Second Chance (NL) "Tide May Turn" CD
[Gangstyle]
Heavy hardcore/punk with small dashes of melody from The Netherlands with burly vocals that mix yelling with throaty singing. They cut to the chase with quick songs that rarely top two minutes, throwing in a good amount of tempo changes so it's not always straight old school styled chord progressions, but oftentimes some faster rhythms or punk influences and such - take for instance the catchy "We Don't Care" with its cleaner vocal approach, brief lead break, and "whoa ohhh" backups. "Teenage Tragedy" even has a little bit of an energetic pop punk sort of vibe to some of the quick stops in the riffing and stuff... definitely a catchy track. It's sort of surprising how effectively they switch back and forth between more melodic and punk laced tracks to harder hitting NYHC styled pieces like "Stand Up" (which sounds like an exact mix of early Agnostic Front with "Best Wishes" era Cro-Mags). And hell, they even cover Sick of it All's "The Deal", so... The recording is great. I don't have any real problems with it. Anything that I'd change would be minor, so... fuck it. The bass tone is amazing and holds its own in the mix, the guitars sound fine, the vocals are dead on, and I can tolerate the drums too. The layout's not bad. It could be better, but everything looks fine, the text is precise and legible, they don't junk it up with unnecessary band photos or anything... it's fine. Lyrically this thing's a mix, one minute dealing with serious personal issues such as fighting for what you believe in or losing a friend, the next talking about drinking and having fun (while making fun of straightedge), and at times dealing with some of your usual hardcore staples of friends and "the crew" and such. Another solid band from The Netherlands, where apparently the hardcore scene is not only damn good, but diverse as well. (7/10)
Running time - 28:09, Tracks: 14
[Notable tracks: Why Should I Care, We Don't Care, Teenage Tragedy, Stand Up]
Gangstyle Records - http://www.gangstylerecords.com

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