DCxPC Live came to life after Mike Hellbound succeeded in convincing punk veteran and his bandmate Mr.P to get back into promoting and booking shows in order to help emerging punk bands connect with touring bands. Mr. P has spent years touring, recording, and promoting shows through the DC/VA/MD area before taking a break off promoting and focusing on his band Call in Dead so, that was not a hard thing for him to do. Shortly they decided to record the live shows and release them on their own label that would only release live records. They started with their band’s Call in Dead and 2AMature live stream that was recorded with the help of Joshua Dobbs of Danger Room Recording Services amidst the pandemic and today we will be reviewing their 6th release, a split from the set of Grave Return and The Hamiltons that was recorded with Josh Dobbs of Danger Room Recording Services and streamed live via No Vacancy Media.
The album starts with Grave Return’s “Rocket Summer”, it has a killer intro and it’s an awesome opener for a live recording. It’s a consistent banger with heavy riffs, pounding bass, and an insanely cool guitar melody. They hit again with relentless groovy riffs on “TV Prophets”. The drums and guitar work are flooding it with energy that’ll send you headbanging all over the place. “Victory or Death” keeps the groove going with its galloping bass, punchy drums, and melodic guitar lines while “Santa Muerte” felt like the evolution of the previous three songs. It is a balanced tune with a well-crafted structure and dynamics. It has groovy melodic transitions with enjoyable guitar licks and solos thrown here and there and a catchy vocal melody.
The Hamiltons kick in with “Pierced”. A fast intense headbanger with raw punk delivery and a lot of thrashy attitude. It is an example of how extreme they can get while keeping the melody alive and present. With “Coming Up” The Hamiltons are showing us their other side by slowing everything down and flexing their musical abilities by focusing on guitar solos and melodies, groovy free bass lines, energetic interesting drums, and engaging vocal melodies.
This split captures the spirit and intensity of Grave Return and The Hamiltons and shows that the guys at DCXPC Live have an excellent eye for talent and a sense of good music. The combination of the two bands is perfect and they both put maximum effort into their performances making me want to definitely drop by at their next performance. Waiting for more headbangers. Cheers!
