TRC - Bright Lights
Siege Of Amida
Hardcore
10 songs (42:02)
Release year: 2011
Siege Of Amida
Reviewed by Goat

Every so often, I get in the mood for what’s generally termed good, honest Hardcore, three words sure to turn the ever-fractious MetalReviews.com forums into a bloody circle pit. Yet as samey and knuckle-dragging as the genre can be, there’s a passion and energy to both music and fans which more metallic genres can lack. Being in such a mood, it’s by happy coincidence that I’d just received the promo for this from Siege Of Amida, so instead of carrying out my original intention of giving the latest collection of anthems from Madball or Sick Of It All an airing, let’s talk about a bunch closer to home.

TRC (standing for The Revolution Continues) are a six-piece on their second album here, and are rather like what you’d get if Agnostic Front were from London and listened to lots of Grime. Taking the boastful lyrical dexterity from that genre, and mixing it with Hardcore’s usual aggression, the band have been rather successful at their goal here, the album full of intense anthems sure to be fuel for a live show’s fire. The very first track, H.A.T.E.R.S, contains a line challenging said haters to “fill their bottles full of piss” – pretty brave considering that this is hardly unknown in the genre! TRC are never less than full of themselves, this cheerful arrogance imbuing their sound with a muscularity matched by the riffing and genuinely powerful gang shouts. Dips into rapcore with tracks like London’s Greatest Love Story are buoyed by competently performed melodic sections and even outright grind, although I fully expect to be castigated in the forum for bigging up what will be perceived to be bog-standard metalcore.

More fool them; Go Hard Or Go Home has a rampaging Converge-meets-Dizzee Rascal style that more than matches similar offerings from the New York market, whilst Temptation moves more towards melody with usage of a keyboard backing. The majority lean towards putting the hard in hardcore, however, and despite more rapcore leanings in Define Cocky, the savagery is what you remember. Some strange-sounding soloing in Closure saves it from filler status, and the thrash-tinged Blame It On Vegas is another highlight. The second half of the album notably turns towards more metallic fare, particularly The End’s groovy piledriver and some sludge flavour to Wait ‘Til It’s Finished, although whether this will be enough for the band to be embraced by the metal world is questionable. When all is said and done, TRC aren’t doing anything new with the genre (although Cockney-flavoured vocals will be a novelty for many readers) yet do what they do well, and easily out-heavy the likes of In Flames. Even those grasping plastic bottles and full bladders have to give them credit for that.

Killing Songs :
H.A.T.E.R.S, Go Hard Or Go Home, Blame It On Vegas, The End
Goat quoted 75 / 100
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There are 2 replies to this review. Last one on Mon Jul 04, 2011 3:55 am
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