Bayonet might be releasing their debut album but the band contains several veteran musicians who have made names for themselves in other bands. Vocalist Buddy Nielsen (Senses Fail), Guitarist Jeremy Comitas (The Banner), Bassist Will Putney (Fit For An Autopsy), and Drummer Paul Klein (Suburban Scum) round out the hardcore outfit.

The Bands new EP, titled simply Bayonet, is hardcore and lashes out with lyrics that encompass angst, depression, and self loathing. While I’m a huge fan of the hardcore movement I just wasn’t feeling this EP. The first track, Nightmare, starts off ferociously with aggressive hardcore vocals, ferocious drums, grinding guitars, all staples of hardcore, and even a break in between to offer up some more coherent vocal work, but even in at its meager run time it gets old fast. Honestly its nothing I haven’t heard before musically or lyrically. Jeremy Comitas does some decent guitar work here but the EP’s somewhat under produced sound for drummer Paul Klein’s efforts didn’t do much to take away the monotony of the songs pacing.

My favorite, and one of the only songs on the album that I enjoyed completely, is track two, Whose Gonna Want Me Now. Hardcore and punk collide here and provides a bit more then just driving beats and hardcore screaming. A background bar chorus offers up a nice change up and the songs limited run time leaves less room for monotony. It also leaves little room for Nielsen to go on with his lyrical package for this EP. Hey, I was one of those kids who hated the world once too so I know there is a demographic for this stuff, but the album balances on the combination of lyrics and music and when both come off like a routine tantrum its hard to get much out of the album. I will however give props to the band on Blackbird offering up a truly hair raising performance with crushing vocal work and a great lyrical narrative. It stands out among the anger as one of the angriest in the lot. Still, if you’re a fan of any one of these guys it shouldn’t be to hard to take a peek at what their doing together, but I really think this is an album for specific people with things going on in their lives who need to be tossed a line. This would be that line. For the rest of us, not so much. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.