BARCODE BAND PAGE
 BARCODE
|
CURRENT NAME
|
Barcode |
|
FORMER NAMES
|
- |
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ORIGIN
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Aarhus, Midtjylland, Denmark |
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STATUS
|
Active |
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FORMED IN
|
1995 |
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LABEL
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Nuclear Blast |
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GENRE
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Hardcore |
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STYLE
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- |
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LYRICAL THEME
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- |
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BAND ADDED
|
2005-03-19, 00:00 |
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LAST UPDATE
|
2008-10-22, 03:51 |
Here it is: the new breathtaking album from one of Europe’s
finest, most respected, most hated, most uncompromising, most
controversial, most hardboiled, most subversive hardcore acts around. Along with
fellow acts such as HateSphere, Illdisposed, Raunchy, Exmortem and
Mnemic and studio facilities such as Antfarm, Zigsound and Smart’n’Hard,
BARCODE have firmly proven that their home town Aarhus (Denmark) has
become Europe’s undisputed capital of hard-edged music.
The story of this European hardcore legend sets off ten years ago. It’s
a story of a band that never gave a shit about conventions. An
intractable resistance against enforced codes of conduct, often labelled as
“scene disloyalty“, has earned BARCODE a reputation as obstinate, an
attitude which doesn’t go unpunished in the HC scene where you’re supposed
to fall into line and go with the flow.
An uphill battle which has closed a lot of doors, but then again -
other doors were forced open. It’s like trying to make a cork stay
underwater; it resurfaces as soon as you loosen your grip! And the only thing
BARCODE care about – the fans – never turned their back on the band.
No masks, no costumes, no fancy pyro shows – nothing but true
dedication and a hell of a persistent attitude has kept BARCODE on the move.
From tiny punk bars to major festivals - from sleazy squats to
established venues: throughout a decade of serious hardcore business BARCODE have
been there, done that and ruled all over. Wherever the pit seeks a full
scale energetic discharge BARCODE ensures that no one leaves a show
pent-up.
The crowd appreciate the potent blend of energy, tightness and
aggression that the Danish quintet always provides in wide smile party style.
Hundreds of international shows with acts such as Madball, Pro-Pain,
Skarhead, Born from Pain, Murphy’s Law, Backfire, Snuff, Bouncing Souls,
Ryker’s, etc. have gained the band an awesome live reputation.
BARCODE have put out 3 full length albums on Hardboiled/Diehard and
done a shitload of contributions to underground tributes and compilations.
But things didn’t really move any further while on Hardboiled, and at
the expiration of their 3-album deal BARCODE decided it was time for a
change and inked a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast. The hardcore scene
is known and reputed for being a very closed and self-contained
society. Having “Showdown” out on Nuclear Blast is a great opportunity to
spread the genre to a wide audience of potential hardcore fans.
Over the years BARCODE have worked with a hand-picked selection of
internationally highly esteemed producers such as Tommy Hansen
(Illdisposed, HateSphere, Pretty Maids, Helloween), Jamie Locke (Madball, Cro-Mags,
Agnostic Front, SOIA) and Tue Madsen (Mnemic, The Haunted, No Turning
Back, Born from Pain). Not in any way neglecting the excellent work of
these fine producers - because it is due to their skillful expertise
that BARCODE have always had a phat sound distinguishing them from the
heaps of “true” sounding DIY hc acts - this time around they’ve chosen to
let their very own guitar player Dr. J take care of business. Dr. J has
indeed come out as a cutting edge producer himself, and, to those of
you who’ve noticed: Yes, besides being main songwriter and driving force
of BARCODE, guitarist Dr. J also finds time to attend to his duties as
frontman of death metal act HateSphere.
You might expect that taught by bitter experience BARCODE have toned
down the attitude on their new outburst. Wrong! It may sound like a
worn-out cliché, but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. The riffing,
the arrangements, the production, the aggressiveness – and most
certainly the attitude – everything is just up one notch more than BARCODE’s
previous releases all together. Enhancing Dr. J’s production,
Antfarmer’s Tue Madsen did an excellent job mixing and mastering the album.
Once again BARCODE’s fierce, no-nonsense freestyle HC is accompanied by
a host of harsh verbal blows to self-righteous pigs of any kind –
generally, all who put themselves, their ideas and beliefs above everybody
else. No one is spared!
Guest vocals by Laurits Medom – (As We Fight/the Produced).
Says BARCODE: “From day one we’ve been convinced that “Showdown” ain’t
just gonna be yet another album filed under hard-edged in the huge back
catalogue of forgotten music, but a crucial milestone in the history of
recorded brutality. A benchmark to measure future releases against.”
| Session musicians Add - Fetch |
| Unknown / none |
