This band is comprised of who's who of post-millennial Hard-core. At the mic former Cursed vocalist Chris Colohan, who is giving an impassioned performance, with a husky croon that winks in the direction of Neurosis. His approach gives the dark tension of the music, more depth and makes more of an impact when it does get time to scream and kick the riffs in. Those riffs are driven by former Earth Crisis guitarist Scott Crouse. Andy Hurley from Fall Out Boy / Racetraitor beating the drums. Hurley shows restraint and keeps things at a more sludged-out pace rather than pouring on the punk mania. The heft of the guitars is bolstered by Jimmy Change from Undying and bassist Steve Hart. The first song that finds things aggressively accelerated is 'Drowning in Sorrows" which is three songs into things.
Their chemistry as a unit grants them the ability to shift from heavy grooves to more patrol rock wanderings with some great interplay of guitars along the way. "#foreverhome" is a scathing commentary on today's society, and I am surprised more bands are not fed up with the world around them like these guys are. While their press release seems to angle them in a more left-leaning direction, which is not surprising for punk rock, when you give the songs an actual listen things are not that black and white, as the bleak nature of things touching all in the western world seems to be what they are raging against here. As someone who is "apolitical", I can appreciate this as it never seems I am being preached the gospel of either side.
"The Lovers of Life" works off the same stormy tension that has been driving this album. "Inventory" goes straight for the throat. They rein the song in to give the mood room to breathe. The last song is a more sludge-influenced take on a hard-core dirge. I like that it is as sonically heavy as it is metal-heavy. You can call this a metallic hardcore album if that definition includes something as dark and dense as this album. I will give this album a 9.5, as it's the kind of brooding shadowy hardcore I prefer. This comes out June 7th on Southern Lord, which makes sense for both the band and the label that they should be paired.
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