This band formed from the ashes of Blood Spit Nights (and also features ex-members of Defiance), but despite very loose similarities in style this is a more rocked out and barely metallic take on hardcore/punk. The vocals are gruff shouts (definitely good stuff), while the music is rather straightforward and energetic in its use of moderate speeds and memorable riffing, complete with pulsing basslines and brief yet repetitive song structures with plenty of simple chord progressions infused with rock flavored lead riffs (check out the intro to "Air Raid") and lightly noisy lead playing. "Blister" is a fucking awesome track that makes better use of the faster picking patterns as well as some very subtly metallic runs, plus the vocals seem a little more varied and that definitely jumps out. "And Hang" sort of continues that thread with some almost crossover styled thrashy picking, though it's not quite as memorable. As far as the recording goes, my only complaint is the guitar tone. It's not bad, and I know they were probably trying to really grab onto that biting treble sound that it gets for the leads, but it leaves the rhythms sounding a little thin. The drums sound fucking awesome, as does the bass, both are thick and make use of the intentional rawness. But the songs would have a much heavier drive with an ever so slightly thicker guitar tone. Keep the dirtiness, but thicken it up a little. Everything else, including the vocals, sounds really effective and harnesses way more power than the guitar sound. The layout keeps it simple with lots of politically charged images and some shots of fucking insane dogs along with band photos and the lyrics in minuscule type that's rather hard on the eyes. The lyrics are brief and repetitive, covering the usual topics of war, greed, despair, and all that good stuff, so it's pretty clear-cut. I'm looking forward to hearing more from this band. This EP keeps it short but sweet, and with a little bit more aggression to the guitar tone they'd be set to kill. The songwriting is really good on this thing.
[Hardcore Holocaust]
Running time - 20:25, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Blister, And Hang, Dog Soldier]
Hardcore Holocaust - http://www.hardcoreholocaust.com
