Punk at it's most raucous and earsplitting.
Coming full circle with the smashing release 'Splitting Headache', Down To Nothing, a hardcore-punk band from Richmond make reappearance on the scene with music that's rebellious, brash and full of defiance. Fast-paced with infectious beats, Down To Nothing keep their hardcore tame, choosing a more punk-like route with clearly dictated lyrics rather than the typical 'screamo' lyrics that are so often associated with the brand of hardcore. There's a kind of almost teenage-garage band sound to Down To Nothing's music that's really appealing, it has the sound of youth but at the same time it's fairly sophisticated, at times taking on the sound of The Beastie Boys and Rage Against The Machine and with such catchy and witty fast paced songs filled with attitude, Down To Nothing are bound to continue to gather adoring fans worldwide.
'Go Ahead With Yo' Fake Ass' kicks in with defiant riffs and an extremely defiant bass line that just can't fail to get you wanting to head bang and jump around insanely. The collaboration and rhythm between the guitars and drums in incredibly accurate in timing even at the incredibly fast pace that this track runs at. Full of energy and dynamics, 'Go Ahead With Yo' Fake Ass' is the perfect opener track to get the listener in the mood to completely let loose. 'Us Vs Each Other' gets off to a rather slow start but after a few slides of the electric guitar and descending scales on the bass, the tempo kicks up and the dirt begins to fly. This track is the pure essence of rebellion; the sound is loud, raucous and full of clashing instrument parts, basically everything you would expect from punk. It's already clear from these first two tracks that Down To Nothing are really set more around the punk scene then anything else and the rest of the album only serves to prove this further. However, it's fair to say that 'Us Vs Each Other' is probably the highlight of the album with its violent and defiant assault upon the music and catchy yet threatening and brash lyrics. It's fast and energetic mosh worthy pace and defiant attitude will pump life into even the most lethargic of listeners and it is definitely a winner for this album.
The same can be said for 'Smash It', a short, snappy and anthematic little number. Dark and abrasive with incredible similarities to The Beastie Boys' attitude, this track comes in on a four bar progressive simple guitar riff that continues on bass throughout the song as the vocalist's tone of voice takes on a mask of crazed insanity to close. 'Burn III' is similar in sound but more upbeat and there's more movement between lead and rhythm guitar in this track, the chorus however retains it's anthematic and rebellious punk appeal. However much this album will be enjoyed by fans, this album is sadly very repetitive with little difference in sound between all the tracks on the album, so much so that it could quite literally give a splitting headache to someone who wasn't particularly into punk and thusly making this album hard to get into for anyone trying to get into new musical horizons. There is a fine line between affective repetitiveness and just plain boring repetitiveness and unfortunately Down To Nothing has managed to cross it. There is another potential downfall to this album in that their songs are over far too quickly, the average length on the album lasting only a total of about a minute and a half with often no defining point between end of one track and the beginning of another. But Down To Nothing obviously do a large following of fans who will be delighted with this album and at the end of the day, that's all that really matters.