GAOLED - Bestial Hardcore
Do you like MIND ERASER? Do you like MIND ERASER's high-concept 2008 final LP Conscious/Unconscious? If you've never heard it I would say go give it a listen before continuing.
Conscious/Unconscious was the point at which MIND ERASER fully embraced their broader metal influences, in line with the trend of late 2000s powerviolence/hardcore bands breaking up so the members could start metal bands (see LIFELESS DARK who just dropped their long-awaited metalpunk thrash LP this week).
This debut LP from Perth's GOALED on Iron Lung is unmistakably in debt to Conscious/Unconscious. Dare I say, I hear some straight borrowed MIND ERASER riffs (and maybe a few baby-brother SCAPEGOAT riffs) all over this. Bestial Hardcore leans into the metal influence a little more, but the core of powerviolence-hardcore is strong throughout. I am not a fan of the heavily effect vocals. I guess a "bestial" entity might be coming at me from the bottom of a deep cave, but it doesn't really mesh well with the in-your-face-buzzsaw guitar tone. I want the vocals to be in my face too. Why are you hiding? That guitar tone is another deviation from the MIND ERASER recipe and it doesn't personally work for me either. I actually have a soft spot for that tone in other contexts but when you are trying to chug on PV sludge parts it just doesn't hit the same.
All that being said, the riffs are solid. I did enjoy this record, and despite the obvious influence that was hitting me over the head just like the dudes in the pit while MIND ERASER played Unconscious at Dude Fest in 2009, I still appreciated everything GOALED is bringing to the table.
Released on Iron Lung Records in the USA and Televised Suicide in Australia
Listen here: https://ironlungrecords.bandcamp.com/album/bestial-hardcore-lungs-287
domfabio