Benelux bruisers Blind To Faith's latest release, Under The Heptagram is a worthy addition to the D-beat-meets-Dismember trend that has emerged in recent years. By now the sub-genre is approaching saturation point, but the 3 tracks of vicious hardcore on offer here put Blind To Faith far ahead of the snarling pack. Featuring members of Rise And Fall, Reproach, and Insult, and with the recording mastered by the omnipresent and ever-excellent Brad Boatright, you already know this EP is going to be crushing.
Sharp stabs of echoing guitar ring out before a kick drum sound as massive as an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell announces the arrival of a blackened stomping segment, which grows more malicious by the second. Appropriately for a track dubbed 'Intro' it's a slow-burning, mood-setting exercise until they barrel headlong into a monstrous, gut-churning riff straight from the Sunlight Studios songbook.
When that template is firmly established, they crash into 'Under The Heptagram', a short burst of a track that doesn't offer much in the way of variety, but makes up for it with raw aggression. The tumbling drum fills and atonal edge to the guitar heard here recalls Trap Them at their most frenetic.
Opening with a screeching dive bomb that Kerry King himself would be proud of, 'Burial Of Mankind' is another low-end heavy assault, the savage intensity of vocalist Stijn's delivery making it a truly terrifying proposition. When they reach the breakdown they eschew the usual bellowed proclamations in favour of a rasping whisper, to far greater effect.
With an "UGH!" they throw themselves into a final furious sprint towards the end, which is all well and good until they employ that laziest of techniques: the fade-out. It's bad enough at the best of times but worst when accompanying a track of such driving force, serving only to dissipate the sheer momentum they had only just begun to build.
Despite it's all too brief running time, Under The Heptagram establishes Blind To Faith as serious contenders for the crown of most devastating hardcore band, and with a forthcoming UK tour with fellow aural decimators Nails fast approaching, they'll soon be up against some pretty stiff competition.
You can pick up a copy of this 12" record from A389 Recordings. With a heptagram-etched b-side, and limited to 666 copies (naturally), you should grab it while you can!
