Labels: Catalyst
Review by: Tony Era
This is pretty awesome and its on Catalyst Records which is another new experience for me. xRisenx are up first with two songs of blistering hardcore. Too much hardcore lately is just metal in disguise but these guys have a great mix of the two. The breakdown in the middle of the first track is really refreshing, instead of just chugging an open D like every other band there’s a floating bass riff over the top of a great heavy riff. And THEN it kicks in proper and if I enjoyed floor punching I would be right in there! The second track is slightly different with more amazing drums and more raging vocals. Again the breakdown is different from normal but still kicks my ass.
Flip side is Breaking Away who I enjoyed slightly more. With my limited knowledge of hardcore I would probably compare this to Bane or the more melodic bands. It flies along with different guitar parts (ALWAYS good) and the drums are some of the fastest I’ve heard as of late. I prefer this side but its only the one track unfortunately.
Got to mention the packaging, it’s a fold out affair with all the (amazing) lyrics, an essay on avoiding the status quo and quotes by Shakespeare and Hermann Goering! All in all this has been played a lot and it’s a brilliant little split and a whole complete package of integrity, ideas and inspiration. If you like your hardcore you will lap it up but for me it was the little intricacies and differences that made it stand out from the rest.