RIFFS AND SLOGANS
We’ve said it a lot recently - the Hardcore scene is absolutely stacked at the moment. Stacked with both glaring quality and absolute duds with it becoming more and more difficult to identify bands worth your time as the scene gets absolutely flooded. It is safe to say though, that Lock & Key stand out in a good way with Peaceless sounding like one of the most ferocious albums you’ll hear all year. The band drafted in Nathan Smith (Malevolence, Martyr Defiled) in producing this album, with his experience alone allowing these tracks to grow beyond anything they’ve recorded before. A key element to this album is the fact that alongside being brutally heavy, and at times completely unforgiving, the band do flirt with some excellent sounding melodies. Similar to Hatebreed, the band stray in to ‘Metal’ territory at times rather than being strictly Hardcore bruisers.
Opening track Hostile serves as the perfect introduction to forty odd minutes of chaos with the band’s punishing aural delivery centring around vocalist Rich Lardner whose spiteful, at times psychotic, performance drives every single track forward. It’s not outlandish at all to say that Rich’s contribution to both this band and this album turns a good band in to a great one. Shout out also to some of those lyrics we expect to see splashed across t-shirts and hats by the time festival season kicks in - ”You Fucking Cockroach” being the number one contender. Other key highlights across the album include the intense Unclear State Of Mind and the bouncy Vultures.
The risk any Hardcore band faces though is the tendency that by the time you’re nearing the end of the album, it’s all got a bit samey. Whilst tracks like those mentioned do stick out massively, there are also a few which fall a bit flat. There are some bands within Hardcore at the moment who are re-writing the rulebook, and whilst Lock & Key know how to spawn great riff driven songs, they perhaps lack the dynamism at this stage to take them that one step further. The talent is absolutely there though, and we’re certainly excited to see what kind of stepping stone Peaceless turns out to be.