Between Buried Alive, World Be Free, Terror and all of his previous endeavors, it's hard to argue that vocalist Scott Vogel is anything less than a lifer. 2018 was especially kind to Vogel's work, with Buried Alive still playing gigs while Terror returned with the smashing new LP Total Retaliation, which was met with rave reviews from critics and fans alike. And while the world was kind to Terror, Vogel has always been similarly complimentary to young hardcore bands on the come-up, whether repping bands with opening slots or by name-checking them whenever possible. The following is a case of the latter, with Vogel stating his six favorite young bands and how he came across them.
DARE
"In no order, I'm starting with a band called Dare from out here in Orange County. So the first time I ever heard of Dare, one of my best friends, Patrick Kitzel, who does Reaper Records hit me up. He's like, 'I'm putting out a 7-inch for this new band from Orange County called Dare.' I was like, 'Who the fuck is that?' and went to their Bandcamp, checked it out, and thought, That's pretty decent.
"Maybe two weeks later I saw they were playing some tiny show and a little stage and p.a. I went to the show and checked them out. They were not very good, but there was something about them — they had an energy and you could tell they were in love with hardcore. They didn't sound great, but there was something about them. I would say over the last year they've really, really, really grown and figured it out a little bit better: how to play and be onstage. They just put out a new 7-inch, like maybe two weeks ago. It's really fucking good.
"So they're cool kids. I see them all the time. They are kind of the definition of a hardcore band to me: it doesn't matter how great you play, it just matters where your head and heart are at. I think they're like the definition of that."
COMBUST
"Combust from New York — great band from Staten Island. I like them a lot. Great frontman. Such good energy. Cool name. Actually the guitarist for Terror, Jordan [Posner], one day we were in the van driving and he was like, 'You gotta check this demo out.' I put it on and I was like, 'Holy shit.' Really good stuff. Total New York sound. I met the singer at a Terror show in Rochester, New York, and by then their live show was solidified and they were awesome. I thought their demo was great, but thought they might be even better live."
MINDFORCE
"Mindforce. It's a band from the Hudson Valley outside of New York City and they used to be members of a band called Living Laser. Living Laser was around for a little bit and now those guys are doing Mindforce ... I heard their demo and some of their recent material and I love it. They're doing a record on Triple B ... kind of like a Leeway / crossover thing. It's really fucking good."
WORLD DEMISE
"We're going to go to New Jersey and World Demise, which is Greg [Falchetto] from the Mongoloids' new band. I heard a song online and Greg has such a unique voice that you can tell it's him right away. And it's a little bit tougher than the Mongoloids, definitely his voice and I think he's a great frontman. He's also just very, very dedicated to the scene, books shows and has been touring forever."
RULE THEM ALL
"We're going back to New York for another favorite — Rule Them All. I don't know these people at all, so I'm not going off that. My friend Andrew [Kline] from Strife played me the demo and it's definitely melodic — kinda sounds like Vision from New Jersey with a little Verbal Assault to it, but I would bet that they are into Silent Majority. The guy actually sings and hits the right notes and I think it's really good. It's refreshing. I like a lot of stuff like Lifetime and Hot Water Music and Texas is the Reason and this is definitely not that poppy, but it has some melody to it."
NEVER ENDING GAME
"Never Ending Game is a brand new band from Detroit that has members of Freedom in it. Totally hard, ass-beating hardcore. I hear some Fury of Five parts in it and I'm sure they take from Cold as Life since they're from Detroit. It's super aggressive, kind of street-level lyrics and it's super good. I haven't seen them yet, but I'm really looking forward to it."
