Record of the Week: HOUNDS OF HATE Hate Springs Eternal LP
For anyone not familiar with HOUNDS OF HATE (smell the coffee, what’s with you?), they play masterful NYHC akin to BREAKDOWN, SICK OF IT ALL, WARZONE, and similar acts, and are experts at writing involved, memorable songs with huge hooks and production that precisely matches their influences. The same sound, production, and attention to song/riff-writing detail are all still here, and they have gotten tighter as a band, but this record strikes me as a little more cerebral and a little less straight-up nonstop moshy than their previous efforts, with definite hard rock influence seamlessly interwoven into the NYHC. It may or may not be a coincidence that the riff that opens this record very closely resembles that of “Alan’s On Fire” by POISON IDEA, but I hear some War All the Time at different points. “Teenage Blues” opens with a straight-up ’70s rock riff played at hardcore speed, with solo to match, gradually settling back into NYHC territory before briefly revisiting the opening riff at the end. The following song has an AC/DC-type riff at one point. They also use gang vocals for the first time in a few songs, adding a cool dimension. HOUNDS OF HATE avoid the common hardcore-band’s-second-LP pitfalls, where bands do shitty or undistinguished versions of their earlier records, or attempt a different musical direction that is at best beyond their ability or at worst generic and self-indulgent (also known as “maturing”). Instead, HOUNDS OF HATE follow up their stellar first LP with a second that retains everything that makes them great as a band, while switching up their sound in a way that is not only still raging and interesting, but also makes this record its own entity in this band’s discography.
(Braddock Hit Factory)
