Death is June- Spread the Disease : "The Darkness. The Dread. The Suffering'

 This is the Canadian band's first album in 27 years. While they identify as 'blackened Hardcore" I am hearing blackened death metal. The harder stomping riffs you might want to file as hardcore are done in a much more metallci way. When they lock in on hooky riffs, they are not unlike Entombed, you know, the Swedish DEATH METAL band. Self-awareness goes a long way., The vocals are a higher pitch rapsed out scream of sorts that is the only thing not placing them solidly in the middle of the death metal bed. For all the harsh chaos, they do have a sense of songwriting, and all of this works for me. When they drop into a lower growl at the end of the song, it seals their fate. 

Lyrically, they might be screaming about politics rather than chainsaw murders, but I can not make out a word this guy is screaming. They flirt with grindcore a little, which is the closest to core I am hearing. Some tremolo-picked guitar lines trade off with a crunchier groove on the second song, which is cool but not as interesting as the opening song. There is a darker, almost doomier riff that opens 'Indoctrinated." It blasts off in a more violent death metal manner when things kick in. This guy is screaming his guts out, which I respect.

 'Summer Wanes' finds them once again charging headfirst in a burly Entombed-like direction.  I am not hearing any of the hardcore here, jsut a collision of death metal and black metal snapping at each other like rabid beasts. At times, this even results in a more sludge-ridden outburst. They are explosive, which is the only quality I can hear coming from a hardcore influence. In the middle of all this, they do come up with a melodic hooky riff, so props.

They bring a nastier attitude to "the Blight in Their Eyes,"  which borders on Converge's brand of metalcore in the foaming mouth approach they take, but that is as close as they get. The sound of this album is very blown out and dense. If you had to compare them to any hardcore band I would say Intergrity who was almost more of a metal band to begin with. There is an apocalyptic feel to where the song ends up. Brutal as fuck, but not just hammering you with chaos, I will give this a 9. 

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