V/A - To Live A Lie Three Year Sampler CD
"This compliation gives an overview of the releases To Live A Lie Records participated in over the past three years. It's 51 tracks of hardcore, grindcore, and powerviolence, clocking in at almost an hour, so it certainly qualifies for the pages of Short Fast and Loud. The track list reads kind of reads like a "Who's Who" of the genres, with favorites like Agathocles, Unholy Grave, Godstomper, Magrudergrind, xBrainiax, Nux Vomica, and Mesrine. Favorite band on here I never head of award: Final Draft. Fans of extreme hardcore will definitely find something they like on here. Check it out. Congrats to the label for being involved with so many killer releases."
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #20

FxPxOx - 2003-2007 Recordings CD
"41 tracks and all are blazingly fast and memorable. What a great band that can combine this much speed and have so many catchy songs. I love the singers voice, he's pissed and seems to get his words out quicker than humanly possible. I want to call it classic hardcore cause it is devoid of any shitty trends. Great use of melody in the midst of all the chaos, a complete energy overload. If you don't like this CD, you have to be a shithead. Fucking great stuff!!!"
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #20

Final Draft - self titled 7""
"Seriously intense hardcore/grind. Super pissed vocals and songs that really rage when they hit top speed. Not to say the non-10000mph stuff isn't excellent. FINAL DRAFT does a great job mixing it up and killing with speed and power. The solid recording also helps. Nine ass kickers, one being a DESPISE YOU cover."
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #20

Final Draft - self titled 7""
"I remeber when these guys first started playing out. They were a decent powerviolence band, but nothing really stood out. Fuqqin' hell, they have progressed by leaps and bounds! This stuff is truly pissed! Nine songs hammered out with pure hate. Nothing sounds serene or proper here. It's all fucked up, twisted, and bleak. And its great. Antisocial sounds for the antisocial. I don't know man, but I can't help but think Final Draft are thee West Coast powerviolence band."
- Razorcake Issue #45

Terminal Youth - self titled 12"
"With their first album, Terminal Youth have taken it up a notch. Hammering thrash and grind/powerviolence moves that don’t overwhelm things. Tight playing, easily able to navigate the tempo transitions and the addition of a second guitarist adds to the band’s overpowering qualities, as well. Elements of early Dropdead, Crossed Out, while the songs that close each side of the LP have more of an anthemic, mid-paced style that bring 9 Shocks Terror to mind. Will Killingsworth’s recording is full-sounding without being too slick. Terminal Youth have evolved into a raging band."
- Suburban Voice January 26, 2007

Terminal Youth - self titled 12"
"Here you get 18 songs of raging hardcore from the East Coast. They take a basic fast outline of a band like TEAR IT UP then turn the volume up and distort the fuck out of everything. Then they start adding in elements of crust and the occasional blast beat, and create one seriously great fucking record. And those aggressive, throat-shedding vocals only add to the intensity of this monster. I know it is early in the year, but this is at the top of the list so far. Essential!"
- Maximum RocknRoll Issue #287

Terminal Youth - self titled 12"
"Ferocious output from these kids. Not a band to let you off the hook with slow boring music, these kids crank the speed up a shitload of notches and deliver one powerful 12" here. This record is (a) non stop barrage of high speed thrash insantiy that tightens the noose around your scrawny neck with each tune. Plain and simple, this is a brutal kick to the face, great lyrics and a sharp looking release. Looks a lot like a Dropdead record now that I think about it, and that may be as good of a description for their music as any. Hardcore to the maximum.
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #17

xBrainiax / No Comply - split 7"
"Man, this record took longer to come out than most Metallica albums. Michigan power violence junkies xBrainiax finally follow up their great EP with 11 song blastcore juggernauts with No Comment bite and MITB graphics. Don't forget the Lack of Interest cover too. Sick stuff!! No Comply haven't released a record in like 10 years, surprised they still exist!! They don't sound much different either!! Bass heavy power violence, lots of distort noise and blood-running screaming!!!
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #17

Unholy Grave / Archagathus - split 7"
"Archagathus are pretty much the Canadian version of Agathocles. Everything from the crude, punky grinding, mince-core to the dripping logo! And if there's a Canadian version of AG...well they might as well do a split with the Japanese grinders Unholy Grave, right? These UG trax are rehearsal versions of some songs with members of the band Gate on guitar and drums. Sounds like the same old UG to me!
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #17

