Saturday 4 July 2015

The Resistance - 'Torture Tactics' EP (Review)


‘A hardcore/punk/crust infused affair with the requisite snot and bile.’


Album Type: EP
Date Released: 27/02/2015
Label: earMUSIC

‘Torture Tactics’ CD//DD track listing:

1). For War*
2). Dead *
3). Cowards*
4). Deception*
5). The Burning*
6). Dying Words*
7). Slugger
8). Expand To Expire
9). Face To Face
10) I Bend You Break

*New songs

The Resistance is:

Marco Aro | Vocals
Jesper Strömblad | Guitars
Glenn Ljungström | Guitars
Chris Barkensjö | Drums
Rob Hakemo | Bass (1-6)
Claudio Oyarzo | Bass (7-10)

Review:

The Resistance play muscular crusty-death/thrash. Straight out of Scandinavia and featuring current The Haunted vocalist Marco Aro, as well as a former member of In Flames, so  you should have a fair idea of how this is going to sound. Aro was always the best front man for The Haunted, in my view, and his work with Face Down was excellent, if often overlooked. If you are expecting a record akin to ‘One Kill Wonder’ (a classic in my view) or ‘...Made Me Do it’, then you will be disappointed. This is a much more hardcore/punk/crust infused affair with the requisite snot and bile.

It certainly gets straight to the point with “For War” “Dead” and “Cowards” sprinting past. “Deception” has some fine rhythm section work that breaks pace, but not energy to keep things interesting while “The Burning” is ferocious. The tracks are not lengthy; the longest of them goes just over four minutes and mostly the tracks are somewhere between one and a half and three and a half minutes.

The latter half of the album has touches of melancholy (instrumental “Dying Words” is a great track) but retains the punk sensibility and the aggression over most of the remaining playing time. It is heavy and aggressive stuff for sure, but does it stand out above other bands who are doing this type of stuff? That is a question I will leave you to answer, as I am not particularly au fait with this sub genre (I guess Black Breath might be a comparative act?). I can say that I enjoyed the record and liked hearing Aro spewing hatred into the mic again. If you want a short, sharp shock, try this one out.

Words by: Richard Maw

‘Torture Tactic’s is available now

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