Stress Test – Stress Test Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Just as much as any genre that’s been around for 40-plus years, hardcore is not a monolith, not by a long stretch. As an unleashing of rough-and-tumble punk energy with an extra flash of sharpness and swagger, its permutations can run the gamut of high-tempo riffage, ragged vocal attitude, and instrumental histrionics, all while wearing the speed-loaded label. With a classic thrash attack and a dash of grind spirit, Stress Test wears the genre like a tattered and patched denim vest befitted with snappy pull-off runs, d-beat anthemics, and short bursts fit for a moshing audience. No one needs to reinvent the urge to start up the pit to have a good time.

Featuring the rhythm section of Unto Others, with Brandon Hill assuming guitar and vocals instead of bass for Stress Test, Stress Test lands with a polish and focus not typical of acts whose songs frequent the sub-two minute range. Though that energy presents in some of the harder-hitting cuts that Unto Others has to offer, Stress Test shares little but members in the kind of drive that this debut holds. Hill and co.’s understanding of the studio helps Stress Test find smart and punchy pockets for deep bass propulsions (“Coward,” “Bastard Behavior,” “Stress Test”), which go a long way in adding color to the snarl and shifty riffcraft that perpetuates its eighteen-minute run. And with colors that range from the early 90s death/grind of Napalm Death to the meatheaded aggro-crossover of Terror, Stress Test uses their experience to travel familiar paths with a skanking stride that sounds urgent.

Even though time-tested riffs and a cadence rooted in thrash history defines the simple appeal of Stress Test, its tracks flow with healthy variation to maintain a momentum that remains unbreakable and memorable. Embracing the smooth and sliding Exodus stomp with the brevity of Municipal Waste party bangers spells, on its own, an easy-to-enjoy, never-ending circle of punky abandon (“Coward,” “Bastard Behavior”). But that p-word attitude, alongside the other important p’s of pummel and political edge, also serves as its hissing core, fueling snarky sample punches (“Degrees of Violence,” “It Isn’t Real,” “God Sucks”) and unrelenting layered vocal assaults—a barking fervor and accompanying caveman-frenzied bellow—color the bouncing intensity as Stress Test progresses. Nothing that Stress Test rips from the sweat and beer-stained pages of thrash reads as new, but its in-and-out groove remains difficult to deny.

The choice to keep Stress Test svelte hinders how high it can fly, though. Stress Test knows their way around a whiplash tune and quick guitar hero cut-in to let accelerating tempos breathe (“Degrees of Violence,” “It Isn’t Real,” “Gullible”). And while these bite-size ragers take up a small percentage of runtime in this already low-commitment affair, they also make for the most interesting guitar parts that Stress Test can muster. Of course, it would be hard to call longer cuts like mid-album “Suffer” and “Bastard Behavior” slouching, as their vocal bite and rhythmic overload ensure swinging arms and cracking necks from start to finish. However, in their self-similar nature, along with “Stress Test,” they allow fewer avenues for Stress Test to leave a stronger identifying mark.

Yet, as a feisty debut, Stress Test makes for a powerful, practiced statement. It doesn’t take a virtuoso to make music that is fast, loud, and angry. But, as Stress Test shows, steady (enough) hands and an ear looking for the right accents and accelerations will find a grace in wild tempos that mimics the fury of an untethered mind. With a varied pool of legacy influences, these Portland-based punks hold the potential to develop their low-frills sound in just about any way that they choose. And though Stress Test lacks in extreme choices that could hoist this fledgling act to a loftier status, Stress Test has taken aim at becoming a primary form of relief for those in need of boiled-over thrash madness.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Transylvanian Recordings
Websites: stresstest.us | stresstestpdx.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/stresstestpdx
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#2025 #30 #AmericanMetal #CrossoverThrash #CrustPunk #Exodus #Feb25 #Hardcore #MunicipalWaste #NapalmDeath #Review #Reviews #StressTest #Terror #TransylvanianRecordings #UntoOthers

Act of Impalement – Profane Altar Review

By Dear Hollow

Nashville trio Act of Impalement’s sophomore release Infernal Ordinance, in spite of the low-hanging HOA jokes, was badass. Its unfuckwithable blend of death and crust styles led to a sore neck from endless headbanging, while its passages of doom tempos and thick weight did the sludge and doom influences justice. I still spin the likes of “Summoning the Final Conflagration” and “Erased,” reliving that pummeling that hurts so good again and again. You can imagine how excited I was, then, to discover Act of Impalement has a new album.

