Paint it Black : "Famine"

 This Philly-based Hardcore band has taken the genre and embraced its roots, while still giving a fist about writing songs. They have something to say and are not just screaming out of anger. The lyrics are easy to make out. The are yelled in brief bursts. The second song is less impressive than the opener, but still effective for what they are doing. The guitar is more nuanced. There is a marginally more sonic touch to the riff of "Safe". The bass line and drums are the greatest form of propulsion this song has. Vocally this is beginning to remind me of a less emotive version of what John Bloodclot did on the first album. 

'Exploitation Period" is the most lyrically questionable, as they take shots at Flat Earthers, who I might not be on the same page with, but a punk song that is not aligned with conspiracy theories is a problem as the genre should be about questioning everything and not aligning with the narrative of the establishment, no matter what side of the fence it falls. "Serf City USA" rallies in the frantic pace of the status quo.  Their songwriting skills can best be felt in arrangements like 'The Unreasonable Silence". This is another song that sadly finds them lyrically conforming to follow in with the herd, which is not what this kind of music should be about. 

"Namesake" just sounds like every other band doing this kind of thing when they lay on the speed. "City of the Dead" is pretty decent and I appreciate the more rock n roll aspects of it.This album does have the raw organic feel you want from this sort of thing. I will give this album an 8, musically it's good, though the vocals are pretty much a one-trick pony, even with hard-core I expect a little more. the lyrics are the main turn-off that tend to ruin things for me, there are a few songs where it works, but bad lyrics, as in dissonance in theme, kill it for me.If you just like hard-core and do not ask much from the genre or are young enough to not know better this might work for you, it's better than most in this regard.