PAINT IT BLACK’s New Lexicon was not easy to produce, but it’s gritty, thunderous and ugly—just the way hardcore punk should be.

New Lexicon marks PAINT IT BLACK’s first recording with new drummer Jared Shavelson (Hope Conspiracy, None More Black) and boasts guest vocals from Jeff Pezatti (Naked Raygun). Still, many of the best surprises occur behind the scenes.

Rather than straining to re-create “lo-fi” in a studio, New Lexicon rings in an aggressive clarity from engineer J. Robbins’ (Modern Life is War, Against Me!). With a thick low-end up front (think Bad Brains’ Roir sessions), New Lexicon says that aggression doesn’t have to be found only in thick guitars.

From here, the album was passed on to co-producer Oktopus of the indie hip hop group Dalek. Here, the existing sounds of feedback, bass booms and cymbal crashes were twisted into haunting ambient interludes and serpentine waves trailing behind the buzz saw riffs.

With little debate, this is Paint It Black’s finest hour …or, half-hour, anyway, with 15 songs clocking in at a dizzying 30 minutes, 26 seconds.

LP available from Rivalry Records.

PAINT IT BLACK'S follow up to their urgent and trouncing CVA is epic in comparison. Not simply in terms of song length, but more importantly in terms of subject matter. Paradise contains all the mile-a-minute passion of the last release coupled with a more thematic tone, exploring the personal pains of divorce, the more global concerns of war and how the two are hopelessly intertwined. The end result is a heroic look inward and ultimately a catharsis guised in uncompromising intensity and spirit.

Jade Tree's second volume in its' Location Is Everything (JT1094) sampler series provides the perfect overview of the label's most recent and upcoming releases, featuring 21 tracks by beloved Jade Tree artists STRIKE ANYWHERE, DENALI, CHALLENGER, ESTER DRANG, THESE ARMS ARE SNAKES, JETS TO BRAZIL and more. The CD also features bonus tracks of unreleased, live, and demo versions of songs from PEDRO THE LION, FROM ASHES RISE, ONELINEDRAWING, PAINT IT BLACK, CEX and STATISTICS.

PAINT IT BLACK delivers unabashed, uncompromising hardcore, negating the preconceived boundaries between the personal, political, melodic and aggressive, accentuating a much-appreciated axiom: maximum intensity. Features current and ex-members of Lifetime, Kid Dynamite, Good Riddance, and The Curse.

Jade Tree's first sampler "Location is Everything Vol. 1" (JT1075) is economically priced and designed to provide a definitive overview of the label's output. 16 of the CD's 23 tracks dip into Jade Tree's catalog of recent and forthcoming releases with songs by NEW END ORIGINAL, STRIKE ANYWHERE, DENALI, ONELINEDRAWING, TRIAL BY FIRE, OWLS, and many more. This sampler also features seven never-before-released songs by JETS TO BRAZIL, THE PROMISE RING, PEDRO THE LION, MILEMARKER, GIRLS AGAINST BOYS, MIIGHTY FLASHLIGHT, and PAINT IT BLACK.