Obey the Brave - Young Blood
Albums like this are the reason haters get out of bed in the morning. I can’t wait to see the media’s angry-virgin response to this bruiser. But while they’re waxing nostalgic over which Isis song had the most meaningful open E-chord, or pretending they can tell Pig Destroyer and Gaza songs apart, those of us who like our Hardcore hard —and just so happen to miss the shit out of Despised Icon— have cause for celebration on our hands. Real motherfuckers, rejoice! The highly anticipated debut from Obey the Brave is finally upon us. Featuring ex-Despised Icon throat Alex Erian, Young Blood can best be described as a near-perfect amalgamation of early Hatebreed’s Metallic rage, the Old School primitiveness of Terror, and the breakdown-laden thuggery of Bury Your Dead and Until the End. It isn’t all brute strength, however. There’s a fair amount of melodic sensibility brought to the table as well. Some of these arrangements bring to mind emotive Metalcore’s heyday (e.g. Poison the Well, etc.), while others recall the heartfelt simplicity of ’90s So-Cal Skate Punk (it is, after all, an Epitaph release). Either way, nearly every song here is an anthem. The record successfully achieves the perfect balance of knuckle-dragging brutality and poignancy. So dumbed down it’s genius, this one has blood, sweat, and tears in full effect. There’s also a slew of guest vocal appearances, most notably Scott Vogel (Terror), Kevin McCaughey (Ion Dissonance), Keith Holuk (ex-Ligeia), Liam Cormier (Cancer Bats), and gang vocals featuring Erian’s Despised Icon co-growler Steve Marois. I can’t say enough about this LP’s energy, aggression, and instant likability. I also can’t wait to start an argument with some fucking nerd over how much more technically diverse this is than Cynic’s entire discography, how much more experimentally psychedelic it is than recent Nachtmystium, or how they use way more polyrhythms than Meshuggah. Y’know, just for shits and giggles.
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