To accurately sum up Act of Impalement’s musical arsenal is an exercise in futility, and Profane Altar amps the obscurity – although the trademark groove remains stalwart. While Ethan Rock remains the band’s pivot point as primary songwriter, vocalist, and guitarist, a revamped lineup replacing bassist Jimmy Grogan and longtime drummer Zack Ledbetter emerges with its own streamlined take. As such, while Infernal Ordinance felt almost entirely like the one-man Ethan Rock show, Profane Altar finds bassist Jerry Garner adding more rumbling weight to the riffs while drummer Aaron Hortman brings a newfound manic energy and mania to the rhythms. While the influences remain the same in death metal royalty Bolt Thrower, Incantation, Entombed, and Asphyx – and the sound is deceptively straightforward – the streamlined approach, more pronounced black metal influence, and filthier riffs offer new planes for Act of Impalement.

Act of Impalement’s biggest change is a more cohesive fusing of its sludge and death metal influences alongside its newfound obscure black metal bleakness. While opener “Summoning the Final Conflagration” from its predecessor set a precedent of buzzsaw riffs driven to a sludgy end, Profane Altar opens with “Apparition” – while the groove and riffs are similar, they are absolutely suffocating, a swampy tar filling every crevice of the sound. Act of Impalement is down with the thickness, and it grants them a fluidity that kept the disjointedness of its predecessor from truly soaring. From ten-ton bruisers dripping with patient swagger (“Apparition,” “Final Sacrifice”), filthy 6/8 death metal waltzes (“Sanguine Rites,” “Gnashing Teeth”) to vicious crust punk-influenced black metal beatdowns laden with blastbeats and shred (“Piercing the Heavens,” “Deities of the Weak”), their potentially disconnected collection of blasting and bruising is blessedly woven together by its all-consuming weight.

Brevity is the name of Act of Impalement’s game, and it no longer feels like a one-man show. No track exceeds five minutes for a total of thirty-one minutes, which is absolutely reasonable and almost necessary for this breed of intensity. While the professed styles don’t feel particularly unique, Act of Impalement manages to lay them atop the incredibly sturdy foundation of groove, which serves the brevity extremely well – the album hits hard and fast and never overstays its welcome. Better still, Garner’s bass shines throughout and Hortman’s percussion feels both unhinged in its blastbeats and steadfastly reliable in its plodding groove – both members shining alongside Rock’s riffs and hellish roars. That being said, Act of Impalement offers a brutal riff-fest with elements borrowed from death, death/doom, crust punk, and black metal, a tribute to the hallowed halls of metal history – but the product is remarkably straightforward in its punishing groove.

If you’re looking for a nuanced album that showcases a rich and layered approach to its songwriting, Profane Altar is not for you. However, if you’re okay seeing all its influences as riders of the one-trick pony called groove, it doesn’t get much better than Act of Impalement’s breed of pummeling. Profane Altar is fucking heavy, simultaneously a more in-your-face and obscure release for a band renowned for their breakneck intensity. Balance and the bravery to embrace its disparate blend of influences sets it apart from its already formidable predecessor, even though the shortsighted groove makes it blackened, deathened, crusty, doomy ear candy. Infectiously groovy ear candy.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: Caligari Records
Websites: instagram.com/actofimpalement | facebook.com/ActOfImpalement
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025

#2025 #35 #ActOfImpalement #AmericanMetal #Asphyx #BlackMetal #BlackenedDeathMetal #BoltThrower #CaligariRecords #CrustPunk #DeathMetal #DeathDoomMetal #DoomMetal #Entombed #Feb25 #Incantation #ProfaneAltar #Review #Reviews

Fell Omen – Invaded by a Dark Spirit Review

By Thus Spoke

If you’re especially in the know, you might already be familiar with the artist behind Fell Omen, Spider of Pynx. Having contributed hurdy-gurdy and electronica skills to two different Spectral Lore records under this moniker, he has also created cover art for Auriferous Flame, Cirkeln, and Μπατουσκα, under the name Gilded Panoply. After years of lurking about the black metal scene, with Invaded by a Dark Spirit, the Spider has the chance to step out of the background and begin their officially ‘metal’ musical arc as Fell Omen.1 Here for a good time, and not a long time, with a runtime barely surpassing 20 minutes,2 Invaded by a Dark Spirit is a lightning round in Fell Omen’s raucous take on black metal.

Invaded by a Dark Spirit is characterized by two main facets: punky attitude and crusty sound—though it’s not exactly crust-punk stylistically. While there are hints of Wormwitch here and there, this is combined with an old Immortal vibe about the riffs and vocals, as well as frequent use of hurdy-gurdy. Rambunctious rhythms and refrains abound (“Dungeon Metal Punks Besieging Digital Castles,” “Warrior Jar,” “In the Poison Swamp”). The record maintains this rough and ready tone throughout: while there is a subtly different flair to individual tracks, there’s not a lot to actually distinguish them. Opener “Don’t Go Hollow, You Have Steel,”3, showcases everything you will hear for the rest of the record, with the exception of vocals, which here are restricted to the occasional snarled “eaaaagh!” The low-fi production which brings the fuzz and distortion, and that faraway washy quality to the vocals, contributes to the album’s coarseness and the sense of a gutsy spirit. But it equally brings the above uniformity into the realm of the problematic, as well as generating some problems of its own.

Rawness itself is not the issue, it’s how this rawness negatively affects Fell Omen’s compositions. Good raw black metal is a biting assault that can be beautiful or brutal. But in the case of Invaded by a Dark Spirit, the grittiness makes everything bland or bothersome. Hurdy-gurdy, sitting right at the front of the mix, wailing its refrain through the cellophane wrapping of the master, like a fucking kazoo, is jarring in a way I had not experienced before. And it is used a lot. That being said, the actual guitar is also prone to flights of wobbly fancy that imitate the hurdy-gurdy’s mannerisms in a way that blurs the line between them. This guitar sound could be cool, and in fact sometimes actually is (“Dungeon Metal…,” “In the Poison Swamp”), but the milquetoast package it comes in saps that coolness away. Programmed and acoustic drums alike sound akin to a stock keyboard ‘drum’ noise and are thus indistinguishable. Pointlessly brief flashes of synth get thrown in for no identifiable reason other than a whim (“Dungeon Metal…,” “Forlorn Knights and Strange Flasks”, tricking the listener into thinking that something interesting might be about to happen. Even setting aside particular noises that might be personal triggers, the songs are boring: monotonous in their vaguely repetitious way and stultified by the veil of grime.

While there are some admittedly catchy grooves sprinkled around Invaded by a Dark Spirit, the above problems block proper enjoyment of them. “In the Poison Swamp” is the closest thing to a “banger” with its infectious rhythms and well-timed “rawwrr”s working well off of the bendy guitar lines. It’s a shame it comes last. Others (“Don’t Go Hollow…,” “Warrior Jar”) can get your head bobbing well enough, and if you strain your ears just right, the whining melodies (hurdy-gurdy or otherwise) sound almost gnarly. Yet nothing is gripping; nothing is sufficiently slick, raw, or savage enough to capitalize on the low-fi sound and make this the rollicking riot it could so easily have been. Rather, it all feels anodyne, distant, and placid.

For an album that only lasts around 20 minutes, Invaded by a Fell Spirit is a drag to get through; unless, that is, you just ignore it, which is relatively easy to do. Fell Omen can craft some fun grooves, and there is some cool stuff going on with the guitar distortion and hurdy-gurdy, but these are superseded by the monotony and paradoxical blandness of it all. You can have a good time with selected tracks, but it doesn’t diminish the fact that Invaded by a Dark Spirit is nothing like the boisterous, epic tale it pretends to be.

Rating: Disappointing
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: True Cult Records
Websites: Bandcamp | Facebook
Releases Worldwide: February 14th, 2025

#20 #2025 #BlackMetal #Crust #CrustPunk #DungeonSynth #Feb25 #FellOmen #GreekMetal #Immortal #InvadedByADarkSpirit #RawBlackMetal #Review #Reviews #TrueCultRecords #Wormwitch

Immortal Bird – Sin Querencia Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Mortality makes us human. Or, at least, it informs what we’ve become and how we’ve structured our societies—the ages at which we learn life, grow life, enter work, exit work, and the challenges of seemingly limited time to achieve each step. Yet, though we know our conscious time on this earth is finite, its flow often resembles less the smooth river and more the creek which swells and surges and ruptures and dries and dies, its turns unpredictable. Though assembled for over a decade at this juncture, Immortal Bird has seen several members blow through in the namesake of their Windy City Chicago home,1 but remains anchored in extremity by the persistence of Rae Amitay (Errant, Thrawsunblat) in finding partners in riff, rhythm, and ruckus. And though held to no defined release schedule, Immortal Bird has flocked again enough to conjure Sin Querencia.2

Always straddling the line between a blackened snarl, a deathly pummel, and a hardcore shuffle, Immortal Bird’s patchwork attack hits as equal parts curious and aloof with Sin Querencia landing no differently. As Amitay has found greater vocal expression over the years, with side ventures Errant and Wretched Blessing being closer to solo endeavors, a fuller range of techniques splatters Sin Querencia to give it fresh life against what came before. The dominant lyrical character that accompanies the dissonant and frosty pick drives (“Consanguinity,” “Contrarian Companions”), which wouldn’t sound out of place in a Gargiulo project like Artificial Brain or Dreamless Veil, remains a distorted high-range screech and lower tunneled howl, but interjections of a ghastly, cutting clean croon add layers of space and intrigue when the music recedes to a creeping crawl (“Bioluminescent Toxins,” “Contrarian Companions”). Immortal Bird remains determined to develop their already dense sound.

Yet, it’s not a labyrinthian instrumental construction that swerves the Bird about a progressive nature, but rather a keen sense of song structure and how to break it. Each piece on Sin Querencia develops its own way of wrapping around its main refrain or melody. Frequently, Immortal Bird lives on the captivating nature of their riff structures, in lieu of traditional hooky choruses or virtuosic leads, and uses contrasting discordant or otherwise exceedingly bright chord interjections to modulate, crescendo, and drive away (“Bioluminescent Toxins,” “Plastered Sainthood,” “Contrarian Companions”). Even when tracks veer toward a standard verse-chorus structure, Immortal Bird find ways to stretch a coda to its breaking point with vicious vocal punctuations (“Propagandized”) or sneak in the lone squealed-out solo (“Sin Querencia”) against an increasingly jagged bass stumble.3

Given the heavily guitar-driven stance that Immortal Bird continues to take with each of their outings thus far, it makes sense that they choose a production style that boosts that amplified presence. Whether darting about the classic Immortal riff chase (“Ocean Endless,” “Sin Querencia”) or driving pits with stenched-out hammerfests (“Plastered Sainthood,” “Propagandized”), a volume and weight of six-stringed tone lands with a practiced and cutting precision that moves every song forward effortlessly. In a similarly brash and distracting manner, Matt Korajczyk’s kit finds both welcome cymbal spread in down moments and unwelcome snare explosions during oft-occurring blast and heavy skank sections. After spending a lot of time with Sin Querencia, I’ve grown accustomed to that kind of pummel—and it’s far from the only offender in this realm in metal history. But moments like the snare roll before the second clean vocal passage in “Bioluminescent Toxins” and the general balance of the tapping close on “Propagandized” show that the kit doesn’t have to live with constant boosting to be impactful.

Immortal Bird has not made any steps in becoming a more accessible band, but that hardly matters when the music they do produce remains interesting enough to dissect repeatedly. And even if you don’t want to do that, this presentation of a modern hybrid of black, death, crust, and whatever other influence the Bird sees fit holds enough of a riff-forward attitude to moisten the earholes of a neck-whipping bystander. These tenants of metal, to riff to rollick to rumble, cannot be destroyed so long as bands continue find eclectic ways to bend and bruise them in a manner befitting of an wanting crowd—immortal in extremity. So while Sin Querencia doesn’t build a new home to house the flayed ideas of Immortal Bird, it doesn’t need to to remain enjoyable as a snappy drive through riff city.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: 20 Buck Spin | Bandcamp
Websites: immortalbird.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/immortalbirdband
Releases Worldwide: October 18th, 2024

#20BuckSpin #2024 #35 #AmericanMetal #ArtificialBrain #BlackMetal #CrustPunk #DeathMetal #DreamlessVeil #Errant #Hardcore #Immortal #ImmortalBird #Review #Reviews #SinQuerencia #WretchedBlessing #Yautja

Utflod – Efterdønn Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Music doesn’t have to be complicated to be good. In the metal, rock, and punk worlds, this holds especially true, with a churning fight riff or stumble-step slam holding just as much power to contort faces and limbs as much as any spider-fingered fretboard fury. Utflod, a young new band from Norway, holds this idea especially dear, with their brief catalog to this point showcasing a fiery attitude and noise-coated spirit. And, now, entering the scene proper with a thirty-minute punk-ambitious full-length, will Efterdønn be Utflod’s first chapter on the path to underground riches?

Despite a simple attack, Utflod does seem to want for more than the typical rip ‘n’ roar of -core-tinged, ideals-driven missions. Well, if you understand Norwegian, you may get more of a lyrical lashing.1 The important thing to understand here is that Utflod translates2 to “discharge.” And while Discharge isn’t the main flavor of hardcore throughout Efterdønn, it feels clear that the d-beat progenitors play a role in the base Utflod identity alongside the metal-forward urgency of Integrity and emotional crust of Martyrdöd. At a quick pass, this modern sort of blackened hardcore sound—jangly, often trem’d chords against a rough vocal identity—sits well in the screamo-adjacent waters of dreamy acts like Blind Girls or grind-leaning burners like Crossed, with Utflod even throwing in three odes to the barely-a-song grind blip (“Du lider,” “Utflod,” “Rier”). For a young band, Utflod wears a lot of hats.

Yet, for a band who knows how to pack a mighty punch with swinging pit-starters and chugging arm-throwers (“Frå eit hjarte,” “Tyrann,” “Primitiv”), Utflod spends a frustrating amount of time doing absolutely nothing. If you had presented me with a bass drag as lethal as the one that opens “Insomnia” and then asked me “Dolph, how should this song end,” I would not have chosen “with a minute or so of bleeps and bloops and silence.” Utflod does this not once, but twice (“Stine”), and, for good measure, they also include a horror film hallway creeper as a mid-album intermission in “Mysteries Doom Santana.” Amongst properly hitting hardcore breaks within tracks and in neighboring tracks—which play straight through as they should (“Askeblot,” “Bygdedyret”)—Utflod proves with little question that they have the chops to shred plenty of good tracks. But with the pacing already stunted by the time that transitional piece lands, it requires a bit of dedication (or a heavy skip hand) to dive into the best of Efterdønn.

For those not dissuaded by Efterdønn’s other introductory bumps, its half-raw aesthetic may push back with a mighty force. Utflod generally presents its riffcraft in a dry and spacious package. Following the crust agenda of thumping bass—not too loud though—Mirko’s dry and growling rumble provides both a quaking platform for hammering riffs (“Insomnia,” “Primitiv”) and spectrum assist for the equally dry guitar escapades. On that front, with little in the way of shrieking leads or whipping solos, vocalist Oda’s highest register yelps and cries land uncontested in the mix. Additionally, with her scathing tirades running front, and center, boosted, and largely stripped of resonance, an ugly sibilance appears at ear-popping moments about many tracks across Efterdønn (“Askeblot” and “Hyklar” offend me the most). Frustratingly, the same high-moisture synth ideas that plague a steady runtime also provide ear relief in solitude, and a comforting wetness to the fizzling, dry vocal performance when acting as a hazy layer (“Insomnia,” “Stine,” “Frå eit hjarte”).

The balance between the crackle and dirt of the underground can often be hard to mix with the polish of standing out, and Utfold makes a valiant effort. At its most exciting, Efterdønn hits with unquestionable hardcore energy and a tasteful blackened edge (“Stine,” “Frå eit hjarte,” “Primitiv”). However, the shuffling punk scuttle that defines Efterdønn’s ever-shifting method of attack comes across as an ineffective indecision more than a well-woven accomplishment. Efterdønn does hit a powerful stride on its back half—easy to digest and thrash and wish I were deep in the pit. But with so many upfront issues, it’s hard to give Utfold the full green light this go-around. Keeping in mind that this is only a debut, though, I have hope that this still-developing act will find a footing in their mighty riffsplorations with a kvltish charm.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Apollon Records | Bandcamp
Websites: utflod.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/utflodband
Releases Worldwide: October 4th, 2024

#25 #2024 #ApollonRecords #BlackNRoll #BlackenedHardcore #BlindGirls #Crossed #CrustPunk #Discharge #Efterdønn #Hardcore #Integrity #Martyrdöd #NorwegianMetal #Oct24 #Review #Reviews #Utflod

#QuartaPunk

Música: "Walls"
Banda: Instinct of Survival

"[...] A próxima música é sobre pessoas que constroem pontes para se conectar com outras pessoas... Eu construo muros.

Isso não tem nada a ver com política, porque eu acho que todo mundo tem o direito de viver onde quiser.

Mas eu sou um misantropo e odeio pessoas, não importando de onde elas vem porque trato todos da mesma forma.

Foda-se o racismo, foda-se o fascismo e vida longa ao niilismo misantrópico!"

