ALBUM REVIEW: Showdown – Rise Of The Northstar
Get the neck braces out; RISE OF THE NORTHSTAR are back. The French outfit certainly have made an impact with their foot to the floor style concept hardcore – if you’ve had members of GOJIRA call you heavy, then there’s very little doubting that in the way of credentials. The band have always had skull-crushing in their arsenal, and while sophomore album The Legacy Of Shi was a much more well-rounded effort than debut Welcame in both style and substance, there was little doubt that they were going to lean on their strengths in any release.
Which brings us neatly to newest effort Showdown. In case there was any worry about whether RISE OF THE NORTHSTAR were actually back or not, no fear; opener and introduction The Anthem makes it abundantly clear, a chant-along warm-up act that stomps along in true hardcore style and sets the tone instantly. From there, the battering of basically every sense continues unabated, from the groove-laden assault of title track Showdown that morphs into a monster middle, to the unashamedly hardcore Third Strike, which growls and snarls along at a ripping pace.
The rap and hip-hop pieces of the puzzle slot in as nicely as ever, even if they seem a little less pronounced in places than previous efforts. Crank It Up tries to maintain a chunky, BEASTIE BOYS effort that derails and devolves into an absolutely brutal close – not that either end of it is bad whatsoever. Lead single One Love funnels a house beat through a downright dirty bass-heavy grinder, offset with some particularly catchy “whoah-ohs” that are sure to get hands in the air when they’re not picking up the parts of you that have been knocked off in the pit.
While creating some sort of head-kicking-in machine seems to have been the order of the day for RISE OF THE NORTHSTAR here, there’s a fairly ranged amount of genre on display that broadens the experience somewhat. Album closer Rise strips out the remaining nu-metal elements to create a surprisingly traditional metal affair under the bars, while Golden Arrow rolls up on you with a pure thrash opening that unfortunately doesn’t stick around for quite long enough. While genre dipping is the RISE OF THE NORTHSTAR way, these feel more like expansions to their sound than just dabbling; it’ll be interesting to see what sticks around or is expanded on the next time out.
Representing a mad array of multi-cultural neckbreakers from start to end, Showdown starts out at carnage and then clicks the dial one higher. It seems to have been designed with a sole purpose in mind; you WILL move, mostly to fling yourself around in the crowd and those who don’t move will be moved out of the way. Another crushingly heavy effort from RISE OF THE NORTHSTAR was never in doubt, but this might be their most violent and well put-together attempt yet.
Rating: 8/10
Showdown is set for release on April 7th via Atomic Fire Records.
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