I must be getting old. I’m sure that whenever people hear
\nsomething that just goes completely over their head they say this,
\nbut I mean it in a different way. I got into punk rock music in the
\neighties, when it still (arguably) existed. From Black Flag, Fear,
\nand The Sex Pistols to Rudimentary Peni, Discharge and far, far,
\nfar<\/i> too many more bands to name I totally immersed myself in
\nit. With “punk” and “hardcore” as a starting point I segued into
\nspeed metal, thrash, and grindcore, buying literally everything I
\ncould get my hands on that said ‘Earache Records’ down in the
\ncorner. Napalm Death was
\nthe<\/i> end of
\neverything<\/i> musical, I felt.<\/p>\n
I still feel that way. You have Merzbow, Masonna, Cock ESP, Aube
\nand others doing electronic noise, but a guitar\/bass\/drums\/vocals
\nonslaught just doesn’t get any more chaotic than 1988’s
\nFrom Enslavement to Obliteration<\/i> by Napalm. It’s cute when,
\nsay, Melt Banana does their whole post-rockathons (see
\nScratch or Stitch<\/i>), but the
\nfeeling<\/i> is nowhere near the same. S.O.B. came
\nclose<\/i>, but they were basically paying tribute to Shane
\nEmbury and friends. Fast forward twelve years and Shane is the sole
\n‘classic’ member still at it, and the newest Napalm Death album (
\nEnemy of the Music Business<\/i>) literally mops the floor with
\nAs I Lay Dying.<\/p>\n
Now you have an entire sub-genre of bands popping up with their
\nshort hair and non-prescription glasses claiming that they’re
\nactually “hardcore” groups. Then they all proceed to sound
\nexactly<\/i> like Slayer circa
\nSouth of Heaven<\/i> (1988) without the polka beats, but with the
\npalm-muting fully intact on the guitars. The singing on
\nevery<\/i> song on
\nBeneath The Encasing of Ashes<\/i> sounds like Phil Vane (Extreme
\nNoise Terror) shrieking at the injustices of modern society. Only
\nVane’s vocals have a lot more variety. Plus there was another
\n“singer” called Dean co-opting the tunes and giving them duet
\naction for some added variety.<\/p>\n
Listening to ENT ‘back in the day’ I used to sometimes almost
\npiss myself laughing at how passionate it all seemed. The other
\ntimes I was just in awe, flabbergasted. In a good way. This time
\nround I’m simply frustrated. There are big teeth marks all
\nover<\/i> a musical style that As I Lay Dying probably feel
\nsuperior to (as they’re mimicking parts of it). Nice name too. Just
\ncryptic enough to scare your old fifth grade bully with. Now he’ll
\nthink you’re deranged because you play “hardcore.”
\nOooooh, scary!!<\/i><\/p>\n
Having said that, I think As I Lay Dying are a decent band with
\nsome oddly catchy songwriting (even though the lyrics are cheesy as
\nfuck). Please don’t tell people you’re hardcore though, guys.
\nPretty please?<\/i> Early Circle Jerks.
\nThat’s hardcore<\/i>. How about “screamy metal with short hair”?
\nI’ll give your album about a C+. I might go higher, but I’m judging
\nthe entire package, and the bespectacled nerd frowning at me from
\nthe inner tray artwork needs to check himself. And probably clean
\nhis bedroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"featured_media":26381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[6856],"rating":[5614],"class_list":["post-37612","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-as-i-lay-dying","rating-rating-c-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37612"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37612\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37612"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}