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    HM Magazine #72/Travail
    Travail — Anchor of My Soul cover

    Travail

    Anchor of My Soul

    (1998)

    Reviewed by Doug Van Pelt

    Discogs
    Label Poor Boy RecordsHM Magazine #72July/August 1998
    hardcoremetalcorenu metalrapcore

    You like hardcore like I do? Get this CD. With a cool name like Travail, you've already got a big clue that they're not cheese. (I mean, how many cool bands have cheesy names? Now, how many cheesy bands have cool names? See what I mean?) Hard, nail-biting guitars slam away cool groove riffs, while the rhythm section keeps it tight and fast. Vocals? Sounds like Matt means what he says when he cries, "Soon this body of mine will be dead . . . no more tears or fists across my head" (in "Weakling"); and "I love my God, because of Him, my soul will rise." We were so stoked when this band said they wanted to be on the HM sampler CD this issue, that we put them at track #1 so everyone could hear them first (the track "Lies").

    Other coverage for this album

    Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by dEaDsMilEYou can't describe this as hardcore although that is about as close as you can get in one word. They like to call themselves "Christcore". Matt Leslie's vocals go from softly spoken, to almost hip-hop like, to screamed. Cliff Wright on bass provides killer low-end grooves, the "super funky phat beats". Then the guitars go from heavy grooves, to very unique, sometimes haunting riffs, like in the…Dead Zine 2002Reviewed by FetusI know everyone is fed up with bands and music reviewers stating: "this band sounds like KORN" and, upon purchasing, you're stuck with some music that sounds like RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE or P.O.D. when we all know KORN (at least their first and only decent LP) is not as rap/hip-hop/bouncy as the rapcore genre produces. This has to be the only Christian band that I've heard that is even close to…

    More from Travail

    1994Travail1999Split2000Beautiful Loneliness

    Also in HM Magazine #72

    1996AscensionChanges1998Chris TaylorDown Goes the Day1998HumanOut of the Dust1999Ramsie ShickSinner's Serenade1997CybershadowSocial Conditioning1998RedlineRedline