Despair, anger, and doubt are all located on the polar opposite side of happiness and are never a joy to experience in one's life. These feelings do, however, make for great hardcore albums. ...The Beat Goes On is one of the best examples of negative energy being used to create one thick, menacing, evil piece of human desperation and ruin. From the first devastating riff of "Tourist" to the complete and utter annihilation of the instrumental last track, "Mother Theresa," ...The Beat Goes On is the album for anyone at their wit's end. It's for anyone that wakes up with their head in their in their hands. It's for all of us who are pissed off at the world and are clearly at the end of our collective ropes.
Blacklisted have morphed from a decent, albeit generic, heavy hardcore band into a potentially important powerhouse of this millennium's batch of emotionally distraught hardcore. By taking the best elements of Quicksand, then mixing it with down-tuned 90's metalcore ala Unbroken and topping it off with the desperation and wild abandonment of American Nightmare, they've concocted one potent cocktail of hardcore maelstrom. ...The Beat Goes on is a sick fucking album (no, not a siqq album, you fruit) that is not only ready for the pit at some VFW hall, but also appropriate on a sleepless night as you try keep yourself from eating a bullet.
...The Beat Goes On is not a positive hardcore album. There aren't pick slides or bust parts. The layout isn't full of varsity fonts and sweaty half-naked boys with nice fades. There aren't lyrics about how you can improve your life with just one song, or how being stabbed in the back is the biggest letdown ever. Instead, ...The Beat Goes On cuts through the happy unity bullshit, and picks at the scabs and scars of feeling out of place with friends and family. Blacklisted also tackle the topics of seeing friends change for the worse and being forgotten. "Fuck you, fuck all of your friends, and most importantly, fuck yourself" is Blacklisted's mantra. And it's all delivered in a stone cold punch to the face.
Blacklisted's first official full-length is a tough look at those-not so-happy times in your life, with no bullshit and no apologies. ...The Beat Goes On is one thick slab of massive hardcore that will send the weak-hearted reeling for their mommies and teddy bears. I can fully relate to everything on ...The Beat Goes On, as I am swallowed by the pure heaviness of the album with nothing to do but scratch my way back up to the surface. It's been a long time since an album has made me feel this way. That's why ...The Beat Goes On is one the best hardcore albums to hit the shelves in 2005.
