Dust off those white sleeveless vests and stuff some gravel down your throat, it’s time for some abrasive, riff-laden hardcore! Bars apparently includes members of Give Up The Ghost and The Hope Conspiracy but to be honest you wouldn’t immediately be able to tell, since there’s none of GUTG’s frantic screaming and none of THC’s utter shitness on ‘Introducing…’. What you do get is a collection of quite macho-sounding hardcore that could pass for, say, Superjoint Ritual or even something a little more old school like Kill Your Idols (but not quite as good as KYI to be honest).
The opening salvo of ‘Bright Lights For Demise’ and ‘Like It Never Was’ characterises the whole album,, two solidly heavy tracks filled with chugging guitars and some interestingly sleazy riffing that seem genetically modified to whip up any random group of people into some kind of circle pit. It’s all very enjoyable but a touch insubstantial, because the lyrics seem to be touching on every hardcore cliché, focussing on boredom, anger and angry boredom. But then again you imagine that Bars haven’t exactly posited themselves as the most cerebral of bands and once you realise that you can start enjoying ‘Introducing…’.
‘Up To My Neck’ slips interestingly into sleaze-rock territory, replete with some guitar lines that feel like they were designed to be played behind the head or something - this is where Bars are most successful because it seems like they’re really pushing the enjoyment factor rather than a particular way of life. The fuzzed guitars on ‘I Was Asleep By Now’ give the song a real bite that sets them aside from a lot of hardcore bands around right now that rely too much on heavy palm muting and preciseness - Bars appear content with a a damn good noise.
My only criticism is that however good ‘Introducing…’ appears to be (and indeed is), it’s instantly forgettable. The riffs are catchy and the choruses have the requisite ‘fist in the air’ moments but it’s extremely temporal and reminded me (in a terrifying way) of Velvet Revolver at times. It’s good, but it’s not a classic - having said that, it’s definitely worth a listen and could prove to be a good purchase if you like this sort of thing.
Ben
www.thebarsrock.com
www.equalvision.com
