Some Album Reviews

Cold World

"Dedicated To Babies Who Came Feet First"

Well, to be honest I was waiting for this album for a long time. I even forgot that it came out, so I got it like a week late. (I usually don't do pre-orders and stuff like that). Anyway, i was really pumped to hear what this new album was gonna be like, because I really liked their previous releases. I was also sort of curious to hear what is was going to be like once I saw the cover for the first time. It looked kinda cool, but sort of artsy, well, at least in my opinion. So, I have to say that this album is a total letdown. It looks to me that the main idea of the band when they were recording and writing this album was simply to find a way to let you know that they like Hip-Hop, and that they like sampling. I mean, this we already know since the first 7", we don't need to be reminded every two songs with some cheesy samples, or beats. Musically, it's pretty slowed down from their first two 7"s. I have to admit I do like slow hardcore, but in this case, it just doesn't really work. It gets boring after the first song, and it's like has a couple good songs here and there. I don't even want to mention which songs are, because it's the type of album that you may want to listen to a specific song depending on your mood. Final thoughts. It's the kind of record you'd think twice before you put it on, and then pretty much realize you don't want to listen to it. Maybe some time later, you'll listen to a song here on there just to see if you're gonna like it then.

Hammer Bros.

"The Kids Are Dead"

All I have to say about this one is "Finally!!". I was already starting to think that this album was never going to see the light of day. Anyway, I had already heard every song live, except one. I have seen the evolution of this band, and this lineup is by far their best. This is the definition of anger made music. Since the beginning of "No Wait" until the end of "Animal" you pretty much want to eat babies for breakfast. My favorite song in the album is "Years", it sort of reminds me of Sepultura in the Arise era. Not on lyrics, but on sound. Those bands have very different lyrical content. I kind of hated when people told me that The Vitality wasn't a good album because the songs had all the same formula, and that Hammer Bros' songs were becoming all the same kind of thing. Something I disagreed with, but could see why they were saying it. After listening to The Kids Are Dead, pretty much proves my point that they were wrong. So, final judgement, this is one of, if not the best release of the year. But it's debatable. Go to Welfare Records and buy it.