). When I was active on the Hardlore Discord I vividly remember that I told a bunch of my homies from the UK my take on UKHC, and you bet your ass I was chastised for that take. But I remember someone set out to change my mind and they sent me this record. My mind wasn’t just changed, it was blown. So without any more stalling let’s hop into this Mount Rushmore UKHC record. The record kicks off with the track Level 4, a sample of a knocking door, gunshots, and chaos starts the track off before a gallopy blast beat rings in the actually track over a kinda tremolo picking riff. It transitions very quickly into a heavy breakdown. The gallopy blast beat comes back for about 10 seconds before a second breakdown comes and pummels you to end the track. Battle Of Th...

By Ryan Germ Yeah yeah yeah, this is another compilation, not a “real record” but fuck it, this is some of the best straight up hardcore punk that Philly had to offer in the 00’s. Up there with greats such as Horrorshow and Blacklisted. Sure, my generation hasn’t taken as much influence from them as their contemporaries, but the tracks are unfucking deniable so that’s a goddamn crime. This record is 12 tracks of fury bundled into 13 minutes. Anyways let’s get into their discography (please note that this is their discography from their OG run, we are not covering the new demo today). The intro track CCP starts with feedback and just throws you into a fast part that feels like a basement in Philly. The track then goes into this groovy little chorusy bit before coming back fast. The chorus comes back and then we go into the same fast part to end the track. This next song is a classic. Blood In The fucking Water. It starts with feedback and some hits on the hi hat before kicking into a mo...

By Ryan Germ   I’ve been racking my brain for a minute looking for the next album to review. Numerous rough drafts have been started and deleted and put on hold recently and I didn’t really know what to write about until I saw 3 words sprawled out on my Instagram feed posted by the official Ink & Dagger fan page. “Devil children unite”. Those words called to me like it was the PAHC version of the fuckin Bat Signal. Now if you saw my story, you would know that this was supposed to drop sometime on Friday, February 20th. At the time of writing it’s 6:30 pm Sunday the 22nd and this probably won’t even be up until the 23rd (oops). But to be fair to me I’ve been sick as hell in my room passed out for 3 days, so I don’t know what to tell you chief. Well, actually, I do know what to tell you if you’re out of the loop on the almighty Ink & Dagger. Basically guitar vampire Don DeVore and charismatic frontman Sean Patrick McCabe (of Frail and Crud Is A Cult respectively) joined force...

By Ryan Germ   There are few bands more polarizing in hardcore than Angel Du$t, and I’ll be the first to admit that some AD records have missed for me. However this has been one of my most anticipated releases of 2026 ever since they dropped their The Beat over the summer. So enough pussy footing around, let’s get into AD’s new record Cold 2 The Touch. The first track, Pain Is A Must starts the record off with a nice little fill before the main riff comes in, I immediately got vibes of their track Squeeze with the main riff and some whispered vocals, then Justice does some of his signature screams. There’s some harmonies reminiscent of Thin Lizzy over his yells capping off with a callout of “pain is a must, Angel Du$t” before going into a two step part on the toms. Some more leads begin the second verse which is more of the same as the first before there’s a side to side part into a bigger two step part which goes into a super moshy part over the whispery vocals. Pretty strong open...