Dead Horses

Evergreen Terrace has been in the hardcore game for a decade. I’ve never heard them before, but apparently they’ve been working hard at building their fan base by offering up heavy riffs, melodic mixed with blood curdling vocals, and live shows to be remembered. Their last effort came out in 2009 (Almost Home) so the band have had time to hone their sound and make any kind of changes, that would have gone on unnoticed to me as a novice. So how does it sound to a newbie?

 

My first impression was, “Here we go again!” The band hits hard with the usual hardcore metal formula. Drums are fierce, guitars are fiercer, bass provides a solidifying edge to percussion and reaches out on its own as well. The clean and loud vocal combination had me shrugging for a minute, but when the band kicked into crowd chorus, even though it’s nothing new, I liked it a bit. 

 

A but further down the way the album starts to expand into this more diverse approach. Guitars lean more towards the alternative side with synth effects popping in now and again. This really surprised me. Turntables also play a minor role which is an ever present staple in the hardcore genre, especially when the genre leans more towards traditional metal, but everything seemed to come together for a few songs. 

 

As the album comes to a close it’s pretty much more of the same. Not in a  bad way, but I was starting to miss those curve balls the band was tossing out there earlier. The band keeps it hard and energetic enough that you feel like you want to start bouncing off the walls or giving the person nearest to you the elbow, but the only thing giving this album the edge over the usual contributions to the genre are those little glimmers of difference that pop up from time to time on the album. 

 

Lyrically the album is a bit barren. It leans more towards the pop genre, repeating choruses far to many times and providing lyrics that are generalized instead of personal or universal. That’s the game these days though. Still, a great release that will keep you enticed enough to want to travel back on the bands history or stay put for their next release.