SWISS ARMY SOUND

FAVORITE ARTISTS!

LINKIN PARK
An American Rock band from Agoura Hills, California, whose earlier music spanned a fusion of Heavy Metal and Hip Hop, while their later music features more Electronica and Pop elements.

I've loved these guys pretty much my entire life. They introduced me to Rock, Industrial, Metal, and all sorts of other cool genres back when all I knew was whatever Hip Hop and Gospel CDs my mom had in her car. Hybrid Theory was a real game changer for me. They got a lot of flack for being "whiney" back in the day, but Chester's lyricism and vocal conviction really made me realize a lot of what I was going through just wasn't right. I have their logo tattooed on my right wrist. RIP Chester.
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BREAKING BENJAMIN
an American rock band from Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, often classified as Hard Rock, Alternative Rock, Post-Grunge, and Aalternative Metal.

I listened to these dudes a lot growing up, but their lyrics didn't really start resonating with me until I was an adult. I guess having the time and space to proccess all that time dealing with shitty ex girlfriends and a variety of broken systems will do that to you. I heard Dance with the Devil in 6th grade, then Breath and Unknown Soldier, and before I knew it I was a full fledged fanboy. Similar to Chester Bennington, I find myself really charmed by Benjamin Burnley's lyricism and vocal conviction. He always sounds like he's giving a massive "FUCK YOU" to everyone who's ever wronged him. Pretty much everything sounds better with screams. I intend to get their logo tattooed to my inner waistline.
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MOBB DEEP
Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from Queens, New York formed in 1991. Consisting of rappers/songwriters/record producers Prodigy and Havoc, they are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hop.

Oh man, what to say about Mobb Deep...it goes without saying that The Infamous is one of the greatest Hip Hop albums of all time, Shook Ones Pt. II inspiring a variety of Hood movies and skateboarding flicks throughout the 90s and 2000s. I would probably go as far as to say Prodigy is my favorite rapper of all time. His bravado, distinctive voice, and pessimistic realism shaped by a life of poverty and sickle cell anemia feel like the real life equivalent of being grabbed by the shoulders and thrown into metal garbage cans. One time I did a fuckton of acid and just blasted this album for like, 7 hours straight, cried to the sax solo on Q.U. Hectic several times while thinking about all the grief and suffering that produces environments that inspire music like this.

RIP Prodigy.
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AALIYAH HAUGHTON
An American singer and actress. She has been credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, Pop, and Hip Hop, earning her the nicknames the "Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop".

Yeah, I really doubt there's a single 20-30 aged black man in America who doesn't have a sweet spot for Aaliyah. As the manliest of men, even I have to admit to shaking my ass to We Need A Resolution and shedding a couple of tears to One Man Woman every now and then.

She had a gorgeous voice, excellent production, and her general stage pressence was just...wow. She also had a really hard life which makes her successes even more admirable in retrospect, and she was meant to do a collab with Jonathan Davis on a Korn song before her untimely demise, proving she had a bit of a dark side to her too. I honestly don't think she had a single bad song.

RIP the princess of Pop.
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BOLT THROWER
a British death metal band from Coventry.

This is another artist I can say doesn't have a single bad song. These guys are truly the best to do it. If bands like Disturbed and Breaking Benjamin try to capture the isolation and alienation of war in their works (not explicitly, but come on, these were bands made to fill up the airways during Post 9/11 America, there's a reason a decent amount of their fans are military veterans.) Bolt Thrower captures the pain and brutality of actually being on the battlefield. They started as a sort of, Grindcore / Crust Punk outfit, then slowly shifted to being a Death-Doom project over the course of their discography, and they've always played strong through it. They dissolved in 2005 after releasing Those Once Loyal and unanimously deciding this was as good as they were ever going to get and to simply quit while they were ahead, never overstaying their welcome. The frontman also punched a nazi while on a bunch of meth cus he saw a little black dude was scared at his show. All around good and talented folks. I have a poster of their album Mercenary across from my bed.

RIP Karl Willets.
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LIL UGLY MANE
an American rapper, singer and record producer from Richmond, Virginia. He has recorded under multiple aliases in various genres since his first known released project in 2005, including Shawn Kemp, Vudmurk and Bedwetter..

This dude's deal is basically he's a Hardcore guy who's really into Hip Hop. Like, "produces authentic sounding 90s Southern Hip Hop with graphics and album art that fit the bill as well" into Hip Hop, not "white guy who listens to Eminem exclusively" into it. His side project, Vudmurk, is a lo-fi Black Metal project, just further solidfying his status as an old Metalhead who knows what's up.

He's mostly making Indie Rock these days, which isn't really for me, but I still support him cus he's just so fucking cool. I listened to Volcanic Bird Enemy on acid and cried a bunch.
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WORMROT
a Singaporean grindcore band that formed in 2007, immediately after the founding members had completed their mandatory two years of national service.

