Records With History And Future

In Europe

Many claims have been laid down as to whom invented the Metallic Straight-Edge Hardcore genre. Claims as well from European soil as from American soil. We can not assign the phenomenon to one person or one band. But we can give certain credits to several bands that pushed the Straight-Edge Hardcore genre into the Metal infused direction. As for the European contributions; Ironside from the United Kingdom is one of them and Wheel Of Progress from Belgium is another protagonist. And they both have combined it with the Straight-Edge lifestyle.

As you can read in the “We Could Not Do Any Better” book about the rise of Straight-Edge culture in Europe by Jean-Paul Frijns and Marc Hanou, they were a Straight-Edge band and they played Metallic Hardcore.

Also in the H8000 book we can read a testimony by Richard, a band member of Ironside:

We played in Belgium in 1992 and blew away all the Straight-Edge kids there. That somehow laid the foundations for the H8000 thing. No-one was doing slow, chugging metal with deep vocals and no recognizable Straight-Edge lyrics at the time, except us.

Richard Michael Armitage from Ironside in the H8000 Book⁽¹⁾

Another testimony comes from Dominiek, also in the H8000 Book concerning the band Wheel Of Progress.

Wheel Of Progress were an incredibly short-lived project. They were something special, no-one did what they did. What made them notable was their 7 inch from 1993. That gave the 8000 scene it’s first glimpse of a Metal and Hardcore fusion. The combination would define the later Edge-Metal sound.

Dominiek Denolf from Spirit Of Youth in the H8000 Book⁽¹⁾

In The United States

Musically Hardcore Punk had been infused with Metal before. Like for instance the influential band from the early eighties Cro-Mags, released in 1992 a bastard child of a Hardcore Punk record, called Alpha Omega. That sounded Metal nonetheless and was released on the label Century Media. This record did not stay unheard for sure. Other bands like Agnostic Front had already released Cause For Alarm in 1986, an album that takes elements of Thrash Metal music as well. And then you have Integrity and Ringworm from the Cleveland Hardcore scene as well. Who played a not to underestimate role in the rise of Metal into Hardcore Punk band’s music as well. Integrity had a drug free message in their beginnings. As we can derive from the 1990 In Contract Of Sin vinyl labels. Early nineties Hardline bands like Statement and Raid sounded undeniably Metal as well. And then Earth Crisis from Syracuse in New York was a force to be reckoned with. They brought a message of Straight-Edge and Veganism combined with more Metallic music as well. And there are more examples.

H8000 scene in particular and Belgium

The H8000 scene was the first scene to embrace Metallic Hardcore almost as a whole and to add the more extreme Death Metal and Black Metal ingredients in their music. By combining their typical music style with Straight-Edge and Vegetarian or Vegan philosophy, the term Edge-Metal was born. And they are – by the fact that almost every single band embraced the style Edge-Metal, that Congress and Liar pushed forward – associated with Metal and more specific Edge-Metal on a global scale. Also other Belgian bands like Arkangel, Facedown and Length Of Time adopted this Metallic Hardcore style later on. Their combined effort gave Belgium a trademark sound in the nineties and a while after.

More Specific: Ironside

Neutered Innocence

Now back to Ironside. Their first record was a cassette released by Sure Hand Records in 1992, called Neutered Innocence. The songs were recorded 11th and 12th July 1992. The Ieperfest festival at the Vort’n Vis took place in September 1992⁽²⁾. The Metallic style with unclear vocals on this tape is certainly as described by Richard the vocalist in the H8000 Book. So in 1992 at the first Ieperfest in September they will certainly have played them. The impact these songs had on the crowd is definitely a more subjective perception that we need to further investigate.

Fragments of The last Judgement

Then came a seven inch record in 1993 released by Subjugation Records. The samples with an interview with a serial killer from the introduction to this record are in same vein as on the Integrity record from 1991, called Those Who Fear Tomorrow. Vocal style and music hint to the Integrity influence as well.

Self-titled

Their last seven inch record was released through Stormstrike Records from Germany. It has a more progressed sound of slowed down Metallic Doom Metal. It exists on two colours; black vinyl and white vinyl. Also a test was made pressing according to Discogs .com.

THIS TOPIC IS STILL SUBJECT TO RESEARCH

Sources:
⁽¹⁾ H8000 Book by Hans Verbeke and Onno Hesselink
⁽²⁾ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ieperfest