ARM / Final Draft - split 7"
"Two young bands holding the SoCal thrash and smash ethic of hardcore way high. (ARM plays) high speed blasts soaked in a corroding pot of LARM and power violence and Japanese thrash. Their side of this EP is longer than their actual live set by about a minute. FINAL DRAFT have a mean hardcore sound, meat-ripping saw blade guitars and tinny live drums fashion a wild, untamed insanity to their back to basics thrashcore. Both bands feel ready to implode at any given second. Layer up the plastic sheets, daddy"
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #16

Rhino Charge - s/t 7"
The tracks from their first 7" are raw and with rather rough sound quality which I totally dig as its sloppy sounding but at the same time doesn't have that "tin can" recording quality. They drop some great tracks here and always seem to mix things up as much as possible. "Life is a Life Lived" is a bull-dozing track that even here on their first release is extremely powerful as it combines a grinding crust aesthetic with some total sludge as things start off fast and blazing before down-shifting into massive doom riffage. They find similar success in the same formula with "Molten Monument of Man" which is slower and more akin to Grief/Noothgrush style dread as point and blast grind goes head to head with hopeless doom with barking vocals that only get more depraved as the track lumbers towards its close. "Business is next to Godliness" is another pulverizing, classic grind track with intense blasting and sick vocals that eventually break into a quick albeit timeless Sabbath style groove immediately followed by the hilariously titled "Rhino Charge the Mall Rats" which is almost entirely crawling doom with some deep death growls entering the mix. "Perspective as a Law" is total stoner/grind/punk rocker and is one of my favorite tracks and it probably is the catchiest track on the album with a nice contrast between crusty punk and more HUGE grooves that definitely have a Sabbath/Cavity type of swing to them. The debut 7" is pretty damn fantastic all around. What else can I say here but Rhino Charge are definitely a grind band to keep on the lookout for as they have what it takes to get noticed in a crowded scene. This is totally raw stuff with great tempo changes and song-writing. If you are even remotely into grind, check these guys out because you won't be disappointed. Rating: 7/7."
- Daredevil Magazine

Rhino Charge - s/t 7"
Apparently this band started off as just two guys (guitar & drums) who wanted to gatecrash a party so they practiced a little and then turned up at some indie rock ho-down and busted out some power-violence before being shown the door. like that and the fact that supposedly the drummer hadn’t really played before this band and the singer (who joined on their second show) didn’t have proper lyrics for a while looks so suss on paper…. like yeah the actual act of showing up at the party thing sounds piss-funny (like getting really drunk and going to some karaoke dump and refusing to give back the microphone)… but it’s such a case of oh yeah great I hope they release a 7” to join the hundreds of others due out this month. The BUT and of course you knew that it was coming is that they’re fucking great. Call it lack of experience and training in their instruments leading to them breaking out of standards and rules of music or dumb luck or genius or maybe they played for a few years between the first part and this 7”…. whatever this is such a good fucking 7”. It’s in that grey area between power-violence and grind where you could go either way with blast beats and shrieks and the odd metal tinge but regardless supercedes both by including lots of variation such as ultra sludgey parts, groove and even the occasional hook. Fuck at times they sound like a powerviolence version of Black Sabbath! Even the lyrics are pretty good the only disappointment is that this 7” is only one-sided and after doing another 7” (a split with Protestant) they’ve now broken up. Sucks!"
- Screaming Bloody Mess

Magrudergrind - 62 Trax of Thrash CD
"All of this material is a discography of only the first three years of this band's existence. Amazing how bands can release so much material in such short time, isn't it? Especially with such a notable progression in that time. The earlier stuff (which is at the end of the CD instead of the beginning, now that doesn't make much sense, does it?) sounds more like novelty. Most of the songs are really short and have some out of place kind of riff like the beginning of the Star Spangled Banner or part of Jingle Bells. An amusing joke, but for the most part just a joke. Avi's voice was much different too, instead of the high screech he emits these days, this was more of just a regular hardcore style scream. The band kept going at it and got progressively faster, tighter, and even heavier with each recording. What does that lead to with the more modern stuff? It's much more serious and intense. Most of the songs seem to be about killing in some way (and some of the titles are probably longer than the songs themselves) but trying to line up the vocals with the lyrics is practically impossible. While Avi's voice nowadays makes for a better listening experience to compliment the music, the lyrics are pretty much in print only and not worth the effort to try and keep up with in the songs. The guitars are more downtuned, the drumming is also quicker and tighter throughout. The songs at the end of the discography (or the beginning of the CD) are my favorites and the band is only improving. Their live shows don't disappoint either. For ballpark references, think of Insult and Fuck On The Beach to create a kind of grind/powerviolence hybrid. Lamp's Rating: A-"
- Kicked in the Face

