Artist: On the Outside
Label: Lost Glory Records
Release Date: 2004
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: On the Outside Artist: On the Outside Label: Lost Glory Records Release Date: 2004
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Goatwhore (7/29/05):
Lately I've been extremely pissy and hard to impress, musically (well, aside from the brilliant, fantastic work found in Bloodsimple, a band featuring former VOD members). And thinking back to the last few reviews I've done for MJ, I can recall that I've been bitching and moaning about how simplicity bores me.Well, one can never generalize too much, and here we have a platter of simplicity that I am eager to bite into again and again. On The Outside are hardcore, but have more in common with old school hardcore and 80s crossover rather than modern, pseudo-hardcore (I don't mean that in a pejorative sense, since I do like much of what I hear).
However, there is a great deal of hardcore that I hear that I don't like. I am beyond bored with bands that try to rip off Dillinger or Converge - you know, the bands that cram as many riffs into sections of songs as they possibly can, merely for the sake of doing so. Yeah, and I'm tired of those paragraph long band and song names, and the shaggy hair. (Oh, am I being too judgmental? Well, I'm not sorry, because I'm a heavy metal asshole, and proud of it.) Those damn emo melodies...dare I say it, but am I the only one who thinks that stuff is just as annoying as the nu-metal nonsense we were complaining about (I say we because 95% of y'all reading this, or reading MJ, for that matter, concur with my sentiment that nu-metal was the antithesis of true-metal...and I'll get off my soap box).
On The Outside sounds similar to Leeway in their thrash-paced approach to hardcore, their production features a punchy bass that kicks your ass throughout the release, and damn it, that singer, a man by the name of Kyle Blacktooth, is fantastic...so much passion...so much soul. The angry vocals come out of the speakers like a nasty cross between Earth Crisis' Karl Buechner and Neurosis' Scott Kelly.
The simplicity I'm compelled to is one comparable to my affection for the late-great Turmoil, and if we go further down the genealogical chart, we can trace the roots to, of course, Black Flag. It's bare bones and so ruthlessly violent - and paradoxically so considering that they don't seem to be trying to do anything. There isn't an over-ambitious musical pursuit of anything. It all comes across as so utterly natural. This is true, pure art that captures the emotions, visions and feeling of the artists - warts 'n all.
This is perhaps why this review is so positive that it's dripping with the vibe of a press release. It's hard to find fault with a band that is young and that has captured such a violent, angry atmosphere with such ease. Indeed, there are no overtly angry parts, and there are no "evil" riffs. It just oozes through your speakers as though anger itself were attempting to take form into something tangible. The tempo shifts are very simple, and truthfully, they are predictable, but each change or build up is something that you'll be anticipating and eager to hear.
The only pitfall? I don't know how the band can top my expectations for what's to follow. I suppose a similar-as-hell follow-up would be their safest bet to appease my expectations (for whatever that's worth), but I'd be curious to hear them play with more guitar melodies and try to be a bit more adventurous in general.
At any rate, this is my first 5/5 that I'm issuing in 2005. I know I'll be digging into this band, and if you're even remotely into hardcore, you should do so, as well.
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