Invade is from Long Island, NY and I believe this self-titled CD-R is their first release. And I must say, despite the fact that the output volume's a little quiet, this sounds pretty damn good for a first shot, especially considering the entire thing was recorded in a mere two days. Offered up are eight tracks of 90's styled metallic hardcore in about 18 minutes, complete with plenty of crunchy power chord rhythms using just the right amount of tempo changes and light melody to keep things interesting. I refer to this as "90's styled" because the approach tends to keep a steady balance by using hardcore as the dominant base and simply amping things up with a heavier edge of metal that totally sounds like it would've been at home in the mid-90's. The distorted guitar tone kicks ass and I really dig the style of the vocals as well, because those strained yells and chugging picking patterns definitely bring me back to a time when "metalcore" wasn't such a dirty word, and there simply aren't many bands that can still capture that era today, so I'm thrilled with that aspect of this material. The D.I.Y. packaging is nice as well, with quality graphics and a simple xeroxed insert with all of the lyrics (which are largely socio-political in nature), etc. There's a note on the insert about this not being the "complete package" since something went wrong in the process, so I'm assuming future editions will look even better. See what you think:

Invade "Pawn to Bishop, Then to King"
Invade "The Beast That Shouted 'I' at the Heart of the World"

Admirably enough the band is giving these demos away for absolutely no charge, which is fucking awesome, so contact them via their MySpace page if you're interested. But I'd say you ought to hit them with at least a couple of bucks for their trouble, you know? Whether they stick to the D.I.Y. path or hook up with a label down the road (as there should definitely be some interest there somewhere), these cats have some serious potential, so I'll be looking out for more. Well done.

I've been introduced to several solid German acts lately, and the most recent is Coltan Leech, whose latest self-released demo, "A Seduction of Shadows", delivers an interesting blend of styles. Much of the material crosses over from churningly detuned masses of dissonant sludge behind strained shouting to lengthy instrumental passages that often bring melody to the fore via careful buildups from reverberated clean runs to layered distorted textures. There are a few minor rough patches in the recording, but for a self-released affair it really sounds quite nice. Admittedly there are a small handful of instances where misleadingly groovy riffs pop up that could mistakenly cause one to jump to the wrong conclusion about this band (most of them in "And Then, Hammerblows Came Ringing In…", which is the only track herein that feels somewhat lacking in terms of overall force), but I think part of that has something to do with the restraints of the production, and looking at the big picture I could envision these guys delivering some monolithically destructive material with even a modest budget, so there's a hell of a lot of potential present within these five tracks. That being said, do not, I repeat, do not judge the following track by the first riff. After the initial 10 seconds things flip over and become increasingly awesome, so stick with it!

Coltan Leech "A Spiral of Deflecting Mechanics"

Seeing as this is still a relatively new and developing group, you'll need to contact the band directly for ordering information. Who knows what the future will bring, but I'm hoping for the best from Coltan Leech. A couple of these tracks are already pretty fuckin' killer, and with the right opportunity I'm confident that these cats could do some serious damage. Not bad…