Edge of Mortality

I actually never heard Edge of Mortality until someone just recently clued me in on their former existence.  A great SoCal metalcore band, they had the very identifiable late 90s/early 00s metalcore sound which they used to push their heavy Christian message.  Members went on to be in such bands as As I Lay Dying and A Midday Atlantic.  Super Christian, super late 90s metal core, and super heavy.  Unfortunately, they only put out a single full length record titled World Hate, recorded in 1999, which featured Dave Quiggle artwork and Jason Moody of No Innocent Victim doing guest vocals on the final track "Will to Consume", and recorded three songs that were to be featured on a split with Liar on Sobermind Records, but instead chose to pursue releasing it as a self titled effort through now defunct Warfare Records.  The EP, however, was never released.  If anyone has a copy of the three tracks that were to be featured on their final self titled release, please contact me and send them my way and I'll get them posted here on the blog.  Otherwise, check our their MySpace page here and check out the three tracks featured on there.  Check out their World Hate release below!

World Hate  (2000 - Warfare Records)

TRIALS

So before Strongarm's Advent of a Miracle record, their most memorable and heaviest recording was the version of the song "Trials" on the Trials 7". Former drummer, and later vocalist, Chris Carbonell, hits this china-cymbal constantly throughout the recording and it is heavy as fuck! (Excuse my language, but that's how heavy it is!) The heavy chug parts of the song are played so much slower on this recording and you pretty much have always wanted to break something everytime you've listened to it over the years.

It's awesome to finally have a digital copy of this record, since I've never had access to the ripping-vinyl-to-a-computer process. Anway, here's the record...

Trials 7" (Tooth & Nail Records - 1995)

I also think that this has been, or will be, re-released, along with their Advent of a Miracle, Division, and Atonement records. Check them out as well here!

Second and final Impact demo

And...as promised, here is Impact's second, and final, demo, titled Striking Distance.

Impact - Striking Distance

Here's some info from the link:

The second self-released demo by Impact.

vocals - mike
guitar - kevin
guitar - josh
bass - peter
drums-trk 1-4 garret rice,
trk 5 - sean schickling

add. bck up vocals:
peter-trk 2
kevin & jim rupe-trk 1, 3, 4, 5

recorded by:
kevin on a
4 track, somewhere
in southern ca.

* this demo is dedicated to the o.g.
impact guys- garret rice & dave garcia!

Rare Centerpoint recording

Centerpoint - 'Reference recording'

Part One

Part Two

My dude Michael uploaded a link to this recording on my Facebook page last night, and I learned that the origins of this recording are as follows:

I had been asked to try out for the band. I went and played with them in someone's garage in Long Beach. Afterwards they asked me to join them and gave me this tape made for a reference recording.

I went home and asked my parents if I could be in the band. (I was only 14 or 15 maybe, at the time.) Then I was told the band had broken up and that some of the members were going on to start a Weezer-ish band.

I don't know what the first track is. But it was the very first thing on the tape, so I put it one here.

The end.

This was written by a guy, Paul, on a the SoundCloud page of this recording. Very interesting, considering the recording contains songs that were never recorded on any of the band's demos or anything. Michael also informed of a rare song recorded by the band that is on a CD out there somewhere. If he, or anyone, ever finds it, it will be posted on here. Very cool stuff from a very awesome, and overlooked, Christian hardcore band of the 90s. Check it.

The second Helpless Among Friends compilation

Here is the second volume of Tooth & Nail Records' Helpless Among Friends compilation.

Helpless Among Friends, Volume Two (1997 - Tooth & Nail Records)

Part One

Part Two

Impact

I don't know much about Impact. I had only ever heard of them for the longest time (since I was a teenager), but never got my hands on a demo or saw them play since they had already disbanded at that point. All I do know, however, is that they were from California and played A LOT, according to show flyers I have seen with their name on them, and were a part of the spirit-filled hardcore entity with Focused and Unashamed and all that. It's very good stuff, even though it's extremely raw considering it's ripped from a cassette. The music is super good though, and I WISH it would have at least been digital tracks from a CD, but with old hardcore you take what you can get. I appreciated the hell out of old, shitty sounding hardcore music when I was young, and I still do! If you want to hear the one and only actually decent quality recording of Impact though, check out the Helpless Among Friends, Volume Two compilation here on the blog. Their song, "Within", is featured there. Give this entire demo a listen, definitely worth your time. I'm really surprised this band didn't get signed and put out with the same force behind them asFocused, Unashamed, Overcome, and other great Christian hardcore bands from that time did. My source who provided this rip for me may get around to doing the same for Impact's second demo (and final recording) which is called Striking Distance.

Anyway, enjoy!

Impact - First Demo (1994)

Here is an interview with Impact from a zine called Nothing Left. Pretty cool to read this.

Also, check out the Facebook page for Impact where I acquired all of the above images. Lots of info and pictures on there, as well as some of the tracks from this demo. The page is ran by a member of the band, so it's all legit.

Prepared for War three-way split!

Here is a three-way split released on Boot to Head Records in 1995, featuring Clay, No Innocent Victim, and Overcome.

Prepared for War: Clay, No Innocent Victim, & Overcome split (1995 - Boot to Head Records)

Part One

Part Two

Check out all the previous posts about each of these bands (minus Clay considering this is my first post including them).

I got this rip from Justin over at xStuck in the Pastx. All credit to him.

More Fable

Thanks to my dude Josh, here is a rip of Fable's demo cassette tape that was released some time in the 90's. Enjoy!

Fable - Demo

Unashamed demo!

Unashamed - Demo (1993)



I don't have an exact release date for this demo either, so if anyone knows, please comment or email me. Otherwise, check out more Unashamed stuff in my previous posts on the band!

Centerpoint

Centerpoint - Demo (1994)
Centerpoint was a great hardcore band from Artesia, CA that played from '92 - '97, I'm told. I recently learned that when the band began, all the dudes were in high school, with the exception of their second vocalist, Michael. Their guitarist, Ryan, went on to play in a band called Redlight Halo for only a little while, and a later-added second guitarist, Curtis, is part of a worship band called Sweet Chariot.

Thanks to Michael of Centerpoint for some info on the band, as well as others on Christian Hardcore Records' Facebook page.

Outnumbered

Outnumbered - Demo (1993)

This band had ryan dennee who later went on to play in stavesacre, and eric churchill who was also played in the blamed. He drummer leonard was the older brother of justice, the drummer of bloodshed. David bahnsen from dlb management who helped tooth and nail get off the ground sang for them at one point. They were from huntington beach california. The demo was circa 1993-1994.

- Thanks Dave for commenting on the Facebook page with this info!

Thanks to the Anonymous User who emailed me these tracks. The tracks were taken from a cassette tape through computer software and a portable cassette player, so props on the hard work. I am told that the horrible sound quality is of the cassette demo itself, so you gotta deal with it. But, it's amazing hardcore music, especially of that era of sound. I much prefer this stuff over today's garbage. Unfortunately, I do not have any info on these dudes, as I never got ahold of their stuff until recently. If anyone has any input on this band, please feel free to post it below in the Comments section, or email me and I'll update the post as I receive info. I'd like to share with everyone the year this was released, where they were from, etc.

Before Vessel

Before there was Vessel, there was Apathy Denied, a hardcore band from Ohio that independently released a six song record, titled Counterculture, in 1995. They weren't rapcore like Vessel, more hardcore, but you can tell what era it's from. I don't know a whole lot about Apathy Denied, or Vessel for that matter, but like I've posted on my post about Vessel, here is a link to a Vessel webpage that has the story of how they came to be, and Apathy Denied is part of that story. So, here's the record:

Counterculture (1995)

Focused's "The Wheels of Progress"

The Wheels of Progress (1999 - Facedown Records)



I don't know a lot about this release, mainly because I never could find it until a rip of it was recently sent my way online for the blog. Please comment with information on the record and I'll update the post. Stuff like: the year it was released, dates of the material compiled on the record, etc. Thanks!

Thank you Seth for the rip!

The Through and Through Collection

The Through and Through Collection was put out in 1999 by band member Mullet. I got this copy at Cornerstone from Caleb Olsen/BTH. I am not sure where other copies went, but I do know that they were hand numbered to 100, and this is copy 13. It is a 16 page zine with a cdr inside of it. The cover / back picture is actually 2 pages each. The text is printed on a clear paper on the outside and the pictures are printed on normal pages inside. The cd contains a total of 29 tracks, including some live, unreleased, demo, and previously released songs, and some random things like interviews and chatter. I highly suggest tracks 28 and 29. Page 14 in the zine offers some more insight on where some of the tracks came from. I doubt you might find this zine in a distro or something anywhere, but if you ever find any of the regularly released material, you should totally pick it up. Boot To Head probably still has copies of Joshua Aiken (1 , 2) and Subterfuge split.

- Ryan

Here are the pages from the zine:

















The Through and Through Collection (1999)
Part One
Part Two
Part Three

Thanks for the rip and the scans Ryan!

Within

This band is from Texas. The singer, Sean, went on to sing for Embodyment. They weren't around all that long. They had this record, and a song from it on the Blessed Be This Killing comp on Deadself Records. What sticks out the most to me is that the artwork for the album was done by the same guy that did Zao's All Else Failed, Splinter Shards, Blood and Fire, and Further Seems Forever's How To Start A Fire.
- Ryan

Yeah...all of the artwork on all those records is amazing. I have always loved that painted artwork created solely for the artist's record, rather than just pictures of paintings, comics, movies, and all the Bible imagery that bands from that era used to use. Don't get me wrong, I love the DIY look of all that stuff just as much, but this artwork is so great. Same kind of stuff that was done for One King Down's Blood Lust Revenge record, Focal Point's Suffering of the Masses record, and Strongarm's Division, Atonement, and The Advent of a Miracle records.

Out of the Shadows of Desperation (1995 - Red Crown Record Empire)



Maybe my next post will feature all that sort of artwork from that era of hardcore...

Bloodshed's record released as a limited edition

Thanks to Ryan, we now have a rip of Bloodshed's Soft Spoken Words of Fallbrook vinyl. My best friend Steve (plays bass in Killing Years with me) bought this vinyl when we were like 12 years old, but doesn't have the means of getting a rip of it. This is a big deal to me because we have always loved this record, but I have never had a digital copy of it. Pretty stoked. This record was released in '96 by Tooth & Nail Records as a limited edition vinyl. A great followup to their perfect Self Titled record.

Soft Spoken Words of Fallbrook (1996 - Tooth & Nail Records)

Another split

Forget the Differences: Prevail & Stretch Arm Strong split (1996 - Insurgent Sounds)

Blindside's first record!

This is Blindside's first record. It's an EP they released on Day-Glo back back in 1996. The more raw sound like what is on their self titled and on A Thought Crushed My Mind. Check it out!

Empty Box (1996 - Day-Glo Records)

Thanks Michael for the rip!

more Stretch!

Can't go wrong with more Stretch Arm Strong!

Not Without Resistance (1995 - Insurgent Sounds)



It Burns Clean (1998 - Reflections Records)



Thanks Michael for the rips!

More Zao stuff...demos...

Check out my previous post on Zao.

Author demo tape (1994)



Sustained demo tape (1995)



Thank you Tom Bates for the rips and Mike Taylor for the scans!