Direct Effect

Sunburn

Written by: PP on 13/03/2014 21:15:35

Some trends never grow old, and one of them is claiming that hardcore had its best years during the late 70s to late 80s era when Black Flag, Minor Threat, Circle Jerks, and many others laid foundations to the genre. Direct Effect, who are based in Orlando but have members in Philadelphia as well, are one of those bands who are trying to revitalize the original hardcore spirit and sound on their debut album "Sunburn", which draws from pretty much every hardcore band in that era to form an expression that sounds like it was lifted directly from that era with some better production laid on top to make it relevant in the modern context.

But there are limits as to how good of a production you want to have with a release like this, so of course everything is still purposefully lo-fi so you can be sure to hear the vocals distorted and tearing in the mix, while the guitars (supposedly) exhibit that old school hardcore energy everyone always talks about. And in truth, the songs on "Sunburn" are short, to-the-point, and fierce bursts of hardcore referencing the original days just as you'd expect them to be. But just because you're going retrospective doesn't automatically grant you bragging rights. In the case of "Sunburn", there are a number of tracks which qualify as worship at the hardcore altar in a positive manner, whereas others that just sound like, well, like they're sticking to the lo-fi throat-ripping screaming as a standard and don't really address how all of it sounds rather monotonous and generic in the end.

Yes, "Sunburn" is noisy, raw, and even buzzing in places. But it's also lacking the authenticity of something like OFF!'s latest releases, or the sheer conviction of modern hardcore bands largely ignoring their heritage sound wise. It's a good record to convince people that hardcore isn't dead, but it's nowhere near the best records in the genre in 2014, let alone during the last few years.

Download: BWPV, Permanent Vacation,
For the fans of: Pissed Jeans, Black Flag, Minor Threat, Metz
Listen: Facebook

Release date 11.03.2014
Tiny Engines

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