Time for a bit of a personal history lesson: when I originally joined Ech(((o)))es and Dust, I wasn't originally planning to write about much heavy music. I was already writing music reviews for the (sadly, no longer active) craft beer/heavy metal blog Iron Hops, and intended to focus mainly on non-heavy stuff (mainly prog/psych rock, but other stuff as well) that wouldn't have really fit in with what Iron Hops focused on. The heavy music reviews I would have submitted to Ech(((o)))es and Dust would have been for albums that had already been reviewed by other writers at Iron Hops; in fact, my review of Tribulation’s The Formulas of Death is one such case, having been reviewed previously by Cory Willard.
From Where We Came Is Where We’ll Rest, the full-length debut from New Jersey-based “psychedelic hardcore/metalcore” act Old Wounds, is another such case. Iron Hops editor-in-chief CT Rex spoke – err, wrote highly of their ferocious brand of dissonant, sludge-influenced hardcore, which inspired me to check it out when I saw it among the list of promo materials available for review here. And I can say that, after listening to the 24-minute aural assault that is From Where We Came Is Where We’ll Rest, Mr. Rex was right to praise them.
I’m not sure exactly what “psychedelic hardcore” is, and I don’t really hear much psychedelic anything on this album, but presumably it’s a reference to Old Wounds’ doom/sludge influences. The primary ingredient is Converge/Botch-esque dissonant metallic hardcore, but the Dystopia tinge is very strong as well. The band shifts rather seamlessly between the two, with tracks like ‘Hellbent’ and ‘Born to Mourn’ going full-blown fleshripping hardcore while ‘Void’ and ‘thethievesweknew’ emphasize the slower, more monolithic aspects.
The unifying aspect is the viciousness with which it is all performed. Like many of my favorite hardcore albums, From Where We Came Is Where We’ll Rest is unrelenting for the entirety of its 24-minute runtime. Old Wounds aren’t here to coddle you or sing you lullabies, they’re here to shred your fucking face to pieces. Nothing about this album is nice or pretty, and it is better off because of that.
Old Wounds seek only to kick ass, and kick ass they do. If you like your hardcore noisy, angry, and violent – and if you don’t, you’re wrong – then you should make checking out From Where We Came Is Where We’ll Rest a priority.
