Every time I kept on playing this, I thought it sounded like a soundtrack to something, but I couldn’t think of what. Then it hit me! It’s the soundtrack to streetlife. Kind of like if you took “Boyz ‘N The Hood”, and made their only way out picking up the guitar instead of, well, dying.
At first I was going to start comparing “Count Me In” to HATEBREED, due to the production levels going on. I mean, for the kind of music that’s supposed to be underground and recorded on a budget (and I hey, I don’t know, maybe it was) the recording quality is top notch. All the instruments come out really well, they’re all easy to pick out, and they all sound very powerful. Even the bass player gets a fair shot at being heard with the rest of the band, as he comes out so well that he becomes an integral part to DEATH BEFORE DISHONORs signature voice.
As I said before, I had to back on my HATEBREED comparison, as musically DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR likes their hardcore the old-school way, with lots of fast songs with simple chords, one guitar solos, and a few more with gang-shouts. Being fairly new to hardcore myself, and having only a little bit of exposure over the years, I don’t yet know the difference between Boston hardcore and other hardcore, although I have heard the term often enough to know it holds some validity, and that’s what DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR is labeled as from a few close sources to the band.
I’ll let DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR get away with doing their craft in a standard manner, mainly due to the fact that I found it pretty fun and catchy. I could certainly throw this album on in order to break up the action with all the other more metallic bands I listen to.
8/10
The Official Death Before Dishonor Website
Death Before Dishonor at MySpace
Death Before Dishonor at Bridge Nine Records
