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The (literally) basement recording of this EP gives Seizure Crypt a vintage hardcore/punk feel, making this sound like it was recorded a couple decades ago, which fits in very well with the old school style that they are playing.

Seizure Crypt do a good job of combing old school New York Hardcore with crust punk (I hear a Doom influence in their first couple songs), but they need to focus on that instead of experimenting with different styles. Their slower songs don't work at all ("Stalk" and "Herein the Problem Lies"), almost sounding painful to listen to. They should stick to writing more songs like "No Room Left to Bleed" and "Great Defector," as those are good songs that make the others sound that much worse.

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This is throwback! Kind of like the first time you heard any ‘80’s crum-core band’s demo at your local skate spot on a cassette boom box. Super basic hardcore. Simple riffs, a guy that sounds like he’s taking a dump, drums and that’s it. Wait, terrible production too.

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Seizure Crypt is a motherfucking unit from the greatest city in the world, New York. They are so proud of their city that they even call their first full-length City of New York. But if you expect to hear some bullshit American patriot conservative music, you better think again. Seizure Crypt is playing what I would call a mix of metal core, hard core and punk in the vein of Verbal Abuse, Leeway, D.R.I. and similar acts. The music is made for stage diving and serious moshpitting. There’re unfortunately, because I like this shit, only 7 hardcore tunes here, with best one being in my opinion “Death Rider”. I like the vocals even though sometimes I liked him to be more forward. It is filled with aggression and violent beats. Just the music as I like it: hard, heavy, brutal and with a lot of meaning to it. Band is currently about to release the follow-up, so ask soon for more.

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Seizure crypt play a style of hardcore, that is a blend of rock, metal and hardcore punk sensibilities. Compiled together, these ingredients make an explosive album of sharp shouting vocals, moody guitars and a smashing rhythm section. Throughout this seven track disc, Seizure Crypt doesn't take their foot off of the accelerator...the disc is fist pumping and head swinging throughout. Sounding very similar to SOS (NYC), it's obvious that the creative mind of Mike SOS is involved in this project. I'm not sure if this is a side project, and meant as a one off, or if the band plans to be together for some time to come. As this is the band's debut disc, and if it is any indication of what we can expect in the future...expect big things! Seizure Crypt are aggressive enough to appeal to both metal heads and open minded punkers, but still can bring in a mainstream appeal that could have them featured on many rock stations across the country. The influence of metal is clear in most of the tracks, but the underlying hardcore and punk is what drags me into the band's offering here. I find myself wanting, and focusing in, on these potential attributes. As they almost bring the band into a grind-core sound, reminiscent of crust, grind, street punk band Toxic Narcotic. I think it will only be a matter of time before Seizure Crypt achieves the same status of Toxic Narcotic; they are right on the cusp! -MG

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Stagedive to this one, motherfuckers! A total tip-of-the-hat to the punk/hardcore crossover of yesteryear, Seizure Crypt sounds like something that could have come out of Washington DC in the early experimental stages of Dischord Records or as an overlooked Revelation Records sub-release. Some tracks are totally spastic crossover in the vein of Verbal Abuse and D.R.I., while others flow from Fugazi to Fear or Murphy's Law to the Mentors within moments of each other, and they all have a "drunk in some basement" or "live in a dive" DIY feel in execution and crappy sound quality. Fun as hell.$7.00 postage paid.

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People who remember the "tape trading" days might remember the band Charnel Horse, who I really liked a lot. Well Tom from there has a new band and this is it. Also has members from SOS and Terminal Confusions. Right now they have a song up on my space. Two singers and the vocal styles are almost the same, but you can tell the difference between them. Old school punk sound to them. Lots of yelling, lots of screaming and lots of fast punk rock music to go a long. I would even throw a Misfits sound slightly in the mix as well.

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Author: Chris Rohde

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This has a member from the band Charnel House, who I remember were a pretty good handcore band. This is what you will get here. 7 hardcore tunes and non of that macho jump metal crap. This is stripped down bones to the floor pissed off hardcore. No nu metal crap. No middle forced mosh parts. This is true hardcore and is as good as it gets.

