Syracuse, New York will be familiar to fans of Straight-Edge Hardcore thanks to Earth Crisis and Trail of Lies can thus be seen as a continuation of this lineage.
Formed back in 2011 Trail of Lies’ Only The Strong follows 2019’s Fearless single, the W.A.R. debut full-length, 2018’s God of Rage single, 2016’s Strength Through Discipline EP, and 2011’s demo. Only The Strong the band’s second release for Boston’s Triple-B Records, sees them on an incredible roster of bands that includes Spy, Killing Time, and Restraining Order. The album’s artwork recalls Youth Crew icons Uniform Choice, Chain of Strength, and Youth of Today. Along with the Triple-B connection, helps to cement their Hardcore credentials. If that doesn’t get your blood pumping nothing will.
The forty-five-second “315” (the area code for Syracuse) serves as the album’s introduction, creepy Vocals effects and backwards-tracked Guitars that somewhat resemble the start of Slayer’s Hell Awaits from the album of the same name and which very effectively builds anticipation and tension. “Stand Hard” is Perseverance era Hatebreed with its Death Metal flourishes, so massive crunching riffs, gruff Vocals, and double kick drums are all orders of the day, and it’s not hard to see this going down a storm at live shows, kung-fu moshing in tow. “Only The Strong” opens ala Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut” thanks to the Bill Ward high-hat style work before shifting to a sound reminiscent of Beatdown Hardcore pioneers Terror and Madball, gang choruses in tow, to deliver a sucker-punch to the face. “Trail Of Lies” up’s the tempo with nods to Metalcore legends Merauder or for that matter any number of bands from Victory Records mid to late 90’s heyday (no terrible thing), meanwhile, “Unbroken” (ft. Seb48) alternates nicely between battering Thrash and the band’s by now trademark lock-step Pantera inspired Groove Metal.
Pat Flynn from Have Heart makes an appearance on “Stand For Change” which has plenty of cool Biohazard streetwise swagger (New World Disorder/Uncivilisation era). “My Way” features Scott Vogel from the aforementioned Terror as well as thugcore pioneer Danny Diablo from Skarhead/Icepick demonstrating how unified the scene is with the old-school representing and supporting the new. Musically, its actually surprisingly catchy and even goofy sounding in places, this offered the album some much-needed melody and dare I say outright fun. An excellent number and a definite standout. “No Remorse”, as to be expected with a title shared by Metallica, is barnstorming brutal Thrash and wastes absolutely no time throughout its short running time, it makes you long for more tracks like this. “Revenge” with Aldo Felix (Section H8, Nomads) features spectacular drumming from Harry Corrigan and there’s an undeniable Killing Time influence present that makes it especially appealing. There’s not much to say about “Strength”, other than its an atmospheric interlude with spoken word vocals layered over the top, finally “Strength Through Discipline” the album’s longest track at nearly three and a half minutes, features rousing choruses and typical Beatdown Hardcore themes of strength and triumph over adversity. An uplifting and hopeful note on which to conclude the album.
Only the Strong features strong playing and songs performed with conviction and passion. If any complaints are to be levelled, its that as with a lot of Beatdown Hardcore, the music can be a little one-note and drag on occasion, therefore a little more variety stylistically wouldn’t have gone amiss. On the whole though, a solid record.
Buy the album here:
https://triplebrecords.net/products/trail-of-lies-only-the-strong-pre-order
7 / 10
REZA MILLS