Rise Above – Painkiller (WTF Records)

Sometimes, just sometimes it’s nice to have your head absolutely pounded in by a giant slab of metallic hardcore. It’s all well and good to listen to a great solo or some catchy as hell punk rock, but if like me you need that weekly dose of head smash, then you need look no further than Rise Above from the Netherlands, who have provided my brain demolition for the last couple of days.

They unashamedly play a style of hardcore that harks back to those crushing bands that came out in the nineties but have unfortunately become unpopular, in the UK at least, in recent years. But good music has no timeframe in my eyes and Painkiller is a nod to bands like Terror and Hatebreed who deal in crushing brutality. Six songs absolutely fly by in a show of fury I’ve not heard in a while. It’s old school hardcore with all the elements you’d expect. Fast heavy riffs,  crushing breakdowns and minimalistic solo’s ala Vinnie Stigma. However there is a slight curveball thrown in, just to break up the pounding. Karuna is a brooding evil track reminiscent of Crowbar with its distorted guitar taking front and centre.

WTF Records have a monster on their hands with this lot. Rise Above are the band that you should not sleep on this year. Get Painkiller now and then invest in some actual painkillers because this an absolute bruiser of an album… Chris Andrews

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