Knut
Challenger
(Hydrahead)
Let's just establish up front that I'm old as fuck, presque vouz? When you say "hardcore" to me, I think of Bad Brains and 7 Seconds and Agnostic Front, not the Bloodlet/Converge paradigm that currently creams britches worldwide. Calling this stuff hardcore is like calling the damn Goo Goo Dolls hardcore, 'cause believe it or don't, the Dolls did in fact spring from that "scene." (I saw 'em open for Husker Du in '87, and they were loud/fast as hell. And truth be told, I still dig the Goo Goo Dolls, so screw you. But hardcore they ain't.) And now that I've (typically) bitched about something of no consequence, let me say that this "hardcore" is something I can get just all over. Knut delivers a rampaging slab of what would undoubtedly be called death metal if they weren't on Hydrahead, but I'm glad they're on Hydrahead. There are some subtle aesthetic differences at work here that separate this from the wheel-spinning that is current death metal, and I guess that's typical of the best bands in this scene. Whereas ("whereas?" fuck, I'm pompous!) death metal (and black metal, and power metal, etc.) is rigidly locked into set formulas in order to stay brutal and true, metalcore has already strayed so far from its roots, that experimentation and innovation has become second nature. When the last scraps of punk have been scraped from your sound, what's the harm in throwing in some drones or FX? What's the harm in writing actual (albeit unconventional) songs? ("Albeit," too? I deserve to die.) . . .
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