Beyond the Pale Pain EP
Hard to find another genre other than powerviolence that is actually pretty good but has a rather weird reputation. BEYOND THE PALE is not your typical stop-and-go, few words, blastbeat, cool riffs and then it’s over band, but this six-minute EP has eleven songs with only one above a minute, and they do mess up their sick riffs with meticulously calculated song structures which still remain super violent and catchy. INFEST and CROSSED OUT are summoned, and like those bands, this record also has a solid foot in the hardcore field. If you are a fan of the sub-genre any bit, then most likely you will dig this record, and if you are not already, then this could be a great gateway. It’s well-constructed and performed. Maybe the only difference is that they come from a fan perspective, which makes the band a bit meta, but that is the fate of all genres that have existed long enough to create such institutions. Also, I will not blame anybody for not being meth-heads or mentally unstable. In that sense, even if we would distance BEYOND THE PALE from powerviolence, this would be a very good hardcore record with unusual twists and turns. I listened to it ten times already and liked it more with each spin.