The 21st Impact
By All Means Necessary
7
Coincidentally, this is my first review of a band that solely plays hardcore with any other metal or grind trappings. The 21st Impact is an Uppsala city hardcore band from Sweden that play a melodic combination of post 80s hardcore and more modern textures, constructing the foundation of their sound with influences ala Sick Of It All, Biohazard, and Madball.
Like most grind bands, The 21st Impact have donned a less is more approach to their stripped down vivacious hardcore, keeping all but one song under the three minute mark. The band has a knack for delivering bursts of energy like before shifting gears and employing excellent hooks that’s a hell of a lot more enjoyable than anything With Honor has been doing lately. Not quite as impressive as Modern Life is War, but I wouldn’t underestimate the crowd appeal of By all Means Necessary.
There’s plenty of circle pit inducing moments like “Pete Song”, “Try”, “Hard Times Good Times”, and “Together in a Circle Pit” that really get the blood pumping and are a nice shot of adrenaline to a scene that needs rejuvenation. The inclusion of fist pounding anthems and upbeat hooks not too dissimilar from very early AFI on track like “Go Ahead”, “12 Steps”, and the franticly aggressive “Too Real” and “Modern Day Reality” are able to get any crowd on their feet and moving.
It’s all cleanly produced and fitted together into a neat, nice package, but there’s a certain level of grit I miss. The drums are too far in the background and the sound relies way too much on the prevalence of the guitars to carry it. Have to admit though, the guitars sound like the amp is in the room with you.
The problem is that after the initial excitement of the hooks wears off, there’s not enough substance to keep you coming back to the record for repeated listens. After the first few initial spins you quickly get the ideas presented and get a bit tired of it.
“Strength” is the only song that pisses me off, the rest of the tracks are all equally enjoyable. For some reason they slow down and lose their edge altogether while they focus the song on a repetition of one simplistic boring riff.
At least, The 21st Impact has given the kids something they can definitely dance to in the form of By all Means Necessary. The band also felt benevolent enough to include their debut album Second to None, which features some good solid tracks that incorporate a bit more speed picking than their current material, but all things considered the songs are not nearly as well constructed or developed as the material of By all Means Necessary. I have to admit I was pleasantly surprised to find a quality hardcore band when I was expecting stagnation and lack of talent.