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SEIZURE CRYPT/City Of New York-7 tracks of metal core played old school style. Reminded me of some of those old bands like Ludichrist, Leeway, etc. Total shouted vocals and not a tough guy vocal in sight. No breakdown or mosh or dance parts neither. Just 7 songs of pure metal core with aggression and violence the way this music was meant to be played.

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Looks can be deceiving. I looked at the cover of this disc, and made myself not like the contents, before I even heard it. Hand drawn, kinda cheesy. So the disc got pushed aside...come on, I have new Slayer, Mushroomhead and Lamb of God sitting here...you have to have priorities. A few weeks later as I cleaned the stacks of discs off my desk, I come across this one again. I try to be fair to everyone and play everything at least once, so I put it in. It's going to get alot of plays.

It's not completely original in its sound and song structure, though it does have some interesting elements. I'd at points say it's a hardcore band, a speedcore band, a thrash band and your average punk band. Though I don't recall any bands of said genres ever using a Banjo.

The sum of all parts is what makes this disc work for me. It was recorded on a DFX12 drum mixer and a Roland Digital Eight-Track Board. The sound they've acheived from such a set-up is actually a plus, and works so much better than a million-dollar production could have ever done for this band. The feeling is just there in the room, not washed away by studio tricks.

There are also 2 vocalists in the band, making for a fierce attack. The mix seperates the vocals, pulling one guy in nice and strong, and leaving the other guy sounding like he's yelling in from the shed out back. This isn't arena rock, it's dirty gritty punk, and considering the places it'll be played live in, the vocal mix works perfectly.

Alot of people won't get this sound at all. It's too in-your-face, too true to it's roots. Too damn raw and unpolished. But for those of you willing to listen to real, unrestrained music - don't pass this disc up.

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Blasting out double vocal attack speedcore that could very well have been scooped up from the editing table of a Discharge session, Seizure Crypt have a strong start with their debut full-length. Moderately amateurish thanks to limited production values that still can’t hide the band’s questionable abilities, the majority of this album feels almost dirty; as if you shouldn’t be hearing it just yet. But that’s its greatest appeal, accentuated by an inspired attack and venomous delivery. Together, these make up for any other shortcomings, especially when one counts in an incredibly M.O.D.-ish sense of humour as evidenced on pedestrian-killing epic “Death Rider” with its laughable lyrics and plunk-y banjo… yes, banjo that actually works in the medium of speedcore. It’s as brilliant as it is insane.

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Author: Dollev

If you feel the need recalibrate your hearing or your mind, you might consider visiting the website of the band Seizure Crypt. There are people who can distinct hardcore, from speedcore, or grindcore, but I'm not one of them. But I am certain that their music is definitely not snorecore! ;)

So far I've heard three songs and all of them are hard as hammers and sharp as knives. The hard part would be the music itself. It's not that it just loud, it's uncomformity in it's most unsettling form. And while you are deciphering the lyrics, you discover that this is not mindless noise. Douglas, One of the band members of Seizure Crypt commented on my little piece about how we are the problem when it comes to screwing up the environment. He mentions on of their songs: "Herein The Problem Lies". To my Surprise he also mailed me an MP3 of the song. I can't play it for you right now (i guess i have to reinstall my blogradio again), put I can show a few lines of the lyrics:

SHIT WHERE YOU EAT
PISS WHERE YOU SLEEP
HERE-IN IS WHERE THE PROBLEM LIES

THE SUN STAR WOULD POWER OUR WORLD
BUT OIL WON’T HAVE IT

WIND IS A CONSTANT

IN STEAD HUMANS DESIGN YUCCA MOUNTAIN

Yep, that was the sharp part.

Those lines remind me of someting a friend told me after he was back from a visit on Sumatra. Thousands of acres of rainforest were tore down, to make way for palm trees. The trees provide oil that is used for making margarine. We are so freaking incompatible with the world we live in, that even the fact that we exist, is enough to kill everything on this planet.

The threat that the orang-utang might die out because we have to butter our sandwiches, is a bizar reality. The same goes for the music of Seizure Crypt. You may think it is too much. Which is okay, you don't have to like it. But you can't dismiss it either, they slam it too hard in your face.

