True Love

The Pact

BY Connor AtkinsonPublished Mar 27, 2018

8
True Love guitarist Alec Faber recently expressed his feelings toward the current state of hardcore, telling No Echo that it is mostly "drop-tuned bullshit, feeding the conversation of what is and isn't hardcore," and indicated that the goal of True Love was "to write a hard and fast hardcore record… nothing extra."
 
The group step away from the melodic-learning American Nightmare adoration of Heaven's Too Good for Us (save for the dulcet instrumental "Suadade") and welcome a heavier hardcore ferocity similar to the early 2000s efforts of Carry On and Terror for The Pact. Not many would consider this to be a trendy sound in 2018, but the bold shift in True Love's vision works favourably.
 
"Care of Cell 24" is The Pact's most representative track, parading True Love's old and new strengths. The song unites melodic tension and grooving rhythms, but never runs out of steam. Similarly, "Nothing Left" quickly paces between chugging transitions and frantic snare rolls without compromising the band's depth.
 
The Pact has a bare essentials mix courtesy of Taylor Young (Nails, Twitching Tongues) that captures the potent energy True Love are embracing in their new sound. The ripest moments of the record are a 15-minute history lesson on the most exciting pieces of hardcore music.
 
Although True Love's latest effort is a concise listen, it only makes the encounter more remarkable. The absent quantity and gritty, hearty quality gives The Pact ample opportunity for playback.
(Triple B Records)

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