Born from Pain's fourth full-length, War, is the next logical step for the Dutch masters of hardcore. The music still draws heavily from the 90's New York hardcore scene as well as hints of late 80's thrash metal. But in addition to what you'd expect from Born from Pain, the band has thrown in a few surprises to spice up their recipe.
Born from Pain set things in motion with "Relentless." While the band provides a soundtrack of fast-paced metallic hardcore, vocalist Ché Snelting delivers the message that the "world is relentless" in pushing him down, but so is his will to overcome. "Behind Enemy Lines" follows with a mixture of more aggressive hardcore and metal, not unlike Hatebreed. But while Hatebreed has watered down their sound with nu-metal rubbish, Born from Pain maintain the same aggressive mix of metallic hardcore and thrash metal that they have delivered since day one. Hell, they even got a guest spot from Barney Greenway of the legendary Napalm Death on this track.
"Stop at Nothing" is the first track featuring a slight departure from the Born from Pain sound their followers have grown to love. While gang-shouts of the song's title open the track, underneath is a semi-melodic guitar line, which is reused again during the chorus of the song. While it is only a minute change in the band's stylistic writing, it is enough to give the band a sense of evolution from playing solely bruising hardcore. The band experiments a bit more in the middle of "Bury Me Fighting" as the riffs slow to a Godflesh-like pace while one of the guitarists delivers a perfectly timed solo.
I may be off my rocker, but "Crusader" brings to mind mid-career Sepultura. The music isn't tribal, but the groove established by the band's backbone of drummer Roel Klomp and bassist Rob Franssen reminded me so much of Roots. And after repeated listens to this song - and the whole album for that matter - Snelting's vocals started to sound vaguely reminiscent of Max Cavalera.
"The War is On" is another departure for the band from their usual repertoire. As the band hinted at on "Bury Me Fighting," guitarists Dominik Stammen and Karl Fieldhouse slow the pace down considerably. I never would have expected to hear a six-minute instrumental song on a Born from Pain album. But if you're one of those old school types that hate experimentation, you'll be stoked on the track "Scorched Earth." This is the best song that Born from Pain has ever written - the riffs are scorching (no pun intended) and the breakdown is insane. I can only imagine the violence on the dancefloor during this track. The rest of War wraps up in typical Born from Pain style. The band gets another spot of help on "Doomsday Clock" from Sick of it All's Lou Koller, giving the band's music that small breath of life that it needs to avoid sounding too repetitious.
Born from Pain have delivered an album that will please their fans greatly. They have also written an album that allows them to creatively reach outside the bounds that normally limit hardcore to just sing-alongs and breakdowns. As a result Born from Pain will be able to draw in new fans beyond the genre of hardcore, fans the band deserves.
