First of all I'd like to say that I'm a big fan of Harvcore records-I think most of the releases on that label are much more solid than a lot of other labels these days. They put out Agitator's first 7", Wrong Answer's first two 7"s, along with one of my favorite 7"s of 2011, Doubledealer's Whose World Is This, among others. Unfortunately, that wasn't necessarily the case on this record.
Bottom Out is a hardcore band from Long Island. Their sound takes more influences from the metal side rather than the punk side. The intro riff to the opening track "Creator," along with most of the record, sound like something you would find off of Slayer's South of Heaven.
I'd say the most memorable song is the second, "Abandon." That riff is the most memorable to my ears, and along with the double bass it sounds more evil and heavy. However, it sounds a bit sloppy, the guitars get a bit ahead of the drums. This is something that should've been tightened up in my opinion. The breakdown is my favorite on the 7".
"No Heaven" definitely felt like a filler song. It was the same half double-bass and open riffing, half chord usage with relatively predictable breakdowns that made it seem not memorable.
"Home" caught my attention, with some variation on tempo. The beginning is incredibly slow, with an evil-sounding melodic riff. It also showcased a guest vocal performance (which was actually my favorite part of the whole record), which was Vitalo from Backtrack if I'm not mistaken.
"Ashes" follows suit musically to the other tracks, the only things that caught my attention were the breakdown and the octave melody near the end. The record fades out, which I'm not a huge fan of either.
Lyrically though, I am a fan of the record, as they deal with personal struggle without sounding too cliche.
Overall, check this band out if you're a fan of metallic hardcore or 90s NYHC bands. I can't say this is a record I'll have on repeat, but it's definitely a solid offering. My biggest problem with this record was to me it seemed repetitive. Some may see it as consistency which is fine (reviews are purely opinion), but to me it was sometimes even hard to distinguish each song after listening through it a few times.
It's also up for preorder on Harvcore's site and streaming on their Stereokiller page to check out so if you dig it, support them and pick it up on vinyl or digital download.
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