Rejoice

Reviews

Rejoice All of Heaven’s Luck LP

The first new release from this Columbus quintet in about two years, REJOICE reminds me a bit of what NEGATIVE APPROACH would sound like if its members were born within the last quarter-century, mainly because the singer sounds like a modern-age John Brannon. Otherwise, this a pretty groovy record, and teeters more on the metal side of the hardcore see-saw than punk. I don’t know how else to explain this, but this record is chock-full of what I’ll call “spooky” guitar leads that you often hear in black metal. Actually, this whole album has a blackened edge to it. It would probably sound like it came directly from the Arctic Circle if the recording quality wasn’t so top-notch.

Rejoice Promo 2022 cassette

It’s always amazing when a band can play so unhinged, you think there is no way they can hold it together. Surely, the guitars, drums, bass, and vocals are going to fly off in different directions like shrapnel from a grenade. They produce a tension in your head like you are about to watch a horrible disaster, yet by some sorcery, great bands hold it together, leaving you a sticky mess at the end. REJOICE’s three-track demo of melodic hardcore does all that and more. It’s wild stuff out of Columbus, OH, with vocals screamed through an echoey effects box and a wall of distorted guitars. The opener, “Empty Hands,” starts with the crazy, reverb-y drum track, and then all hell breaks loose.