Rough Justice – Faith In Vain
Rough Justice – Faith In Vain
MLVLTD
Release Date: 12/01/2024
Running Time: 24:00
Review by Rory Bentley
8/10
Let it first be known beyond all reasonable doubt that Rough Justice is a superb name for a Hardcore band. It tells you you’re about to get an absolute kicking and lose a few teeth along the way, and opening thunderbastard of a song ‘Coward’ makes that pretty clear in no uncertain terms. The stomping riffs and hoarse-throated barks are a haymaker to the mush and unlike many of their UK Hardcore peers, Rough Justice don’t even give you the comfort of spicy Groove Metal riffs to help swallow down the pain, preferring the screeching, discordant stabs of MidWest Hardcore. The song still has a mosh-worthy swing to it but the jagged edges make for a nastier, more spiteful listening experience. Throwing in a sample from gritty British revenge movie “Dead Man’s Shoes’ is also one of the sickest things I’ve heard in a long time and made me want to elbow drop my coffee table.
‘Overruled’ continues in similar fashion, picking up the pace, adding more bounce and featuring my favourite Hardcore trope of gang vocals shouting your band’s name and ‘When It Comes’ sounds like Northern Council-Estate Biohazard (this is a good thing), replete with slugging grooves and threats of violence in a South Yorkshire burr, but there’s more strings to the band’s bow than audio violence.
The title track accomplished the difficult feat of having a massive melodic chorus that doesn’t lose any of the grit and bile of what comes before it in the song. More Metalcore and Metalcore adjacent bands could do with taking a leaf out of their book in this respect. The soaring but effective peppering of clean vocals adds variety without blunting any of the album’s serrated edges. Before you know it you’re back to getting curb-stomped by the savage ‘Boa Constrictor’ and it hurts even more because the likes of the moody instrumental ‘Rusting’ have given you time to sit with the beating you’ve sustained.
Production wise things are big and dirty, with drums and guitars obnoxiously front and centre. The mix is crisp but doesn’t detract from the organic feel of the performances and vocalist Jimmy’s anguish howl has nothing resembling polish or subtlety, cracking in a way that can’t possibly be healthy but sounds amazing when applied to this style.
Guys I really loved this album, 24 minutes of surprisingly varied Hardcore that never stops punching you in the face and it’s so catchy and bouncy that I’ve spun this way more than I normally would for an album I’ve been sent for review. After the absolute riot of the Guilt Trip album last year, MLVLTD are establishing themselves as the go to label for no-bullshit Hardcore designed to make the mosh pit a dangerous place to go again.
TRACKLISTING:
01. Cowards
02. Overruled
03. Faith In Vein
04. Rusting
05. When It Comes
06. Boa Constrictor
07. Backwards Mask
08.Mind’s Eye
LINE-UP:
Jimmy – Vocals
Ed Armitage – Guitar/Vocals
Elliot – Guitar
Harry Green – Bass
Josh Baines – Drums
LINKS:
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