Question Your Privileges

Prison Of Hope follow up their excellent 7” from last year with an equally good 12”. The band really itches my 90s hardcore itch without getting too hard and crossing over into tough guy territory. The six songs on Question Your Privileges are perfect for that. The Chokehold rip-off cover is a nice touch for the collectors and of course self-referential, seeing that the band took its name from a Chokehold album. I really hope they stick to their rhythm and release something new in 2026 again. 

1st Press on Orange/White Swirl on Drastic Actions /100 (Label Info) or /95 (Discogs)
1st Press on Blue w/ Chokehold Rip-Off Sleeve on Drastic Actions /45

Prison Of Hope

Prison of Hope is a relatively new band from Stuttgart aka Stu York. As you might have guessed from the band name, the people in the band are huge fans of 90s hardcore. Besides taking inspiration for the name from Chokehold, you also get a Strain cover on the B-side. The band released a demo in 2022 and has seen an interesting line up change: the original singer became the new drummer and the new singer is female. Totally works for me though, as the singer's vocals are awesome! As is the whole 7". I had forgotten I had pre-ordered this record sometime in spring this year, so when I got an e-mail telling me the record was about to be shipped finally, I was happily surprised. 

Also fitting with the 90s theme is the fact that this was released as an actual 7"! According to my spread sheet I picked up seven 7"s released this year (kind of poetic, don't you think), including this one. I know why labels prefer doing one-sided 12"s these days, but 7" is still the best format for hardcore and I wish there were more 7"s released. 

1st Press on Solid Red on Final War & Drastic Actions /100

For the nerds: there are also 100 copies on white vinyl. 

Anchor

My friend I traded the Burn 7" to also threw in this test pressing of Anchor's 7" Captivity Songs along with the DING demo. I got some stickers, too, and he also wrote me a really nice letter. It's these seemingly small things besides the actual trading/buying/collecting that make this so much fun.

We Shall... Overcome

No, I haven't gone Christian hardcore lately. Far from it actually, if you know the people behind this record, haha. I've had the new Pessimistic Lines record for some time now and the plan was to write about it as soon as I had the other versions, but since that won't be the case for a few more weeks, I thought I might do it now just as well. Pessimistic Lines are a band from Stuttgart, Germany, for those who don't know the band. Check them out if you're into modern hardcore with an old school twist. I really liked their demo and their first 7", so of course I was looking forward to their latest release. And I didn't get disappointed, although I would have preferred if the production had been a little rawer. It sounds too clean for my taste. But that's just me. Good record by good people. Pre-order sleeve with orange vinyl out of 50.

I also picked up a black copy of their first 7" No Future to complete the set. 

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - record release edition on yellow /33

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - pre-order on yellow

Pessimistic Lines - No Future - Cobra / Drastic Actions - first press on black