I got these tracks to review directly from Dan over at Life To Live Records. After receiving Losin' It's Danger Zone 7" and going through their other previous releases, I knew whoever Provider was they must be awesome. It turned this pre-conceived notion was spot on.
A hotspot for hardcore, Provider hails from Long Island. They released a demo in 2010, and teamed up with Punishment Due on a split.
"Bonekeeper" is a really strong introduction to the band if you've never heard of them before. A mid-tempo, groovy, power chord-fueled riff goes into a memorable, half-time feel chorus. Right off the bat, the vocalist reminds me of Set it Off era Freddy Madball, and you can hear the 90s NYHC influence. Building up to the breakdown with the line "Troubled thoughts never leave my mind" is one of my favorite points of the 7", as is the breakdown.
The title track "Wasteland" starts out in similar fashion, with a groove-oriented riff going into a catchy chorus. I was glad to see a bit of a change-up thrown in with a more up-beat, triplet-feel break a little more than halfway through the song. It flowed perfectly into the outro, where the vocalist proclaims "This world is a fucking wasteland," a bold end statement to the song.
"Losing Ground" contrasts the aformentioned formula by starting off with a thrashy riff, then going into a slower chorus. Lyrically, it seems as if this track is about not being able to live up to people's expectations and trying their best to "pick up ground" in that respect. The breakdown is my absolute favorite on the record, slow and punishing at first-but the second half has a great groove to it.
"Heavy Soul" is pretty straight-forward in the verse riff, but this chorus is probably the most memorable, with actual sing-alongability. The only melodic notes to come out of the vocalist are present here. The guitar lines also add to the melodic content in the chorus A pretty standard-sounding progression finishes the song.
Last is "Curses." For me, this was the weakest track, it wasn't very memorable and could've been left off the EP altogether. The ending wasn't definite like other tracks, it just ended on a power chord and faded out.
"Curses" aside, this album is incredibly strong and I reccomend it to any hardcore fan, especially any 90s NYHC fan. If you're a younger guy like me and weren't even born when albums Set it Off came out, this is probably the closest thing you're going to see to those bands (with crisp, modern production of course). This is defintely up there with my favorite debut 7"s. Although Backtrack in my opinion are the premier flagbearers of New York Hardcore, Provider might not be too far behind if they play a ton of shows keep putting out quality material like this.
You can stream the entire album here for free:
http://toxicbreedsfunhouse.blogspot.com/2012/03/full-album-stream-provider-wasteland-ep.html
If you like it, support the band and pick up a vinyl copy, shirt, poster, or test-press here:
http://ltlrecs.storenvy.com/
Home 
Follow on Twitter! 
Like on Facebook!
Listen to Provider
