THE NETWORK

It's usually a bad sign when a band insists on peculiar spelling or punctuation to "properly" display their name. It's the_Network. if you're keeping track, and they're hardcore to the core, complete with ironic song titles, maudlin testimonials to love of friends and scene in the thanks list, and suitably cryptic, vaguely malevolent lyrics and artwork. Crack open the CD, though, and you'll quickly find that the band backs up their graphic design with vicious, chaotic metal/hardcore utterly devoid of Gothenburg clichés or prettied-up soloing.

This is metallic hardcore as we knew it at the dawn of this decade — influenced by COALESCE, DEADGUY, CONVERGE and their ilk. Quasi-technical, with mean skronking riffs, multiple vocalists with their nuts crushed to varying degrees in vices, and attention-span-deprived arrangements that rarely stretch over a spazzy two minutes of sardonic noise per track. There are fractured bits of groove to be had (the twitchy "Send Them In") and even some acoustic guitar and clean singing in "Innocent v. Staste", but overall, you'll know what you're in for by listening to the first five minutes.

That's fine — THE NETWORK aren't out to reinvent the wheel, as they point out on their website. They do a good job of bashing out heartfelt, chaotic, angry hardcore that doesn't stray too far from the band's original influences. This is hardcore made for house shows and cross-country no-hope van tours, and it works splendidly in that capacity. If there was a complaint about "This Is Your Pig's Portrait", though, it would be that, like many newer-generation hardcore records, it's ultimately rather forgettable. It's content to shadow the band's heroes and serve as a lifestyle accessory or an excuse to tour, rather than exist as a piece of music that stands on its own merits.

That sounds harsher than it oughta — after all, the world is full of perfectly serviceable second-tier records that do the trick and garner their own fans over time. If you're worn out with how pretty and precise metal has gotten these days, "This Is Your Pig's Portrait" will hit the spot for you, a welcome bit of grit in the gears, determinedly ugly and uninterested in crossover appeal or Hot Topic validation. It won't set the world afire, but it definitely justifies its own stunted, angry and frantic existence.