Long Line at the Breakdown Buffet

I have not been motivated to write lately and almost all I've been listening to for the past four or five days has been Guided By Voices, who I just recently "got," figuratively speaking. I've been a little busy, too. Oh well. To get the gears turning again, I'm going to dig out another high school favorite. This is from my hardcore phase, that lasted the better part of two and a half years, roughly speaking.

File this under "ear candy"

With Honor was a hardcore band. Around 2004, when they released Heart Means Everything, their stylistic influences had converged into an gratuitously catchy union of American-by-way-of-Gothenberg metalcore and Youth Crew hardcore, a la Champion. How many gang-shouts is too many? You'll find yourself wondering that.

(EDIT -- this hasn't been sitting well with me. I don't mean to suggest that With Honor circa 2004 deals in triumphant Nordic riffs that would seem to belie their fairly generic posi lyrical content but rather the phrasing and rhythmic emphasis is distinctly mid-2000s metalcore -- consonant, thrashy, etc. You know. You know.)


With lyrical themes so overused they border on parody -- changing your life, standing by your friends, doing your best, etc. -- and what sounds like possibly the cheesiest potential fusion of styles (and make no mistake, this album is cheeseball) imaginable, Heart Means Everything sounds like garbage on paper. It also has the worst kick-drum sound on any album except perhaps Apocalyptic Feasting.

(Oop, here comes the twist)

This album rules, though. If all the breakdowns, catchy major-key riffs, and gang shouts at any time seemed forced or clumsily telegraphed, I wouldn't still put this on for the occasional spin, like I'm doing today. The word "tasteful" continually comes to mind, which is ironic considering how vulgar the constituent elements are but this album as a listen is streamlined and has little to no filler, which is very welcome. As corny as the lyrics can seem, too, they're delivered with conviction and sincerity, which is in short supply.

It's been a while since this was my "thing" and its interesting for me to look back to the mid-oughts (that's what we're calling the last decade, right?) and remember how I used to cycle between this and Annihilation of the Wicked as my go-to metro album. Check this shit out. You know you want to.

"YOU'RE NOT ALONE!!"

"TURNED YOUR BACK ON THE ONES WHO WAITED!!!"

I really like the new Rosetta but hang on for a second...

Just like the title says.

This was in the editing stage for a looooong time. I think I finally narrowed down my central thesis. I felt like I couldn't talk about Rosetta without reflecting on the sub-sub-genre they are usually grouped into, being atmospheric sludge (or "Post Metal" but let's discontinue the use of that marker, eh?). That reflection turned into an enormous, unwieldy essay. I gutted that and started over.

In brief, rarely do I find groups within the constellation of this "P.M." genre that good anymore (with the exception of Isis and Neurosis, who are often imitated with middling, unrefined results) -- which is odd, considering how much I typically like the pairing of aggression and atmosphere [link -- case in point]. SO, I did some reflection, and remembered a discussion with a friend I had one time that is somewhat related to the matter.

Atmo-sludge bands typically play an aggregate style of heavy music that encompasses elements of sludge, doom, post-rock, and hardcore, which should be AMAZING -- Passionate, confrontational, heavy music with an atmospheric flair that you can headbang to -- yet rarely that's the case. Rarely do things "click" for me the way they did in 2008.

I present the example of the first (and only so far, come to think of it..) time I saw Rosetta. In a hyper-condensed version of that set, they played "Red in Tooth and Claw" and I got AMPED. That is, I got about as excited as possible and I thought "This is going to be the best show I've ever been to" and then the set continued for what felt like 45 minutes as I became exhausted, drained, and annoyed.

To me, this speaks to this style in general. First, thirteen minute hardcore songs are exhausting. There's only so much of yourself to give, which must be what Neurosis figured out as they began to experiment with weirdo industrial textures and odd instrumental interludes in the 90s. So, the music (and this ultimately is what I'm diagnosing as what doesn't work for me with this style of music in general) wasn't as immediate or primal as normal hardcore, AND it lacked the pure grit and absurd heaviness of some good, modern harsh sludge/doom (such as Grief or Corrupted), and lacked a developed sonic landscape that if I really wanted to, could find elsewhere, in any number of Explosions in the Sky clone bands.

Finally, returning to that conversation I mentioned earlier, the issue that we agreed upon is that (and please forgive the very broad terms I'm speaking in...generally speaking) these groups that have one foot in the door in several places never fully commit to actualizing what's so good about the genres they're dabbling in in the first place, so you're typically left with an only half-decent hodgepodge that can be entertaining for a little while but will ultimately have you reaching for something better. For example, "Quietly," [link] by Mouth of the Architect is a pretty good song but then everything else I've tried to listen to from them has been totally forgettable and boring.

There was a definite period of time where this niche genre was in heavy rotation for me but then I got serious about listening to black metal as well as other things that were new to me at the time and suddenly I no longer saw the point. This is all, of course, dependent on my lived experiences and I'm not trying to suggest I have some sophisticated musical taste that makes these bands inferior and unimportant, or whatever. It's just that I've found very little I've cared to listen to in this stylistic family outside of Isis and Neurosis...well, except for the new Rosetta.

I'm done writing. I'm going to get to what brought me here in the first place next time.

Put it on the Pizza
-W.F.

Not Usually My Thing

Oh God.

Even since I've heard them, I've always appreciated Harm's Way. Starting in Chicago, playing vaguely Infest-esque powerviolence, they've moved into more metallic territory, incorporating some thrashy riffs while keeping the blastbeats, breaksdowns, and what have you. Also they're fronted by a terrifyingly huge dude. Just fucking look at that guy.


That's going to give me nightmares. Also, watch this. Really though, they could all be extremely approachable and friendly for all I know. Appearances are deceiving like that.

So, while ultra-masculine, tough guy hardcore hasn't really been my thing for a few years, I nevertheless find myself having to give it up for Harm's Way. The songs are raw aggression, if I've ever heard it, and heavier and more hateful than....anything, maybe. I definitely wont pass up a chance to see them live but I'm going to stand safely back like I usually do when I start to see people swinging their limbs out the corner of my eye.

If you're into it, definitely support them. Giant torso tattoos aren't cheap.

Demo

Imprisoned EP