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Rating:
Try asking Nate Newton, bassist of the band being reviewed, where to inhale lysergic fumes and throw spinning blades in the vast desolate lands of the planet Dune, so as to have free apocalyptic visions; he, thanks to these things, in 1999, along with other madmen, created Old Man Gloom … and if this is Hardcore, let it be violent, otherwise what kind of Hardcore is it?
After spending four years cutting their teeth (getting experience), with independent/self-produced releases, in 1994 the guys finally caught the right attention of Earthmaker Records; to which they pitched their deviations and manic depressive psychosis by passing them off as angry stage art, namely "Halo in a Haystack".
The gentlemen mentioned above, who in generosity wouldn't even have anything to envy Santa Claus (see their splendid discography), initially presented themselves with drier sounds, far from the mathcore (il)logics, the latter structured on stochastic rhythmic sections and intricate scores that currently exalt the group, authoritatively placing them among the sacred monsters of the genre, post-Hardcore/MathCore, you choose; fifteen years ago, however, this young band already had the talent they now demonstrate, something like “the boys will make it…”
On the cover, we find a young Jacob Bannon engaged in one of his usual possessed performances, driven by the usual self-destructive emotional delusions.
A cover that is very hardcore underground and “always broke”, classic in punk style; different from those published, for example, in 2001, with the Jane Doe project, where we will be delighted by the artistic polyhedricity of the frontman, splendid fucking psychedelic works reminiscent of Corrado Roi (truly, even a few years before Bannon exhibited his drawings on the cover, but they sucked, so we don't even bother with them, you know?), at the same time, indicative of that artistic evolution, founding the current sound structure of the band, harsher and wilder, see the latest Axe to Fall (2009).
Ready nonetheless to evolve, sneaking toward new sonic shores, thus we have a more raw project, with traits of a sound reminiscent of/to some degree/just enough of Entombed and bands like Negative Approach, Discharge (well, yes!), Black Flag & Co., presenting significant sonic aggressiveness but less constrained, perhaps more logical/lucid and less paranoid.
A Hardcore skillfully seasoned with sometimes noise, nostalgic sounds, your mother in underwear, colorful …savored! at times, by a skillful and precise jazz fusion, deftly interlaced as if to cushion dissonance and wild sound; all a tone above, aiming to acquire its own identity, reformed upon a strong compositional command, in the even more tormented and corrosive voice of B(r???)annon, ready to insert itself with precise mastery, like a sniper.
An album not to be underestimated, to be listened to attentively, with your ear close to the speakers, or in an empty room, or at night suddenly when everyone is asleep.
Apparently less complex, yet still aggressive, with great scenic impact, yours when you dance on it, and sonic, the neighbors who will complain; whose empathy is indicative of that talent, mind your own business bastards, distinctive of the band's future productions; enough to excite fans of the genre.
Tracklist and Lyrics
02 I Abstain ()
Below my solitude I abstain.
Above my bitterness I grace the lie.
Sinking alone I severed the chord, drifting into the wide. It lies below this tragedy, this suffering.
Life's blood flows out of me.
The deeper I sink the more life flows out of me.
Drifting towards the light I see torn from my home to be.
Hook clawing at my flesh guiding me through my journey.
Drowning in a see of rusting faith.
Killing your dreams with bleeding mistakes.
A part of her dies too.
03 Two Day Romance ()
Can you help me?
Take a picture before I paint over her,
She is beautiful,
She was everything.
I miss her.
Last night I dreamt of her tracing my scars.
She said she'd never leave and that I'd always stay.
That night you called I stood by that phone for hours,
I felt everything thirty miles away.
You said you loved me and I told you the same,
We kissed there for the first time,
I believed in you for the last time,
I once was I, once was whole.
Peacemaker,
Tell myself that this is time to say goodbye.
Goodbye.
04 Becoming a Stranger ()
So much for breathing, my cloud nine fell from grace. Loss of everything, where is my identity?. If I could only find what is left me. So much for letting go when you have nothing left to hold. The words that slid off your tongue, my everything. Your nothing, I know that I don't mean much to you but you mean the world to me. Devotion, an undying dead. The harrowing, bleed you out of me, the "he said, she said" falsity. Leave it be, I just want to go home. So much for letting go. I won't be dying with me, no not this time. Becoming by undoing him. Sacrifice, the ultimate devotion. So much for saving yourself. It can never be love. I can never be sold like the blood they call love. I am a stranger. I will not, I have not, I can never be like him.
05 Divinity ()
A tear to shed my soul. To bleed out my divinity I search for. Holding the spine of God my sour sedation pulled them away. So many things left unsaid my brightside faded away. Less than zero a shade apart from what I feel. Cold. We used to play devotion but I see your face. It's not divinity. Godkiller, Mindcleaner. The shallower I, the more I sink. And I will not rust away this time. So many things left unsaid my brightside faded away. Less than zero a shade apart from what I feel. Cold
06 Fact Leaves Its Ghost ()
I will not be part of your rusting machine,
I will not burn as your fuel,
You are the one drowning in your conviction,
I am not host to them.
You call it your right,
I call it your weakness,
The wound won't clot until the blood stops,
It has to stop.
07 Antithesis ()
Idle chatter sounds much better to the absent mind. Govern me, kill thy master. You will not enslave me. The root is bitter but the fruit is sweet but not exempt from criticism. Small pox friendship, you die I take. You are the new slave. Don't call me God because I don't have a disease. What is cold to you is love to me. Savior seething rolling you in. Cherub in red said there's nothing to see here. Hallowed be who art in heaven. I refuse to call that fucker by name.
08 Down ()
I could see the pain in your eyes,
I wish I could prove this truth absolute,
I want to heal you,
It is me,
I am sorry.
Sister of mercy to free me,
Trace my past beyond what I see,
Your God promised to save me,
God forgot.
Needle puncturing skin,
Tell the tales of where I have been,
Please love,
Trace my soul never to let my memory go.
Murder in every world,
There has got to be someone who understands me,
I was looking for myself,
Asking everyone except myself the questions,
Which I and only I could answer.
Reflections in the skin,
Release the flowing stream,
The agony we call living,
The bloodletting I call me,
I will never fall down.
10 Undo ()
Just want to cut the cables and let my face fall to the ground
It has been so long since i was two
Expression equals the end
Unleash the dam, I am sorry you must drown
Time to show you who lies within the body of lies
Let them feel the fire within my lungs
I was born of you but i am only me
Engage me, I am locked
Hope is this first sigh of defeat
Undo it, slash and burn me
Help me find my halo in a haystack
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