Pick Your Side came out last year seemingly out of nowhere. The band was merely touted by many as the return of Beckman. The man best known as the throat that drove the infamous Haymaker. While this alone doesn't make the band It still is basically a who's who of the Toronto area metal and hardcore scenes. So when their first EP came out last year those of us who knew their pedigree had reason to be excited. So after said EP (that being a 10 song 7 inch) the band has reconvened to create this full length LP.
While the overall Haymaker style remains generally intact. That is to say the band play a style of hardcore that relies on speed without being a grindcore band. Similar in a sense to early Black Flag. While the band plays a basic style similar to that they incorporate a strong sense of metal and overall heaviness. So overall the band tread towards powerviolence without ever fully crossing over into that style, instead choosing to remain clear and heavy. The band revel in their fury with a workman like consistency never relying on slow part to make fast parts seems more powerful just writing more powerful fast parts. The lyrics bear a strong sense of political fury without ever seeming to revert to the preaching that many "political" bands seem to fall towards.
The recording overall is pretty grimy. This benefits the band allowing the sound to remain gritty helps the record carry a further sense of immediacy in a way. It feels more genuinely aware of it's own influences. This makes it a stronger piece for the listener as well.
Simply put this record plays short, fast and loud generally speaking. While nothing with quite recapture the magic of Left For Dead or Haymaker the band certainly doesn't seem interested in falling into that trap. Instead they seem content to take pieces of their collective past and reform them into something genuinely angry and use that fury to write good songs.