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Beneath the woefully inept booklet design (you gotta see this thing, it’s amazing. Your eyes may mutiny and jump right out of your skull) lies a fast n’ furious NY hardcore band with dual shouters up front and a simple, but effective, thrash n’ burn approach. DRI and Agnostic Front are a cuppla names that pop into my head while this one batters my ears into butter, and I gotta admit, it’s been quite sometime since I’ve heard hardcore punk sound this…well, hardcore. No longhaired wonky heavy metal bullshit for these cats, Jack, just adrenaline and anger and really sore throats. 8 tracks, a cuppla slow, grindy breakdowns, lots of speed, a great excuse for smashing the joint to pieces.

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Spill Online | Harm Magazine | Maelstrom | Digital Metal | Dead Tide | Lords of Metal | Metal Review HorrorwoodBabbleon | Ultimate Metal

I received a group of promos back in the summer and just haven't had the time to add reviews for the ones I didn't like whatsoever. Guess I'm playing catch-up, and Seizure Crypt is first on the list. "The City of New York" could have been released in the late 80's / early 90's, meaning this brand of thrashy old-school hardcore has been done many, many times before and much better than this. Punk riffing is littered throughout as well but this band never really seems to define itself as anything more than a garage band in my opinion (and the production reflects that as well). For me personally, I despise most hardcore and all old school hardcore so this album was basically completely worthless to me. The vocals don't follow the musicianship and the same riff throughout the entire album shouldn't be that hard to figure out. The solos have potential (see "Inhumane Nature") but the rhythm section is run of the mill. I think I could learn how to play the drums for these kind of bands in a half hour, and I don't even play the drums. The bass, much like the drums, is repetitive shows no real promise. The lead guitar has its moments but other than that is typical old school hardcore. The vocals are absolutely atrocious, there is nothing more I can say about them. It got to the point where I wished he'd just shut up. In conclusion, I see nothing in this band and if I were you I would disregard this band immediately.

Rating: 1 out of 10 (for the marginal lead guitar)

Standout Tracks: NONE

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City of New York is a virtual train wreck. It’s a hardcore/punk album recorded at home in a basement. Considering that, the sound of the instruments is actually pretty good, albeit in a lo-fi, unmastered way. The guitars and drums are played well, and they got a good sound out of them.

The vocals ruin whatever could have been good about this album. The immediate problem is that they’re mixed horribly. It sounds like someone found the instrumental tracks to City of New York on the internet, and decided to scream along to them using a USB microphone normally used to chat online with, and record it then and there with no effects, editing, or indeed, mixing whatsoever. This leads to the music and the vocals existing on two very unpleasantly incongruous levels.

Not that there’s anything to work with here. Most members of the general populace would readily associate screaming with tunelessness, but you won’t really grasp how bad it can get until you hear this album. The singer exhibits blatant contempt for anything involved with rhythm or syntax as well. In light of this, commenting on the music’s quality is a moot point — it seems to not be half bad at certain points, but no one but a saint of music reviewers would ever get that far.

Lo and behold, in the liner notes, is a credit for someone playing classical guitar. Hey? Indeed, there it is, predictably tacked on as an outro to the last ordeal on this album. Perhaps also predictably, it’s a pleasure to listen to, which then plunges City of New York in a whole new realm of unintentional self-loathing and circumstantial mutual contempt amongst its parts. (1/10)

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Though supposedly comprised of some legendary NYC hardcore types (Tom Reardon, Doug Williamson, Mike SOS) and proudly recorded on an eight track digital board, I find it completely baffling how anyone would pay money for this garage quality, lo-fi, crossover offering regardless of how nostalgic it is.

While I can see the attraction of a band like Municipal Waste or even some raw recordings of some lost CBGB’s show, that fact this tries to sound like both is lost on these ears. And I also respect the bands raw, DIY take on hardcore/crossover and the backs to roots approach of the gentleman involved, the fact is I can go to my local rock pub and see a band with just as much entertainment and enjoyment value.

