Chris Barling’s 10 essential splits for hardcore/punk/metal nerds

Southbound – KARTEL, NINEBAR & DICTION, Rucktion Records – 2004

There’s a scene in Wayne’s World where Cassandra shows Wayne the copy of Frampton Comes Alive (a great record also) that she just bought and Wayne comments how if you lived in the suburbs you were issued it with samples of Tide. If you lived in London and went to hardcore shows, this was that record!

This must have been one of the first hardcore CDs I owned as I remember jamming it on the way to college on a CD Walkman…yep, that’s how long ago it was. For me personally, the tracks on this split are some of the best that these bands did. The albums that came after were all great but as a collection, all of them hit hard! If you wanted to look back at some classic UKHC, this is a good place to start.

Standout track: NINEBAR – Forest Fires

PULLING TEETH & FRIGHTENER, A389 Recordings & Ghost City Records – 2007

My first experience seeing either of these bands was when me and a friend went to see them play in a youth club in Guildford (for a while there were sick all ages shows happening in Guildford around 2007/2008) and both of them blew my mind! I’m pretty sure I picked up this split and a copy of PULLING TEETH‘s Vicious Skin at the show! If you like bands like INTEGRITY and the darker metallic side of hardcore, this will be well within your lane! Dom from PT now plays in INTEGRITY. For any SLABDRAGGER fans, Sam was the drummer in FRIGHTENER at the time.

PULLING TEETH were also one of the first bands I experienced that openly spoke out about gay rights at a time in hardcore where crowds were often called ‘f*ggots’ for not moshing.

Standout track: PULLING TEETH – Stone Throwers

HAYMAKER & FUCKED UP, Deep Six Records – 2005

Reading the insert, these tracks were recorded back in 2002 but the split didn’t see the light of day till 2005. Two years later, HAYMAKER put out their self-titled on Deranged and in my opinion, it’s one of the best hardcore punk records ever written. This split is a gem in hardcore and punk history and well worth seeking out, especially if you are already a fan of FUCKED UP, as this was the period where they were dropping in a lot more fastcore and Oi! Influence in their songs. Very different from their latest releases.

HAYMAKER have always been one of my favourite hardcore punk bands and I’d recommend that anyone who wants to hear unashamedly angry songs that clock in at under a minute get on Discogs right now!

Standout track: All the HAYMAKER tracks!

Millennial Psychosis – BRAIN DEAD & ROT IN HELL, Feast Of Tentacles, Rumour Control Records & Vinyl Addict Records, 2007

I’m pretty sure I picked this up when I saw both bands support INTEGRITY at the Old Blue Last back in 2008. ROT IN HELL opened the show and Mike, their bassist at the time, started the proceedings by lobbing a pint glass at the wall. A dick move, totally, but the band is called ROT IN HELL. No one expected it to be a ‘nice’ time.

I only saw BRAIN DEAD a couple of times and they were horribly awesome on both occasions. Lyrically, BRAIN DEAD went for the throat and tackled organised religion and were openly pro-choice. It was around this time that HANG THE BASTARD was starting up and thinking back, this split had a lot of influence on me. Taking a lot of lyrical influence from BRAIN DEAD and style cues from ROT IN HELL.

Do a deep dive on Discogs for the BRAIN DEAD stuff. The Priest Killer EP is brilliant as well.

Standout track: ROT IN HELL – The Barrens

COLD WORLD & WAR HUNGRY, Six Feet Under Records, 2006

Undoubtedly a classic split in hardcore history. COLD WORLD, a band that tastefully merged hardcore and hip-hop together and brought about the age of everyone wearing North Face jackets to shows. WAR HUNGRY brought huge riffs to the table before a lot of hardcore bands got on that wagon.

Get it, mosh to it, headbang to it!

Standout track: WAR HUNGRY – Final Hour

SELF DEFENSE FAMILY & MEREDITH HUNTER, Run For Cover, 2014

Is doing a split with your alter ego band considered a split? The answer is yes!

The SDF track on this split is a nice slow burn to settle into, leaning on their well-documented love of Lungfish and Krautrock influence that would become way more prevalent on later releases. However, the MEREDITH HUNTER song (essentially still an SDF song) is the highlight for sure! It’s a beautiful alt rock/country number that wouldn’t be that out of place on one of those Reader’s Digest country comps.

If you fall in love with this record, have fun on your quest to collect all of their releases, especially all of the early End Of A Year records.

Standout track: MEREDITH HUNTER – Gold Star Mother

CALIFORNIA LOVE & GEHENNA, A389 Recordings, 2010

I was seriously bummed out when A389 called it a day and stopped putting out music. They were my go-to for fierce and vile hardcore records. Both GEHENNA and CALIFORNIA LOVE bring all that but always seem to go the extra mile to sound even more terrifying.

A lot of bands try to be enigmatic and shroud themselves in a bit of mystery, but GEHENNA does it without even trying. Rumours of stabbings, holding up a shop while on tour in Europe and general violence at shows surround them. Whether any of them are true or not doesn’t really matter, it adds to the intensity of the music. I had them booked to play at The Old Blue Last years ago but sadly, but not unsurprisingly, the tour was cancelled, and no one got to see if the rumours were true.

“The music of GEHENNA isn’t made to make people feel good. There’s something else for that.” – from the back of their Upon the Gravehill LP. Perfectly sums up what this band is about.

Standout track: GEHENNA – Get Fucked Up

TEAR IT UP & FAST TIMES, Young Blood Records, 2001

If you are interested in Youth Crew or fastcore, get all over TEAR IT UP if you aren’t yet acquainted! If you really wanted to do yourself a favour, just do a deep dive on the Young Blood Records back catalogue while you’re at it.

My first experience listening to TIU was when a friend burnt me a CD with their entire discography on it, a long forgotten pastime. I’ve been lucky enough to find their releases in a few distros along the way, but I’ll have to turn to the internet to complete my collection. I’d never heard FAST TIMES until getting a copy of this but they are equally as badass! Listening to this split is only going to take up about 7 to 8 minutes of your time, so you may as well grab the TEAR IT UP & ExTxA split while you are at it!

Standout track: TEAR IT UP – EZ Pass = EZ Control