This New York band has been around for several years now, but I've just recently started hearing about them all over the place, seemingly out of nowhere. On this EP they drop about 20 minutes of burly metalcore with tons of chugging rhythms mixed with what I would consider to be death metal influenced tremolo picking patterns and some slightly more memorable tinges of melody as well. And really, despite the massive breakdowns and fast death metal riffing, they don't sound as typical as you might suspect given the metalcore climate of today. For one thing, the vocals are fucking sweet: Just totally burly shouts with tons of texture... it sounds like the guy's going to choke himself on his own voice. And there's a good dose of traditional NYHC in the writing as well, which tends to be a failsafe staple, it's just a bit heavier and more in your face here. "At My Side", for example, is basically a straightforward metallic NYHC track, not unlike something Merauder or the like might drop, except that it's predominantly faster and far more intense. The production is pretty good. I love the guitar tone. The guitars are heavy as shit, but still clear and textured, plus even though you can't really make out the bass it's definitely back there beefing things up that much more. This is a perfect backdrop for the vocals, but I might do something to blend the drums in a bit more. The drums really sound pretty good, they're very clear and have a nice snap to 'em without being too rigid, but they feel either loud or possibly separated from the rest of the elements. It's not a hindrance, though. Fuck it. Visually things look sort of bland however, simply because the fonts are plain and everything is really dark. The artwork has a bunch of weird looking soldiers with gasmasks on lined up facing one another pointing guns and has some weird sort of futuristic feel to it somehow, even though it's all done in dark, dingy earth tones. Inside is basically just text, with one band photo on the back of the booklet. It works, but it could look a lot more interesting... The lyrics probably look somewhat familiar as well: "True till the end, you can never bring us down. Even as hard as you try. Talk your shit, spread your lies. In my friends I rely. Truth and honor, the ties that bind. Our way of life, justified. Stand tall, be proud of who you are. It's not about unity, it's about integrity..." Nothing special, but I've certainly seen worse. These guys are touring with Sepultura right now, and if Sepultura is sucking as bad as they have been for the last few years, Full Blown Chaos is gonna blow their asses off the stage every night. So I won't be surprised if I start hearing even more about them within the next few months. Good stuff.
[Stillborn]
Running time - 19:05, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: No Others, No Way Out, At My Side]
Stillborn Records - http://www.stillbornrecords.com
