Boundary – Out of Bounds EP 2005 BoundaryHailing from the far east bay land of Antioch, Boundary is self-proclaimed 4/5 straight-edge and 3/5 vegetarian, which by my count makes them 1 2/5 jesus lovin’ hippies. Ha! just kidding. Boundary knocks out 7 tracks in my prefered hardcore style: short, fast, aggressive and articulate.The sound is very classic hardcore punk with chugging power chord riffs and thundering bass. I didn’t get the lowdown on the production of the CD as I got a computer copy, but if this is a home studio DIY recording, Kudos to whomever was behind the console.Though I can’t contend that a whole lot of new ground is being broken here, the messages in the songs are solid; don’t fuck your life up and don’t try to fuck up mine. To each his own indeed. The angst of youth can easily spoil into a life of bitterness. Make something of it while you have the time.Bottom line: short, to the point, punk rockwww.myspace.com/boundaryhcJerry Actually
Month: November 2005
Priapism
Priapism – Last Stand (EP) 2005 1332 RecordsWith intensity and urgency Priapism’s Last Stand blasts out at you from the speakers with metal-laden insurgency. Hailing from a seemingly odd location for this type of aggressive metal, Boise, Idaho’s Priapism puts it out there in such a way to convince you that Boise may not be the north western cow town that you’d probably expect.Last Stand is reminiscent of the hardcore metal onslaught of bands such as All Out War and Premonitions of War (war seems to be a binding thematic element here) Priapism offers a bit more diversity than that however with Clutch like breakdowns and a lot of Slayer influenced progressions. Musically the EP pounds and shreds, and for the most part I don’t have any complaints. I do however always make a point of contention with growling death metal vocals. That sort of thing ain’t my cup of tea. Fortunately much of the vox are done in a more intelligible hardcore friendly way.Aside from that, 3 of the 4 tracks clock in over 3 minutes with the average being approximately 3.8 minutes. My short attention span just can’t keep up. Barring any of my personally perceived down falls, Priapism seems to be a pretty promising new band.http://myspace.com/priapismusic-Jerry Actually