Despite the fact I’ll never see a show by these guys ‘cos of their moronic fans, the fact is I love their recorded output all the way back to 2002’s … And Life is Very Long.
So now here with their second Prosthetic Records offering and after the slight tangent that The Dead Walk took into Meshuggah styled angular heft, Continent sees more of a return to the simpler, more straight forward girth of 3750 and folks let me tell you, this bitch is fuckin’ heavy. Seriously, Continent will rattle your fillings, nay, it will rattle your neighbor’s fillings. This record makes the likes of Emmure and Liferuiner look like Boys 2 Men.
Stuttering, loping hardcore with powerful grunted vocals backed with an uber Zeuss production, Continent shifts with the density and heft of colliding tectonic plates, and will leave the same swath of ruins and destruction in your house should you play this album loud.
Starting with the apocalyptic intro to “Skynet” and its subsequent, devastating gait, and all the way to unexpectedly introspective instrumental closer “The Behemoth”, Continent is an utterly punishing, relentless display of sheer unadulterated heft. From the appropriate lyrics of “Dr. Doom” (“I hope your ears bleed!!!“), stuttering assault of “Cthulhu”, lurching “Seaward” and “Balboa Towers”, and absolutely pummeling late album trio of “JFC”, “Kraken” and “The Combine” Continent is simply a brown note assault that doesn’t let up and will leave your ears ringing long after the final groove had resonated from your now mangled speakers.
Granted, if you hate this sort of bass drop filled hardcore and the cocked baseball hat wearing bands that ply, it The Acacia Strain will simply never appeal to you. On the other hand if you want you ass handed to you by arguably the heftiest album of the year, Continent will gladly knock your teeth out.
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I’m not a big fan of this style of hardcore, but this album is just too good to pass up. The production, the songwriting, the intensity – amazing.
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 10:18any melody?
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 14:15@paul-only in “The Behemoth” otherwise, not one iota
on Aug 14th, 2008 at 14:57Looks like Alfred E.Neuman on the cover. We just need the ‘what me worry’ slogan.
on Aug 15th, 2008 at 06:57shit bumps in my car
on Aug 15th, 2008 at 20:32I love this album. I think they do it better than all of their imitators, I am very happy with this album.
Great review, agreed.
on Aug 16th, 2008 at 10:07this album is fucking brutal a must have for all those kids who love breakdowns
on Aug 21st, 2008 at 12:33I like “The Dead Walk” because of it’s Meshuggah leanings, but this record bores me after a song or two. I love the heaviness here, but every song sounds the same and it loses me quickly.
on Apr 22nd, 2009 at 12:42