Soul Control “Involution” CD

For their Rivalry Records debut, Rhode Island's Soul Control only needs about 23 minutes to crank out 11 short tracks (only one more than three minutes) of (post-)hardcore that the label cites as being influenced by the most impressive roster of Bad Brains, Burn, 108, Quicksand, and Into Another (whose unreleased LP's titled was borrowed for their band name, but that's about the only superficial connection I'd cite). For the most part that's a fairly accurate assessment, though Soul Control doesn't particularly sound like any of those bands when all is said and done—just in bits and pieces throughout. There's definitely some of that dryer, rawer, "Manic Compression" era Quicksand post-hardcore churn happening, which is then accented by bursts of semi-straightforward hardcore colored up with plenty of those slick little Burn-esque arpeggios and oddball pinches and plucks of 108's earlier and more energetic work. Something about the material feels kinda laidback in a weird way, but the more I listen to it the more it's growing on me, and there's a good mix of tempos and influences all around to keep things interesting. There's absolutely some great stuff to be found here, and I'm extremely curious to see where this band will head down the road. Very cool...

Soul Control "Self Delusion"
Soul Control "On Survival"

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Rivalry Records