Not bad. This Canadian act drops some vicious metallic hardcore in the vein of Hatebreed (especially vocally), though ironically there's both more direct metal here as well as more direct hardcore. Look for short songs that never hit three minutes and plow straight through chugga styled breakdowns, faster old school chord progressions with a few subtly melodic dissonant textures around the edges, some darker metal riffing that at times hits on some Slayer-esque runs, and so on. The recording is a little rough at the seams, but they're on the right track. I think the vocals sound killer and the percussion sounds alright, but the bass needs more volume and the guitars should be way meatier for this style. Seriously, with more meat on the bones of the distortion and a slightly fuller mix I think this EP would crush as is, for the most part. The writing isn't consistently energetic and I think they rely too heavily on churning groove with the breakdown parts, which isn't their real strength, but... they're sure to incite the mosh regardless, and I'm pretty into the framework they've set out on this thing. "Torn to Pieces" crams a pretty wide variety of playing styles into a super compact 1:22 timeframe, and there's some definite potential resting in that one. "Ill Fate" is another that hits home with its layered melodic chords against a heavy backbone and a more consistently energetic vibe to the tempos, while "Final Word" stumbles a few times but does have moments of sheer force working in its favor. The layout keeps it simple with a few band photos and strange looking artwork of a figure wrapped in gauze, while the lyrics are kind of in the "stabbed in the back" sort of vein: "You make me sick. What ever made you think we'd share the same ill fate? You fall deeper and deeper, each step takes you closer to death. I'll be satisfied knowing that I tried." Keep an eye on this band. They need to polish it up a bit, but I'm sure they'll progress naturally with time, so... fans of the style take note. They're not going to win any prizes for innovation, but when this stuff's done right I'm all over it, so... I'll be watching. This fucker's short as hell, so we'll see what comes next.
[Organized Crime]
Running time - 12:29, Tracks: 6
[Notable tracks: Ill Fate, Torn to Pieces]
Organized Crime Records - http://www.organizedcrimerecords.com
