Monday, February 17, 2014

Bl'ast/The Expression Of Power/Southern Lord Records/2014 CD Review


  Bl'ast  are  a  band  from  California  that  has  been  featured  before  in  this  zine  that  plays  a  surf  and  skate  form  of  hardcore  punk  and  this  is  a  review  of  their  2014  album  "The  Expression  Of  Power"  which  was  released  by  Southern  Lord  Records  and  all  of  the  tracks  where  recorded  in  the  80's.

  The  album  starts  off  with  sound  effects  and  spoken  word  parts  along  with  distorted  noises  before  going  into  a  fast  hardcore  punk  sound  along  with  some  melodic  and  aggressive  vocals  and  after  awhile  guitar  leads  are  added  into  certain  sections  of  the  recording.

  The  band  keep  the  aggressive  hardcore  punk  throughout  the  record  as  well  as  adding  in  some  melodies  and  all  of  the  musical  instruments  have  a  very  powerful  sound  to  them  along  with  some  back  up  shouts  on  certain  tracks.

  As  the  album  progresses  the  heaviness  of  metal  is  brought  into  the  music  along  with  some  very  talented  instrumental  work  which  was  a  bit  more  different  than  most  hardcore  punk  bands  of  that  era  and  this  is  a  double  album  that  contains  different  takes  of  their  first  album  which  they  re-recorded  plenty  of  times  before  releasing  it.

  B'last  where  a  very  underrated  band  for  time  and  with  this  record  they  show  that  they  should  be  mentioned  with  all  of  the  other  great  bands  of  this  genre  and  they  bring  in  a  great amount  of  aggression  and  energy  with  their  music.

  Song  lyrics  cover  surfing,  skating,  hateful  and  every  day  themes,  while  the  production  has  a  very  strong,  powerful,  heavy  and  professional  sound  for  the  time  it  was  recorded  and  you  can  hear  all  of  the  musical  instruments  that  are  present  on  this  recording  as  well  as  some  of  the  songs  being  long  and  epic  in  length.

  In  my  opinion  this  is  another  great  sounding  recording  from  Bl'ast  and  if  you  are  a  fan  of  80's  hardcore  punk,  you  should  check  out  this  double  album.  RECOMMENDED  TRACKS  INCLUDE  "Time  to  Think"  "Fucking  With  My  Head"  "It's  Alive"  and  "Nightmare".  8  out  of  10.    

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