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Sick Of It All

Based On A True Story

Written by: PP on 19/04/2010 21:10:51

New York Hardcore heavyweights Sick Of It All have been awfully quiet in the last few years, not having released anything new since their 2006 masterpiece "Death To Tyrants", the longest pause between albums during their 24-year career as the flagship of the hardcore scene together with Madball. "Death To Tyrants" saw the band successfully experiment with a distinctly more metallic sound, something which they were also known for back in the "Scratch The Surface" days, however, there was no denying of the band's for-life connection to the gang-vocal heavy hardcore scene of the metropolis. "Based On A True Story", their ninth studio album overall, shows a Sick of It All that we haven't heard for the better part of a decade or so, returning back to their original NYHC roots to the delight of all old school fans of the band.

Straight away on track one "Death Or Jail", you notice that the production is much looser and uncharacteristically muddy for the man behind the knobs, Tue Madsen. But the rawer guitar sound and harsher vocal style essentially make the band sound like a hardcore band where they sounded like a metal band four years ago. We're back to groovy, punked up riffs big time here, and Lou Keller's vocals haven't sounded as hardcore-to-the-bone in as long as I can remember. There's also a stronger lean on punk rock again, as heard in the feel good shout-a-longs like "Waiting For The Day", the d-beat fueled "Long As She's Standing" or the aggressive speedster "Dirty Money".

Big shout-a-longs and thumping hardcore passages are the name of the game throughout the album, drawing comparisons to the band's classic 1997 record "Built To Last" in many places, but in the end, "Based On A True Story" sounds like a Sick Of It All album and nothing else. Even after close to 25 years of relentlessly touring and inciting mosh pits around the world, it is still difficult to find a band comparable to Sick Of It All whose name doesn't start with mad and end with ball. What more is there to say about SOIA that hasn't been said a hundred times before? Not much, so if you were a fan before, you'll be a fan after this album too, and if not, "Based On A True Story" is as good as any SOIA album to get to know the band's now nine-album strong back catalogue.

Download: Dirty Money, Bent Outta Shape, Long As She's Standing
For the fans of: Madball, Agnostic Front
Listen: Myspace

Release date 20.04.2010
Century Media