Hungry Like RakovitzThese guys come all the way from Bergamo, Italy. They formed in 2005 when Enrico and Luciano (singer for Ephel Death, Earache Records) decided to start a hardcore band in the vein of Ringworm and Integrity with some thrash and grind influences. They cut an unreleased demo and went through some lineup changes soon after playing their first show. They decided to continue on with the band, so they added a new drummer named Stefano and decided to re-release the demo in the current form I hold in my hands.
This demo is 9 songs which clock out at 16 minutes, and the songs range from 1-2 minutes long. And man am I really feeling these guys. They are able to blend just the right amount of hardcore influence and some really awesome thrash parts, even some rocked out moments here and there as well. Even though that sounds like it's been done to death, it exactly sounds pretty fresh actually, I guess that has to do with the culture effect. They definitely remind me of Ringworm and the Cleveland sound.
The vocals are awesome, he implements a pretty unique shouting style but there are some sweet mid range death metal vocals occasionally(The Great Bastardo). I only wish I could understand Italian dialect better, because what's crazy is he seems to switch between Italian and English. It's hard for me to wrap my head around all the Europe bands that are bi-lingual, the only bands I can think of from America that do that are the Spanish ones like Billy Club Sandwich, Madball etc,. Either way, I'm sure they are filled with hate and anger, just check out the song titles:
1.King Craft
2.Unleash The BullMastiff
3.Join The Conclave
4.Dullness Therapy
5.The Great Bastardo
6.Mindwrap
7.Me, Myself and the Necroyeti
8.Cagliostro
9.Born Belligerent
The recording on this one is surprisingly good considering it is a demo. I mean obviously it isn't going to sound as good as a full length released by a label, but hell if they didn't attempt to get the best tone possible. The guitar tone is surprisingly thick, the vocals sound good too, right in the front battling the music. Usually it's hard to get a good tone on the drums for a demo, but it's really not that bad, I've heard a lot worse. The bass tone isn't all too present, but hey what do you expect? Overall the mix does the job for me, it's not low at all which is usually a problem for low budget recordings.
Considering the layout was designed and put together entirely by Enrico, this thing looks great. It's on one of those 3" CD-r's, which was spray painted black with HungryCore written with a gold permanent marker, and it looks insanely awesome. It even comes in jewel case sleeve with an actual stock cardboard booklet which is gold with some crazy illustrations in black, it displays the song titles on the inside, as well. Also, there is a nice little sheet that comes inside the foldout with the band history and recording information, which was also hand numbered out of a 100. My only complaint is that their were no lyrics included, but you can't always have it all. For a self released demo, this shit looks professional as hell, my hats off.
Rating: 4/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: King Craft and The Great Bastardo
Thesis: It's funny how most hardcore zines won't touch demos, which to me is hilarious. And it's also funny that they won't have anything to do with you unless you're well known enough to booster their ad rates. Talk about the hardcore spirit right? Regardless, these guys are a hell of a listen and actually stand out from a lot of what I've heard coming out these days. The music was great, the recording was decent and the packaging is eye catching. This release only made me wish I knew Italian so I could understand them a little better. They are looking to release a 7" and an album in the future. Hopefully they'll be able to in the near future.