Just like any other musical genre hardcore bands are a dime a dozen. Mediocrity is accepted, and very few bands have a distinct voice, or are trying to do something different. Enter: Equal Vision's Endicott. They are not making ground breaking music, they are not going to change the face of hardcore/punk, but they are very good at what they do and have brought something a little different to the table.
What was once a metal/hardcore sound has evolved into a more melodic hardcore/punk sound with touches of rock and roll. Their full-length debut The Words In Ink Don't Lie is a concept album of sorts, as the songs are written from three separate perspectives: the victim of a kidnapping, the abductor, and the victim's family. The album starts off raucously with "Ransom Note" as vocalist Chris Cure screams, "That's me standing with my gun to your head from now on you won't get what you want, but you will take what you get."
The album moves furiously into one of the most accessible tracks on the record "Perfect Like Paper Knives." Here we find a more melodic approach with heavy distorted guitar parts, pulsating drums, and the vocals going from singing to frantic screaming. The album starts to falter a bit with "Sundown" and "One Bleeding To Death", but manage to stay afloat with "Chain Letter" a fast paced anthem that features keys at the end of the track. In "Black Anniversary" the band slows it down a bit and Cure takes a more melodic singing approach to the vocals, before the break down in which he screams, "black lips and kisses, dead words and sentences, a fading picture in a torn up memory." "Waiting To Exhale" continues the slower pace with picking guitar parts, drums and melodic vocals. "A Song For Hearts" picks things back up, before the band switches pace again with one of the stronger tracks "Vanishing Point."
"Holding Cell" is an instrumental in which we hear the victim being beaten by their abductor, while keys play behind it. Then the album rolls on with the unapologetic "Death Sentence" and finds Cure weaving back and forth from melodic to frantic while guitars set the tone and drums blaze. The closer "Sundown" is a mid tempo gritty rock song that is almost eight minutes long and closes out The Words In Ink Don't Lie.
It is obvious that Endicott isn't concerned with covering just one genre of music, and they keep things interesting. The vocals at times are hard to understand and that can make it frustrating, but it is a worthwhile listen and a breath of fresh air to the hardcore/punk scene. It is dark at times, but it is also a cathartic and enjoyable listen.
3/4
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