HOSTILITY

Uncompromised

The Pen/Voltaic
rating icon 8 / 10

Track listing:

01. Without a Chance
02. None for All
03. Death as Leverage
04. Common Ground
05. Liquid Chaos
06. Conditioned to Fail
07. Blood White & Blue
08. Post-Traumatic Confession
09. Iron Fist
10. Draining the Blister
11. Negative Reinforcement
12. Last Man Standing


"If you want ultimate heaviness, go buy a HOSTILITY CD!" It is the quote from famed producer Colin Richardson on the promotional copy of HOSTILITY's debut, "Uncompromised", an album to which he lends his incredible mixing skills. Who out there really believes that of all the bands purporting to be the heaviest that HOSTILITY (not to be confused with the '90s Century Media group, members of which are now in GULCH) is truly the ultimate in heaviness? I've got news for you folks, "Uncompromised" is one of the most intense, brutal, volatile, [insert additional adjectives here], releases I've heard all year. I couldn't care less about debates over the title of "world's heaviest band," but "Uncompromised" is state of the art American metal aggression; no question about it.

Those not prepared for it will get a fist in the face and a boot up the ass upon first listens to the jarring sounds of "Uncompromised". The style is one that takes the extreme metal of bands like PANTERA, early MACHINE HEAD, even the over-the-top explosiveness of SLIPKNOT's heaviest moments and forces it through a blender with the controlled chaos of acts such as PREMONITIONS OF WAR and ION DISSONANCE. Still, it is not math metal and one never gets the sense that HOSTILITY is trying to impress folks with unconventional arrangements or technical proficiency. That said, much damage is inflicted upon the listener through satisfyingly dissonant chords and non-traditional riffing. Even though there is no melody to speak of, the song structures are kept from breaking apart into a thousand pieces by plenty of memorable lines and what some might consider choruses (listen to the excellent "None for All", "Draining the Blister", "Conditioned to Fail", and "Common Ground" for examples). Considering what often sounds like the disorder of a battlefield slaughter, terms like accessibility seem ill fitting. And yet you cannot stop listening to the disc once you start. Even after nearly an hour's worth of material, the desire remains to go back and listen again.

Going back to the Colin Richardson treatment, a "holy shit!" is in order. He has harnessed the band's unrelenting aggression through thick 'n' rubbery bass lines, guitars that slash and stab in several directions at once (yet somehow come together to form lethal structures),and drumming that will crumble your home's foundation. Greg Haran's vocals are a mix of vicious barks and face-reddening screams that are pure rage and conviction. Images of violence are conjured through the band's sonic vitriol at every turn; a recurring image one of a torrential downpour of jagged guitar shards and severed limbs.

Bands cannot fake this kind of remorseless aggression. "Uncompromised" is the definition of heavy and the height of aggression. You will not walk away unscathed from sessions spent with the album. Crawling away is a possibility…if you're lucky.

Author:
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).