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Shattered Realm
From the Dead End Blocks Where Life Means Nothing
Eulogy Recordings
Rating: 5/5
Reviewed by Jeff |
New Jersey’s Shattered Realm made its debut in 2003 with “Broken Ties…Spoken Lies,” a record that immediately brings to mind two bands: Hatebreed, in terms of breakdowns and lyrical content, and Slayer, in terms of the speed-picked riffs often punctuated by pinch harmonics. The third and often overlooked key ingredient to the SR sound is Bulldoze’s heavy handed, palm muted, strictly-quarter note breakdowns. In case you need it beaten into you, this band is Hardcore with a capital H.
The first release (unless you count one song on the “Broken Ties” re-issue) featuring Punishment vocalist Joe Hardcore comes up sounding head and shoulders above their past records. Former vocalist Chris brought to mind an overtly death metal ethic, which didn’t necessarily hurt the sound as “Broken Ties” was still a good record, but Joe Hardcore’s raspy and percussive voice meshes with the overall sound infinitely better. New drummer Chris holds down the drums and provides a lot of creative flourishes to prevent the songs from getting stale. This new lineup is sure to bring good things in the future.
The lyrics are more of the same themes prevalent in this sub-genre of hardcore, but the riffs and breakdowns have improved tenfold. Several breakdowns, such as that in opener “Our Time,” bring to mind favorable comparisons to Madball, while “Fallen” brings to mind Divide by Hate, an old hardcore band from Connecticut (though I’m almost 100% sure the band never had a meeting and said “Yo let’s rip off Divided by Hate). “Final Day” and “Her Justice” are among the best the band has ever written. The song lengths have been cut down so only a handful exceed the two minute mark and this prevents the songs from dragging and instead supplies the listener with a continuous stream of music to beat the shit out of everyone to.
The only noticeable flaw on the record is the song “Eat Shit.” I mean, I’m sure the band meant it AT LEAST half-jokingly but the song is just stupid and only detracts from an otherwise flawless album. This album is sure to retain devoted listeners and may offer a few surprises for those who previously wrote off the band. The bottom line is if you don’t like this style of music you probably won’t like this record; otherwise, it’s basically your wet dream in digital form.
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