InhumanIf you have been following hardcore over the last decade, odds are you have heard these Brooklyn, NY natives or at least heard of them, whether it was from a Chord magazine ad or them playing with the likes of Sick of It All, Hatebreed, Kill Your Idols, Most Precious Blood, etc,. They have an impressive discography that consists of 3 previous full lengths, 3 7" EP's, and numerous compilation appearances, the most infamous being East Coast Assault.
I was first introduced to these guys through their contribution of "My Dedication" to the second installment of the amazing hardcore video fanzine, Guerilla Warfare. Since then I have checked out a good deal of the bands back catalog and some songs have impressed me more so than others. In my opinion their best effort to date was their most recent full length "The New Nightmare" which came out on A-F Records, that is until this record entered my hands.
Like I said, I have checked out the bulk of what this band has done and not all of it stuck well with me. I could easily see this album going that route for others, however, something just clicked for me. Before my initial listening, I was skeptical to how well they would be able to mix their more metal songs, traditional punk songs, and the more melodic driven songs. After that first listen I was pleased to see these guys grow leaps and bounds from their previous albums. But still, there was one downfall with this album; it's just too top heavy and begins to lose it's momentum during the second half. I think they could've rearranged the tracks and included some more ragers in the second half.
The album's title track as well as opener, "Last Rites" is filled to the brim with metallic intensity and stomp inducing rhythms. The next track "Fashist" definitely brings to mind the likes of Sick of It All with lyrics about the fashion fruits plaguing the hardcore scene. Following up that track is "Heretic" which like the opener, relies on a hefty dose of metal influence. The fourth track "What You Wanted" is a punk rock song with good use of rock-n-roll'ish riffs and leads, there's also some atmospheric guitar effects thrown in during the bridge to spice things up. The song deals with a relationship that went sour when a significant other starts to hate what they once loved about you. It could very well come off cheesy but I think it was well done. "Mania" is a 2 minute blast of pure hardcore, again very similar to SOIA and I can definitely hear some Killing Time kicking around in there. Starting off the second half of the album is hardcore/punk driven "The Dream Is Not Dead" which is about how these guys have been around over 12 years and are still standing strong. "A Fine Line" sees the band trying their hand at the melodic style of hardcore, and I agree with Mike (vocalist), the song definitely brings to mind some Dag Nasty. "Ghost" is definitely of the more straight up hardcore jams and is about the ghosts of your pasts paying you a revisit. "Grindhouse", which is not to be confused with the film that just came out, is a punk/hardcore song about the evils of the streets. I love the sample of "It's just a movie...It's just a movie!" from Last House On The Left (Wes Cravens finest work in my opinion) that opens the track. "Bitter and Jaded" is the shortest song of the album and Joseph James provides the vocals for this one. This song features the best line of the album: "I'd kill your mother just stand on stage tonight!". The closing track, "The Lost" is a lot like the opening track because the lyrics also center around death. At 5:14 it is the longest track of the album and the one song that can really be compared to AFI. Even though I can't stand AFI, this song is pretty evil sounding
Dean Baltulonis from The Wild Arctic handled the recording duties, and it's no surprise that things sound exceptional. The bass guitar tone is really well rounded and has plenty of presence. The guitar tone and effects were done tastefully. The drums sound on point and have great consistency. The placement of the vocals were also very good.
The layout is very clean and sharp. The front cover of the booklet is designed to look like a book, complete with ornate, metallic gold borders. The booklet is four panels and opens up to display a nice, bordered photo of the band. The next two pages are used to display the lyrics over a page designed to look like one from a book. My only complaint, well more of a suggestion is that it would've been sweet if they would've expanded upon the book concept and used more pages to display the lyrics instead of fitting them all on two. But regardless it is a good concept and was executed well.
Rating: 3.8/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: Last Rites, Fashist, and Grindhouse
Synopsis: My main complaint about the album is how it seems to lack some intensity during the second half. The first half absolutely kills shit, and I can understand what they were trying to do, start off with a bang and then transition into their different moods of song writing. And it wouldn't have helped any if they made the album build to an eruption because then the first half is lacking, as I mentioned earlier, perhaps shifting around the song order would've helped? Other than that this is a really, really solid record.
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I Scream Records Website
Here is that video from the Guerilla Warfare Video Fanzine I mentioned earlier: