Life or Death "Sentenced" CD
[1917]
Eight tracks of brutal metallic hardcore with gruff shouting vocals. This is definitely done up in more of a 90's style, mixing churning NYHC styled rhythms with a little bit of European flare and additional metal in the form of plenty of note-based riffs and a few thrashier picking patterns. But never fear, there are still plenty of crushing breakdowns and moderately fast hardcore chord progressions. The recording on this one gets to me, but aside from that I'm all over the songs. I think the guitar tone is slightly choppy and the bass gets lost, but my biggest complaint is that the drums sound really flimsy. The snare snaps out front and kind of cuts right through the mix and some of the drum fills have that boxy sound that really creates a disturbance. Thicken up those drums, smooth over the guitars, and let the bass have more breathing room and this shit would start smashing faces. The title track opens with a midpaced Slayer sounding run with some vicious panned guitar parts that bring back memories of a better time for metallic hardcore, plus it has one of the most ridiculous breakdowns I've heard lately (in a good way); "Pride" is longer and has some really strong chord progressions and thick breaks that stand out a lot; while "We All Bleed Red" is much more blatantly metallic and uses pinch harmonics and all. The tracks could probably stand to be shorter since there's not that much variety and three-and-a-half to four minutes is more than enough time to cycle through few a few riffs and a punishing breakdown or two (or three, fuck it), but it's no big deal. After a minute or two of blank space there's five or six minutes of answering machine messages and stuff like that tacked on the end, so... go figure. The design keeps it simple with some band photos and filthy looking textures of a prison cell, and the lyrics are all inside over similar but more subtle imagery. The content is totally in your face and covers the usual topics of standing up for what you believe in, fakes and liars, racism, violence, etc. "I will grab the back of your head and beat your face, Wise up now and stay out of my space, Don't ever let me see you again, It doesn't matter who says you're their friend, And I don't care who's around, I'm walking away with you on the ground." Not bad. The recording definitely needs some tweaking for the next time out, but song-wise this is good shit that's right up my alley... totally pissed and in your face. Look out for these guys in the future. (7/10)
Running time - 30:00 (approximately), Tracks: 8
[Notable tracks: Ultimo Aviso, Sentenced, LODC]
1917 Records - http://www.1917records.com

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