Bitter Branches : "Your Neighbors are Failures"

Here is an album that eluded me this year. It dropped back in February. It is surprising this album did not garner more buzz considering it features former members of Deadguy and Kiss it Goodbye, this band from Philly has both brains and brawn when it comes to playing modern hard core. Equal Vision released this which is equally surprising as I did not know that label was still pumping out, music, but things make more sense knowing it comes from them. The bass is burly and compliments the rowdier noise rock attitude. They sometimes employ a more herky jerky angular manner of attack when it comes to the riffs. There is some nice dissonance to "the Man Who Never Cries". The chords ring out with a warmth not unlike bands from the late 90s. 

There is not a great deal of metal influence on these guys, which I think I have had more than my fair share of metal core this year, so I am fine with that. They do use a palm muted riff with some groove to it, but not a break down in sight so we are good.  The guitars sound like they are running right into the amp with little in the way of effects. At times this creates a very Clutch like rock n roll feel. "Have You Tried Jogging" finds the Clutch vibe there, but the anger conveyed in the music is what keeps this from jsut being rock n roll. As heard on "Chewing Vitamins" tense and ugly does not always mean the song is going somewhere.

"Solo Trip" is the first song with any kind of metal intentions behind it. The music gets darker and more melodic on "Monsters Among Us", as the vocals are more spoken. The guitar tones are great as they step on the reverb pedals. They save some twists and turns for the last song, which is fairly dynamic. I will give this album a 9, these guys have age with a great deal of grace and still prove themselves angry enough to make hard core better than a dozen younger bands combined.  

Great Falls : "A Sense of Rest"

Here is the  last album of 2018 I am reviewing. These guys are former members of Kiss it Goodbye and Jesu, so despite their past work things are not as experimental as you might think. Sometimes the simplest description is the best. While p/r companies and record labels might like to dress things up with whatever adjectives fit the current bang wagons this band out of Seattle is a dark hard core band. They do have metallic Converge like leanings if we are thinking about "Jane Doe " era. Angular jerking of riffs that are filled with resent. "Not For Sale Bodies" has a more oppressive pound to it's deliberate lumber. It also begins to introduce more atmosphere. "

Kettle Logic" blows by in an angry blur and it's not until "We Speak in Lower Case" that things begin to get interesting as there is a cleaner guitar tone and the vocals are not as screamed. Not sung, but heading in that direction. This song proves to be the most dynamic so far . Not many hard core bands have almost 15 minute songs , but they make the most of it."Thousands Every Hour" does have the driving bass and the noise around it's rough edges that brings to mind the Amp Rep bands, but they are still more hard core than not. They continue down a smoother shadowy brand of hard core balancing out the blitz of bombast with atmosphere. It is when they are in this zone that they are most effective and find a sound they can call their own. "I Go to Glory" pretty much just works off all the elements that have been in place while adding a little more of a hard core punch here and there.

 "Scratched Off the Canvas" has a heavier almost sludge like feel to it. It might be the most metallic song on the album. The vocals are more on the side of a punk shout than scream. There is still an angular cadence to what they do and squealing feedback which has become their trademark. This is kinda anti climatic as there is a great deal of build and not much in the way of pay off. Overall this album is pretty good, I like the bleak mood it creates. I'll give this an 8.5 , Corpseflower Records is releasing this in the US.