Labels: Custom Core
Review by: Joe McGonagle
Caen, in France, home to the likes of Amanda Woodward and Aussitot Mort, might be the last place you would expect to find a self styled “hardcore ‘n’ roll” band such as Headcharger – yet that is exactly what you get through the 11 tracks on “Watch The Sun”, the band’s debut record for French hardcore label Custom Core. Headcharger have shared a stage with Tech Metal (The Red Chord), Punk (The Exploited) and even Nu-Metal bands (Soulfly) – and all three styles can be heard at various stages of the album.
For the most part this is pretty straightforward-yet-enjoyable stoner-influenced hardcore, although it does veer into dodgy Saliva-ish nu-metal territory on occasion, such as the track “Do You Think Of Me”. “Every Tick Of The Clock” sounds like a missing track from old Sega game Road Rash, while “Bill Murray’s Syndrome” cranks the tempo a little, but has an odd Hundred Reasons style riff at the end.
The instrumentation and production is really tight, although the drumming can be pretty ropey at times. The vocals are diverse, ranging from gravely howl to hardcore bark often within the same track, however you can’t quite get away form the fact that this is a French guy who sounds like any other American hardcore vocalist you care to mention.
If you quite enjoyed Every Time I Die and A Life Once Lost’s recent diversions into Pantera-riff worship, you could do worse than pick this one up.