Stick To Your Guns are back, baby! The Orange County-bred hardcore outfit returned to the studio for a 5 song EP and, boy, were they angry when they did. The opening track, the eponymous Better Ash Than Dust (Pure Noise Records), opens with the line “The fire burns…”, immediately setting the sentiment of the EP straight for the listener. Vocalist Jesse Barnett is not in agreement with society and he wants you to know he has had enough. The vitriolic screams are pleasantly intercut with more open, melodic, clean compositions.

A few years ago, Stick To Your Guns experimented a lot with the melodic part of their sound as a band. Love it or hate it, it’s the direction they decided to go. But ever since last year’s Disobedience album, the band returned to their hardcore roots. The cleanly-sung, metalcore style choruses are still very much present (and greatly appreciated), but the discontented, white-knuckle rage-filled hardcore has been returned to the forefront. For example, the song ‘Universal Language’s outro is introduced by Barnett screaming “War is all I fucking see”, before the band launches into a breakdown that makes people want to go out, fight the system, and maybe flip a couple of cop cars.

The new record is rounded out by the slower, more lethargic song ‘The Suspend’. By ending on a sad note, the EP almost seems to go through the emotions from anger to remorse-filled acceptance. The band take the listener on a tour of their emotions, with a gradual progression from anger, to rage, to solemn regret. Some thought has surely gone into the placement of the tracks on this release, which is always nice to see (and hear).

Overall, the EP is a solid effort, seamlessly switching between disenfranchised wrath and melodic, somber reflection. These passages reflect on both the world we see around us and the struggle to find our place within it. This effort bears no surprises to listeners already familiar to Stick To Your Guns. However, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it.

8.0/10

SAM C.A. VAN DE LEUR