Damage Deposit "Do Damage Demo 2002" CD
[Havoc]
This is a relatively new band with Felix Havoc on vocals along with former members of Any Last Words and Black Brick Kiss. The songs are short, fast bursts of traditional hardcore with pissed off vocal shouts and quick vocal arrangements. I actually love the fucking vocals. They're fucking great. And no, I'm absolutely not just saying that because Felix runs a great label and has been in a lot of killer bands... they're just awesome vocals. It's as simple as that. This is definitely along the old school hardcore lines, there's no metal here at all, but the general speed and some aspects of the vocal approach sort of suggest something a bit more aggressive. But make no mistake, this is hardcore, and nothing but. There's a little bit of odd dissonance/melody in tracks like "That's Not Core Dude" and "More Than Duct Tape", but for the most part the riffing is more straightforward and revolves around blazing chord progressions with the occasional slower break (but not in a mosh part way - except for maybe in "Just Try to Stop Us" - just in the literal sense that there are some slower tempos). I don't mind the lack of variety as the songs are fairly energetic and the demo is short, but the production could definitely be better if you ask me, because it's a little bit rugged and thin. It's alright. My biggest gripe is that there are a lot of gaps in the mix, and sometimes the drums sound flimsy. The guitars are nice and dirty, they're not overly distorted, and the bass tone's got some definition to it, but something's missing. The vocals are totally fine. I really like the texture and their placement in the mix, I just think the instruments need more cohesion with one another. The CD-R comes with a simple xerox layout that gets the job done. The front cover has a logo, the rest of the booklet has lyrics, lineup, and recording information, and the back cover has the tracklist and some other imagery. The lyrics cover a range of styles and topics. As far as content the songs deal with both observations/criticisms of the hardcore scene and society/politics in general, and the style of writing ranges from straightforward to what I would probably call intentionally humorous in a way. One minute it's, "Man is condemned to die by his own hand, Tampering with forces he cannot understand..." and the next it's, "More macho than a prison weight room when the ninjas start to flex, Would they dance so hard if they weren't so repressed? Dazzling display of martial skills, But when you hog the floor, the atmosphere is killed..." The demo's limited to 300 numbered copies, and to my knowledge it's sold out now. But a 7" is supposedly on the way, and I'll be looking out for that one. This is a good demo, not a great demo, but one that's a good jumping off point for the band. I like it, perhaps I was hoping for more, but I like it. (6/10)
Running time - 11:50, Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Video Games and the Simpsons are Killing Hardcore, Just Try to Stop Us, Ninjas to the Back]
Damage Deposit - http://damagedeposit.havocrex.com/

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