RegretAnother fine release from the good folks at Organized Crime Records, who as it stands, are the best hardcore label in the Midwest. This one comes from Regret, who are quintet based out of Minneapolis, MN, they feature ex members of the hardcore band Holding On and have released a demo in Feb of 2005, which was recently released on 7" by OCR.
This EP consists of 6 new songs of dissonant metallic hardcore in the vein of bands like the Cursed, Modern Life Is War, and The Hope Conspiracy. And I must say, as soon as I listened to this EP I was hooked. These guys are frantic as fucking hell, they were able to capture my attention throughout the entire 16 minutes of this album while they shifted through multiple tempos and chord progressions. They execute some of the slickest winding dissonant riffs that in turn adds a great deal of urgency and desperation to the overall feel of the album. I also really liked how each song takes on its own identity but still ties into the overall sound of the band. Although this style of hardcore isn't exactly new, it's easier said then done and they guys have done it. And I can't forget about the vocals, they are fucking vicious as hell. His strained shout adds a boatload of urgency and intensity to the bands sound already desperate sound.
On top of being a great front man, this guy is on point with his lyrics. The lyrics are drenched in anger, desperation and hopelessness. It's as if all the lyrics point at life being a war and we're all in the trench fighting for our lives. Check out some of this awesomeness: Taken from "Shallow Beds"-"Mother Mary of indifference. These are the fuckers of cross existence. The ugly ones with nothing on their sleeves. Love made a cynic out of me. Faith made a deadbeat out of me"
The production on this is stellar. I'm really loving the guitar tone, it has the ideal balance of distortion and cleanness, which is crucial for the dissonant melodies the band likes to utilize. The bass tone is fucking awesome, it's nice full sounding with loads of well used treble. I have no complaints whatsoever for the drums. And to top it all off, I couldn't have asked for a better mix job on the vocals. They have a nice unique sound to them, they sound distant which usually spells disaster but in this case it sounds fucking fantastic juxtaposed against the dissonant melodies the band uses.
The layout on this one is decent, nothing overly fancy but it gets the job done. The layout makes good use of old war time photos with the faces photo-shopped blank with an effective white trim boarder that accents the layout nicely. Inside of the booklet all of the lyrics are displayed over a panorama shot of a bombed out city. Nice.
Rating: 4.5/5
Songs Worthy of Replay: 1968 and Dog Eyes
Thesis: What these guys are doing isn't exactly new but hell if they don't execute it better than most. I've been enjoying this one since I've gotten it, and I can't see that changing. Some great dissonant metallic hardcore with just the right amount of melody to add energy to the sound.