HOSTILITY

In these days of mix-and-match metal preceded with words like "post" or followed far too often with 'core, when an album is released that is difficult to describe as being anything but metal, albeit of the extreme sort, it is almost as though something new has been invented. It hasn't, which is exactly what happened upon the release of HOSTILITY's 2006 debut, "Uncompromised", which epitomized straight up, scalding American extreme metal in the tradition of bands like PANTERA, BRICK BATH, (early) MACHINE HEAD, and PISSING RAZORS. "Set in Stone" stays that caustic course and seeks to be nothing other than pissed off, in your face, and goddamn ferocious.

Comparatively, "Set in Stone" is more of a grower than its predecessor, if only because the approach is even more abrasive and at times overshadows memorable songwriting. It's a very close contest though and songs like "Aces & Eights" will go down as one of HOSTILITY's most memorable moments, thanks to a penetrating chorus that is impossible to forget. Not to raise the ire of the devout PANTERA fan, but in a sense the musical movement from one album to the next vaguely recalls the transition from "Vulgar Display of Power" to "Far Beyond Driven" in that the latter was so violently anti-commercial that it took a few listens to settle in and appreciate the individual tracks. Through all of guitarist Tony Vorrises' obnoxiously earsplitting Dimebag-esque solos and pain-inflicting riffs, Gregory Haran IV's throat-shredding command vocals, and an impenetrable support structure in the rhythmic combo of bassist Brandon Sigmund and drummer Blake Ferris, songs such as "Flesh Doll", "Leader of the Rejects", "One by One", and "Dividing Line" begin to reveal themselves as something more than exercises in sonic disorientation.

The fact of the matter is that there just aren't many bands of any renown playing this style of, well, uncompromising American metal. LAMB OF GOD ("Wrath" in particular) is an obvious leaders of the movement, while DROID and THE DESTRO get it done to a certain extent, but on "Set in Stone" HOSTILITY raises that flag high and keeps it there. This is venom-spitting, balls to the wall metal. No thoughtful instrumental meanderings, no shoe gazing goofiness masking as art, and nothing that approaches the "break-down, turn around, and cash in your Hot Topic points at the mall" that has been all the rage among the sheep. Just a pinch uneven at times, "Set in Stone" is nonetheless another HOSTILITY face-breaker that deserves your attention.