Fuck yes, motherfucker. I'm all fucking over this shit and loving every minute of it. Brutal, midpaced metalcore in the New York/New Jersey vein with tons of mosh, a little bit of speed, and some outright metal riffs ala early All Out War and all that... but these cats are from Sweden! I can't think of any other Swedish bands that I've heard playing this style before, it seems that more Finnish bands are doing this stuff, but hot damn... this is fucking totally brutal material, and it reminds me of the mid-90's when this shit was really starting to pick up all over the US and Europe. Awesome. Expect tons of chugga chugga styled chord progressions and totally sick vocals that are right on the line between growling and yelling - way over the top, and definitely awesome. It's not melodic, and there's not a lot of variety, but it is violent, it is heavy, and the songs are fucking good. Anytime I hear a band doing this style the right way I flip out, because I miss this stuff. The production needs some tweaking, but I can live with it no problem. The guitars and vocals sound pretty damn good, as does the bass, but the percussion sounds separated from the core of the instrumentation, and they need a little more volume and clarity of detail overall. I'd leave the vocals as they are, even out the drums, and try to get some more definition going on elsewhere. I like the layout, everything is well arranged and consistent as far as the text and whatnot. I've seen better of course, but it definitely looks nice. The lyrics, as suggested by song titles like "Slit Your Wrists" and "As You Crawl to Your Grave", are pretty bitter and tend to deal with things like self-reliance and vengeance and whatnot. All I can say is that I want to hear more from this band for damn sure. Highly recommended for anyone who likes no bullshit metallic hardcore that's all about smashing faces. Nice.
[District19/Unity is All]
Running time - 20:39, Tracks: 7
[Notable tracks: Forever Gone, Slit Your Wrists, and all of the others...]
Path of No Return - http://www.pathofnoreturn.com
