Witness

DEAD RAMONES

Witness is a good hardcore album. Outstanding tracks are "The Outsiders (AKA Hell Is for Heroes Part I)" and "D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S.". I sometimes find the vocals a bit bleak and unconvincing, but the great instrumental part surely makes up for it.

I want to thank the person who put this album in this list. Amazing, gripping, emotive (post?) Hardcore.

I wasn’t expecting much going in since hardcore isn’t usually my genre, but this floored me. Witness avoids the standard breakdown clichés and instead goes for something slower, heavier, and more melodic. That restraint makes the brutality hit harder. The vocals can be a grind and I can see how they’d put people off, but I got used to them quickly. What matters is how much emotion they carry. The lyrics add another dimension. Songs like Marshalltown capture small-town frustration, anger, and restraint in a way that feels raw but thoughtful. It's personal and political. D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S. is more upbeat and immediate, showing they could step outside the gloom without losing power. At 27 minutes it’s the perfect runtime: intense, emotional, and over before the weight of it wears off. I ended up loving this far more than I expected. 4,5*

Yawwwwn.....really? Can they not employ their talents to something other than this tired rehashed genre. Without a vestige of originality or skill.

I can forgive reviewers not invested in the genre to dismiss this record, but for those who say they are, you gotta be kidding me if you can't hear how stellar it is!!! Every single track slaps, the whole thing is intense from back to front, and most importantly, its hardcore punk aesthetics feels *haunted*: ghosts and ghouls abound here, disillusioned souls left on the margins of society, screaming what's left of their lungs out to paint a bleak picture of modern America. Those goddamn desperate lyrics... That goddamn voice perfectly attuned to the woes of the Midwest... Those goddamn guitar riffs, tight, infectious, heavy, angular, and yet filled with dread and melancholy at the same time... It's the platonic ideal of what a mid-noughts hardcore punk LP was supposed to sound (along with admittedly slightly different-sounding examples found in Comeback Kid, Have Heart or Verse's discography). For me, no other album from that specific era and adjacent music style suggested by users on this generator sounds *this* authentic. Plus, this one has been pretty influential, without Modern Life Is War ever fully receiving the credits they should have received. Without *Witness*, I'm not sure we would have had Defeater or Fucked Up a couple of years down the line, for instance -- at least not in the shape hxc punk fans came to know them. In short, a stone-cold masterpiece. ---- 5/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums. 10/10 for more general purposes (5 + 5) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 61 (including this one) Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 80 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 146 ---- Emile... Ma propre balise temporelle... Tu trouveras mes trois dernières réponses sous les albums d'Eric B. & Rakim, Shpongle et Ookla The Mok

D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S. is the standout track from this. There's enough variety in the music to make the shoutiness less oppressive, and it's short enough to get the message across without overstaying its welcome. Better than it might otherwise have been.

Oh Witness is right up my street, it gives me mid 00 vibes of acts like Alexisonfire or Rise Against (maybe vocally more than musically there) or even Anti-Flag with their intensity in places but they're heavier and more screamy, and it really leaps out to my ear in the same ways. Good melodies, heavy gritty riffs, vocals are so-so but they work in the context of the music, I'd happily listen again, 4.

He's gonna need a strepsil! Hell of a heavy, and a hell of an album. What a band

Rating: 7/10 Best songs: Dead Ramones, Young man blues

It's hardcore, but a bit more wall of sound in the music-part of it

Awww the boy with the microphone needs a cuddle.

Holy shit. I'm more of a metal fan than hardcore usually. But this slaps. An easy 5, this thing is short, heavy, and was exactly what I needed on a Tuesday morning.

Favourite songs: Young Man Blues, Martin Atchet, D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S., The Outsiders (aka Hell is for Heroes, Pt. 1), Young Man on a Spree Least favourite songs: John and Jimmy 5/5

It blends together. It's not quite all the same song, but it's not far off. However, it goes hard and there is definitely a mood for it.

Completely new to me, and yeah, this slaps! Hardcore's not really one of my main genres but I like dipping my toes in occasionally, and this sure hit the spot! Fave tracks - "The Outsiders (aka Hell is for Heroes, Pt. I)", "D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S."

This one is for the hardcore kids. Anyone who spent their days watching Have Heart's last show on youtube and waiting for the next local show to throw down. The energy, the passion, the relatable confessions, each line of a song that gets burned into your mind. Start a band with you friends, go edge, break edge, try it again, get into scene beef, jump a guy with allegations, play a show, record a shitty demo and pass around tapes or CDs, open for a sick touring band. It's our life, we do what we choose. Black jeans, black shirt, black shoes. Mom and Dad still don't approve. We're all Dead Ramones. The spirit of punk rock distilled in it's newest youth. We'll be okay. CONTENDER FOR THE LIST: I wouldn't include any modern hardcore on the list, unfortunately. But! It's going on 1001 Punk Albums You Must Hear Before You Die :)

core 😀

Pretty good emo, singer really sounds like the one from la dispute

Really solid emotional hardcore. Hell yeah honestly.

