Guns Up! "All This Is" CD
[1917]
Fuck yes, motherfucker. I had never heard of this band before but I liked the looks of this thing, and sure enough it's heavy as fuck hardcore with no bullshit. Chunky NYHC styled rhythms, scathing vocal yells, and plenty of pissed off attitude. It's kind of like Madball musically at times, a little heavier, but the vocals are way more in your face with this stuff. This shit just crushes. I love the fact that most of the tempos are midpaced, often getting a touch slower than most of these bands, thus making the breakdowns that much more vicious and mosh worthy. "How it's Done" and "All In" are just fucking brutal, and "On Your Way Out" is among the shorter and faster tracks and has a little more of an old school feel musically, but there's still a ridiculous fuckin' breakdown and I'm all over that shit. Seriously, this band is at the top of the heap for breakin' it the fuck down, they've got it totally formulated to a perfect degree. Hot shit. "No Shelter" even has a rocked out lead break that comes totally unexpected!? Wild. The last three tracks are from the "Game Over" 7" and aren't quite as in your face, with "FYS" being one of the most straightforward tracks herein. I'm fine with the sound, too. The vocals get a little loud sometimes, but not overpowering. The guitars are heavy as shit, the drums sound full and natural, and you can hear the bass plunking away just in the background. It sounds quite good, and the mix is really clean. The older material from the EP has more of a distance to it and the guitars are a lot thinner, but the bass still packs a wallop so it sounds okay. The new songs definitely smash, though. I really dig the layout on this one. It's your usual blend of live shots and posed photos, all in color, but they dirty it up with some textures overlaid across everything, and the consistency of the colors and style of the imagery really works nicely. It's just different enough to really stand out a lot. Lyrically things are bitter without getting overly harsh, so they stick to the basics: "See just all this is, This is who I am, I'm straight set for whatever is thrown at me, The one thing you don't see in my eyes, nothing is out of reach..." This is great stuff. I look forward to hearing more, as there aren't enough bands out there right now that are really nailing this style. Hats off to these dudes, seriously... they know just what the fuck they're out to do. I fuckin' love it. (8/10)
Running time - 22:21, Tracks: 9
[Notable tracks: all six of the new tracks kick ass]
1917 Records - http://www.1917records.com

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