This Is Hell have somehow always managed to sound like the musical equivalent of being fired from a cannon, directly into a brick wall, by someone wearing a Terror hoodie and a backwards cap. Formed in the mid-2000s in Long Island, they built their reputation on relentless touring, throat-shredding hardcore, and memorable riffs that arrive with all the subtlety of a pool-cue in a bar-fight. Now, after roughly ten years lurking in the shadows, they’re back with Born Suspicious…and all is well in the universe again!
Now, be warned, there is as much sophistication here as there is in my handkerchief after a particularly good nose-blowing…this is a lean and furious return, five tracks in eleven minutes by a band who clearly have little tolerance for unnecessary nonsense. Every track swings it’s fists, every riff is aimed expertly at your skull and every chanted gang-vocal sparks an instinctive feeling of survival mode! If you could bottle aggression then this short EP would keep you intoxicated for a week! Don’t Wreck Your Life especially feels like a motivational speech delivered by a man holding a broken bottle and even the more melodic title track barrels along with more energy than a toddler after a tube of Sherbert!
And that’s what makes Born Suspicious work so well, the fact that This Is Hell know exactly what they are: loud, fast, and permanently pissed off. No need for reinvention, no awkward experimental synths, not a sniff of an acoustic interlude…Just hardcore punk delivered with sweat, swagger, and the overwhelming stench of blood and beer…This Is Hell are back, and I’ll hopefully see you in the pit!
Best Paired with – A regulation hard hat, a claw-hammer and a tolerance for being kicked.
Reviewed by Bryn.
This Is Hell – Born Suspicious is out now on TrustKill Records
Leave a Reply