Obey The Brave - Young Blood

A hardcore album for hardcore fans, Young Blood instantly puts Obey The Brave on the splotted hardcore map.

By Rhys Milsom / September 12, 2012

rating: 3.5

Ive spent many a night in my room, curtains closed, door shut, with only the light from my laptops screen acting as a potential beacon for the desperate moths outside, trying to smash my window with their bodyweight. Ill be lying over the covers of the bed, nodding my head to the music pouring out of my laptop, typing away at this very keyboard, typing, typing, typing. Before, on these many nights, youd have found me nodding my head along to a band called Despised Icon; the band were and maybe still are a favourite of mine; Id often listen to them and similar bands after reviewing a band for other sites/publications that I wasnt too fond of. You know, listen to something you like and are familiar with and you instantly feel as if a weights been lifted off your shoulders. Or is that just me? Yeah, probably. Its probably the breakdowns that appealed to me the most. Losing myself in the plunging depths of insecurity that a stomach-lurching breakdown brings almost always brought/brings my senses back. Kind of like having a throat-clogging, nose-binding, tear-inducing flu for a while, you need medicine. I suppose the breakdowns of Despised Icon, and the like, were my medicine. One thing that I do kind of regret is never having the chance to see Despised Icon live. Just never had the chance. You know, with real life and all that. And I never will get the chance to see the band live now. Divorced, you see. Not really an acrimonious one, theyre all still in contact. I think. But, as with the majority of divorces, each person goes their own way, lives their own life, does whatever they want to do next. Relieve themselves of the same routine theyd been in for years, throwing the stuffiness away. New outlets. And one of these new outlets is the band, Obey The Brave. One-half of the former Despised Icon dual vocals Alex Erian and four other guys, Miguel Lepage, John Campbell, Greg Wood and Steve Morotti. Now, if youve ever listened to Despised Icon, youll know that Erian was the vocalist with the hardcore vibe. The more snappier vocalist, if you will. And it made sense when news of Obey The Brave came around. Made sense that Erian would become part of a hardcore band after the demise of Despised Icon. After all, thered be no point in him working in Burger King or wherever when he could use his vocals on another project. A fresher project. And thats exactly what hes done, to pretty fucking good effect. The albums called Young Blood, and while the overall sound isnt necessarily as new and original as young blood can be, what the band does have an ensured grasp of is how to get you up and banging your head, spitting out the lyrics with Erian and generally trashing whatever room youre in. It Starts Today has a winding, teeth-splitting guitar riff which flattens then flies along the crumbling path of the drumbeat, knocking the trees that line the path to the floor. As the trees crash to the floor, they roll along Steve Morottis (drums) constant and tight-knit beat as if theyre cascading down a log flume and crashing into the darkened water below. This water is Erians vocals enraged, abrasive and addictive and when he tells the listener that It starts today, you have no qualms that whatever is going to start is going to start when he says, when he wants, without anyone else having a choice. He leads the track like a plague doctor being followed by people desperate for a cure. http://youtu.be/xyfkTG5QqtY Live And Learn never takes a breath. The lungs are bursting, the limbs going purple, the eyeballs reddening. The riff gnaws and lashes at you, riding on its own deep-bowelled fury, while the drums blast and knock you sideways. You need to hold on or youll be thrown away into the cesspit. Erian spits out No heroes just fucking foes, thats how it goes. And you cant help but agree and nod your head. http://youtu.be/mLuBW9toVow Get Real starts with Erian executing the listener with the line of Dont lose your head, followed by a mean, encompassing monster of a riff that places your head on a stick for the crowd to gloat at. At times melodic, at times scraping the floor with the downright nastiness of the tone, the guitars never fail to snare your attention. The breakdown in this track is possibly the heaviest on the album and you can imagine pits getting spiteful when it kicks in. Every man or woman for themselves, even the guys standing as far away from the pit as possible will get tangled in the thorny mess. http://youtu.be/8I2nX6WzV7k Burning Bridges immediately blasts in with a meaty breakdown , layered with entwining, lifting guitars. The drumbeat is a constant, the protagonist, and it pushes out of the guitar-structures like a head pushing through a latex mask. The features can just about be seen but when the mask snaps, the drumbeat shatters in with a smattering of blastbeats which is almost impossible not to nod along to. The clean vocals are a welcome addition to this track, as it allows the listener some breathing space from a punishing final track, and the extra bit of polishing means the rhythm stays in your head like Taenia solium. http://youtu.be/z95Fz3GTcvM A hardcore album for hardcore fans, Young Blood instantly puts Obey The Brave on the splotted hardcore map. As the band themselves have said, Not trying to reinvent the wheel. We keep it simple. We keep it real. Vent.