Battle!When I heard Eternal Hope Records was going to be releasing a full-length from a new Gainesville, Florida band named Battle!, I scurried over to the band’s myspace page to check them out. There aren’t too many labels that can be counted on to release quality albums time-after-time, however, in the short time that Eternal Hope has been around, they have worked with some awesome bands and I certainly was going to at least give this Gainesville band at least 10 minutes of my time. The three tracks they had on their myspace player were literally exceptional. Nothing groundbreaking or overly original, however, the songs still sounded fresh.
I was so intrigued by this band that I researched a little and found they had self-released an EP a couple years back. Not intent on waiting more than six months for them to finish the full-length, I bought the EP from Interpunk. Now this review, luckily isn’t for that CD. Although it wasn’t terrible, that EP left a lot of room for improvement. In the past two years or so since that EP was apparently recorded…improve is exactly what Battle! did.
Taking cues from some of modern hardcore’s finest, Battle! have crafted an exciting and memorable album. After this release, there should be no reason not to mention Battle!’s name alongside recent hardcore greats like Bane, With Honor, Ruiner and The Warriors. Powerful, anthemic vocals spit and churn this band’s message through 18 tracks of fury. Each song is an invitation to shout-along or jump on the nearest stranger’s back to make sure you’re heard. It doesn’t hurt either, when you have guest vocals from one of the greats in hardcore history. Porcell (Youth of Today, Bold, Project X, Judge, Shelter, and more), lends his vocal talents to “Sleeping Dogs Lie”. The guitars drive the rhythm of these songs. Traditionally, hardcore bands leave the bass guitar to drive a song along as the other guitars posture for attention. On this record the guitars work together as a power-horse to push the songs without being too flashy. The drumming is extremely effective, hitting like a heavyweight’s jab one minute and firing along like a Gatlin gun the next. In fact you’d be hard pressed to find a negative on this album. The only slight criticism I can even come up with would have to be lyrical. As strong as the vocals are, I feel there is some room for improvement in the writing aspect of lyrics on this album. Some lyrics read a bit incohesive, however, this is a minor complaint with the rest of the package being so complete.
And speaking of packages, the artwork on this CD is excellent as well. The animation layout is spectacular, especially the back cover art of a ruined town with a reddish glow in the night sky. The interior artwork follows the same theme and the album cover features a close-up picture of a hooded figure screaming with his hands to his head. My CD pre-order also included a limited (only 100) 7” vinyl record with four tracks including an unreleased song and two live cuts. This is a great bonus for the early birds who bought this release and yet another reason Eternal Hope is one of the better labels out there.
Rating: 5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: “Reflections”, Sleeping Dogs Lie”, “Dead Air” & “University”
Synopsis: Buy this CD now! 18 tracks of great hardcore and unlike most hardcore albums, you really get your money’s worth. 18 tracks instead of the normal, measly 12 songs most albums offer. As the old saying goes…this CD is “all killer, no filler!”