Straight To Hell - We Will Bury You
2004 Deadalive Records
by Scoots

Quick Summary:
Their debut full-length lp on Deadalive Records is a marked improvement over the earlier 7" out on the same label.  We Will Bury You was recorded with Converge's Kurt Ballou and the sound is much fuller and well balanced, without feeling overproduced or sterile.  The cover art--a pack of ravening wolves bristles atop a mountain of skulls--should prepare you for what awaits inside.  The album kicks off on the right foot with the bombastic opening riff of "Den of Thieves".  From there, they rip through ten more original numbers, and a well-chosen cover of Anti-Cimex's "Make My Day".  The sound is tight, fast, bludgeoning hardcore with thrash metal undertones.  Each composition is a sermon of fury and disgust with Aaron spitting vitriol from the pulpit.  The crushing rhythm section of Brian and Philbrick propel it forward at breakneck speed while Gorman's guitar cuts a savage path through the chaos.  This is fist-in-the-air, fist-in-your-face hardcore.

In the band's own words, their influences come mainly from classic American, Japanese, and Scandinavian bands--Poison Idea, Siege, Terveet Kadet, Gauze, and the like.  Now, obviously Straight To Hell isn't reinventing the wheel here.  They've taken a format legendary for sketchy recording quality, amateurish technical ability, and gradeschool lyrics and honed it to a fierce polish.  In his book, American Hardcore: A Tribal History, Steven Blush makes the claim that by 1985 or so hardcore was essential a moribund genre, as a result of a built-in obsolescence enforced by the bands' youth and lack of experience.  We Will Bury You refutes the simplicity of this argument with every crash of the cymbals and choked howl from Aaron's mouth.  Clearly these guys know how to play, and clearly they have just as much fire now as any sneering teen had in '82.  The lyrics and songwriting are great, with plenty of hooks, breakdowns, and fast, tasteful solos to keep the presentation from getting stale.  The backing vocals are a particularly nice touch; it's a pity they don't try it when they play live.

Website:  www.dangpow.com/~gauze/

Song Summaries:

1. Den Of Thieves -First song kicks off with a great bombastic intro.  Typically great tune with Gorman’s guitar sawing back and forth over the backbeat.  The whole band joins in on the line “you’re the ones we hate” to great effect.  A

2. Broken - A wild tortured scream in the intro opens onto some manic drumming.  This is the soundtrack for drunkenly trashing your room cause you have no friends.  B+

3. Destroy The Family - Short intro, a few blasting verses, short solo, another verse, breakdown, outro.  This is the blueprint for 80% of the songs on this album.  If it ain’t broke…B+

4. Foe Of Men - I really like the drums in this track.  Brian (who also plays in seminal powerviolence outfit, Dropdead) doesn’t often get a lot of praise as a hardcore drummer since he doesn’t play a lot of weird beats or fancy fills, but this song definitely shows he knows how to hold down the bottom end.  Sick snare rolls, the production kind of hides them a bit though.  As usual, lyrics drenched in nihilism and misanthropy:  “we don’t want protests/or armed revolution/annihilation, the only solution/a mass conflagration/of everything human”  B

5. No Clue - Great furious energy.  This is typical, formulaic Straight To Hell song.  In other words, awesome.  A

6. Sublimation - Good, but unremarkable song until the mid-tempo mosh breakdown at the end with Aaron howling “I don’t wanna die alone” over and over.  B+

7. We Will Bury You - Perfect choice as the album’s title track, everyone’s playing at the top of their game on this one.  Excellent guitar sound and sing along chorus.  The vocal trade-off between Aaron and Philbrick really sets this song apart as well.  A+

8. Nail The Coffin Shut - Not a standout track, especially following up the lp’s best.  There isn’t a bad song on this album, but this one is probably the least memorable.  B-

9. I Believe In Nothing - A decent (and characteristically short) guitar solo at the end helps distinguish this song from the others.  Again, not bad, but doesn’t stand out.  B

10. (This Time) I Hope We Lose - Light speed attack!  The group chorus is great.  Upbeat lyrics about body bags and unmarked graves are par for the course for this happy-go-lucky bunch of zanies.  B

11. Make My Day - Can’t go wrong with an Anti-Cimex cover…  Great rollicking tune with lyrics custom-tailored to Straight To Hell.  A

12. Keep Trying - Bad ass opening riff and some other cool incidental guitar flourishes.  I like this as a closing statement on the album.  All the songs up to now are about what a hopeless mess the world and society are, but here Aaron states his resolve to go on despite the “demons come from outside/and sometimes from within”.  B+

Average Song Rating:  B+
Overall Album Rating:  A