Philadelphia, PA's Cycle of Abuse represents somewhat of a shift compared to the rest of the Heavy & Fast roster with their take on modern beatdown metalcore. Of course there are plenty of ultra-heavy chugging mid-paced mosh parts, and some of the faster passages get almost deathy at times—accented by dashes of melody and the occasional pinch harmonic or divebomb squeal. The vocals are also more aggressive than average, tending toward a guttural approach, but not so much so that they veer as far as death metal. Not entirely original, but they don't sound like a carbon copy of what else is going on out there either—the intro/outro samples and hip-hop flourishes are curious, etc. The production is hard-hitting and clear, and I must compliment the bass tone and presence.
The three new songs from Hated and Faded take side A, while side B contains 2022's Ultimate Suffering EP. Generally similar, it could be said that the earlier work focuses more on the pounding rhythms and gnashing, not-exactly-fast death metal riffs and is ever-so-slightly more rugged in terms of the production values. I always appreciate when labels take the opportunity to combine releases when putting something out in physical form, and in this case you can definitely hear the ways in which Cycle of Abuse has advanced between EPs.
One would have to assume some degree of a sense of humor here what with the full-on late-'90s Cash Money Records graphic design aesthetic. Inside is a simple, one-sided black and white insert with lyrics and credits, but only lyrics for the new tracks—I'm sort of surprised they didn't include the rest on the back. The vinyl itself is limited to 100 on "smeared face" or 400 on "gold nugget"—kudos for even extending the shtick to the variant naming!—and as with every Heavy & Fast release I've seen to date, both editions perfectly fit the color scheme of the cover art.
I tend to be picky about more contemporary forms of beatdown hardcore, so this is not entirely my thing, but I can definitely appreciate aspects of what they're doing. If you're in your 20s and just want to beat the shit out of your friends in the pit, I'd imagine this would be quite the fitting soundtrack, heh...
Get It
- Heavy & Fast Records/Distro (LP)
- Bandcamp (LP, mp3)
- Spotify (stream)
- Apple Music (stream)
