Reviews From a Solitary Room: Crust Punk

Overall Sound: Support NC Bands! Both Hailing from my home state! Simply put both bands are certifiably outstanding, although I have never seen Young and In The Way sadly, I can attest that Torch Runner is absolutely mind-boggling. Torch Runner’s Last.Fm states profoundly that “Torch Runner Destroys” and I agree. Onto Young and In The Way, I wish I had heard of them earlier because they as well are unrelenting musically much like Torch Runner is. Words to put this Split into perspective would definitely be things such as “Disheveled” and “Towering”

Guitar: absolutely punishing directly correlates in describing the guitar. Even though each band keeps their own characteristics I find that after listening to this roughly 5 times over that I tend to enjoy Torch Runner’s guitar work much better just purely because I think it sounds partially better than, Young and In The Way’s tone however their Tone isn’t one to be ignored by any means.

Bass: Torch Runner’s Bassist is very much in the mix but I almost forgot at times he’s there but I think it is because of the guitar being mixed slightly high but not so ridiculous. As far as Young and In the Way go, the drums overshadow most of their bassist but the guitar also has a higher mix than I anticipated either but you can feel it.

Drums: As expected Torch Runner’s drummer is amazing and Young and In The Way’s drummer is amazing. They execute their instrument within their respected genres perfectly but my only complaint is that at times Young and In The Way’s drums (particularly the Cymbals seem much to loud)

Vocals/Lyrics: As expected I feel that no flaw can be achieved by Torch Runner’s vocal department (that is of course unless Rob goes back to doing Lion/Positive-Hardcore vocals like way back when) but I hope not because I like the more rougher around the edges sound that Rob brings to Torch Runner since the Colony Ep. Young and In the Way’s vocalist reminds me of a mixture of the bands, Planks and Black Breath but I haven’t quite stamped my finger on it yet, at first though he sounded kind of like Trap Them’s vocalist but then I said that he was different from that but either way, Thumb’s way up for the vocals in the split!

Overall Impression: i am truly impressed that I haven’t kept up with Torch Runner at all they’ve released “Locust Swarm” as well as this Split here recently. And as far as Young and In The Way goes I am looking forward to big things from them because I enjoyed this release but it really stunk that it was three songs long, but I don’t guess we’re listening to some Scott Hull grindcore act with 200000 songs on one CD. Either way this release is recommended for one because it is amazing and secondly you’ll enjoy every minute of it.

Rating:

Torch Runner 9.5/10

Young and In The Way 8.5/10 (only for slight things that I’m sure will only get better)

*ps, i definately need to see both bands soon*

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Trap Them "Darker Handcraft" 2011

Artist: Trap Them
Album: Darker Handcraft
Genre: Crust Punk/Metallic Hardcore/Down-Tempo

Myspace: www.myspace.com/trapthem

Tracklist:

1.      Damage Prose
2.      Slumcult & Gather
3.      Every Walk A Quarantine
4.      Evictionaries
5.      All by the Constant Vulse
6.      Sordid Earnings
7.      The Facts
8.      Saintpeelers
9.      Manic in the Grips
10. Sovereign Through the Pines
11. Drag the Wounds Eternal
12. Scars Align

Overall Sound: To Accurately describe Trap them would be like mixing together elements from Pulling Teeth, Coliseum, Converge, and Backstabbers Inc.(which the vocalist from trap them was originally in before starting Trap them as a side project). Their overall tone is very bleak and unrelenting metallic hardcore with crust punk elements as well as moments of complete down-tempo sludge riffs. Many people tend to compare them to Backstabbers Inc. more than any other band even so they both have their differences about them.

Guitar: The Guitar doesn’t overshadow any instrument in this record but it plays a large role in the progress that the record makes from the beginning track “Damage Prose” and never relents up until the end of the record. The grooves are very infectious too because they will get stuck in your head and you will want to hear the album over and over like I did.

Bass: Once again, the bass does not get left behind because of guitar over-production because the bass plays a large role as much as the guitar does in keeping the record so closely together that it is just a beautiful thing. My favorite parts in particular the rhythm the bassist keeps on “Scars Align” is well worth purchasing the album for.

Drums: Drums played by Coliseum’s drummer? Super stoked for that aspect alone with this record and he nails every song like it was played a million times over. The drums are perfect in this album IMHO.

Vocals/Lyrics: What can be said about Trap Them that hasn’t already been said? The Vocal department hasn’t changed much the majority of the album you hear vocals as to be expected with a Trap them album I was impressed that as much as you hear them they don’t get so ridiculous and over-saturate everything in the album. The lyrics remain to be seen however even online it is difficult to find them, the song “The Facts” has an interesting chorus go check it out.

Overall Impression: I’m pretty much sold on their metallic sound mixed with Sludge/Crust but im slightly disappointed that the record itself at times sounds slightly over-polished. It was produced by Kurt Ballou from Converge who has also recorded Kvelertak’s Album from Last year. But I still enjoyed this album and will until their next one comes out hopefully slightly more sludgy I hope.

Standout Tracks: Every Walk a Quarantine, The Facts, Scars Align

Rating: 8.5/10

Listen here: