Rockfreaks.net

Soldiers

End Of Days

Written by: PP on 23/12/2007 15:37:29

When This Is Hell drummer Dan Bourke and lead guitarist Rick Jimenez decided to start a sideproject called Soldiers, the punk/hardcore scene rejoiced. A few months after the release of their debut album \"End Of Days\", not so much. While This Is Hell has often been regarded as a groundbreaking or a seminal hardcore band, much of the Soldiers record is plagued with staggering mediocrity, and only few moments appear on the record where there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel.

It\'s not that \"End Of Days\" is absolutely terrible. It\'s full of furious hardcore, plentiful in the aggressive in-your-face vocals department and the vibrant bass/guitar dynamics often found in similar hardcore punk releases. A few breakdowns caught my attention as well, especially the one in \"Choosing Revenge\" but also in other parts of the album, but the bulk of the album just doesn\'t do it for me, despite the major energy burst it contains.

The problem with reviewing bands like Soldiers for me is that they are all perfectly aligned to my preferred genres. They push all the right buttons for me, and without enough listening I\'m sure I\'d be ready to slap on an 8 for this release as well. That\'s why contrast is such an important tool. For instance, right now I\'m listening to \"Damage Is Done\" from the record, a fierce hardcore assault complete with some great gang shouts, and I\'m liking it. But as soon as I pop on a record by a similar band like Terror, Capital or even Champion for that matter, the song returns back to earth to a background-noise level because it simply doesn\'t stand a chance against better releases in the genre. Consequently it\'s easy to arrive into a rough conclusion: Soldiers play angry, pissed off hardcore punk by the books, good for a few listens but nothing that\'ll shine out from the genre, although it might be an entirely different matter in a live environment.

Download: Choosing Revenge, Own Up!, Sever Ties
For the fans of: This Is Hell, Capital, Terror, Sinking Ships
Listen: Myspace
Buy: iTunes

Release date 29.10.2007
SPV/Trustkill
Provided by Target ApS