Billy Club Sandwich "Chin Music" CD
[Inner Strength]
Here's a massive 20 tracks of hard hitting metallic hardcore from this humorous New York act. Even though I think the vocals are sort of annoying because they're really strained and rest between shouting and growling, I think the music is a little better than it was on their last EP because they mix up the tempos more between midpaced/slow breakdowns and faster chord progressions that are more akin to traditional hardcore. A lot of times I find their manipulation of groove and backing vocals reminiscent of Biohazard, but moshier and not really as catchy or anything. "Skate Rock" is more melodic and almost upbeat, but it's also a perfect example of why I don't like these vocals, because they just don't fit - they're too forced and one-sided to work with a track like that. Actually, most of the backing vocals are more enjoyable than the lead vocals. I don't like the ska chords in "Preacher's Daughter... the Pimp's Wife" because they don't really fit, but they rarely pull that kind of thing thankfully. The recording is good. The guitar tone is fucking heavy as hell, the drum sound tight, you can hear the bass, and the vocals don't overpower or anything like that. I wouldn't really change anything about it that I can think of. It's not perfect but it suits what they're doing well. Much like their last record the layout is jokey and combines lots of wild illustrations and cartoony sort of aesthetics. A good chunk of the lyrics are in Spanish, the rest in English, dealing with police bullshit, racism, some humor, and then there's one track that gets all macho patriotic and post-September 11th that I can't really deal with, but whatever. In the end I think what hurts this record the most is that it's way, way too fuckin' long, and in the midst of that there way too many little instrumental/sample interludes and intros that waste a lot of time and serve no real purpose, in fact sort of killing the flow and bulking things up unnecessarily. There are some great riffs here, but the songs aren't memorable to me and I get bored after the first 20 minutes or so... (5/10)
Running time - 62:43, Tracks: 20
[Notable tracks: Chin Music, Tecato, DEA (Rough Mix)]
Inner Strength Records - http://www.innerstrengthrecords.net

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