Not everything that lands on a page has to be the newest hype machine. Sometimes it’s just a Bandcamp tab that keeps getting reopened because the title says exactly what it is: “Affirmations For The Desperate” by Handshake — a debut EP from Munich that’s upfront about why it exists and who it’s for.
It came out September 25, 2025 via Choke Records (Copenhagen), after the band first dropped a self-recorded two-song demo tape in January 2025 through UncloudedFocus — a writing/print zine project run by the singer. The EP was recorded and mixed in May/June 2025 by Christian Schmid at 48Nord.audio, mastered by Andy Marchl at Trave Music, with artwork by Daniel Ehrlich (aka xDudeOfDeathx).
Handshake formed in summer 2024, and they’re not pretending they’re fresh-out-of-school kids discovering hardcore for the first time. The members are in their late 30s and 40s, with history in South Germany hardcore bands like With Open Arms and Contrasts, and a strong vegan/vegetarian and straight edge-related background. Lineup: Moritz on vocals, Maik on bass, Kay on drums, Markus on guitar.
Musically, they frame it as late-90s old school hardcore sharpened with strong melodies, gang shouts, and “a crystal clear production.” They also admit they’re “a little off topic or beside current trends,” but they don’t treat that as a problem. “We simply play the music we love and which enables us best to transport the message we would like to bring to the people,” the band says.
That message is the spine here: mental health, positive thinking, and not getting swallowed by daily noise. The band’s own framing is important because it avoids the usual hardcore posture. “What we knew from the start was that we wanted to stand for something and not against something,” Handshake explain. “We did not want to judge or accuse people for something.”
That direction wasn’t cooked up in a vacuum either. The origin story is practical and a bit pandemic-shaped. “This band originally started as a one-man home recording project by our guitar player during the pandemic,” they say. He wrote all the music for the EP during lockdown. When things opened back up, he met the singer at local shows in Munich and asked him to start a band. The singer wrote all the lyrics quickly — “in a time frame of only around 3 month.” Then bass and drums were filled by longtime friends.
Even the band chemistry reads like the opposite of a long, tortured origin myth: “Although our guitar player and singer did not know each other before it was a perfect match right from the beginning and both had the same vision for the band… and adds a lot of harmony and common sense to all we do.”
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Because the music and lyrics were written during the pandemic or right after, the emotional tone makes sense: “emotional and striving for positivity,” as they put it. The singer’s angle is explicitly inward-looking: he wrote “from an introspective perspective to cope with the mental struggles of day to day life” and to bring up topics he feels get “overlooked or neglected by our peers.”
That’s where the “affirmations” part stops being a nice idea and becomes a method. “We wanted to write songs that could be used as positive affirmations for ourselves and others to keep holding on in times of struggle,” the band says. They place it against what they see around them: “This world is so much full of aggression, controversy, negativity and violence which made us want to deliver an alternative way of thinking and approaching things.”
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They also talk about how writing has changed with age — not emotionally, but mechanically. “Emotionally writing music still feels the same as it ever did. Practically writing music changed completely,” they explain. Earlier bands wrote together in the rehearsal room. Now they live in different cities, and home recording makes more sense. So the guitar player writes and pre-records everything; the singer comes in after with lyrics.
Message-wise, they feel the same as when they were teenagers, but life adds weight: “In reality we are aged husbands and fathers with daily life duties and worries. This adds another level of depth to how we approach our lyrics and message.”
That “depth” isn’t presented as poetry. It’s presented as: we know what spirals look like, and we’d rather not feed them.
They’re also blunt about what they miss in the scene right now. It’s not a vague “things changed,” but specific stuff: “Throughout the last years we feel there was a little lack of common values and positivity in some parts of the scene.” They mention the shift toward “followers, clicks and the hardest moshing audience,” and the vibe that comes with it — “some bands have a certain arrogance towards the crowd and do not talk that much anymore with people at shows.” They notice shows getting “very serious,” and they connect violent dancing to something simple: fewer people feel comfortable standing right in front of the stage.
Handshake’s counter-move is basically: make the front of the room feel like the front of the room again. “We would like to bring back some lightness into the game and encourage people to stand upfront not worrying about getting kicked or hurt and simply having fun.”
“Footprints” is an instrumental opener, framed as “a song about love… unconditional love,” focused on commitment and being there for people: “being caught when you need it most.” It sets a tone that’s more grounded than dramatic.
“Change Is All” goes straight into mindset and breaking cycles: shedding the past, opening up to change, and using “common sense and critical thinking” to “set things straight and free our minds,” leaving “doubt, fear and lies behind.” They place it in personal and sociopolitical contexts without turning it into a slogan.
“Rest Assured” is the band talking directly to the anxiety loop: can we find relief, can we make ends meet, are we stuck. Their answer is yes, but not with magic: “We are the masters of our own fate,” and choices matter. They push compassion and empathy as the practical key, not as decoration.
“Twisted Scheme” is about procrastination, routine, and the trap of repeating the same day until it becomes personality. They call out “rescheduling tasks” as a habit that grows teeth over time, and they frame the fix as active adjustment — “taking back control… to not waste anymore.”
“Vital Assistance” is the most direct mental-health write-up on the record: feeling crushed, depressed, reaching out, talking to people close to you, and not being afraid of professional help. It’s also reciprocal: if someone else is struggling, be there and support them in finding help. The point is simple: “Be willing to give or receive help — you can defy adversity by reaching out.”
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Handshake started playing shows at the end of 2025, and they’re already confirmed for 2026 dates including MunichXEdge Fest 2026.
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