If you read any press release about Most Precious Blood in the past year, especially any neare the release date of Do Not Resuscitate, you would think this band is mightier then Thor himself! Most Precious Blood is a Hardcore act that hails from Brooklyn, New York, a breeding ground for plenty of fantastic Hardcore acts, so it's not a surprise this band took off as quickly as they did, as well as had so many songs that are not easily forgotten. After their 2005 release, Merciless, the band went on what everyone thought was a hiatus, split up, or pretty much just all died and were buried in some kind of mass grave, but eventually were all corrected when cryptic images appeared on the net, such as a photo of someone holding the final mixes of Do Not Resuscitate on a CD-R. Proclaiming their disgust with how popular the scene has become and bow out of the "glossy culture" that Hardcore has become. But, that may be hard considering how big a kick in the ass Do Not Resuscitate is, and how it doesn't distance themselves in any way from today's glossier releases.
By "glossy", one would automatically assume the band is referring to today's overall Hardcore sound, it's popularity, and the more modern production traits. But, here's the problem with all of this. Most Precious Blood has such a strong following that the only way they could actually bow out of it is if the group were to break up, which clearly is not the case here, though hinted at by the title of the album as a possibility. Furthermore, the sound may not be a modern Hardcore approach, but it encompasses so much of what today's Hardcore scene sounds like, but just taken back a bit to include a more Punk atmosphere with a heavier sound that will only attract more fans to the band. Furthermore, the production on this album is top notch, having a very glossy feel to it in itself, which, if the band wants that statement to be taken literally, should not sound as clean and digital as it is, but rather on a more archaic recording method and being released on casette or vinyl. Instead, Do Not Resuscitate sounds like a well pollished Hardcore meets Punk outfit that is fueled by aggression and intense music that hammers away at the listener with superb digital production quality that captures the heavy tuning on the guitars and the additional distortion that makes them deeper while complimented by the bass at the perfect level to make the music sound absolutely crushing with the shouting vocals at the perfect level that they don't take away from any of the music, and feed the perfect Hardcore vibe into the material. It also doesn'thelp the glossy aspect of the album that Hugh Laurie, the man who plays Gregory House on the television series House, right smack dab on the front cover, but this actually feels more like useless trivia then the band/label sparing no expense on this release.
No matter how you look at the band's statement in comparison to the music on Do Not Resuscitate, there's no denying that this album embraces the best of both worlds. The old-school Hardcore/Punk influence on here is simply undeniable, but the band still retains the more modern sound of having the music heavy as all hell, and fueled by the typical Hardcore anger and rage that feels elevated to a whole other level, perhaps brought on by their disgust of the glossy scene they recently started to dismiss. Each track on here feels like an assault on the listener, with "A Danger to Myself and Others" setting up the album perfectly with hard hitting guitars and well paced two-step making you want to dance or mosh, but ultimately beat the living hell out of the nearest living thing. This is only fueled like gas on a fire with later tracks on the album, like "Stuart is a Dead Man Walking", which, musically, remains the same amount of aggression as the rest, but has a far more energetic vocal input that really just gets the blood pumping from the first words spewed from the mouth. On top of that, some of the breakdowns on this album are just intense as all hell, such as the one on "Upstate Ghost" which really doesn't even feel like one, but it's the best way to describe it, leaving the somewhat Mathcore sounding track to end on the highest of intense-filled notes.
It honestly just feels like every new track you hit just amps up the intensity from the last. "Stuart is a Dead Man" is really where the aggression in the music starts to take it's toll on the listener, feeding energetic Hardcore anthems of destruction second by second, leaving that same listener feeling battered and bruised at the end, but it's not until "Enthusiastic Eugenicist" that the band really takes things further by creating what could easily be one of the most intense Hardcore songs ever, greatly leavinog behind the Punk influence, and almost stepping into a Grindcore psudo-Napalm Death sans Death Metal sound that is simply jaw dropping. The intensity begins to taper off at this point though, but never really just giving up. "Graveyard Postcards" suffers from this the most, as it just doesn't capture that same anger the first eight tracks had, though it's still an enjoyable song in the long run. Finally "Of Scattered Ants That Swarm Together" truly gives the listener a breather, but feels like something more like what one would expect prior to a shootout in a Western film, and for the atmosphere it does a superb job, though the vocals on it are just annoying and start grating on you shortly after they start. Ultimately, this would be tolerable if the next song were fitting for such a track, but it isn't and ultimately just comes off as generic Hardcore at a much slower pace that, because of how spoiled the rest of the album will make you, leaves a bitter taste in the mouth of the listener.
All in all, with some out of place and weak material near the very end, these is simply no denying that Do Not Resuscitate is Most Precious Blood's crowning achievement. If the band truly wishes to step out of the glossy culture of Hardcore completely, and this is, as many suggest, a farewell album for the fans, then there is no better way for this band to go out. This Hardcore romp blurs the lines between regular Hardcore and Punk, and even pushes into Grindcore and Metal territories at times, and it's a welcome album that fans of all those styles will more then likely pick up and enjoy. If popularity was the last thing this band wanted this album to produce, then they did all wrong, as Do Not Resuscitate will simply destroy everything and everyone it's path. it's sad that the three tracks prior to the closing title track are even on here, as they greatly hold the album back and come up more like filler compared to the rest of the energetic and aggressive titles on this release, but it was almost bound to happen given the length of the album without them. All in all, this album is exactly as described: Intense, Angry, Heavy, and all around brutalizing Hardcore that puts Most Precious Blood in a league all their own.
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