Troops of Doom – Fear (Raw Skull Recordz)
Wednesday, 18th July 2018
There’s something about the darker and angrier side of hardcore that sustains itself, regardless of the times. Even if it’s not something that’s particularly en vogue, the demand for it persists, particularly for those that can manage to perfect it (or at least come close). Troops of Doom present Fear as their argument in the case for mastery, and clearly bring the heavy along with them.
Indeed, the quickest and best way to describe Fear is just how heavy it is. This isn’t watered-down metalcore-influenced material, but thoroughly angry sounding hardcore at its finest. The power of a wrecking ball seems to accompany each track, as it bulldozes all of the material in its way with thick, grooving riffs and barked vocals (“Broken World” sticks out with some particularly gnarly riffs). Each track knows to get in and get out before too much fatigue sets in, so they are direct and pointed. Those who want hardcore with maximum riff impact will go bananas over what the band offers. That being said, it does come with all of the genre’s limitations too. Even with the short runtime, there’s bound to be some ‘same sounding’ material that pokes out its head towards the second half of the record, even if some individual riffing sticks out.
For better or worse (depending on your perspective of course), Troops of Doom follow the hardcore template to blaze their path to glory. Entirely uncompromising and unrelentingly heavy, it’s the type of material that is simply meant for the live setting, where total mayhem can occur. How that translates to repeated listens in your home is going to be based upon your level of dedication to the genre.
