I Hate Myself - Ten Songs LP

Year: 1997
Genre: Screamo/"emotional hardcore"
Label: No Idea (Click here to purchase CD)

Ah, good ol' I Hate Myself. Like The Smiths, here's another band that could make a grown man cry. I Hate Myself hails from Gainesville, Florida, the capital of PBR, cigarettes, and beard-inspired punk rock - yet the frugal guitar strums instead the soundtrack of falling snowflakes and desperate tears trying to roll out of the eyes of a troubled soul. I'm not kidding. I couldn't imagine witnessing them live and see some skinny kid with broken pipes screaming over a hush crowd. Well, yes I can, I've been to plenty of shows with that magnitude of (awesome) awkwardness. But really, the tears roll because Ten Songs' package of power chords, cheesy lyrics, slow drumming and choked-up vocals is really rather beautiful regardless of its angle. The first two songs back-to-back is quite the emotional roller coaster.

Track listing:
1. This Isn't the Tenka-Ichi-Budôkai
2. Urban Barbie
3. Polar Bear Summer
4. ... And Keep Reaching for Those Stars
5. Caught in a Flood with the Captain of the Cheerleading Squad
6. Kind of a Long Way Down
7. Not Waving But Drowning
8. Destroy All Monsters
9. Conversation with Dr. Seussicide
10. Secret Lovers at the Heaven's Gate Ranch

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Death - Leprosy

Year: 1988
Genre: Metal
Label: Combat (click to buy release)

One of the pioneers in death metal, Florida's monster child Death has experienced more member changes than a gas station money jar. This second full-length released immediately after Death's debut album Scream Bloody Gore and certainly steps away from said album's grittiness in tone and production. Singer Chuck doesn't sound too much like a squealing pre-pubescent boy in Leprosy - as he had a handful of those moments in Scream Bloody Gore. This album brings the headbangs, with freakishly fast sweeps and spastic guitar solos. I love "Leprosy" and "Left to Die" - the latter contains a sweet intro and an "eagh!" moment. The more I listen to this, the more I yearn for a perm.

Track Listing:
1. Leprosy
2. Born Dead
3. Forgotten Past
4. Left to Die
5. Pull the Plug
6. Open Casket
7. Primitive Ways
8. Choke on It

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Photo: Amazon

Song of Zarathustra - The Birth of Tragedy

Year: 2000
Genre: Screamo
Label: Blood of the Young/Troubleman Unlimited (click link to purchase)

Song of Zarathustra is a great screamo band and, judging from the date of this full-length's release, experienced its hay day before I was allowed to go to shows. (Well bummer!) Unlike your typical picks Saetia and Orchid, this band isn't as well-recognized as its contemporaries - they're quite underrated within the genre. What I find fascinating about this band is the keyboard addition, because the band syncs in gothic organ lines as if the relationship between screamo and church organs has been meant to be all along. You're more likely to headbang bodybang to this one than cry. I am obsessed with "Mess of Zero".

Track listing:
1. Intro
2. Mess of Zero
3. With Hands That Bleed
4. The Great Longing
5. The Evening Beat
6. Deep Yellow and the Burning Red
7. The Birth of Tragedy
8. Science, Science
9. Cry of Distress
10. The Stillest Hour

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Photo: Amazon

Hatred Surge - Deconstruct LP

Year: 2009
Genre: Power-violence
Label: Rescued from Life Records (click link to purchase)

I Don't know if it's the dry, hot climate that agitates a good amount of Texans to a point where they get together and craft some quality punk bands, but whatever the real reasons are, I advocate the movement. From Austin, Hatred Surge released this full-length over the summer right before they toured the country with fellow Texans Mammoth Grinder. Right after the intro track, your head will whip itself in all kinds of directions and you'll be paralyzed from the surge (heh) of guitar and blast beat chaos, as well as chugging bass lines that are so unforgiving it hurts. The boy-girl vocals duo heavily contributes with tones that have such violent audacity, each track is just their way of spitting on your face. My personal favorites are "Dark Circles" and "Rotten to Forgotten".

Track listing:
01. Deconstruct Pt. I
02. Weightless
03. Draw the Curtains
04. Skull Cell
05. Dark Circles
06. The Slithering
07. Outsider
08. Rotten to Forgotten
09. Maladjusted
10. Deconstruct Pt. II
11. Out of Balance
12. Feeding
13. Big Smile
14. Sleep Terrorizer
15. Lethal Pedigree
16. I Hate
17. Infinity

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Photo: RevHQ.com