Album review: False Reality – FADED INTENTIONS

Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. That’s how False Reality get you. Diversification in hardcore has seen the genre expand in bold and unexpected directions over the last half decade, so much so that the London gang’s unapologetically old-school fistful of steel catches listeners off guard to leave teeth scattered over the floor.

Picking up where they left off on last year’s Path Of Self Destruct EP, debut album FADED INTENTIONS is an exercise in wall-to-wall ass-kicking – to the extent that even the 133-second INTRO packs enough riffs for a substantial ruckus. FROZEN immediately calls to mind the grandiose brutality of Trapped Under Ice, but you can hear a love for metal legends like Metallica and Sepultura in the high atmospherics and weave of guitar solos around sledgehammer riffs. MIRROR bends from 100-mph mosh mayhem into a distended prog-metallic squeal, before SNAKE EYES wipes out with a viciously simplistic beatdown.

Vocalist and lyricist Rachel Rigby grew up amongst the spin kicks and circle-pits of the capital’s HC community, and a learned love of the music can be felt in both organic meld of mood and sound here, and the refusal to chase trends. REALITY SLIPS is a headspinning slide along the downward spiral that still maintains momentum. SONDER dips right into shimmering alt.metal without compromising on heft. OUT OF TIME offers a shreddy mid-album adrenaline rush, then WORTH IT injects affirmation Hatebreed would be proud of.

Packing each of these 12 songs with gut-churning mosh fuel and unselfconsciously straight-faced explorations of betrayal, empowerment and revenge, FADED INTENTIONS could be a lot to stomach for the uninitiated. But as the THE FURTHER unleashes a full force artillery barrage to blow listeners into thrillingly cathartic closer EVERY GAZE, anyone with a taste for carnage will be licking their lips at the vibrant violence False Reality are ready to unleash.

Verdict: 4/5

For fans of: Scowl, SPEED, Trapped Under Ice

Faded Intentions is out now via Hassle