Review: Plan of Attack “The Working Dead” CD

I think is the first full-length from this Illinois act, dropping 18 tracks of heavy hardcore in a mere 19 minutes or so. I liked their 7" and I like this. It's got a hard hitting old school sort of sound, but there's no metal involved and it's not really youth crew type stuff or anything, even though some of those influences break in. There's more of an early hardcore/punk thread happening, and the vocals are pretty gruff and have a subtly sarcastic bite. "So Sick" uses a little more melody and breaks off some surprising leads that lean towards rocked out metal, "Martyr" is faster and a little more metallic in delivery but still has a no nonsense hardcore attitude, "Faking It" gets a little crunchier and holds up a nice moderate pace, and they cover "Pressure's On" by Red C towards the end of the disc - which definitely has a slightly different vibe from their original material. The production is a little on the thick and raw side, but it gets the job done. The bass tends to get lost behind the guitars, and I definitely think a clearer mix would benefit them, but I'm not bothered by any of the tones. The drums sound fine, the guitars have a decent texture, you can at least hear the bass, and I like the vocals. Clarity would let the sarcastic vocal character shine a lot more, which would be great for tracks like "Cut Him Off" that use faster crossover-ish vocal patterns. The layout looks pretty solid with nice cover art and a six-panel insert with lots of band photos, lyrics, etc. The illustration on the cover is definitely more interesting than anything else, but that's expected I suppose. The lyrics are basically personal and deal with any number of topics from regret, speaking your mind, and sincerity to a few more pointed assaults on religion and socio-political types of topics, generally keeping it pretty straightforward. That about does it. It's a short record that keeps it simple and to the point. I'm not blown away and there are enough very minor setbacks to hold me back from truly enjoying the material, but they write solid songs and there are some definite winners here. I think they'll really nail it in the future.