Sometimes you feel like most of the hardcore releases in the last few years sound like cover albums, a period piece or just straight-up regurgitation of old motifs. Luckily, The Convictions are here to cleanse your palate and serve you up a fresh dose of hopelessness as the meat grinder shredding humanity seems more diligent than ever. Their debut full length, Disengaged, clocks in at just about 20 minutes and no second is spared when injecting you with a gleeful apocalyptic thrash-off. Combining elements of grindcore, blackened thrash and the best in 80s US hardcore, their jackhammer riffs bludgeon the skull into its natural, desperate form.
What first stands out to the listener is that the vocals are – dare I say it – “clean.” But who needs a forced fry scream when you have years of experience grinding the sludge-laden streets of the Pacific Northwest in bands such as Same Sex Dictator, Bad Future and Tracers? If anything, it adds to the sheer madness and unpredictability of their weird, demoralized world. Bringing the angst and imagery down from war-field fantasies in into the cynical day-to-day rat race, Disengaged is an end-of-the-year debut LP that already fits fatally well into the regions hardcore classics.
