 |
Killing Time: Three Steps Back Hardcore, Punk Dead City Records February 9th, 2010
| ||
|
Review
It has been about thirteen years since Killing Time has released anything due to the band breaking up in 1998. In recent years, the band reformed, and their latest offering, The Steps Back, marks the band's third full length release. With all the time that has passed for the band, will this release be an open armed welcome home by fans of the New York Hardcore scene, or is this signs that this project should have been something left in the style's history? Well, Three Steps Back is far from a perfect Hardcore album, but at the same time it isn't something that should be shrugged off as just another futile return of a band. The material on here is alright, but probably could have come out a little better if the production quality, or at least the guitar distortion, didn't leave the music sounding very hollow. Outside that the drums are fine, and vocally the album is great, with the exception here and there of the vocalist trying to hit a higher pitch and failing only to have his voice crack, like during the track "Mingus". Luckily this isn't on many tracks as a good chunk of the music follows the same mid-tempo pace that doesn't really push the band too much. There are faster tracks on here, like "24 - Killing Time" and "Rope A Dope", and those are the tracks that really show off a more Punk side to the band, which isn't too bad, but don't quite hold the attention the more Hardcore tracks on here like "Spaceheater" and "Lookout" have, or even the more upbeat tracks "Cropduster" and "Mingus", thanks to the hollow sound presented. But it's by the time you hit "The Accident" that the album starts to get a boring due to the hollow sounding music and the tracks starting to sound repetative. It almost seems like the band notices this too as it's around this time you really start to notice some changes in the flow of the songs, much like the completely obvious tempo change up during "Half Empty", as well as "Lookout". It should also be known that there are some guitar solos on the release that do show some talent, but are just too short at times and could have been extended just a little bit as they are actually not bad. Killing Time is back and continue doing what they do well: Their brand of New York Hardcore and Punk. Three Steps Back is an appropriate name because the album does have some faults that hold it back from being a very enjoyable release. None of the songs on here actually bad enough that you'll want to hit the skip track button, but it does get a little bland thanks to the guitars, which seem to only be at their fullest during "AKB", and repetition. Chances are good you'll come back to this one and replay it a good number of times, but there's not much on this release that is very memorable outside some of the more Hardcore oriented tracks.
|
|||
