Feeding the Fire by storied Biohazard guitarist Billy Graziadei was easily one of my top 5 albums of last year and off the back of that BillyBio, as he now goes by on this solo venture, has chosen album track Freedom’s Never Free to be the focal point of his new E.P.  Now as far as I’m concerned unless you are a completist then an E.P has to offer something more than just a repressing of a certain track and thankfully Billy, and Bridge Nine, have put together a nice little package.

Kicking off with the raging Freedom’s Never Free we find Graziadei in full on hardcore mode with a track that harks back to the glory days of NYHC. There’s an existing relationship between hardcore and reggae, thanks in no small part to the mighty Bad Brains, but Billy has taken that to the next level with a ferocious cover of Bob Marley’s Get Up, Stand Up, proving once again that the message in music is everything, regardless of genre. Finishing up this 4 track E.P, are two demo cuts, the title track and Feed The Fire which offers a sneak peek into the evolution of the songs. The rawness of these 2 tracks jumps out of the speakers and presents them in their purest form. It also shows just what can be achieved with a bit of studio wizardry.

If you haven’t checked out the album yet, then this represents a great opportunity to discover the Biohazard co-frontman’s latest musical output. If you have, pick this up anyway as rest assured you can always rely on Bridge Nine to put out quality product and it’s nice to see them supporting a legendary NYHC figurehead like BillyBio. Chris Andrews