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Brand new split 7" from these two Philadelphia bands.
Our take: It's interesting that these two Philly bands decide to drop the word "Kang" in the title of their latest EP. That was a word that was in heavy circulation in the early 2000s when everyone was flipping out over Tragedy and the hot new sound out of Scandinavia was bands like Disfear and Wolfbrigade. I'm actually still not clear on precisely what the word "kang" means, but I still associate it with that era of slightly more polished, song-oriented, and metallic hardcore punk. By the end of the decade the word "kang" had largely been replaced by the word "d-beat," which tended to denote not only the particular drumbeat, but also a rawer sound influenced more by the Anti-Cimex 7"s, Disarm, Shitlickers, and other similar bands. If we're splitting hairs between "kang" and "d-beat," both Dronez and Nightfall could really go either way, as both bands sound a lot like plenty of modern d-beat bands, but don't feel as much like homage as bands like Perdition or Aspects of War or something like that. I wouldn't be surprised to see a member of either band sporting a Doom t-shirt, in other words. While some might be turned off by the ever so slightly higher level of polish on display here, fans of classic-sounding crusty hardcore will have no trouble pumping their fists to these tracks.
Our take: It's interesting that these two Philly bands decide to drop the word "Kang" in the title of their latest EP. That was a word that was in heavy circulation in the early 2000s when everyone was flipping out over Tragedy and the hot new sound out of Scandinavia was bands like Disfear and Wolfbrigade. I'm actually still not clear on precisely what the word "kang" means, but I still associate it with that era of slightly more polished, song-oriented, and metallic hardcore punk. By the end of the decade the word "kang" had largely been replaced by the word "d-beat," which tended to denote not only the particular drumbeat, but also a rawer sound influenced more by the Anti-Cimex 7"s, Disarm, Shitlickers, and other similar bands. If we're splitting hairs between "kang" and "d-beat," both Dronez and Nightfall could really go either way, as both bands sound a lot like plenty of modern d-beat bands, but don't feel as much like homage as bands like Perdition or Aspects of War or something like that. I wouldn't be surprised to see a member of either band sporting a Doom t-shirt, in other words. While some might be turned off by the ever so slightly higher level of polish on display here, fans of classic-sounding crusty hardcore will have no trouble pumping their fists to these tracks.