EP REVIEW: Coast To Coast – Pain Of Truth & Sunami
Surprise! Well, as much of a surprise as loudly having the living daylights kicked out of you can be, anyway. An unannounced split EP from two of the most popular hardcore acts in the game right now in PAIN OF TRUTH and SUNAMI is just the tonic for the way things are going; Coast to Coast probably won’t fix the widening cracks in society and politics, but it’ll be the best way to forget about it for around nine minutes.
First up are PAIN OF TRUTH, fresh off the back of their first full-length (how good was 2023 for hardcore releases?), and equally pissed about just how bad things have gotten. Shattered Past is a rallying call to action that vocalist Mike Smith roars through with no mercy, teeing up a brutal dip for the breakdown that doubles as the entrance theme for both of your fists. Everyone involved is on top form here, bringing just the right amount of noise to play off each other brilliantly. This cohesiveness continues to run through The Enemy, a proper, old-school beatdown that brings new meaning to knuckle-dragging and capping two spectacular new entries in a back catalogue to break your neck to.
The time occupied by SUNAMI is short but channels entirely raw energy. Their specific brand of violence in the name of a good time is present and correct, eschewing some of the clean production found on their own excellent debut full-length (seriously, 2023 and hardcore) in favour of a speedball cocktail of death metal influence and tongue in cheek lyricism. Doubt rips straight into a shrieking maelstrom before walking out the bass and Benny Eissmann‘s bone-splitting drum work, inviting anyone within ten miles to start throwing haymakers. Meanwhile, Fence Walker is more of the expected swaggering self-parody but is no less ferocious for its lyrical goofiness, torpedoing through two minutes without much more than a half breath. It is exactly what made SUNAMI so popular to begin with and nothing is going to change on hearing this.
Firing on every available cylinder, Coast To Coast couldn’t be filler if it tried. No shifts in direction, no formula meddling – just more hardcore goodness that will incite as many fights as there are people to hear it. Even if the jury at large is still out on post-punchline SUNAMI (a jury clearly not from The Bay), how well they do it is still unquestionable on this evidence. Add to that the continuing rise of PAIN OF TRUTH, plus just how much fun this collaboration is, it’s hard to knock much aside that there isn’t more of it.
Rating: 8/10
Coast To Coast is out now via DAZE / Triple B Records.
Follow PAIN OF TRUTH and SUNAMI on Instagram.