A18 "Foreverafternothing" CD
[Victory]
So I guess they've shortened their name from Amendment 18 to simply A.18? Who knows? This band features in its ranks Isaac Golub (A Chorus of Disapproval) on vocals and Mike Hartsfield (Outspoken) on guitar, and if that means nothing to you, you've got a problem. This is heavy, melodic hardcore that goes in a few directions that are almost leaning in a post-hardcore direction, but not completely. It's sort of like "on the way to post-" hardcore or something. There are plenty of pounding basslines, gruff vocal shouts, and relatively straightforward chord progressions, and then there are also a lot of riffs of a more rhythmic nature, as well as some Quicksand-ish guitar textures (though more controlled and really not that far "outside the box"). To me it doesn't sound anything like their past bands. "Three Times Sold" is one of the most straightforward hardcore tracks herein, complete with faster chord progressions, basic structures, a powerful vocal performance, memorable and forceful breakdowns, etc. Meanwhile "Scars Upon Scars" almost has a Fugazi "Steady Diet of Nothing" vibe at the start, which really took me by surprise, and "Bury Me Breathing" is slower and much darker both lyrically and musically - as the overall approach stands out atmospherically from all of the other tracks. Very cool... great chorus, too. The recording is really good. Everything is thick and warm, the mix is forceful... I don't think I have any real complaints. I love the dominance of the bass, so a bit more distortion on the guitars might be nice, but everything is so crisp right now that they wouldn't want to mess that up. I say everything's good to go. The layout is pretty cool. I like the front cover because at first it's abstract and you don't realize that it's half of an image of a guy sitting in a bathtub having just slit his wrists, but the back of the booklet sort of ruins it because the blood and the cuts on the wrists look so incredibly fake that it definitely lessens the overall impact. But at least the front of the cover looks really nice. The rest of the booklet is all in black and white, strewn with images of suicide: A throat with a belt wrapped around it, a handful of pills, a body face down in a pool, a man passed out in a car with a hose running the exhaust into the window, etc. All of the lyrics are handwritten, so they can be hard to read clearly, but it looks fucking great. In fact, all of the text in the entire package is handwritten for the most part. Very nice. The content of the songs is personal and I really like the approach, it's blunt without being over simplified or anything like that. "...why say grown out of or grown up when you should just say goodbye so when you're long gone and this one of many failures becomes an excuse I will look back at whatever this once was and I guess I still am I still am whatever this once was and I am still unpopular and unwanted you can do what you want but if you need me I'll be down here doing what I do best - caring." There are 12 tracks listed on the back cover, but there are only 11 on the actual disc, and two of the songs' lyrics are missing from the booklet, so I'm not sure what that's all about? Anyway, this is a solid CD all in all. It's not the most exciting thing I've heard lately, but it's nice to see that guys who have been in the scene for fucking years can still write quality music and possess total dedication. (7/10)
Running time - 27:17, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Three Times Sold, Bury Me Breathing, Hara Kiri]
Victory Records - http://www.victoryrecords.com

This review has been displayed 2833 times.