Prepare for War
It feels like a lifetime ago when the likes of Biohazard and Madball were supreme forces in the alternative music world, appearing on magazine covers and touring the globe to sell-out crowds, whilst little-known Connecticut bruisers Hatebreed were but minnows in a sea of sharks. They said hardcore will never die and they were right, but with changing of the times and the emergence of new sub-genres and styles it almost felt like the genre as we knew it was slowly being left to rot, lost in a care home somewhere within the bustling chaos of NYC. Hardcore scenes worldwide certainly still thrived, but they thrived on what felt like a much more underground level; that much-loved nineties sound slowly replaced by newer sounds and trends. Fortunately for those of us who still crave the sound of a real hardcore band, Empire of Rats are well and truly doing their part to carry the torch with their blistering debut EP, No Peace.
Empire of Rats are angry as fuck, channelling hardcore punk with a razor sharp metallic edge, the likes of which have rarely surfaced since All Out War were in their prime. The aggression is so potent that involuntary destruction of household objects is likely; We're Dead enters without invite and proceeds to inflict aural GBH upon you whether you're ready for it or not.
Far from a monotonous barrage of 200 BPM, by-the-book belligerence, Empire of Rats cram a lot of interesting ideas into their songs, something especially impressive for a fifteen-minute-long EP. With gang vocals, hardcore breakdowns and an immersive, ever-present pounding groove, the likes of Force Fed and The 03 Code are executed with purposeful conviction; the band unwavering in their furious conveyance of life on this planet.
Packed with more beef than a massive packet of beef and with testosterone levels off the scale, Empire of Rats reign supreme with one of the loudest and angriest EPs you're likely to hear this year.