Shadowtalkers

By Scott Danshaw Now this band may be the greatest rock band you’ve never heard and I need to change that. You may be asking “Scotty D, why are you spotlighting a band that broke up almost 20 years ago?” Good question,the guitarist/vocalist of Kill Cheerleader, Anthony Bleed, has this new band called ACIIDZ and they’re doing a set of Kill Cheerleader songs at Bovine Sex Club in Toronto on 12/6/2025. Now ACIIDZ is a great band in their own right and to me is a spiritual successor of some sort to Kill Cheerleader but that’s not even the point. Kill Cheerleader was once said to be the “greatest rock band since Guns N Roses” by Lemmy Kilmeister of Motörhead. This band takes the attitude & energy of early New York punk & the riffs and style akin to 1980’s sunset strip bands and dropped it in early 2000s Toronto. Their only studio album “All Hail” is 12 tracks and comes in at 38:12 and takes you on a fucking ride! I don’t wanna completely spoil it so I’m just gonna mention a few of m...

  Written by Ryan Germ and Scott Danshaw This week for Top 5 Thursday we’re answering the age old question of what our favorite metalcore records are. That’s all I have for a witty opening this week so let’s jump into our lists. Scotty D’s Top 5 metalcore records  Everytime I Die - Gutter Phenomenon: This record is front to back some of the most killer riffs in all of hardcore. Before Every Time I Die hit my radar I never thought hardcore could incorporate southern rock riffs and lyrics so “sleaze rock” it makes you wanna party on the sunset strip all night long, after hearing this record that’s all I wanted in hardcore.  Atreyu -    Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses: Before you criticize hear me out; this band brought metalcore to the mainstream with this album and their follow up, The Curse. Between the breakdowns, metal guitar riffs, thundering double bass, with both harsh and clean melodic vocals they changed metalcore & pioneered “screamo” for the earl...

By Ryan Germ     For as long as I’ve been in this scene and have watched interviews I’ve always seen the question “how did you get into hardcore” thrown around. But I have never seen a question I think is just as important get asked: “why did you get into punk/hardcore?” I believe that the emotional “why” is just as important as the “how” yet it gets talked about way less. I know that I found it as an outlet for all the aggression I’ve had and as a way to express myself. As a little kid I used to have really bad outbursts of rage but finding hardcore gave me a way to channel it into a positive community. Ever since I heard the song “Gator Smash” by Kids Like Us in my dad’s room when I was about 7 or 8 I’ve been hooked on this genre and culture. Even before I could find the music the way I can today, I embraced everything about this genre. Hardcore is my life, and it always will be. Today I’ve had the pleasure of talking to 23 of my friends, scene figureheads, and people I look...

  Written by Ryan Germ If you follow me on Instagram (@playboircgerm) you know that most weeks I post a 5x5 on the records I’ve been listening to each week. The tradition started when I was very active on the Hardlore discord and every Friday the server would host a 5x5 Friday thread. As I grew closer to my peers in the server and followed them on Insta I realized they uploaded their 5x5’s to Instagram as well, now I’m taking it a step further. We’re gonna go from my least to most listened to records and I’m going to give a brief description of each one. #25: Hot Show - Prozzak This is odd for me but even though this blog is primarily based on alternative culture and heavier underground music, I fucking LOVE dance pop and disco. Prozzak has a very unique style that I fell in love with and this is them at their peak. My favorites have to be “Europa”, “Strange Disease”, and “Sucks To Be You” #24: Kyuss - Blues For The Red Sun Goddamn this record is amazing desert/stoner rock. If you ...