Draw Blood

Having recently signed to Deathwish Inc., and thus boasting the approval of Jacob Bannon and company, Draw Blood drop just under ten minutes of genuine-sounding, anthemic punky hardcore for their debut release. The lyrics touch on numerous topics, usually politically motivated, with minimal emphasis on poetry, and a considerable focus on raw, unadulterated conviction. The group’s selling point is the honesty of their delivery - they seem completely uninterested in presenting themselves as anything other than exactly what they are. That being said, the EP’s length prevents one from immersing themselves in this too fully, and the entire affair is over almost as soon as it begins. There is also nothing offered here which hasn’t been delivered by plenty of other groups before (most notably American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost/whatever they were called by the time they broke up), although this is rarely a problem within this genre - if it ain’t broke, there’s not much point in bothering to fix it until it has been pushed past the point of excess. Deathwish is in desperate need of a flagship act, one which represents the label’s diversity while clearly setting them apart as an imprint founded on good old fashioned DIY principles. While an acceptable addition to the roster, Draw Blood are unfortunately not the act we’ve been waiting for.