As much as I wanted to make some snide remark about this being watered down hardcore, and Victory’s watered down hardcore roster, I couldn’t because for what it is (screamohardcore, metalcorrepunkrock), it’s pretty solid and certainly better than some of Victory’s other more aggressively promoted bands (ahem, Hawthorne Heights, Bayside).Hailing from Germany, veterans Waterdown sound very American with their mix of hardcore crunch, rock prose and political punk stance. The songs are solid, catchy and just “metal” enough to not get rampant MTV promotion, despite having plenty of catchy choruses, clean vocals and melodic verse/chorus structures. They are actually a perfect fit for Victory Records.

All Riot kicks off with “Sleep Well” an initially stout hardcore track with Michael Janczak screaming pretty fervently, but the clean chorus kicks in and sets the tone for the rest of the album’s anthemic structures and peppy pace. “Cut the Cord,” follows suit with more up tempo, foot tapping pacing with just enough edge to keep if from being pure MTVcore drivel. Despite its initial discordance, the chorus of “Disassemble” is a bit to poppy for me, but “Chewing on Lies” makes up for it, with arguably the album best cut; great intro, great main riff, great chorus. Great song. “You are the One” is a bit of a let down after the prior cut, but it is more straight up angst, rather than catchy, that ball is picked up by the album’s second best track “My Hopelessness and Me.” Other notable tracks include the cleverly named “Moshpit Etiquette,” and the noodly “Till the Very End.” The rest of the tracks are your typical for the genre but sit well within the framework of the total output, though never really striking as the mentioned highlights.

The production is solid, if cookie cutter, not really having any distinguishing feature and that kind of sums up the actual album; it’s solid mildly enjoyable but certainly geared towards those that enjoy Victory’s current roster of more commercially viable acts.

[Visit the band's website]

---

Comments