The 7 raw crusty tracks complete with dual vocals (by vocals I mean monotone shouts and gruff rants that sound more like and angry conversation in the band’s basement than actual vocals), 17 year old practicing in his bedroom guitars and friend come over to bash on the drums approach just befuddles me. Especially considering the talent of the people behind this (literally) basement project. With the exception of the acoustic flourish that ends “Herein Lies the Problem” all 7 short bursts of noise come across as completely amateurish and at time I’m not totally convinced this isn’t a sort of semi joke project.

It’s very possible I just completely missed the boat on this and I’ll get tons of hate mail from balding, shirtless, 40-something, 280lb hardcore fans from New York wanting to beat my ass as soon as their shift at the city sewer plant is over.

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Throwback, NYC/DIY-styled hardcore featuring all the old school '80s elements like super simplistic riffs, predictable arrangements, plodding drumming, "tough guy" yelling (with at least two, maybe three or four, guys providing the vitriol), lousy production and awful graphics (whoever did the logo design on the cover - here's a hint - draw in pencil first - then, if the logo doesn't fit in the space, you can erase it and try again). There's nothing wrong with this record if you're into DIY old school hardcore, as it's pretty much spot-on for the style (i.e. it sounds like it was recorded in the basement over the course of one beer-swilling weekend) and occasionally the humor works. I've now spent as much time writing this review as the band spent recording the album, so if that doesn't give you a solid idea of what to expect, grab an old D.R.I. CD, an old Circle Jerks album and an old Biohazard record and toss them on the stereo at the same time - that will sound better than what Seizure Crypt have to offer here, but it's the basic blender formula that's in use. For me, this is tired and trite, but if you've never experienced it before, here's a band that's doing it now.

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Seizure Crypt from New York City created a disappointingly produced, unsophisticated, uninspired and intolerably mind-numbing CD. The songs are simple, pointless and lack creativity, the guitars sound out of tune, the double vocal attack is dim-witted, the drums are unpleasant as well, the bass sounds terrible and on top of that, the front cover looks unprofessional. In fact, everything is amateurish on this CD.

Imagine a bunch of twelve year olds that just discovered Dayglo Abortions' 'Here Today Guano Tomorrow' or The Dehumanizers 'End Of Time' albums in daddy's record collection and tried to create something new out of it on a children's drum kit and two-string guitars. Please make sure to keep away from this disc because it is a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of money, a waste of … everything!

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Bottom Line:  Meat and potatoes old school hardcore is the order of the day for Seizure Crypt, and while that might be enough to please the most exclusive genre enthusiasts, City of New York, like its title, is a little too bland for most diverse palettes.

Seizure Crypt chug along in a mostly uninspired fashion, glimmers of faint passion decorating the tradition-adhering twenty-one minute album.  One of the lengthier tracks, “Stalk,” packs the most walloping punch, but like the fat turd that sits at the end of the bar waiting for a fight, it takes too long to get its ass up and get to the thrashing.  There’s this awesome moment about 1:18 into the song where the vocalist belches out this impressive set of threats, all done in the coolest rhythmic tone, and I thought for a split second that these guys had some real talent.  Three minutes into the same track they veer into Sonic Youth territory with heavy feedback and instrumental fuckoffery.  On perhaps any other album that effort might be commended, but it’s distracting and perplexing here. 

With its shouted gang vocal chants, short and simple soloing, and fervent pace, “Inhuman Nature” typifies the City of New York experience.  It’s not going to inspire hate mail.  It’s not going to bring many new fans aboard, either.  It exists.  It has been recorded.  Maybe that’s the point.  Artistic integrity stops there.  I know that if I had the technical chops to record my own music, and I had made up my mind to produce an album as short as this, I would ensure that every minute were gold before its release.  Municipal Waste does this well.  Gama Bomb does this well.  Toxic Holocaust does this well.  Seizure Crypt kind of phones it home, and that pisses me off.  They also describe their sound as speedcore, but I honestly listened to far too many meandering and slower passages to describe it as such.  Simple hardcore seems to do the album justice.

