Homewrecker

Association Récréative de Gatineau (ARG), Gatineau QC, September 6

Photo: Calum Slingerland

BY Bradley Zorgdrager Published Sep 7, 2015

9
In what might have been one of the most inadvertently punk speeches of the weekend, a gentleman working the venue prefaced Homewrecker's set by warning of police watching outside the venue at the end of the fest. Then, he introduced the Ohio metallic punks — after asking guitarist/vocalist Matt Barnum who they were, of course — and insisted they count in.
 
After a quick count in and ring out, Homewrecker properly launched into the title track from their first full-length, Worms and Dirt. The heavier hardcore styling of that album elicited enthusiasm from the almost worn out crowd. The band even opted to play the album's intro, "Wreck," complete with a modified sample at the start, alongside mainstays "Baseborn" and "Chained Hanging Victim."
 
That is, of course, to ignore the metallic wallops of Circle of Death, which the audience entered when the circle pit-inducing riffage of its title track and "Born to Suffer" hit the crowd. Although drummer/vocalist Matt Izzi introduced a song by saying, "In this world there are 'Illusions of Peace,'" there were certainly none in this room. It was an appropriately frenetic ending to a furious weekend, and the camaraderie at the end encapsulated the "heart" of Heart Fest: a celebration of both the scary and caring sides of hardcore.
 
Heart Fest Day 3, Gatineau QC, 2015 09 06

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