"Too hardcore to be death-metal, and too death-metal to be hardcore!" is how RECOURSE lead singer Troy Norwood decribes his band's sound. And judging from this first full-length he does have a point, although personally I would replace the death metal with thrash metal. At its core, this is your basic macho-posturing screamalong metalcore roughly situated somewhere between MADBALL and late PANTERA. A kind of music that can get boring easily. Luckily RECOURSE prove able to keep boredom at bay with dissonant riffing, a bass that's actually audible, some cool thrashy rhytms and tempo-changes and last but not least good, decent songwriting. Brutal and extreme as this music may be, at times it's also amazingly catchy. Just try to keep still and not bob your head along with songs like "Frail Existence" and "Nature Of Conflict".

Another band that occasionally springs to mind is DYING FETUS, which is no wonder since their singer John Gallagher produced this album and sings guest vocals on the track "Scorched Earth". That last bit may not have been a very wise move on RECOURSE's part I think. Although Troy Norwood's voice is perfect for this kind of music his hardcore scream is no match for Gallagher's scary boar-like sewer growl. That's my only minor point of criticism, since this is truly a fine and way above average release in a genre with so many mediocre bands.

- Van Hoften

OFFICIAL SITE: www.recoursemetal.com

MP3 SOUND SCRAP: Stolen Innocence

RELATED ITEMS: No related articles at this time.