ALBUM REVIEW: Unaltered Perspective – Inclination
There really are only so many ways we can kick off one of these reviews with some lengthy monologue on the many fruits of today’s hardcore scene. It goes without saying that this is an exciting time for the genre, and with their debut full-length Unaltered Perspective, INCLINATION provide even further proof of that. The straight edge crew from Louisville, Kentucky have generated a fair bit of buzz in their brief existence, one that goes far beyond the fact that they count among their line-up Isaac Hale of the mighty KNOCKED LOOSE. This band have muscles on muscles, and they throw every one of them into this 30-minute jawbreaker.
Quick disclaimer: INCLINATION’s methods are tried and true. Modelling their sound on the hard as nails metallic hardcore of 90s bands like EARTH CRISIS and MERAUDER, the band seem less bothered about the fact that you’ll have something like this before and more interested in just doing it really well once again. This is a work of tight, concentrated power, with chuggy riffs and earth-shattering breakdowns held together by a wonderfully beefy production package courtesy of Andy Nelson at Bricktop Recordings.
Central to the entirety of proceedings is the band’s aforementioned straight edge lifestyle, as spelled out most clearly in the early single A Decision. Joined by Ryan Savitski of melodic hardcore legends ONE STEP CLOSER and Russell Bussey of like-minded up and comers MAGNITUDE, vocalist Tyler Short hammers home the dangers of over-indulgence and the freedom the members of this band have found in choosing not to partake. “Your “fun”, it leavеs scars / Once you bury your friends it really tеars you apart” is arguably the song’s hardest gut-punch, one matched without hesitation by the band’s unwavering metallic power.
Their heads clear – their perspective unaltered, some might say – INCLINATION find room for both outwards-looking political fury and more introspective calls to individual perseverance across these 11 tracks. The early double-header of Epidemic and Thoughts And Prayers seethes with hatred for example, the former taking aim at the US’ big pharma/opioid crisis with lines like “This capitalist nightmare that we call healthcare is a sorry excuse / Like a machine producing drug abuse”, while the latter sets its sights on the politicians who sit back and let it happen: “As the population drowns in poison / You prepare and angle for position”. Mercy? You won’t find it here.
Crucially though, INCLINATION don’t allow their despair at the state of the world to overwhelm them. Connections provides an essential reminder – seemingly to the band themselves as much as anyone else – of the power of unity, and while lines like “You are not alone in this” are pretty low-hanging fruit in hardcore, it is impossible to complain when they’re delivered in the midst of such an incendiary rager. Later, closer Commitment To Self finds the band defiant and unbeaten, with Short declaring “I’m not gonna stop believing that I have exactly what it takes to take this life in stride and do more than simply survive” as the band end the record on its most expansive, dynamic and ultimately climactic offering.
Of course, their messages wouldn’t matter much at all if INCLINATION didn’t have the tools with which to deliver them, but they absolutely do. There isn’t an ounce of fat here, with a few well-placed quieter and darker moments in tracks like Bystander and Marooned, as well as the later interlude Segue, breaking up the violence just enough to ensure that listeners’ minds never wander far. This is an absolute metallic hardcore monster, and unless you’re clinically dead – no in fact even if you are – Unaltered Perspective will have no trouble raising your pulse to obscene heights. Put this on next time you’re in the gym and see if there’s any gym left by the time it’s through.
Rating: 8/10
Unaltered Perspective is set for release on October 21st via Pure Noise Records.
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