Ryan Groat should be presented with some sort of award for the riffs he came up with on The Most, Down to Nothing's third full-length and first for Revelation Records. Seriously, not only are the riffs thundering and inventive, they get stuck in your head for weeks, even months on end. Mr. Groat I award with this Riffy for Most Mosh Compelling Riffage on a Hardcore Album for 2007.
Before the release of The Most, Down to Nothing was always a band that was almost there with me. They were always just one good song shy of greatness or just one mosh part away from me to be fully into them. Down to Nothing's first two album, For the Birds and Splitting Headaches always showed some promise but always got bogged down with over-moshiness and silly lyrics about gorillas. However, with the The Most, Down to Nothing has finally hit their stride with an album that's not only stellar on the riff end its also packed with great songs that no doubt even have the most jaded of hardcore aficionados smacking the floorboards and clamoring for the mic when Down to Nothing's van pulls up to their local VFW.
The Most is the album we prayed for when our idols in the late 80's hardcore scene crossed over to metal. Even though The Most is metallic at times with it's snippets of double-bass and a few chugga-chugga breakdowns but it never assaults with guitar wankery or lame attempts at falsetto vocals. The Most is just a hard hitting album with clear crisp production where everything comes at you like a F5 tornado across a Kansas wheat field.
Down to Nothing has found their stride with the The Most with it's riff wizardry, no false metallic bullshit, and just great songs that will get even the most jaded of hardcore fans on the dance floor working up a sweaty masculine lather no matter what lies between their legs. The Most is just a great hardcore album, one of the best ones to be released this decade actually.
