Life At These Speeds was an emo/hardcore band from Portland, Oregon. Rising from the ashes of the seminal aughties band Arroyo Seco; Life At These Speeds quickly established themselves as a creative powerhouse. Along with Owsla label-mates The Pine, the band represented a return to form for the emo-hardcore scene at the time. LATS had a mature and driven sound akin to 400 Years, Ten Grand and Shotmaker; harkening back to that loud quiet dynamic that mid-90s bands loved so much. I first came across this band digging in the half-price punk records at Turn It Up! in Calgary; I got both the 2004 LP and the Science of Yabra split 12" for 3$ each and I have to say that was one of the best blind purchases I have ever made.
Admiral was a hardcore band from Wormleysburg, Pennsylvania. Continuing the trend of "A" bands on the blog this month, Admiral was an early example of the developing Ebullition "emocore" sound featuring Sean Linwood, the future vocalist of Navio Forge and Joseph McRedmond of Hoover. Admiral's sound is an important stepping stone / missing link between the late 80s Washington scene and the mid 90s California scene; somewhere between the stylings of classic bands like Embrace and new school bands like Downcast and Still Life.
The Admiral Revolving and Loading 7" was one of the first "emocore" 7"s I picked up way back when and the song Fit is still a total favourite of mine from the early 90s Ebullition scene. Despite only having 2 7"s to document this bands existence, every song present in Admiral's short discography is catchy, powerful and thoughtful.
As a side note I have officially (and proudly) finished my environmental science degree today! I have many distinct memories of listening to Admiral riding the bus to school in my first year, it's only fitting that I listen to them a bit today and make this post!
Akephal was a metalcore band from Husum, Germany. Despite not hailing from Bremen, Akephal is for all intents and purposes, a key Bremencore band and an important influence on bands that came after. Mainly known for their sole full-length album, the band harnessed a crushingly dark and heavy sound comparable to bands like One Eyed God Prophecy, Uranus, and ACME. A second full-length album was recorded but unfortunately, the master tape was lost or destroyed during a night of partying. I believe the band went back into the studio in the early aughts and re-recorded five of these songs to include on the discography CD, which is conveniently missing the Koplflos 7" as the band hates those songs. Anyway, the s/t 12-inch is an absolute staple of the northcore/Bremencore/emocrust (or whatever you want to call it) sound, and I highly recommend checking them out if you are a fan of the genre.
