Our Turn "Catch Your Breath" CD
[Youngblood]
More traditional styled old school hardcore from the Youngblood Records camp. The vocals here are basically just yelled with a few spoken kinds of parts and I actually really like that, it's a little more natural and effective than a lot of bands. Musically they mix up the picking patterns a good deal and layer together guitar parts on occasion to add in a little more character, but the structures are still pretty basic as far as moderately fast chord progressions, solid breakdowns, that kind of thing. There's no real melody either, though the basslines definitely jump out and play a significant role in keeping an underlying thread of very subtle melody in place from time to time. I'm definitely interested by the fact that they're keeping things very true to form without sacrificing creativity. "Jailbreak" opens up right away with textbook old school hardcore, "Break This Chain" is catchy as hell and a lot more memorable than most of the other material herein, "Hang it Up" is straightforward and pulls no punches, and so on. Some 2003 demo tracks are included here as a bonus, and they sound pretty damn consistent with the new EP songs, which is great for continuity. There's an unlisted cover of "Said Gun" by Embrace hidden at the end of the disc as well, definitely an unexpected song choice. Overall the production is fine by me. It's definitely not a polished recording, and there are some rough areas, but I think it sounds fine. The guitars aren't heavy but work great for this style, the bass sounds strong and has enough clarity to pop out without coming off as plunky or overly defined, the drums and vocals sound fine, etc. I have no significant complaints at all. I wouldn't say they were going for a dated sound or anything, but there are aspects of the recording that are pretty true to the late-80's style of youth crew-ish hardcore. Visually this one's got a total fucking old school look to it too, down to the basic black and white illustrations, the bold blue lettering, and the black and white band photos chock full of X'd up hands and jump maneuvers. The lyrics are personal and deal with your usual topics of taking control of your life, sincerity, everyday pressures, etc. Song titles like "Break This Chain", "Search it Out", and "On Point" should give you an idea of what's up. Good stuff. It's not the most exciting old school hardcore release I've heard in recent times, but it's definitely a solid offering that's sure to please diehard fans of the style. (7/10)
Running time - 20:54, Tracks: 11
[Notable tracks: Jailbreak, Break This Chain, Hang it Up, Said Gun]
Youngblood Records - http://www.youngblood-records.com

This review has been displayed 1812 times.