Grim Reality-Lesson One EP. FFO: Pulverizing True School Hardcore.

April 03, 2025

Grim Reality-Lesson One EP. FFO: Pulverizing True School Hardcore.

This EP is a dream come true for a guy like me who absolutely gatekeeps and hates most modern hardcore. So, thanks Life.Lair.Regret Records for making this happen. This band, from humble and tough-as-nails beginnings at The Arthouse Hotel, etc, has as the cliche goes(but very factual) has always remained true to the game. Gutsy, meat and potatoes hardcore with insane well-crafted music and straight-up truth in every lyric. This is glorious.

First up, how insane does the EP look, brilliant layout, utterly old school appeal combined with the killer hardcore art by Sir Mick Lambrou(if you have sat under a rock for sometime you may have missed his sensational artwork for all the hardcore legends, do ya research fuckos!!!). Plus, the hectic production of this is glorious. Think Don Fury on 15 cans of Red Bull; it's punchy and clear but still gritty as hell.

Lesson One opens up the pit with a rocket launcher or meat cleaver, thunderous bass and drums join solid group vocals and the sheer dominating and demonic vocal presence of Dimma whilst antagonistic guitar mayhem suffocates any hope of calm. For a hardcore song, this was the quickest 2:48 track I have heard. But when astute songwriting is so sharp and purposeful, time flies by. What a wild opener.

The sturdy influences are very obvious, but it still sounds original. I know this is a contradiction, but the way they fuse old school bands like Madball, Agnostic Front and Bulldoze mixed with that street punk foundation is glorious. GR is a violent meditation of everything the band believe in, and surprise, surprise, it's another wild anthem. The energy on this is wild and only more pleasantly combative when delivered live. Stellar shit and makes you wonder how most modern hardcore is so diluted compared to this type of masterpiece.

Burn, you wanna burn motherfucker-well Grim Reality got you sorted. Burn, as the third track destroys any doubts you have about this band not still being at the definitive top of their game. In less than 2 minutes, the barbaric riffs pile up like a Los Angeles freeway crash, and again the successful one-two knockout punch of pure Dimma aggression backed by Oi-style backing vocals knocks your head off in a move reminiscent of an 80s horror movie finale. Knucklehead hardcore with a message is here to stay, no doubt.

How can the record end well and on a high. By closing on the EP's best track, the mighty STOICISM FOR THE REAL WORLD. (IN CAPS LOCK FOR THE HARDNESS OF THIS TRACK, DICKHEAD!). And, yes I realise this blinder of a track is indeed, another ferocious anthem and also as punk as it is hardcore. But the captivating groove flow on this is wild; it has that epic Crumbsuckers/S.O.D. vibe mixed with Sheer Terror/Blood for Blood style, and I am in awe. So four classic tracks for now and let's hope for an album before the year's end. Cut the bullshit and order this now, as it ain't going to be available for long. All blowdown to the masters of tough and clever hardcore. Out 4th April:

https://lifelairregretrecords.bigcartel.com/product/grim-reality-lesson-one-7