HAYMAKER
s/t lp/cd
(DY20/21)

The long awaited full-length from Hamilton, Ontario's shitstorm has finally hit the streets. It's been a year or so in the works and it has been definitely worth the wait. Like repeated punches to the temple, it just doesn't let up. 25 songs of frustrated, pissed off lyrics dealing with scene politics, hating the cops, skateboarding and, of course, religion. The heaviness of NEGATIVE APPROACH and INFEST mixed with the metallic edge of SEPTIC DEATH. Controversial and essential. Featuring members of CHOKEHOLD, LEFT FOR DEAD, the SWARM, and the CURSED. Featuring brand new PUSHEAD artwork (responsible for most of the Metallica and Misfits T-shirt designs).

MP3

"built to destroy"

AVAILABILITY: In Press

PRESSING INFO

1200 on black
200 on clear red vinyl, w/ Pushead artwork
100 on clear vinyl, w/ Pushead artwork
Limited "cop cover", #'ed out of 200 on clear red vinyl

REVIEWS

Push the Limits
Holy shit motherfuckers, say goodbye to your pretty face and your inline skates, Haymaker is here. A 25 song hardcore assault from probably the angriest band in hardcore today. If you have their older stuff, this is the same thing only twice as good, twice as hard and a hundred times as pissed. Songs about skating and hating with mosh parts and a tough voice, PUSHEAD artwork, blood, skulls, why the hell don't you already have this?

Blue in the Face #1
The long awaited LP from Hamilton, Ontario's shitstorm has finally hit the streets. It's been a year or so in the works and it has been definitely worth the wait. Like repeated punches to the temple, it just doesn't let up. 25 songs of frustrated, pissed off lyrics dealing with scene politics, hating the cops, skateboarding and, of course, religion.

Not since Infest or Life's Blood have I actually felt and understood the anger and frustration that hardcore can convey. Maybe its because I can relate all too well. Infest is the first band that comes to mind musically for a comparison. That mixed with Left For Dead. No surprise there. Oh yeah, did I mention the insane Pushead artwork?

Thrash N Burn (Finland)
BEST RECORD OF 2002!? Awesome heavy hardcore combining thrashy speed, great riffs, heavy mosh parts and a rude as fuck attitude. Haymaker brings the shit - negative hardcore 2002!

Deepfrybonanza (dfbpunk.com)
I think that the new Haymaker LP is exactly what I, and perhaps the rest of the hardcore scene as well, needed to hear right now. Even though I do my best not to look to hardcore for any sort of musical innovation sometimes it all just starts to sound too similar. But every once in a while a band will drop an LP that's like a visit from an old friend. In this case the old friends used to be called Integrity, and I'm very happy to hear their sound return in the music of Haymaker.

If you aren't familiar with Integrity's hardcore years (and sadly many of you aren't, as their last few LPs on Victory definitely tainted their legacy) take a whole lot of the punishing metallic hardcore of Septic Death, a little bit of New York hardcore a la Agnostic Front or maybe even Straight Ahead and add tiny pinches of classic metal and Japanese thrashcore and you're pretty much there. Being a product of the modern hardcore scene Haymaker also have the influence of Youth of Today in their singalongs and breakdowns, but thankfully they keep this kind of water-treading to a minimum.

Listening to the 25 songs that make up this self-titled debut LP it's easy to see why the 90s hardcore scene turned into what it did. With everyone playing faster and faster they tend to forget the heaviness that bands like Negative Approach and Black Flag had, and Haymaker seem to be making a conscious effort to make their music as heavy as a cinderblock to the pinkie toe. Haymaker don't go about it the easy way (like putting in a giant Hatebreed-style mosh part) though, they actually incorporate the heaviness into their thrashy sound, their guitars grinding out the thrash in the absolute lowest register the instrument is capable of emitting.

Lyrically, Haymaker fall in the real-word "that really sucked, I think I'll write a song about it" category that has yielded other bands songs about paying tolls (Tear It Up's "EZ Pass = EZ Control") and the intern! et (too many bands and songs to mention). Haymaker point their semantic gun at taxes ("Tax Attack"), the wealthy ("Who Wants to Kill a Millionaire") and Hollywood ("Another Shit Movie") and though they sound a bit like juvenile temper tantrums at least you can understand what the fuck they're about.

Top off this twenty minutes of venomous hardcore with some incredible Pushead artwork and a cover song ("Burning Chemicals" by Ontario punks the Nunfuckers, a poppy song that breaks up the album much like the Stalag 13 cover did on the Holier Than Thou? LP) and you've got a pretty complete package. If you're starting to get a little burnt out on the early 80s thrash sound pick this up and infuse some heaviness back into your listening diet. Let's just avoid getting too excited lest the scene degenerate back into the kind of place where Earth Crisis doesn't get laughed at.

Aversionline.com
Slightly raw and heavy old school hardcore with all the speed and anger one would expect from the genre. They blaze through 25 songs in 22 minutes, and they mean fuckin' business. Obviously the songs almost never hit the one minute mark, but the writing is still intense as hell, and they know how to pack a fucking punch in 45 seconds or lessS˙ that's for damn sure. There are tons of brutal breakdowns, but not in a goofy metalcore sense, they just add some flare to the tracks and are also a little bit darker somehow, which is unusual. They also thrown down a cover of the Nunfuckers' "Burning Chemicals", and it's incredible! If this is any indication of what the Nunfuckers had to offer back in the 80's, I've got some hunting to do! The production works out fine. Ever! ything is pretty even as far as both tones and the mix are concerned. I'd turn up the bass a little bit, being careful not to muddy up the sound. But other than that I have no qualms. The guitars are rugged but mesh perfectly with the vicious vocal shouts/screams, the drums are natural and do their thing, etc. The cover art is done by Pushead, so you know what to expect there. Skulls, eyeballs, the usual. The color scheme seems different from his other work, but whatever. The lyrics are bitter as hell and attack various topics, but humorous song titles like "God Can Fuck Hymnself" and "Who Wants to Kill a Millionaire?" should offer some insight there. But don't get the wrong idea, there's some serious shit here too, "Believe everything you fuckin' see, 'Cause those in charge wouldn't lie, Rest assured while you're sleeping, They're creating new ways for you to dieS˙" This is an awesome fucking record. As with the vast majority of bands that play this style, Haymaker isn't exa! ctly doing something new, but I do feel like they have more to offer than a lot of the other bands out there, and they are leaning towards a sound that has enough diversity to really make a difference. Definitely recommended. There's only so much to say about a CD like this, but it fucking kills, so check it out. [8/10]

Equalizing Distort Issue 2, Number 5
Straight forward hardcore with a heavy bottom end that creates an apocalyptic atmosphere. Jeff's SPRINGA style vocals brings new dimension to this style. With their background in sXe, these folks will use some of this song writing for window dressing like breakdowns to emphasize the shitty aspects of life. No posi message here, just an all out attack on religion, the government, cops, surveillance, and other intrusions. Coming from the "City that Burns" the cover "Burning Chemicals", originally done by the NUNFUCKERS, seems completely appropriate. There seem to be real creative punk appropriations going on like the songs " A Million More Dead Cops" (MDC), "Life, Love, Revenge" (UNBROKEN), and "From the Cradle, to the Pavement" (SUBHUMANS). This adopts generational thoughts as part of punk cultural belief structures. There is so much going on here. And if that doesn't impress you, maybe the new PUSHEAD artwork will!

Suburban Voice #45
Subtlety? Isn't in Haymaker's universe, at least their musical or lyrical universe. Expressing their rage at the world in no uncertain terms and unleashing a torrent of bile-filled hardcore. Speed and heaviness in short, succinct emanations and without letting up for one second. Jeff's bellowing vocals are reminiscent of Ron from Brotherhood (or think of wrestling icon the Ultimate Warrior, if he sang for a hardcore band. Pushead did the artwork, with a nasty-looking skeletal character apparently about to feast on an eyeball. Visceral artwork to match the visceral musical contents.

FLEXYOURHEAD online
In a time when it seems as if hardcore bands are afraid to take a stand Hamilton, Ontario's Haymaker are everything hardcore should be: brutal, raw, angry, and above all, highly confrontational. It's not just Christians, cops, or authority figures that are clearly in Haymaker's sights - these guys are pissed at the world. Rightly so - the world is a fucked up place and Haymaker aren't going to stand by silent.

From start to finish this Haymaker disc epitomizes every adjective-laden, mid-eighties Puszone review. In a word, it rages. Oh yeah, the cover art? By Pushead, of course, and possibly one of his finest works to date. Awesome.