Sounds great, hit me hard, I'm Not Ready got me. Great share.

I think there's probably better acts in this subset of punk music, it is a little derivative, unfortunately , but that doesn't mean it doesn't absolutely rip, and the short runtime is fantastic.

This boy screams at you for 26 minutes.

I'm usually pretty critical of the monotone shouting, but this somehow hit the right spot for me. The music had raw energy, combined with strong lyrical content which elevated the delivery and gave it a tortured sincerity.

Hea muusika, aga screamo karjumine on väsitav.

27 minutes. I genuinely asked myself "did I really just listen to a whole album?" It's intense but it flies by without much sticking. D.E.A.D.R.A.M.O.N.E.S. was the clear standout and the closer earned its extra runtime. Not in a hurry to come back.

This is not particularly my genre, with the screaming and all, but it was pretty cool overall 3/5

While punk is my lifeblood, Hardcore has always left me conflicted. This is a good album by damn near any metric, it just doesn't really land with me.

Perfectly enjoyable hardcore album. It's very quick and very intense, but beside that nothing really stuck with me. I didn't dislike it, but I wasn't blown away.

kinda really fucking annoying I kinda like it conceptually, but the execution (most notably the vocals) just exhaust me indescribably - 6/10

Lodern Wife is Mar

huh! what is IT GOOOOD FAWWRRRRRRR!

Coming from a big Punk / Thrash / Hardcore background, MLiW is a new band for me. Sadly they don't give me much to be excited about. 3/5

Too much screaming. How on earth do you your like that? Kidding aside, poignant lyrics really a testament to the time it was recorded. Just hurts the ears after a while.

These guys are angry about something

Its pretty good but made me yearn for Relationship of Command by At the Drive in

lmao 3

Not bad

Mercifully short

Add one more to my list of I enjoyed this. Thought it was a good record but I’d love to hear from the person who put this on the list the why behind adding it. Other than being a good record what pushed it over the top to be 1000 to hear record. Because I thought it was good. I enjoyed it. But I feel I’m missing something that others have seen.

This is decent hardcore. Although I'm not a huge hardcore punk fan I liked it. Perhaps wouldn't have gotten much further if it wasn't relatively short though. 3.

This sort of thing already exists on here. It's fine. My personal rating: 3/5 My rating relative to the list: 3/5 Should this have been included on the original list? No.

Solid bit of hardcore punk

That's definitely some more hardcore. I don't know. Like punk, I think it is fundamentally anachronistic past a certain point, and that point for hardcore is, you know, the Eighties. Thrash thrash, shout shout. Within these constraints this is very solid, and as a bonus very succinct.

Short and sweet. I'm not much of a metalhead, but the music was good. Couldn't catch much of the lyrics.

An interesting yet quick album. Overall this was okay!

Screamy emo punk. I consider myself to be a fan of that kind of music, but this was just kinda alright. Better stuff out there.

quite repetitive

I guess you could call that punk, but it wasn’t very good punk

Not my kind of music. I wouldn't even call it music. Noise. In two songs I can hear some traces of music, so 2.

screaming punk

If I had to grow up in Iowa I'd probably make music like this too

Iowa hardcore seems to be a scene what with Slipknot leading the way. Did I like this? Yeah, it was alright. Did it affirm my life? Nah.

Modern Life Is War's "Witness" was a chore to get through, unfortunately. Hardcore with no variety of levels to the vocals, just constant screaming growls, kills the otherwise great guitars. I can only tolerate hardcore and post-hardcore when the screaming is paired with sung vocals. The lyrics also frequently came off as the attempts of an angsty teenager to sound profound.

I normally like hardcore, but something about this just didn't click with me.

Vocals killed this one for me, the instrumentals were interesting enough for a mid-aughts hardcore LP, but the raspy, abrasive shouting sat on top of the mix and kinda drowned everything else out.

Hardcore punk, melodic hardcore. Demasiados gritos... Un 2.

I don't like punk rock

thrash metal bs.

Just a bit angry for my Monday morning commute

Hardcore punk, melodic hardcore. Demasiados gritos... Un 2.

Midwest hardcore from the 2000s. This was about what I was expecting it would be. It was fine.

Lots of passion, but not something I enjoy much.

This kind of reminded me of something good (Rise Against) but it wasn't that.

I am so goddamn tired of hardcore on here

Too shouty, even for a Wednesday morning.

Hemsk platta. Bland det sämsta jag hört.

This is the kind of punk I just can’t enjoy. There’s something that differs between screaming punk and screaming metal that makes the punk sound so much worse. Sometimes the older simpler albums are better for a reason. This was pretty modern and you could feel some of that in the album but not for improvements. This album just felt like tense anger without any real message. 3.5/10

No lo voy a terminar de escuchar.

Why put shite like this on the list??