Review of Built Upon Frustration - The Book Of Mourning

I’ve had this reserved for quite a while, about a month or so, and it’s taken me this long to really wrap my head around what Built Upon Frustration are doing on The Book Of Mourning, the follow-up to 2004's Resurrected. It’s hardcore, as if it could be anything else with members of Through The Shadows, Gutrench, and Pro-Pain being involved. Not only is the lineup in an ever-shifting state of structure, the music within has an understated classiness, even if it is of the caveman-sounding variety.

I can’t really point out anything as being particularly innovative or different about The Book Of Mourning, but what sets this album apart from some of the other heavyweight albums of this nature that have been released lately lies with the sheer power of Built Upon Frustration’s purely relentless method of attack that is pummeling and effective at any speed. If there ever was a ‘Fuck You’ album for the fall, this is it, and it leaves a welt, for sure.

While the band’s musical roots lie steadfastly in macho hardcore, the near-death metal vocals that pepper the disc really step things up a notch or two above the new Hatebreed as far as being in an unendingly pissed-off state of mind and music. There’s also a shitload of Slayer to be heard on this album, ironically enough, some of the ideas presented here are a little more interesting than the ones shown on the pedestrian Christ Illusion. No Swedish melodies are to be found anywhere, or happy choruses, but there are breakdowns a’ plenty, with some of the tracks seemingly in a perpetual state of thump from the onset.

This is an album that slowly won me over after being bored with it after the first listen, and the time spent away from it has done my ear a lot of good. The grooves are irresistible, the song structures are classically inspired, and the only true weak spot I can point out concerns the noticeably flat drum sound, which is slightly disappointing given the excellent percussive job. Besides that little bump in the road, Built Upon Frustration kick ass from left to right, from belting out mid-paced anthems, to crawling at a slow grind, to shifting into unexpectedly high-speed power surges (“My Trust, You’ve Betrayed”). It’s just boots to the face all the way along.

Even though The Book Of Mourning might not rank highly on my overall lists this year, this is one of the better hardcore albums I’ve heard in a while after getting used to it a little bit more. It’s pretty much everything you want or need out of the genre, without the fake posturing or trendy metalcore undercoat. Check it out, and get knocked out, because it’s one of the stronger releases the genre has to offer this year even if Built Upon Frustration aren't re-writing any Books Of Hardcore.

Release Details

Built Upon Frustration

The Book Of Mourning

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