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Rest Easy

Hope You're Okay

Written by: PP on 11/12/2022 14:17:28

Rest Easy's roster should have fans of melodic hardcore punk salivating. Featuring ex-members of Shook Ones and Daggermouth, they deliver breakneck speed, rough-around-the-edges punk rock with plenty of attitude, and melodic shredding on their debut album "Hope You're Okay". Their previous EP "Sick Day" was one of the best releases last year, echoing the late-90s melodic hardcore movement with snotty vocals and explosive melodies Kid Dynamite style.

Opener "Dirty Work" wastes no time in getting down to a crunchy, d-beat rhythm, while vocalist Dana Edwards howls maniacally atop. "Hey Maxine" is like straight out of Lifetime's masterpiece "Jersey's Best Dancers", while "Tough Break" sounds like I Am The Avalanche on steroids. I believe the phrasing this song rips was coined to describe material like this.

"Coast To Coast" is relentlessly raw during its verses, but softens and slows down somewhat to a memorable chorus of "all your problems will disappear, moving coast to coast", albeit never leaving the sharp edges and treble-charged shredding quite behind. "Broken Wrists" on the other hand is circle pit action all the way through with classic percussion providing a platform for stage dives and the like in basement shows near you.

Given its sonic similarity to the Lifetime masterpiece as well as to the criminally underrated Shook Ones album "Facetious, Folly, Feat", Rest Easy are problematically placed in direct comparison against some of the all-time best releases within the genre. It's a good album, but is it Lifetime good? There are a few moments where the answer is yes, but not consistently enough to warrant rating this in the category of all-time greats. That said, for a healthy fix of Lifetime-style melodic hardcore played in textbook fashion, "Hope You're Okay" does its job just fine.

Download: Hey Maxine, Coast To Coast, On The Outside. Dirty Work
For the fans of: Lifetime, Shook Ones, Dolarhyde, I Am The Avalanche, No Trigger, Beach Rats
Listen: Facebook

Release date 28.10.2022
Mutant League