Review: Get Real “Shore Style” CD

Christ... 19 tracks of raw yet heavy old school styled hardcore in a mere 17 minutes!? Expect all out yelling vocals with somewhat of a uniquely dry delivery, lots of midpaced to slightly fast chord progressions following the basic framework of the genre, a few slightly heavier NYHC styled breaks, and total running times of right around a minute each, so things blow through in a flash. There's no metal here though, make no mistake. It's not that heavy in general, it's just a little more pissed off than the youth crew style or whatever, you know? The disc includes 12 new tracks (two of which were previously released on a compilation and a 7"), as well as the songs from their self-titled EP, so I assume this is a discography of their work to date. There's little bit of rock to the main riff in "Welcome to My World", "Cutting Loose" has a quick metallic sounding breakdown rhythm, and of course the track "Get Real" is a little looser and has a sarcastic sort of attitude to it. Good stuff. There's not a lot of variety here, but every now and then there are a few little standouts. The songs from the 7" are a little shorter and more overtly pissed off, but it all plays back to back perfectly with the new stuff so it's not like the band has undergone any vast changes. It's hardcore through and through. The recording needs work but I'm alright with it. The sessions for the EP and the new tracks sound very similar to one another. Both are on the thin side and have a little rawness involved, but it's tolerable. A little added chunkiness to the guitar tone with more of a bass presence and a little bit of a cleaner mix would be nice, but fuck it. The songs are good and it sounds decent. The layout keeps it simple with a few black and white photos and clean, basic text. The lyrics are a mix of pissed off personal issues and sarcastic sort of fun tracks, all of which are generally more blunt than most bands: "I look around and hate everything I see, Watered down and disillusioned, Everything so far removed, So many things that could be improved, Got to say all this shit I feel, Wake up and get fucking real." Not bad. Could be better, but it could be far worse. The fact that the songs are so fuckin' quick definitely works out for the better because there's no damn time for stagnating. And come on, any hardcore band that has a song called "Fuck Off" has gotta get credit for something, right?