... no fear or concern, ready to take on the world - not playing it safe, gonna change everything...

SICK OF IT ALL - "BASED ON A TRUE STORY" ("Century Media"; CD):

Yeahr, they're back, one of the very, very best Hardcore bands ever!!! (If not the best!!!) Four years in the making, after their great precursor release "DEATH TO TYRANTS" (also already released on the german label "Century Media"), and somehow it's strange because on the one side it had been four damn long years, but on the other side it just did not seem like four years at all when I think about it... strange world, anyhow... and damn, I can't beat the feeling that slowly I'm really growing older reaching slowly the dirty thirtys, haha;-). It was back in 1994 when they really got me, it was when their "SCRATCH THE SURFACE" masterpiece came out and it had been pretty much SICK OF IT ALL and BIOHAZARD (with their great "STATE OF THE WORLD ADDRESS" longplayer, but that's another story...) who really first caught me and got me deep down into the world of Hardcore, not letting me see any kind of reason at all to get out of it again until the present day!!! (What shall I say, I'm a kid of the 1990's baby, haha, and more and more Hardcore bands, records and music did come later very, very soon.) Like I've already said, they are back, and if you ask me with their strongest and best record since their brilliant 1999 "CALL TO ARMS" longplayer, if not even since their 1994 "SCRATCH THE SURFACE" masterpiece. They march forward on their road mixing the metallic harshness and brutality of the "SCRATCH THE SURFACE" record and their anthemic and heavily Oi!/Streetpunk influenced "CALL TO ARMS" full length. They also worked in this direction more or less also on the two precursor records, the very sinister "LIFE ON THE ROPES" record of the year of 2003 and the militantly revolting "DEATH TO TYRANTS" record from 2006, but every time with lying the attention on another facet of the spectrum of the by Metal as well as Oi!/Streetpunk influenced New York Hardcore style. And that's also pretty much what they are doing here, again fuckin' great, and this time even a lot better!!! Mixing brutal, harsh and fully clichè-free metallic heaviness with finger-pointing, crew-shouting sing-a-long parts, brachial moshing parts with incredible strong and anthemic larger than life 'chanting-parts', all very forward adrifting, very forceful and pushing, lively and energy-rich, banging hard as well as full of grapping melodies and leads. It's just great, through and though!!! Also the fast and clever arranged changes in style, pace and mood of the songs as well as the record as a whole are just phenomenal good done!!! Characteristic guitar playing and singing, 'fat' crew chants and gang shouts, a fuckin' well-versed rhythmsection, great instrument playing abilities as well as sheer fantastic songwriting. Great!!! And with the fantastic "LIFELINE" we do also get the official legal successor of the 1994 immortal evergreen "STEP DOWN", musically and lyrically, my absolute damn favorite, for sure!!! On top of it we do also get great and very varying lyrics, thumbs up, an awesome artwork, and a damn good and beefy production sound. This is just great and pure platinum, so if your taste in music just blanket a little bit of Hardcore then don't think twice, but just get this record!!! Fantastic stuff!!! (10 of 10 points)

(http://www.sickofitall.com/)

(http://www.myspace.com/sickofitallny)