Hell Brigade
Self Titled EP
6.9
This EP starts off pretty promising with a solid new school NYHC metal/hardcore romp reminiscent of a rawer Sworn Enemy but quickly degenerates into a horrible rap/metal disaster on the very next song. It’s bad enough to hear stupid lyrics about how great Colt .45 is (hey buddy, we all know it “works every time”) but Hell Brigade further punishes us by ending the song with a cheesy, solo filled outro over lyrics about taking the bottle in hand and drinking it all down. As if I need any help getting drunk! Seriously, this song would have been much better buried as a bonus track at the end of a full length rather than one of four chances to form an opinion about this band.
The third song has a somewhat memorable riff but it’s just a bit too slow to keep your attention as it’s full of slow one chord ring outs and the generic metal gallop riff. Rather than end on a weak note, Hell Brigade almost manages to bring it back to the energy of the first track on the finishing song with a strong mix of straightforward hardcore and slow NYHC mosh parts sprinkled with melodic leads.
This band is clearly at their best with the more high energy material and definitely has the musical chops to write great hybrid metal/hardcore songs. Their raw, somewhat 80’s crossover, sound is a nice respite from the more processed “metal” sounding bands in the hardcore scene today but they really need to work on making a full length that’s good from start to finish. So far they can’t even do it on a four song EP so there’s lots of room for improvement.
