As I've mentioned in the past, Rivalry Records has become one of my favorite hardcore labels these days, having released totally killer material from bands like Another Breath, Allegiance, and Go it Alone – the latter of which returns on this excellent split CD with Blue Monday. Both of the bands are from Canada (Vancouver, to be precise) and each offers up two new tracks plus a cover of Reserve 34 (a defunct Vancouver band that featured a mutual friend of the bands and apparently sounded rather similar) – totaling a mere 11 or so minutes of material. Go it Alone picks up right where they left off on "The Only Blood Between Us" with speedy picking patterns and the kind of slick melodic accents that catch my hear 100%, and I'm a massive fan of their amazing songwriting skills. Meanwhile, Blue Monday's tracks are a bit more energetic than their Bridge Nine full-length, sounding a bit closer to Go it Alone's style than before in terms of utilizing those dissonant melodic tinges more consistently while still retaining an air of traditional hardcore. They also make great use of their basslines, which definitely adds depth to the material on several levels. In my opinion neither of the following two tracks are the best on the disc, but the EP is so fucking short I'll go with what the label's got out there… all six songs kick ass anyway:

Go it Alone "Ovaltine"
Blue Monday "Cathedral Square"

$10 admittedly seems pricey to me for an 11-minute CD EP, but the songs rule so hard that I'd pay it without a complaint. This is definitely my favorite style of hardcore. Period. It's available on 7" for those more vinyl-inclined individuals out there, too:

@ Rivalry Records

I need to look into grabbing some Reserve 34 material now as well. I'm curious…

I'm not sure it's an informal "series" or whatnot, but Rivalry Records also just released a raging six-song split between two other related bands in the form of Champion and Betrayed (who features members of Champion as well as Carry On). Champion has gotten way better over the years, going from a relatively typical old school sounding hardcore band to taking that classic hardcore sound and injecting just the right amount of faint melody and modern punch, so I'm definitely a fan these days. And while Betrayed's EP on Bridge Nine was damn good, the guitar tone drove me insane, so thankfully they've maintained that same vibe on these three tracks but the guitars sound significantly better. I really love this band's riffs and energy, and in a lot of ways they sound like a more pissed off and hardcore oriented Dag Nasty (Dave Smalley era), which basically rules. This band could easily become a massive favorite of mine, so I'm really looking forward to hearing more from 'em. Another awesome split.

Champion "Break Through"
Betrayed "Consequence"

This one's the same price, of course, though it is about four minutes longer than the Go it Alone/Blue Monday split. It's also the same story in terms of being available on vinyl as well:

@ Rivalry Records