Sidetracking society : I won’t uniform, never.

I think I should be honest right from the beginning of this review : I really love this record. Now that I have spoken out my feeling, let’s talk about this little gem of fast and, you better believe me, fucking pissed off music. What do you like the most about fast hardcore and, mainly, powerviolence? If I have the answer to a question like that one, my anwer would be : the hustle. Every note seems to be there just to piss off the next one, while the one before is still roaring its power. The tempo changes, the voice that explodes in the throat before the motuh opens, the nervous riffing, the pounding bass lines, the drums that can go from hyper fast to a complete stop. All those factors combined makes powerviolence so great. Well, Sidetracked managed to take their hardcore and piss it off to a level that can top all the above mentioned subjects without much effort. First of all, they’re fast. You can bet on it. Twelve songs in 2:45 minutes is a very good starting point to define fast bands. Of course this kind of music works on contrast and the urge to play fast goes right beside the urge to violently stop and make everyone chip their teeths in the process. There’s a very good work made by the combination of each member of the band, who are, at least on this record …well….two. Brian holds drums duties, delivering a shitload of different tempos, going from full speed to complete silence in a fraction of second. Sociopaths and Can’t Relate are perfect exemples on how a drummer should play : fast when you need it, groovy and personal when things start to slow down. The other member is Jay (btw, all the best wishes for your baby!) who does vocals and all the strings efforts. I’m amazed by this man, because he sounds so strong and personal on all the three aspectes of his work in Sidetracked. That’s great. Lyrics deal with your usual dose of cynism and negativity toward society, mixed with irony and a bit of sarcasm.

Musical wise Sidetracked dwells in the fast hardcore mixed with powerviolence, so you have tempo changes, nervous riffing, prominent basslines and raging vocals, while the faster parts are coming straight from the full throttle American hardcore bands of twenty years ago, like No Comment,e.g.. If I have to pick a band to compare Sidetracked to, it must be Lack Of Interest. I’ve just bought my physical copy of Never Back Down and I’ve felt the same intensity, the same hunger for stop and go’s, the same rage, the same nasally loud vocals. So if you like the way Lack Of Interest puts the spices in their music, you gonna love Sidetracked too. I know it’s short and that is its major flaw but damn, do you believe me if I listened to it about, mmmmmh… fifteen times in a row and I’m not tired of it? I was really looking forward this record and damn, it was really worth the wait. I think it’s a little bit early to pick the favorites for 2011, but I think Uniform will make the top 5 (3? 1? maybe guys, maybe).

Released by To Live A Lie on colored vinyl (mine is green) and it comes with a download card.

~ by petetheripper on May 20, 2011.