BulletBelt Reviews: Malevolence, Who Bastard and Cold Concrete.

 

BulletBelt Reviews: Malevolence, Who Bastard and Cold Concrete.




The aim of BulletBelt reviews is concise straight to the point old school reviews in the style of MRR/old hardcore/metal zines. Today we have an excellent array of bands with substantial gems of beatdown/metalcore, blackened surf punk and brutal hardcore.

Malevolence-Malicious Intent Album. The beatdown/metalcore meets sludge kings recently dropped their third album and for most of it, it simply amps up the rage and adds more tech flair and frankly monstrous riffs/vocals. Tracks like Life Sentence and On Broken Glass are utterly peak form, but some tracks jarred the fuck out of me tbh. I understand the whole spread your wings and expand your sound but tracks like Above all Else with those crappy/ pseudo grungey/lame guest vocals took away from Alex's magnificent vox (and yes Kublai Klan is not my jam). Equally, but not as irritating is Salvation with a guy out of Trivium shredding away(which is cool) but the guest vocals seem to just offset the track in an average way. Higher Place also didn't work for me, I think Konan has amazing vocals and hopefully will do his own solo album, but it just seems too mainstream for this band. The bad points aside, the album contains some of the most solid tracks the band has released and the sheer amount of mindblowing huge riffs in each track is astounding. Songs like Still Waters Run Deep run the gauntlet from straight hardcore to beatdown to total sludge, whilst the title track, Karma and Do or Die are utter ragers that we expect; but with some added tech flair and brutal finesse. Armageddon closes the album out in a gigantic way, and this track shows the perfect balance between two incredible vocalists and a drummer who is more machine than human and unbelievable guitarists. A cracking album, that isn't perfect, but fuck me this is definitely one of the best new metal bands in ten years by a mile. Out now:

Who Bastard-Gangrel Ep. This three-piece beast is a fucking sick mix of weird arse black metal, hardcore and doomy punk. Every track has killer riffs, it's produced perfectly and sounds eerie, yet energetic as hell. Spud's vocals are sublime and completely old school black metal and even some early Deafheaven. But given the band has a pedigree with band members from Burial Pit and Munt, there is no surprise how awesome this EP is. The title track and Howler are the best tracks, although the whole EP is sublime. Howler showcases how skilled these cats are; atmospheric, nasty and utterly acidic. The sound is wide as hell for a three-piece band and the tempo is wild and clever. Definitely need a full album of this majestic evil. Out now:

Cold Concrete-For My Enemies Ep. This is a hard as nails release, that we will always expect from the ever-reliable and consistent 1054 records. This Ohio based hardcore unit is like a more metallic Death before Dishonor or Sworn Enemy and this rules hard. This is a hectic EP of 4 rerecorded tracks plus a new killer track. But make no mistake there is no metal overkill, this is rough and ballistic straight hardcore with power. Enemies and Loyalty are straight to the throat, impactful hardcore with intent; complete with tough as nails lyrics and well-written songs. Closer Absolutely Scared is easily my fave track; the sheer vitriol and menace in this track would guarantee utter pit violence of the greatest kind. The fat is trimmed and we are left with hardcore classics free of nonsense. My kind of hardcore band and I am hanging for a full album of this quality aggression. Out now:






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