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I love it when a band from my home town challenges my pre-conceptions and generally kicks ass all over the place. For now, that is Brisbane lads Driven Fear with their latest release Society’s Finest? While hardcore punk has been around for a long time, many modern interpretations come off sounding like they took the worst of both genres into the studio and poorly stuck them together with some cheap ass glue.
Not Driven Fear. With Society’s Finest?, they’ve nailed it.
In doing so, they’ve avoided the ferocity-killing spotty production that is the downfall of many Australian hardcore bands. Recorded and mixed at Three Phase Studios by Samuel Johnson, you’d be forgiven for thinking they took themselves out of Australia for this result. And, while mastered by Allan Douches at West West Side Mastering in New York, the homegrown focus is something other hardcore bands could emulate.
Short of a track-by-track synopsis of the EP, the most important thing to know is the blistering delivery of every single instrument which, as a whole, is fast, furious and impossible to fault. There isn’t a single standout on this record; all are as powerfully driven as the previous and the next.
To note a few, opener Keep In Check purveys a strong message about the wrongs in prejudice which is sometimes lost in the ferocity of the overall picture but never any less powerful in its original meaning. Cut Skin Deep, challenges the listener to make the most out of the here and now, the life that one is given. This isn’t just an angry outpouring of meaningless drivel, the whole record strikes a common ground in every part of human society, making the record more than the sum of its songs.
There is even a hidden track for those who aren’t so keen as to fast forward back to the start. Society’s Finest? is hard listening from beginning to end but completely effortless at the same time. A worthy listen. The EP is available now through Pee Records but in the meantime, head on over to their MySpace page for some great listening.
Escape The Fate
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