V/A – Southern Hardcore Vol. 2 – Sons Of A Savage South (CD, D-Fens Records, 2024)
Straight from the savage South comes this all-new compilation, or four-way split as you like, featuring The Aggravated and Dead Friends from Georgia and Property and Disincentive from Alabama! Released by D-Fens Records, the CD features a grand total of 20 all-new tracks and clocks just over 48 minutes so you definitely get some bang for your buck!
First up are The Aggravated from Atlanta and right away the only band I was previously familiar with. I reviewed the band’s second album “No Way Out” a year or five ago and I liked what I heard back then and I am still liking of what I hear of them today! The band cranks a total of five tracks recorded earlier this year like “Spoils Of War”, “Victim” and “Troubled Times” and the Georgians continue delivering that crude, harsh sound that I love! Definitely some of my favorite stuff on this disc!
Up next is Property from Huntsville, Alabama. Although this band seems to have been around for ages, with some of their first recordings dating as far back as 1995 (according to their Bandcamp at least), I never heard of this outfit before. In the spring of this year the band released an “EP” (on that same Bandcamp page) and now those four tracks wound up on this CD. They start off with the short and straight forward “This Song Starts”, but quickly slow it down a notch with some mid-paced, sing-along hardcore like “Friday Nights”, “Pretty Things” and “We’re Not Broken”. I like it!
For the next round we go back to Georiga with Dead Friends from McDonough! This outfit is definitely on the metal side of hardcore and burst out five massive tracks in the form of “Final Straw”, “False South”, my favorite “No Time To Waste”, “Old Bones, Stay Buried” and “Class Act”. Dead Friends sounds like a bulldozer coming through and I definitely need one of those “Shoot Your Local Heroin Dealer” shirts one day! Brutal!
Last though not least is Disincentive from Birmingham, Alabama! This band rings up a total of six tracks at check-out and were recorded in the Summer of 2023, released online early 2024 and now appear on CD at the end of that very same year. The band’s sound is raw and rowdy and the recording itself sounds a bit more demo-ish than the rest, but it fits with the style! Favorites here are “Mourning In America” and “Kick You When You’re Down”!
All in all a nice update of hardcore in the savage South! And if you happen to be around, this CD will be presented on the 8th of December at the Star Bar in Atlanta with all four bands performing!
