Vicious metallic hardcore (with a major emphasis on the metal) from the UK. Lots of tremolo picking, gruff vocals, churning midpaced mosh parts, hammer-on/pull-off riffs and thrashy picking patterns ala Slayer, a few more modern note-based metal runs, a bit of melody and dissonance, etc. Like several other UK acts I've heard these dudes definitely shine when it comes to absolutely sick power chord breakdowns, but thankfully they use speed and tremolo picking very tastefully, so they don't lose much steam or fall into the melodic Swedish death metal trap. "Forever Endeavor" is among the longer tracks at nearly six minutes and opens with an eerie clean passage that drops into another Slayer-esque dual guitar line that seems highly influenced by the "Seasons in the Abyss" days. Some of these longer songs definitely contribute to an overly long running time (the disc's not diverse enough to pull down nearly an hour), but they pull it off pretty well in the individual tracks, so I'm not particularly bothered by it. By contrast "Thrash Gordon" runs a mere two minutes and is among the more thrashy hardcore oriented tracks, consisting of faster paces to start and a mega 80's Bay Area styled breakdown. There's also an untitled instrumental piece that spices it up a little more with acoustic guitars and a far more laidback approach (it might've been more effective without the overpowering percussion, but whatever). But never fear, there are plenty of all out bruisers like "Narcoleptic Suicide Attempt" that churn out thick rhythms like an assembly line. The recording is pretty damn good but does need some work, especially when it comes to the percussion. I really like the thick chunkiness of the guitar tone a lot, but the drums have that overly triggered thing happening, so oftentimes the snare and kick drums sound totally digitized, which can be especially painful during some of the faster patterns. There's not much of a bass presence either, which is a shame. The guitars run the show and the vocals are beefy, so those aspects work fine, but the rhythm section definitely needs more natural warmth. There are also a few areas where the levels seem to overload to faint distortion, so that might be something to keep in check as well. The layout looks pretty good to me, using consistent typefaces and quality photography collaged with abstract textures and such. It could be better, but for the most part it looks nice. The lyrics are mostly bitter personal explorations, but I'm definitely irritated that out of nowhere they try to get "funny" with two tracks: "Emo Assassination" and "Thrash Gordon", back to back, both of which have some of the most inexcusably awful lyrics I've ever seen, clashing with the entire atmosphere of the record for no good reason at all. I'm not sure what brought on that decision. The music is fine in those songs, but shit, the lyrics... awful! But that issue aside, this is a strong record that I'd imagine creates complete pandemonium in the pit when they play live. I'd definitely like to hear more from this band down the road, because the fucking mosh is all over the place here.
[Lifeforce]
Running time - 51:09, Tracks: 12
[Notable tracks: Narcoleptic Suicide Attempt, Forever Endeavor, Erase This Day (And Disappear)]
Lifeforce Records - http://www.lifeforcerecords.com