I understand that by its very nature hardcore is fairly one-dimensional, but there’s nothing in the rulebook that says variation between songs is blasphemous.  It’s not that they aren’t trying.  The attempts simply fall flat.  I can’t really tell if the sing-along stuff like the opener to “Deathrider” is supposed to be a joke or not because it’s not funny.  If it’s not a joke it’d almost be worse, because if it were a joke I’d at least recognize that it was all in fun.  Isn’t hardcore supposed to be somewhat violent, threatening, venomous, and passionate?  Isn’t some of the best hardcore a little tongue-in-cheek, too?  Pick one guys, and go with it.  I am a little angry here because these guys exhibit talent with “Stalk” and “Herein Lies the Problem,” but the rest of it can be thrown away and never listened to again. 

I actually did laugh and exhibit a degree of excitement near the album's end.  Out of nowhere, the band jumps into this technically impressive acoustic arrangement just before City of New York’s end.  I guess it’s kind of a hidden track, but usually bands allow 30-40 seconds of silence between the last song and the unlisted one.  It’s a little over 10 seconds here, which is a good move because I hate having to skip through so much time just to get to a hidden track.  Anyway, the hidden song reminds me of flamenco, though a little less challenging from a technical standpoint.  It’s all too short-lived, as that was perhaps the album’s finest moment.  Though I wasn’t particularly impressed with this specific effort, I am going to keep an eye on the direction of the band and I suggest others who dig some of today’s more noteworthy hardcore and crossover acts do the same.  The band is honest, puts a lot of care into its website, hosts great live shows, and boasts a fairly impressive musical pedigree.  While they didn't hit the mark on this one, I am willing to bet they'll give it another shot and improve on the follow-up.

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C'mon now. This cover looks like it came out of 1985 and it still would have been cheesy then. I've been in multiple bands and you have to have something professional looking to get someone's attention. My 2-year old could have done a better job than this. The bio was somewhat professional, but it's all about the music, correct? Wow. It sounds as old/cheesy as the cover looks. "Stack" is the dumbest of the bunch, lyrics and all. I could go on about how horrible this is, but I'd rather offer up some advice: just quit.

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Here we have a self-released 'album' from this self-proclaimed 'speedcore' quartet, Seizure Crypt. Successfullly taking the word "speed" and combining it with the word "core", these fellows believe they have invented a new kind of music called speedcore. Whether they acheived a victory with their music here is yet to be seen (keep reading) yet I can state this now: please people, stop putting core after everything. Or at least do it accurately, how about "borecore"? Or snorecore! Haha!

These guys are not organized at all. The front cover for their new self-released CD says "City of New York", their biography says "Self-Titled CD" and their store says "Debut CD" without an actual name. Well what is this thing called?! Is it self-titled or called "City of New York"? Oh well. They did do one thing good, however, and that is the lyric booklet. It's done in some kind of comic-book style, drawings with little speech bubbles, although they only list a tiny portion of the lyrics for each song so what is the point at all?

The music is not speedcore at all, for the definition of speedcore (if the word existed) would be something that was speedy, I suppose. Actually, the tempo is not too fast, and the speed is completely done with the percussionist's attempt at thrash drumming. The most disgusting thing about this is the rhythm section if you can call it that, it's just powerchords... no joke! A powerchord here, slide up one fret to play a powerchord, and back down and that kind of pattern. These guys make me regret saying "the rhythm is just powerchords" in so many other reviews, despite their rhythms only being powerchords, at least they were better than this!

I don't want to hurt these guy's feelings, but this is really horribly done... The vocals have too much surrounding ambiance from the room they're recording in too, not enough presence... it sounds like two guys just screaming in their basement. I don't know if I have established this well enough, but the mixing - even for an amature home recording - is very bad. Whoever did the clean vocals also needs a hefty little smack in the head, as not only did he not keep in very good time, but he also sang about a note and a half FLAT of what key the acoustic was in. I think nails on a chalkboard would have sounded better, hehe...

The music really is not 'speed', nor is it 'core'... If I had to try to put a label on this, I'd have to say it's probably punk with terrible screaming or something like that. Honestly, I hope the live experience will help these guys get better at their instruments, and maybe gain some more creativity in the songwriting, but from what is displayed on "City of New York", the group really doesn't sound like it has much of a future...

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