Ringworm : "Seeing Through Fire"

With this Cleveland band I am always wondering which side of them band are we going to get...the metal side or the hard-core one. The title track seems to be almost totally devoid of hard core aside from the cadence of the vocals. The hard core side would also be in the one in charge of the stompy grooves that are replaced by a need for speed. The vocals sound like they were recorded through a blown out PA, which works for what they are going for. "Carved in Stone" reminds me of  a more frantic Slayer. The vocals once again holding down the hard core side of the equation. 

By the time we get to "No Solace, No Quarter, No Mercy" there is a a more punk rage embodied, but it also finds them rushing the song, and everything is a blur of angry riffs. There is hyper aggressive music then there is the kind of hateful ass kicking your ears take on "Death Hoax". The chug of "Thought Crimes" is powerful and the vocals are spiting with maximum spite. But the rule here is cool riffs alone does not a good song make, so if you allow it to just run off the hyper speed of it's disdain for the world around it, the song is still effective, just not at the highest tier we know this band is capable of functioning at. 

The songs are in your face for three minutes , and at the speed they are normally raging at , a lot gets accomplished. They throw rabid gang vocals in , though it is not the only trick up their sleeves. "House of Flies" just kind of blasts part me, in a manner that never grabs my attention. They remain explosive for "You Want it To" but at this point the explosions are so deafening your ears can not distinguish one riff from another. They have given into their anger which is the path to the darkside that makes a song like "Mental Decontrol" go off the rails "Power and Blood" keeps things at a frantic roar, though pretty much blasts past you, until the break down grabs your attention for a few seconds. Things get darker and more melodic going into the last song, this proves they can actually play their instruments when the mood strikes them and do not just bash things out all the time. I wish they had worked more of this into the actual songs rather than saving it for this epic outro. I will give this album an 8, these guys are great at what they do, you just have to be angry as fuck to fully embrace what they do. 

Seeing Through Fire by Ringworm