Underminded – Hail Unamerican

Hailing from sunny San Diego, Underminded describe themselves as “Not the typical aggressive, melodic hardcore band”. Which is quite something, considering melodic hardcore bands have popped up with monotonous regularity over the last couple of years, and it’s easy to get the finished product as dull as dishwater. So I was anticipating a shout-shout, squealy guitar marathon that would be painful on the ears, would require a few solid listens, a review, and then a dustbin.

The opening track entitled “Pablo Esobars Secret Stash: Revisited” makes me cringe inside. With a title so drawn out and arty-farty, from here on in I imagine whale song style guitars and preposterously over the top lyrics. Thankfully I am spared the nightmare. The vocal-ish feedback opens up into a proud and powerful almost structure free introduction, with guitar work tearing through the rhythm section like a hot knife through butter. There are chugging riffs stomping through out, with lead guitar tapping and fluttering over the top. This 4 piece can really play their instruments and the vocals are the eggs to this hardcore cake mix. And what vocals they are! Almost devoid of melody, the pure aggression commanded from just a single larynx is terrifying and when the gang vocals come together you would be forgiven for thinking the amount of members is in double figures. Undoubtedly though, this will be part of the immaculate production. Toms that pan from left to right, samples used to great effect and a guitar tone that shreds. A victory for pro-tools or a loss for raw sound? I couldn’t tell you. I could tell you that this dark release is set for big things however…

It’s got all the stereotypical shouting and beatdowns you would expect of a hardcore record, and if you like your bands in the style of Alexisonfire and Atreyu, then this CD should fit into your record collection perfectly. If you can look past the similarity of a few tracks (were some of the riffs repeated in different songs? If they weren’t then some of the beat patterns were…) and the art style of the lyrics and titles (they don’t set my loins ablaze but if you like your hardcore a bit pretentious then my poison is your steak supper) then you could easily find that come mid autumn you will be dancing to the beatdowns of a Kung Fu Records hardcore band named Underminded.

www.underminded.com
www.purevolume.com/underminded

Lurch