None Would Remain “Wake the Living” CD

"Wake the Living" is the second release from Thug Free Records and the debut full-length effort from Finland's None Would Remain, offering up 14 tracks in about a half-hour. As stated when I reviewed their 2004 demo years back, whereas a lot of the Finnish hardcore that I get exposed to is of the brutal and metallic persuasion, None Would Remain's style is much more melodic—focusing on songs that run about about two minutes apiece (or less) and are based around traditional hardcore power chords with little bits and pieces of added texture and dimension through dissonant chord phrasings or layered riffs that can resemble the sound of a less technical Propagandhi or something like that. It's nothing overtly innovative or anything, but they write strong songs that possess a great sense of energy and emotion, and there are some incredibly cool little riffs here and there that really add to the feeling and impact of the material, which absolutely hooks me in every time. The relatively dry recording also works nicely to keep things sounding clear and balanced, with just the right amount of plunky bass pushing through the core of the mix. In a couple of instances they actually integrate samples incredibly efficiently as well, in a manner that both ties into the overall tone and message of the album and works seamlessly with the surrounding instrumentation, which is fuckin' great. An awesome debut and a definite step up from their demo days, which is always nice to see. I'll be looking forward to hearing more...

None Would Remain "Distractions"
None Would Remain "I Thought We Had a Deal"

If you'd like to order directly from the label, you'll need to contact them via MySpace (or their email address, which you can find there as well), but it's also available at Interpunk, so make the grab if you like what you hear above.

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