Number five in the popular sampler series released by Victory Records. As always you’ll find new and old releases from bands signed to Victory Records. A nice variety of old school, punkrock, metalcore and alternative sounding hardcore acts makes up this fifth offering. Obviously, the only reason why these sampler albums are truly interesting is that in the dense forest of numerous hardcore releases you can check out the work of a lot of bands without buying all the albums. Since Victory Records is on of the leading hardcore labels you can be assured of the quality of the bands. Acts like Snapcase, Strife, Blood for Blood and Catch 22 already chiselled their name in the hardcore wall of fame a long time ago. It’s the lesser-known acts that make this sampler interesting. Having figured this out, here are some of the better acts on the sampler. Atreyu treat us with the inviting tones of ‘Song for the Optimist’. A modern school hardcore band combining classical melodic metal parts with driving vocals. On the same page in the modern hardcore instruction manual as Atreyu you’ll find Darkest Hour (thank you At the Gates). Hoods on the other hand is an old school band with fantastic scream along vocals and an overall in your face hardcore sound. Taking Back Sunday is represented with the previously unreleased ‘The Ballad of Sal Villanueva’. Sounds like one of the cuts that didn’t make it on to their debut album. Thursday do a better job with the beautiful ‘Cross Out the Eyes’ taken from their last album called Full Collapse.

It’s a full go on emotions and melody brought to us by one of the leading names in modern alternative hardcore. Another great song with its roots in the outskirts of the hardcore landscape is the German quintet Waterdown. If you don’t know this band, check out their latest album called ‘Never kill the boy on the first date’. Ferocious metal outbursts combined with clean and aggressive vocals. Well worth it. For all the hardcore lovers who are not afraid to take a chance, check out the Armor for Sleep song called ‘The Wanderers Guild’. Beautiful. Angela Delamorta is the new project from Dwid, lead singer of Integrity. This is a guy who’s always on the edge of what makes music interesting, often criticized but never beaten. So for everyone with a dark soul, just listen to ‘Serpentine’. Talking about dark souls, check out the song ‘Graven Image’, brought to us by Dead to Fall. Grinding, fierce, technical metalcore covered under a blanket of Swedish death metal sounds from the early nineties. Their debut album will be released somewhere around August this year. Both veterans Reach The Sky and Ringworm deliver the goods with quality songs, just like you should expect from these bands. Any disappointments? Well, perhaps Voodoo Glow Skulls and the cover songs performed by Grade (Ziggy Stardust) and Student Rick (‘Any way you want it’ by Journey) didn’t really rattle my bones.