Suffocate Faster

Well, here we are again, another by-the-numbers hardcore CD staring me in the face, my eyes crossing as I try to begin another review wondering about the validity and cost-value of resources used to make the disc versus the relevance of this sound in 2006. I mean, creating CDs isn’t without an environmental cost, and the value of another straight-edge hardcore CD at this point might not be a fair trade. Sure, Suffocate Faster — four young pups from Cincinnati — do a good job of the sound, but you know the deal. Unless you’re a die-hard straight edge hardcore fan or this is the first time you’ve heard old school hardcore with a heavy metallic touch (in which case, this would probably blow your mind), I think it’s finally time to admit something: this style of hardcore has been done into the ground. If you’re putting a new touch on the genre somehow — Modern Life Is War make me feel like I’m 15 again, in a good way — it might be best to keep it on MySpace and out of the physical world. Their hearts are in the right place, and it’s positive as hell and all that, so that’s good. But that bass drum sounds ludicrous.