Second Aid "Never Break Us Down" CD
[Superhero]
Here's some raw metallic hardcore from Germany that's moderately fast and keeps the metal influences to a minimum, but still doesn't venture into much of an old school hardcore sound either. The recording's pretty weak, so I think that harms them a lot. The drums are muddy and kind of flat, there's no truly defined bass presence, the guitars are thin and distant with an unnatural sounding distortion, and the vocals are too far up front and a little rugged. The end result has guitars and vocals way up front fighting for space, so it's noisy and kind of ragged at the edges, whereas a thicker and more fluid sound could make the songs far more powerful. At times they hit on some groovier power chord rhythms or a straight NYHC vibe, but a lot of stuff is in kind of a 90's metalcore vein that's right on the line between the two genres without being clearly defined, which I always liked. "Just Be True" brings in a few more openly metallic riffs and is more energetic than some of the other songs, "HC Fake" is among the more directly hardcore influenced tracks (obviously), and "Roll the Dice" is among the more effective of the midpaced and slightly groovy tracks (which is also somewhat darker and more metallic at times). Three live tracks are tacked on as a bonus and of course sound a little hard on the ears as far as being distant and muffled, so I don't think they provide much to really enjoy, as the band is pretty damn consistent live with what they offer on record. Visually the cover art is pretty cool but the rest of the booklet looks jumbled and rough, and for some odd reason the lyrics are only included for a few of the songs as opposed to all 15+. The lyrics that are included deal with staying true to yourself, the fine line between love and hate, and stuff like that. There's some cool material here but it's hard for me to get past the lacking sound quality. Better production would've made a huge difference here, so the band could pack a good punch otherwise. (5/10)
Running time - 32:49, Tracks: 18
[Notable tracks: No Way to Escape, Just Be True, Roll the Dice]
Superhero Records - http://www.superherorecords.com

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