For all the youth crew bands mimicking Youth Of Today, Insted or Chain Of Strength there are only a hand full who come close to sounding a bit like Side By Side. Better Times from Buffalo does have a Side By Side vibe on the Better Measures 7″ released by Commitment Records. This 7″ originally came out in December 2011 as a cassette on Like Glue Records.  A new EP is coming up on State Of Mind Recordings in 2013.

Buffalo youth crew bands always bring something extra to the table. It was the case with Plagued With Rage, Halfmast, No Reason and now with Better Times as well. All these bands have a way of being different and kind of original from most of the bands in the youth crew mold.

The songs on this EP deal with self empowerment, making the scene better, gloomy hardcore and the need of campaign finance reform in the song ‘ Powder Keg’. Besides that last topic there isn’t anything new in the topics Better Times address yet the lyrics aren’t too cliche and do fit with the songs.

The only ‘negative’ thing I can say about this EP (already release 44 for Commitment!) is the front cover artwork. In my opinion less and less kids are buying vinyl so to make your release stand out you might do just a bit more than a pixelated combination of band name and live pic. Besides that minor point there’s no reason for anyone into youth crew hardcore not to pick up this release.

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