Out at the start of the month was the latest EP from Pittsburgh bruisers Unreal City, continuing their phenomenal spin on finely-honed dark metallic hardcore mandatory for fans of the classic "holy terror" sound of mid-to-late-'90s Cleveland. At times demonstrating a slightly slower, doomier lean, the five songs in under 20 minutes remain otherwise grounded in mid-paced to modestly fast chug-fueled rhythms, plenty of scorching lead breaks, darker atmospheric passages with some clean textures, and superbly furious breakdowns. "Emptiness" is perhaps one of the more straight-to-the-point compositions herein, but you just can't argue with a classic framework executed to perfection.
These tracks were laid down during the sessions for Cruelty of Heaven, so again were amongst the final recordings at the Mars Recording Compound (R.I.P. Bill Korecky), once more adorned with beautiful Stephen Kasner (R.I.P.) cover art, thus everything looks and sounds killer. The appropriately blood red vinyl is accompanied by a black-and-white insert with plenty of photos and complete lyrics, too
Snag vinyl direct from WAR Records or Bandcamp (which also serves the digital). If you're a dreaded streamer, Apple Music and Spotify and all that shit'll have you covered...
