Shackled Down "The Crew" CD
[Selfmadegod]
Oh man, they're killing me here! Shackled Down is an awesome band name and this Polish act (featuring members of Pignation) cranks out a quick and unexpected dose of fast hardcore with lots of heavy old school flavor, but the guitar sound is so fucking weak that the songs regretfully lose a lot of their power! What happened!? The drums are nice and crisp and sound good, there's just a little bass in the distance, the vocals are straight yells, etc. But the guitar tone... it's got this flat midrange distortion happening that's not loud enough and just has no meat at all! With a louder, fuller guitar sound this would be a great disc, as the songwriting is short and to the point and actually has a lot of energy and small hints of diversity working in its favor, but it really falls flat due to the end result of the recording. All of the songs are less than two minutes and do tend to focus on tactfully speedy tempos, so there's not a ton of diversity at all, but there's enough to make a difference. "Praying for Unity" is nice and fast with a no nonsense approach, "Get Out of My Face" has a NYHC kind of drive going on at the start and has some memorable arrangements and effective repetition, "Shake it Off" has a little bit of a crossover edge with a total old school breakdown complete with prominent bass runs, "Shackled Down" throws in a little subtle melody and tons of gang vocals, "Brain Damage" has some slightly chunkier chords that add a little more heaviness on occasion (making for one of my favorites), etc. The artwork and lyrics are all kind of surprising, with the entire disc covered in pencil drawings of a diverse hardcore crowd moshing at a show, and the lyrics dealing with friendship, unity, sincerity, living life for yourself, etc. A couple of the tracks are coming from more of a pissed off angle, but most of the content has more of a subtly positive message. I'm so used to the brutal grindcore that Selfmadegod is known for that this CD is really catching me off guard! I like the songs a lot, I just can't believe they let this guitar tone slide. I'd be all over this if the recoding harnessed their sound better. Oh well, maybe next time! (6/10)
Running time - 17:00, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Praying for Unity, Get Out of My Face, Shake it Off, Brain Damage]
Selfmadegod Records - http://www.selfmadegod.com

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