The KillerIf you're unfamiliar with this Chicago 5 piece, they released an EP titled "Where All My Nightmares Came True" on Thornz Records, which at the time included Strength For A Reason. They play fist in your face, heavy as hell metallic hardcore influenced by the 90's stuff in the vein of bands like Merauder and Bulldoze. However, the thing that separates them from the two bands mentioned is their effective use of melody via strummed out octaves and such. Now I'm not talking As I Lay Dying melody, I mean I just lost my rent money and now I'm at the end of a bottle looking to kill someone melody.
This is a reissue of the record that came out back in 2004, with four new tracks added, one of them being a cover of Twisted Sister's, Burn In Hell, which they actually did a great rendition of. The track "Worse Than Death" really highlights the bands knack for writing heavy metallic hardcore with exceptional use of hard hitting melody. You get the fast sped up parts, driving melody and an earthmoving breakdown. "The True Failure," is a real infectious song that really gets to the core with a catchy, melody driven chorus with great back up vocals by the bassist that really compliments the instrumentation. All of this takes place after a crushing breakdown steam rolls through the track. The track "Tell My Mom I Love Her," which had originally appeared on their old EP, is fucking heavier than an offensive line. This song features one of my favorite breakdown entrances. I love it when the song slows up to a grinding pace with the drummer beating his floor tom and the back up vocals come in hard as shit, like nobody's business. Their newer tracks show them becoming even more influenced by the metal side of things, but don't fret it's still hardcore, just heavier doses of leads and metal influenced riffing. Their lyrics for the most part are extremely personal with the exception of "Vatican," which touches upon the church's hiring of pedophiles and perverts. But other than that they don't attempt to identify with their listener much, rather let them know, this is me, this is what I feel, you'll either listen or we'll make you listen I love the line in "Save Us," "There's so much to be 86'd from my life. Hand in hand is addiction and the dead..." Feeling it. Another bonus of this re-issue is the DVD that come along with it. It features their live show in its entirety recorded 1/27/06 at the Metro. It includes the gem from their EP, "Seven Card Stud," their three new songs, "Save Us," "Darker," and "Welcome to Chicago," with the rest being from this album. Very good quality, visually and musically.
The production still remains the same except for the four new tracks. The original tracks sound good, but could've been tinkered around with to maximize the insanely heavy, yet layered songs. While they sound solid, the guitars could've used some extra crunch. The bass sounds good but could've used more definition on the tone. The drums at times sound a little unbalanced, especially between the snare and cymbals, and during the many great fills the drummer uses, the toms get drowned out. The vocals sound good, there's a slight echo which accentuates his delivery. Overall, the tone works for these guys, it's loud and abrasive with some grit. The new tracks however are a different story. They sound really thin and flat, and at times distant. I would assume they weren't mastered yet. The vocals have the same echo on them, except it's way too much this time around. And during the 10th track, "Save Us," the lead break at the end of the song sounded awful. It sucks, because they are fucking killer songs that don't get to reach their full potential because of the lackluster sound quality. I would assume they would use these tracks for their next release and clean them up.
Don't fix what ain't broke. The old layout looked great, so why even bother getting some new artwork? Still present is the entire matte layout and high contrast graphics, utilizing sparse use of bronze ink over a black and white color scheme. The front cover is an old crime scene photo, with the body outlined, with random scribbling and broken up phrases over top. There are pictures placed throughout that tie into some of the lyrical themes of the record: Coffins, a syringe, a pile of pills, pall-bearers, etc,. The lyrics were printed in the bronze ink over a large live shot of the band, which looks damn good. Got no complaints in this department.
Rating: 4/5
Songs worthy of replay: Tell My Mom I Love Her, Worse Than Death, The True Failure
Thesis: If you like the heavier side of things, but also enjoy a bit of melody here and there, definitely check these guys out if you haven't already. For 10 bucks, you get 14 tracks of some of the best metallic hardcore has to offer. If you already picked this up, you'll probably want to do so again just for the new tracks and DVD.