Style 43

I went to a show in Brixton a few weeks ago at a grimey little pub called the Grosvenor. It was to see the the Trapped Under Ice/DIrty Money/Lion of Judah tour before it crossed the channel and begun its European onslaught. I arrived in time to see Hellbent Diehard play, featuring Chris of Ninebar fame on vocals and Sam Cro, the man responsible for producing more good UK hardcore than I care to mention, on drums. I’d never heard them before but they were dope, and it was cool hearing Chris on vocals as opposed to shredding on the guitar. Good shit. But it was when Dirty Money started playing that I experienced what lies behind Trapped Under Ice’s music; hard moshing.

Sam and Justice, the guitarist and singer respectively, were going fucking nuts to Dirty Money, and neither of them looks like they are a stranger to a bench press. They’re big dudes. Anyway, I took a windmill to the face courtesy of Sam, putting my tooth through my gum. I didn’t cry though, honest. Even though they’re both built, not that the rest of TUI aren’t, they didn’t have an arsehole jock mentality in the pit, they were just moshing. I dug it.

I bought their 2007 demo off the Dead and Gone Records site earlier this year, and it is an absolute belter. Proper hard hardcore. Even though they’re form Baltimore, they have a rugged NYHC sound to them without ripping anyone off. I think it’s more because New York, with the help of Madball and Agnostic Front, pioneered the more militant stream of hardcore which was a development from the faster Dischord stuff which preceded it. Suffice to say, Justice’s voice is fucking amazing. He kinda reminds me of Henry Rollins before he became a bit of a dick head.

Seeing them live was a treat. They played real tight and had a good presence on stage, and I heard they were consistently good throughout their tour too.The Stay Cold EP also features their 2007 Demo as well as live versions of several songs. Trapped Under Ice aren’t a bunch of pissed off middle class kids all pissy because they’ve had their allowances cut. They’re writing songs about shit they’ve actually experienced, and growing up in Baltimore don’t sound too pretty. I was reliably informed by Graham ‘Snoop’ Money that Justice grew up round the corner from where they film The Wire. I don’t know what that means, but I’m not cool enough for that show, although I guess it infers that perhaps he’s not from the nicest area.

The opening line of the record, Bear witness to the birth of/ Broken promises along with the brutal guitar lets you know what you’re in for straight away. In Evelyn, which features both as a studio and live version, when Justice screams Blinded by hate I can’t see a thing it’s definitely straight from the heart, not some phoney but a voice full of ferocity that would definitely scare away any posers in the crowd. Yet when you talk to them, they’re the friendliest dudes. That said, I still would not wanna get on their wrong side.

..No doubt it’s an angry record, but not in a self pitying way. To put it bluntly, Trapped Under Ice are real. Too many years spent under the ice, I could just keep putting down dope lyrics but that would ruin the record. Definitely, definitely check their myspace if you call yourself a hardcore kid. Just don’t have the speakers too high, otherwise you might get scared.

Also, they had their van broken in to on tour in Florence. Laptops, money and passports were stolen, so please, please if you’re into them buy their record or a shirt, or both. They’re a bunch of good dudes who are making the effort to bring good hardcore across the pond, and to have so much taken must have been devastating. If you give a fuck, help them out! You can buy stuff off their myspace so i implore you to do so.

To conclude: hard record, ripping solos, militant lyrics, brutal vocals and even now as I listen to them all I wanna do is go nuts, start moshing and punch people in the face. There’s not many bands I can say that about. Plus, they’re doing a split with Dirty Money which I know for a fact is amazing.

And if I never make it home tonight the streets have swallowed me whole

REAL!