Magrudergrind - 62 Trax of Thrash CD
"A complete discography of everything (minus the recent SHITSTORM split) released from '02 to '05 by this crushing (and prolific) Maryland thrash/grind outfit. Here you get: splits with SANTIY DAWN, GODSTOMPER, A WARM GUN, AKKOLYTE, VOMIT SPAWN, the Owned 7", the Religious Baffle MCD, and the Don't Support demo. The quality's pretty consistantly high throughout and if you make it more than halfway through the disc, the intensity of it all gets pretty overwhelming. They have a relentless attack, and are maybe the best example of an even balance between thrash and grind styles. The vocals are screeched nonstop a la FLESH PARADE, the guitar is super heavy, and the drumming's pretty damn sick."
- Maximum Rocknroll Issue #277

Magrudergrind - 62 Trax of Thrash CD
"Hailing from Maryland in the USA, Magrudergrind has defined themselves as one of the new powerhouses of grind!!! This insane disc includes 62 tracks of some of the most intense grindcore you've ever heard. This CD includes everything Magrudergrind ever recorded (all 7"s, splits, demos, etc...) Great layout, which includes all the original cover art from all the releases. Any fan of extreme grindcore would kill for this!
- Slug and Lettuce Issue #87

Magrudergrind - 62 Trax of Thrash CD
"If you ask now how this volume sounds, then I would think emo does not stand with them anyhow on the plan! Instead lively by "62 Trax OF Thrash" if trees fell themselves that the bars bend themselves. Youth crew three foot high jumps into the air nearly powerviolence thrash grind massacre yeah!"
- Campaign for Musical Destruction

LxExAxRxNx - First Lesson 7"
"If his band were Japanese this would probably be on the 625 Thrashcore label. That should give somewhat of an idea where this Italian skate-thrash band falls. Fast, faster, fastest. While the studio production is very modern and full sounding, the songs hold onto their old school hardcore roots, as evidenced by cover versions of Minor Threat and Beastie Boys' "Tough Guy". I'd file this somewhere between Ohuzaru and L'Amico Di Martucci, the speed and energy and all around resonance of this record are equal to both of those bands.
- Short, Fast, and Loud Issue #17

LxExAxRxNx - First Lesson 7"
"The album turns out a good hardcore product where sure they can be signaled like force points, beyond the optimal recording, the speed and the brevity of the songs, than fan can listen to the entire album without tiring. On the whole, in spite of the several infuences that sound very present in the disc, the sound of the LxExAxRxNx turns out innovative and fascinating indeed."
- Punk 4 Free

I Object / FPO - split 7"
"FPO's contribution to this split is a passionate rant against compulsory enlistment, with music that alternates between mid-temp chug-chugging and faster thrash. Unfortunately, the tune isn't as compelling as the vocals and the lyrics, but it still kicks ass. I OBJECT contributes three songs in their singature heavy '80-influenced hardcore with great female vocals taht are more shouted than sung, and lyrics that actually say something important. The packaging on this looks great: nice, thick sleeve with stark red, yellow, and black artwork, and colored vinyl. You need this!"
- Maximum Rocknroll Issue #278

Unholy Grave / Archagathus - split 7"
"Unholy Grave: Japan's grindcore maniacs release yet another split. Sounds like a live recording or purposefully recorded super raw. Archagathus: They hail from Canada and (sing with) cookie monster (vocals) with the best of them. From guttural grunts to screams, they blast some mean ass grind. This band reminds me of PROGERIA meets NAPALM DEATH."
- Razorcake Issue #37

Mehkago N.T. - s/t CD
"What I can’t stop playing is the EP (co-released) by Abort the World’s honcho David Miller and his pals, including SHITSTORM's PDub on vocals, Harold from DNME, Bundy from Trust No One, and perhaps most importantly, ’cause he swings such a mean stick, TORCHE/ SHITSTORM's drummer Rick Smith. It’s a serious Miami hardcore summit. What they’ve come up with together is some majorly addictive old school crust/grind where the D-beats fly and the breakdowns crush, kill, and destroy. I love this shit! It’s like a love letter to classic grind of yore. A clenched-fist salute to Repulsion and Terrorizer and Discharge, the unholy trinity of doom, beauty, and truth. The mid-fi demo-quality production only adds to the excellent crud-filled ambience. It’s the small touches, like the five-second mosquito buzz of a guitar solo on “Innocent but Accused,” that makes this EP add up to greatness. By the time you get to the ominous doom-crawl of “Programmed Society,” you’ll be ready to play the whole thing over again. Or you will if you’re anything like me, a fiend for massive crustcore head wounds."
- Decibel Magazine March 2007

