Good Hardcore Means Everything

The term "great hardcore release" has been a phrase dormant for some time now. With the emergence of horrible terms like "metalcore" and "grindcore," there are not many bands that can lay claim to the genre of hardcore and its kingdom, stewards of which have included Ten Yard Fight, Youth of Today and Gorilla Biscuits.

That said, With Honor is a hardcore band, and a damn good one. Teasing purists with last year's self-titled EP on Stillborn Records - whose five tracks merited barely ten minutes worth of track time - the Connecticut-based band has made good on the EP's promise with their debut LP, "Heart Means Everything."

On "Heart Means Everything," With Honor does something that Snapcase and Stretch Arm Strong have done better than anyone for years. They write songs and lyrics that not only intelligently call for social and personal change, but also demand an attentive ear.

They also demand gang vocals, glorious gang vocals.

With Honor loves gang vocals with the same affinity Chunk has for ice cream. Motivating lines like "tonight, everything changes" and "this is our fight" sound even more inspirational on "Heart Means Everything," where it seems as if the entire funeral procession in "Gandhi" is crying them out.

With Honor uses a little bit of everything in the hardcore spectrum. The band easiest to compare them to would be Bane. This seemed like such a good review that a comparison to Bane seems entirely out of place. What gives?

What gives is that With Honor doesn't use bad metal riffs, isn't an awful band and hasn't seemingly issued their hooded sweatshirts to every kid in the suburbs - yet.

When With Honor does pull out metal, it's nearly perfect and secluded, hidden about a minute after the conclusion of the last acknowledged track on the disc, "When Will We Learn." A 90-second romp through instrumental power-metal, the track would make Rob Halford proud.

This comes recommended for fans of Stretch Arm Strong, Fast Break and Shai Hulud.