I got into these guys....3 years ago? And they just immediately resonated with me. They tapped into a kind of anger and resentment and technical skill I hadn't really seen before (and I mean, wouldn't you be? I had to sign up for selective service but I haven't actually had to go to military school against my will, or anything.) They blend Grindcore with Black Metal and Hardcore in a way that I haven't really seen before and they make it seem so effortless. Truly the posterboys for "anger is the best motivator."
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SYSTEM OF A DOWN
an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994.

If you don't fuck with System fuck you. These guys are fucking great. Politically and socially concious but never cocky or smug about it. Ballistic instrumentals and super unique vocals and lyrical delivery. i have no doubt that these guys were heavily inspired by their environment, which is that of the 80s and 90s Thrash Metal scene in California, as well as being 1st generation immigrants from war torn Armenia. I remember hearing Chop Suey! in middle school and being really proud of myself when my older brother was impressed by my musical knowledge.
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RUDIMENTARY PENI
a British anarcho-punk band formed in 1980, emerging from the London anarcho-punk scene.

A friend recommended these guys to me when I was like, 19, and I've been a diehard fan ever since. Nick Blinko not only has an awesome name made for a guy who makes awesome outsider art, but he's also super witty, bold, and fun. Like a British, Schizophrenic Daron Malakian.
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DENZEL CURRY
an American rapper born and raised in Miami Gardens, Florida. Curry started rapping while in the sixth grade and began working on his first mixtape in 2011, which was influenced by underground Florida rapper SpaceGhostPurrp. The mixtape was later featured on SpaceGhostPurrp's social media, giving Curry attention in the local music scene and resulting in him joining the former’s hip-hop collective Raider Klan.

Denzel is a chill, witty, funny southern dude. I've seen him around in Youtube videos and he's definitely someone I'd hang with in my free time. ZUU speaks to my experiences as a little dude in the south in a way a lot of southern Hip Hop has definitely shaped but hasn't defined nearly as well. I've also spun girls around and laid pipe to his songs and it enhanced the experience. Idk bro just listen to TA13OO.
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POWER TRIP
an American crossover thrash band formed in Dallas, Texas, in 2008.

This band is pretty much the only reason I give Thrash Metal the time of day. Sure I have my nostalgiac biases IE Ride The Lightning and Reign In Blood, but there's a reason that shit is out of date dad rock now. In 2019 I had Nightmare Logic on repeat and as of 2021 I have an Executioner's Tax banner over my bed.
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SUNAMI
an American hardcore punk band formed in San Jose, California in 2019. Originally intended as a short-lived joke band by members of various San Francisco Bay Area hardcore bands, Sunami sought to parody the ignorant style of many hardcore bands on their 2019 demo Demonstration. However, after gaining notoriety for their violent debut live performance, the band continued past their planned time frame.

These dudes are funny as fuck. Found em in 2020 and have been attached ever since. They speak to my brand of masculinity.
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DYSTOPIA
an American crust punk/sludge metal band that formed in Orange County, California in 1991. They were popular in both the heavy metal and punk scenes, due in large part to the band's bleak, misanthropic imagery.

Working class heroes. Loved these dudes in high school, about as much as I loved Black Flag.
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BAD BRAINS
an American band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1976. They are widely regarded as pioneers of Hardcore Punkthough the band's members have objected to the use of this term to describe their music. They are also an adept Reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of other genres like Funk, Heavy Metal, Hip Hop, and Soul.

This was the first band that really taught me it was ok for black people to like and make rock music. Also, I listened to their music all the time on Tony Hawk's Downhill Jam.
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BACKXWASH
Ashanti Mutinta, known professionally as Backxwash, is a Zambian-Canadian rapper and producer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2020 album God Has Nothing to Do with This Leave Him Out of It, which won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.

I can count the number of black trans chick Rappers in the world on one hand. She doesn't pussy around about shit like a lot of trans artists do, either. She's great.
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JESUS PIECE
an American metalcore band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, formed in 2015.

These dudes are different from most Deathcore bands in that their music is actually good and actually gets me to mosh. No meathead riffs here, just 4 guys who really love music and are really fucking tired of being poor and walked all over. The fact that the frontman is black and the band is local doesn't hurt either.
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BLACK FLAG
is an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California.

This band made me realize I was a man. Damaged goes hard as shit, this is definitely one of the heavier Punk bands from that era of classic 80s Punk. Henry Rollins is my hero.

LINKIN PARK

BREAKING BENJAMIN

MOBB DEEP

AALIYAH HAUGHTON

BOLT THROWER

LIL UGLY MANE

WORMROT

SYSTEM OF A DOWN

RUDIMENTARY PENI

DENZEL CURRY

POWER TRIP

SUNAMI

DYSTOPIA

BAD BRAINS

BACKXWASH

JESUS PIECE

BLACK FLAG

CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE.

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