Mehkago N.T. - s/t CD
"The self-titled debut from Florida’s Mehkago N.T. cranks out five tracks in less than 15 minutes and is sort of like the hardcore equivalent of “war metal” (an aesthetic that carries right over into the high contrast imagery of the layout): It’s raw as fuck, it’s generally fast and somewhat abrasive, and there’s a certain degree of unhinged ferocity going on throughout. Obviously this means that there are more influences at work than with your standard hardcore band, and metal’s certainly a driving force, but despite that fact there’s an undeniable hardcore aesthetic throughout the vast majority of the compositions. And hell, I’m all for the occasional foray into twisted dissonance or sludgy midpaced riffing, so this is a great introduction to these dudes for sure. There’s a blown-out character to the vocals that works well against the rugged guitar tone and the pounding thuds of the basslines, so even though the recording could use minor touching up, I’m guessing they’ll always try to retain this sort of edge (and with good reason). When all is said and done they’re not rewriting the book on any given genre, but there’s something interesting about what’s going on here that gets my attention and makes me wonder where they’re going to go with this stuff…
- Aversion Online January 2007

Mehkago N.T. - s/t CD
"I found myself scooping my brains off the floor midway through the first track. These guys dole out five tracks of heavy-duty gruff ’n’ tumble thrash with lyrics only slightly more complex than Discharge’s slogan-as-haiku approach. If you’re lookin’ to give yourself a headache in all the right ways, these guys will more than do the trick."
- Razorcake April 2007

Mehkago N.T. - s/t CD
Fucking ear splitting thrashy crust grindcore explosion of epic proportions, AAARRRGGGGHHHHH! There is a bit of some death metal leanings in this band's sound as well, making the five attacks on here that much more interesting. The recording is good yet there is still a raw edge to the overall production. I think their name roughly translates into "I shit on you" in Espanol. Hope these dudes from Florida get on it and release more shit. This CD has been in my car stereo for a few days now. Members of MEHKAGO N.T. have also done time in SHITSTORM and TORCHE.
- Profane Existence Issue #54

Mehkago N.T. - s/t CD
"Powerful and dreary five song ep that delivers some serious deep dish, no thin "crust" if you get my meaning. There may be shared member or members of TORCHE among the ranks. Over all, a decent mix of extremely heavy crust and hardcore."
- Give Me Back #3

Athrenody - Crazed Development CD
"ATHRENODY (from bay area, circa 1990's) recorded this back in 1993 or'94 with Bad Ass Bart Thurber (House of Faith)... vokillz were eventually recorded in 2005 with Matt "Hellfiend" Harvey from EXHUMED delivering the goods, like only Matt can do. Lets see, 12-13 years in the making and gawds be damned was this CD well worth the long ass wait. ATHRENODY were amongst the earliest bay area grind bands that paved the way for what was to come. Their sound is technical grind-core with a little death metal thrown in here and there. Kind of reminiscent of TERRORIZER, INSANITY, CARCASS GRINDCORE, and NAPALM DEATH. Only nine tracks that are over way too soon. Wonder if maybe these dudes might play some local shows in the not so distant future?"
- Profane Existence Issue #55

Athrenody - Crazed Development CD
"Early 90's Bay Area death metal. Back then Redwood City, California, and other 'South Bay' towns had one hell of a hardcore scene. It was a breeding ground for what became power-violence and the first thrash revival (what are we on now? the fourth?). There were also a handful of death metal and grindcore bands. When I saw this CD I wondered what it was. A reissue of a release I never knew the band had? When I threw it in, I vaguely recognized some of the songs, which confused me even more. I started digging through my old boxes of junk and sure enough pulled out a demo from this band and threw it in. The songs were the same, sort of. Turns out these are recently recorded vocal tracks put with music from the demo from 1993. The vocalist is Matt Harvey from EXHUMED / REPULSION / DEKAPITATOR. Good grindcore with touches of death metal. Think TERRORIZER and NAPALM DEATH."
- Maximum Rocknroll Issue #293

