Carnage & Cluster

A household name in the hardcore scene for over a decade, the history of the prolific Dutch duo goes back almost twice as long: Two young lads, enticed by music, infected with hardcore through Thunderdome (like pretty much that entire generation), start practicing their DJ skills in 1997. Carnage enters the DJ booth in 2001, Cluster three years later (as Skully), and in 2006 they become the hardcore unit we’re speaking of now.

Besides playing everywhere from the smallest clubs to the likes of Thunderdome at Nature One, Ground Zero, Hardcore Gladiators etc., producing has always been a major focus of Carnage & Cluster, with the first release, finished in 2001, seeing the light of day in 2004 (not counting the 2 HSC releases, which were obviously an awful test run, and better forgotten). The trademark raw and relentlessly effective Carnage & Cluster style has been featured on a string of releases on labels as diverse as Industrial Strength Records, their own Noisj.nl, Dark. Descent., Hard Kryptic Records, Dark Like Hell, Important Corestyle, Speed Of Sound Recordings, USR and many more.

Also, Carnage & Cluster have catered the punters as party organizers and label owners, starting with the Underground Society organization in 2004 (a partial collaboration with Mid-Town, and later on with DJ Niel’s Zero Tolerance), before finally in 2010 their very own underground baby Noisj saw the light of day, which has spawned a plethora of releases up until today, charting the possibilities of industrial hardcore, crossbreed and a lot of adjacent styles. Noisj also runs the well-received N.O.R.A.D (=Night Of Raging Audio Destruction) party series which has gone into several editions already.

After the last N.O.R.A.D party in December 2015, both Carnage & Cluster and Noisj were forced to go into a temporary hiatus, from which they returned stronger than ever in the fall of 2016 – so the future is open wide now!