---

"Your morals aren't mine
and in a strange way
I speak nothing but the truth
You want me on my knees
But that’s the position
you already took by the life you chose
You like the sound of your Voice
And putting something you heard into action
You remind me of a chameleon
Harmed egos bite

Judge me watch me
find your conclusion
I couldn't care less
Judge me watch me so what
I couldn't care less

Life is against me
The World is against me
You are against me
But sanity is with me
A Cold war in my Heart
Iron curtain in my Mind
Barbed wired tongues
Speak words of wisdom

Walls, walls, walls I see walls
Walls, walls, walls, I build Walls [...]"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rn-_Odz5_w0

Hatchend – Summer of ’69 Review

By Dolphin Whisperer

Nice.1 Or maybe you were thinking about the classic Bryan Adams song of the same name? Just what does a title like Summer of ’69 invoke? Maybe your mind raced to throwback stoner rock—nope, sorry. Perhaps the pop art cover took you to a bright, synth-coated land of big choruses and bigger hair? Still wrong, though. Hatchend instead circles about—cobbled of various Swedish extreme acts—waters of punk-loaded, gravel-voiced crossover thrash. And with a handful of riffs, one song structure, and an urge to throw arms, these crusty hooligans have birthed Summer of ’69. There was a pit at Woodstock, right?2

True to the classic ideals that the aged title represents, Hatchend delivers punky banger after punky banger with just about zero frills. In this lane of sonic fury, fueled by the likes of hardcore/crossover icons like Discharge and D.R.I., it can be hard to deliver a collection that iterates on the already basic structure that the style holds. Guitarist Elis Edin Markskog knows well from his main act, Birdflesh, that a little fluff and feather-ruffling can add a memorable edge to your act. Still, Hatchend seems to eschew most of that letting some mildly abrasive names apply surface wounds to the audience’s eyes (“Bloodthirsty Degenerate,” “A Fierce Scalpel Menace”). Other acts that find no charge in silly or serious messaging instead fly by the power of intensity of tone and delivery. And while Kalle Nimhagen’s (Deathening) death metal-leaning bark supplies a tactile mic spray, it also starts to beg the question of whether Hatchend really has more to offer than a tightly executed tune.

Hatchend kicks off every song of this eight-pack with all the right hooky hammers. When you’re a crossover act of the Municipal Waste variety, that first five to ten seconds of glory only have to hit hard enough to keep the fire burning. Hammering cymbal counts (“Shackled Humanity,” “Scape Goat”), full power riffage (“A Fierce Scalpel Menace,” “Feed This Emptiness”), and hyper-aggressive bass thumpage (“Who’s the Foe Today?”) all weight heavy in Summer’s arsenal of distorted charms. However, with each song being of a longer runtime, in the three to five-minute range, these mostly effective plays can’t carry enough energy into the verses and choruses and blast breaks that feel largely interchangeable between each track.

To make the menagerie of power chord shuffles even more of an indistinguishable hum, Hatchend heaves mix balance to the wayside in a bass-forward presentation that is beyond crusty. Despite the reputation that some of thrash metal’s bigger names may push, thick and leading bass rattling leads the charge in celebrated acts like Overkill or Nuclear Assault. And even in the hardcore lane that inspires this conversation more, Discharge and the like hold a respectable and flashy bass performance at the heart of their aggression—one that is heard and felt alongside all else. But Hatchend has chosen the path of the bulldozer with Dan Bengtsson’s (Pyramido, ex-Crowpath) volume-gorged bass running so wide it near negates the need for the rhythm guitar to even exist. Markskog is far from a slouch on the six, and with a real dialed ear, his riffs run bluesy, playful—and he gets a few moments to break through when there’s a little less on the board. But the choice to bury the guitars in a bassy grave robs Markskog’s performance of nuance.

Hatchend’s thirty-minute first impression struggles to break through the established lineage of thrashers, punks, and their predecessors. Overloud and under-expressed, the band’s sound lacks clarity. Summer of ’69 falls short of telling a compelling story, neither warm enough to be fanciful nor abrasive enough to embrace nihilism. It does, however, achieve the goal of being a burst of high-tempo mosh energy should you need it. With the pedigree of the manic minds who have brought forth plenty of extreme music before, I would expect no less. Unfortunately, I was also hopeful for more.

Rating: 2.0/5.0
DR: 5 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Selfmadegod Records | Bandcamp
Website: facebook.com/hatchendofficial
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

#20 #2024 #Aug24 #Birdflesh #CrossoverThrash #CrustPunk #DBeat #DRI_ #Discharge #Hardcore #Hatchend #MunicipalWaste #NuclearAssault #Overkill #Review #Reviews #SummerOf69 #SwedishMetal #ThrashMetal