Band: xLooking Forwardx
Title: The Path We Tread
Label: Facedown Records
Release Date: 11/8/05
Reviewed By: jake
Genre: Punk Hardcore (a dying breed)
Oh, the wonderful fast paced hardcore we have all come to know as “punk hardcore”, oddly enough the screaming vocals is all that make it “hardcore”, but the rest of it seems to be more on the punk side. Anyhow this is a dying breed of music now these days, but the band xLooking Forwardx (don’t be an idiot and pronounce the “x”s, they are there for toughness) tries to revive the almost completely gone scene. The release “The Path We Tread” is a breath of fresh air for the Facedown Records label. It is fast and fun, the boys’ 3rd full length is their best by far. Songs range about an average of 1:40, its fast but very concise and to the point. xLooking Forwardx picks up where Stretch Arm Strong’s “Rituals of Life” left us stranded for a couple of years in the punk hardcore scene. This release shows us that these Maryland boys know how to stay true to their scene and bring top quality fast-paced straight-forward hardcore. The positives about this album is exactly that, it stays to true to everything the scene is. The songs are often packed in with some melodic guitar parts and the ever-so popular “whoas” and “oooohs” that just add the icing on top of this perfect production of punk hardcore. The lyrics are quite encouraging and very Christ-centered, which is very rare these days especially in this scene. I must say that as a Chirstian that I am even lifted by these words.
Some worthy tracks are “You’re Worth It”, “All Aces”, “Heroes of Your Revolution”, “Displacement Theory”, and “I Ain’t Mad At Cha”. This release really blew me away when I heard it for the first time and there are really no downsides to this CD, the only thing that might bug people is that it barely reaches the 30 minute mark. Even though this CD is short, it offers 19 unique songs that really don’t sound identicle at all to each other, which is an amazing feat for this style. The shortness of CD makes you want to just hit play again when it reaches the end and take the ride all over again. I recomend that if you like hardcore or punk of any sorts to get your hands on this CD, I would even go as far to say that fans of Every New Day and Comeback Kid will eat this thing up. By the way, their live show is great too, seen them twice already and loved the raw energy given off of their performance. Who knows you might like them, give em a try.
I personally give this release a 4/5 it is very good and really isn’t monotonous. It is up there in my top 25 somewhere.
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Pure Volume
Facedown Records