First off, let me just say that this whole comp is awesome, I would do a review of all of the bands on here but I’m too lazy to do that right now. But along with Despise You, this comp has songs from the bands Asshole Parade, Charles Bronson, Palatka, Pretentious Assholes, Spazz, and Unanswered. So you should know this is a pretty good PV comp. But Despise You honestly kills all of these bands in my opinion. In terms of portraying the powerviolence sound, I think Despise You does it best, because they have a very deranged and scummy kind of sound. And who doesn’t like the pictures they use for their album artwork? Despise You just sets something off in people, I feel their sound and imagery triggers thoughts of violence. Anyway, they’re a great band, probably the best powerviolence band ever if you ask me, and they’ve influenced some of the best modern powerviolence and grind bands like Hatred Surge, DOC, Magrudergrind, etc. Chris Elders is my fucking hero.
Blindside Assault- This song starts off with grinding buzzing guitars, goes straight into a blast beat, with Chris Elder disgusting pissed voice to make it all come together.
Extinction By Design- This song kind of has a punk/thrash sound to it filled with everything you love about DY, blast beats, fucked up lyrics, and it ends with a crushing breakdown. And no, I’m not talking about your fucking pig squeal hardcore dancing “chud chud” shit.
It Made That Man Snap- This song starts off sounding like straight old school death metal, it’s fucking awesome!! That’s another reason I love Despise You, they’re not afraid to show their death metal and thrash metal influence, while still remaining to there hardcore roots. The beginning guitar part has an awesome tremolo picking. This song manages to beat the shit out of your ears in a matter of 25 seconds.
End of the Line- This song is a little different from the grinding tracks I’ve already gone through. It’s pretty much an instrumental song. Very sludgy, it gives you a chance to breathe, while still remaining angry as fuck.
Run For Your Fucking Life- Gotta love that song title. This song is grind as fuck. I love when he screams “RUN FOR YOUR FUCKING LIFE!!!” This song should be the soundtrack to a riot.
You Can’t...- Another ridiculously fast song. Starts out at 100 mph, but slows down in the middle for a mid paced breakdown that kind of makes me think of something Hatred Surge would play.
We Won’t Stop Cutting You- Goddamn this song just sounds scummy as fuck. Never slows down for a second. Awesome lyrics as well. Chris Elder kind of growls in this song too which is awesome. Chris Elder always sounds like he’s in a lot of pain when he’s doing vocals, like he’s getting burnt alive or something.
Cry To The Bleeding Sky- Another song that is deeply influenced by death metal and thrash metal. See, what’s awesome about Despise You, is they’ll use the death metal sound without the stupid cheesy lyrics, and then they’ll turn into a song that still sounds like powerviolence somehow. This song has blast beats, tremolo picking, growling, and still manages to stay a hardcore song.
Mental Winter- I wish I could understand the lyrics of this song a little better because they sound extra pissed off. But none the less, this song is also good. Starts out kind of noisy with feedback, and then Chris Elder comes in, and then it ends. Goddamn it’s really hard to give a description of Despise You songs, cause they go by in such a fucking flash that it’s hard to explain what really happens. But I think that most powerviolence fans are okay with just knowing that song is fast and angry.
Rage of the Helpless- This is probably one of my favorite songs by Despise You. Starts out slow and sludgy, with feedback. Great song to end their part of the album with. The great thing about this song is it’s one of the most memorable songs, because it’s kind of catchy. After 40 seconds of sludge, it goes into a straight hardcore punk sounding part, super chaotic and awesome. The same way some of the other songs were a throwback to old school death metal and thrash, I feel like this a throwback to old hardcore punk, the good shit. If any songs make me want to actually go skate, which I never want to do, this would be the song to make me get up off my lazy ass and go ride around for a little bit, and maybe tag and vandalize some shit just to get the full effect.
Mental Winter- I wish I could understand the lyrics of this song a little better because they sound extra pissed off. But none the less, this song is also good. Starts out kind of noisy with feedback, and then Chris Elder comes in, and then it ends. Goddamn it’s really hard to give a description of Despise You songs, cause they go by in such a fucking flash that it’s hard to explain what really happens. But I think that most powerviolence fans are okay with just knowing that song is fast and angry.
Rage of the Helpless- This is probably one of my favorite songs by Despise You. Starts out slow and sludgy, with feedback. Great song to end their part of the album with. The great thing about this song is it’s one of the most memorable songs, because it’s kind of catchy. After 40 seconds of sludge, it goes into a straight hardcore punk sounding part, super chaotic and awesome. The same way some of the other songs were a throwback to old school death metal and thrash, I feel like this a throwback to old hardcore punk, the good shit. If any songs make me want to actually go skate, which I never want to do, this would be the song to make me get up off my lazy ass and go ride around for a little bit, and maybe tag and vandalize some shit just to get the full effect.
Before I end this, I just want to say that the reason I like this comp so much is because it shows us how much skating and hardcore go together. Nowadays it seems like most of the skaters now are into hip hop and kind of follow that style too, which I think is pretty fucking lame for the most part. This shows us how it used to be, and how it should have stayed. But regardless of skating, Despise You is the best powerviolence band ever, and you should listen more of their music because they’re the definition of powerviolence in my opinion. And if you live in the Raleigh area, or in NC at all, you should come to Raleigh on September 14th because Kings will be holding an awesome show with the likes of Despise You, Magrudergrind, Sick/Tired, Stripmines, Man Will Destroy Himself, and Wall. Seriously, if you like Powerviolence/HC/Grind, and you have half a brain you will get to this show! I still can’t actually believe I’m actually gonna get the chance to see Despise You. So excited!
~Eli Thorp
No comments:
Post a Comment