The start of the new year is supposed to be a time for quiet contemplation and reflection No one seems to have told Code Orange this, though. Forever (Roadrunner) is a veritable wake-up call, a crushing and triumphant blast of ferocity that isn’t the simple throwing down of a gauntlet, it’s an entire suit of armour.

The eagle-eyed amongst you will doubtless recall that Code Orange were formally Code Orange Kids who got themselves a record deal at a time when they were barely out of high school. Two albums released on Jacob Bannon‘s label -yes, him out of Converge -Deathwish Inc Records later and we arrive at the next step for this group of Pittsburgh pioneers, making the leap to a major label with all the exposure and expectation that warrants.

Forever is the sort of record that is going to get people who like this sort of thing very excited indeed. For the most part, Forever is a crushing, menacing and compelling album, brimming with gusto, ideas, intelligence and, whisper if you dare, tunes. As a witness for the prosecution in the case of “who is the best hardcore band extant?” there is much evidence abounding here. Across its eleven tracks of caustic venom, there is little doubt that this is a band on a mission. They have taken the hardcore rulebook and bent it to their submission.

One exception to the sandpaper sharp abrasiveness of the record comes in the form of 90’s-drenched, grungey number ‘Bleeding in the Blur’. This is the obvious and immediate standout track on the album and not just because it is a break from the intensity and invention of their hardcore.  More, it appears to represent both the giving of the proverbial middle finger to those who had previously dismissed them as flaky as well as being a formal declaration of war on fake bands: be under no illusion, when it comes, Code Orange will be positioning themselves at the front of the revolution.

If you are looking for Code Orange to be the new Nirvana and cross over into the mainstream a la Nevermind (Geffen) then you are going to be sorely disappointed. You should not approach this record in that way. Forever succeeds (and succeeds enormously)  when its considered entirely on its own uncompromising terms. What they have done, and done superbly, is breathe fresh life, energy and passion into a vision of hardcore and come up with a record that will, on occasion, leave you breathless and in deep admiration for what they have achieved.

8.0/10

MAT DAVIES