Athrenody - Crazed Development CD
"Also on To Live a Lie, in conjunction with 625 Thrashcore and De Rok, is Athrenody's Crazed Development. It has a nice story behind it. Athrenody was a Bay Area grind/death band in the early '90s, and recorded a demo in '93 sans vocalist. The tape kicked around for a while and gained notoriety, as did the band. However, Athrenody split up, and the demo passed seemingly into oblivion. Max Ward and Matt Harvey (of Exhumed) both had copies of the demo. Recently, they got to talking about it. When Ward said that he'd release it on 625 if it had vocals, Harvey offered his services. The result: a fine posthumous release. After mastering, the demo now has modern oomph, with Harvey's vocals added over a decade later. His low growls fall somewhere between Barney Greenway and David Vincent. The sound is akin to Terrorizer, straddling grindcore and death metal. 9 tracks, 16 minutes, all potent."
- Invisible Oranges 1/15/08

Proletar - Back to Hatevolution CD
"55 tracks in 74 minutes! Gotta love those grindcore discographies - see Nasum's Grind Finale (2 discs, 152 tracks) or Yacopsae's Discoregraphy (2 discs, 149 tracks). Admittedly, this thing is a little hard to digest. Who sits down and goes, "I will now listen to 55 tracks of grind"? (If you do, whatever you're smoking, keep it the hell away from me.)Back to Hatevolution (To Live a Lie, 2007) collects everything recorded to date (demos, splits, tapes, EP's) by Indonesian grinders Proletar. Hailing from Jakarta, they unleash straight-up, old-school grind a la early Napalm Death or Assück. The tracks are one-minute floggings with barreling bass drums, clattering blastbeats, and "papa bear, little bear" low/high vocals. No surprises, just bulldozing, down-tuned argh. With six recording sessions represented, the production quality varies throughout; the live cuts sound like they were recorded from inside the venue's bathroom. Yet the lo-fi sound only enhances the sense of seethingly pissed-off-ness The packaging is phenomenal, oddly housing a CD inside an embossed 7" sleeve. The sleeve has lyrics and a neat little flap that folds out to show pictures of all the band members, past and present. Lyrically, this is left-wing grindcore (is there any other kind? "Right-wing grindcore" seems as oxymoronic as, say, "posi black metal" or "straightedge thrash"), with diatribes against imperialists, colonialists, "George War Bush," and so on. The English is a little fractured ("The Broken of Your State Like My Broken Songs"), but that makes it even better. After listening to this, my ears feel like they've lost a layer of skin - exactly what grind should do."
- Invisible Oranges 1/15/08

Bloody Phoenix - War, Hate, and Misery CD
"Hey, listen. Do you ever think about, you know, aliens? Or more specifically, what aliens (ages from now, exhuming the wreckage and rubble of our long-devastated cities) would think if they happened upon a grindcore record like War, Hate, and Misery? Like, from a purely sociological standpoint, what does grindcore say about the state of our society, the dissatisfaction of humanity as a whole? Most importantly, would Bloodpy Phoenix pretty much be enough to instigate a telepathic, planet-wide "Lets get the living fuck out of here" by said extraterrestrials when they pop this thing in the mothership's CD player? At this point I'm thinking yeah, probably. Because this is some crazy shit, ideed. I don't even particularly like grindcore and I can admire the fact that this band is relentless, scary, and tight as hell. I mean, they've got all the requisites of a standard grindcore band - screaming guy, Cooking Monster guy, the fuzzed-out bass laying waste to the low end, all of it - but they're doing it with such goddamn precesion and insistence that I can't help but tip an imaginary hat. Still, they're yet another band that uses loaded imagery (dudes being hung, piles of skulls, stricken faces behind barbed wire) and has brutal song titles that uses what could have been a pretty imformative lyric sheet for a foldout poster and thanking their homies. But I've come to accept that nine times out of ten that all you're gonna get from a record of this ilk. So if you're soley in it for the music, then you'll be stoked. Play it loud and bring an extra pair of pants."
- Razorcake Issue #41

Bloody Phoenix - War, Hate, and Misery CD
"This is really a ground sounding release. All of the fury from the guitars, bass, and drums mesh perfectly with the wretched and merciless vocals. Structurally speaking, most of the record is charging along at a pretty swift pace with pulverizing and tight blasts at its nucleus."
- Give Me Back #3

Bloody Phoenix - War, Hate, and Misery CD
"What a great f**king CD! BLOOD PHOENIX is a straight forward old school grindcore (with some p.v. edges) (band) that skull fux the listener into a raging head banging session... complete with band over by the CD's end. 26 blasting attacks in all of which dissapoint. F**king essential for those into ROTTEN SOUND, NAPALM DEATH, and HATRED SURGE."
- Profane Existence Issue #55