Dead in the Dirt — The Blind Hole
During my short stint with Musique Machine I’ve noticed that all the hardcore records I’ve reviewed up to this point have one thing in common. They all, without fail, seem to draw heavily from the sound that His Hero is Gone popularized in the DIY underground during the mid to late 90’s. HHIG was synonymous with crusty hardcore that vacillated between fast and sludgy, definitely metal tinged, with hoarse vocal spewage. Not only was their music powerful, but lyrically they were one of the most politically minded groups to come from that era. So to see contemporary hardcore bands carrying that torch once again is very heartening. Dead in the Dirt take the HIHG sound as a template, but raise the bar with break neck speed by adding a grindcore element to the cacophony. Add a vegan straightedge political message and you’ve got a fierce hardcore juggernaut in the making.
On The Blind Hole, Dead in the Dirt plow through 22 tracks in 23 minutes. It’s an unrelenting assault on the senses. With tracks staying well below the 1 minute mark, I’ve seen some EP’s outlast this full-length. Right out the gate and it’s all guns blazing! The album’s opening tracks: Suffer, The Blaring Eye, and Swelling begin and end so quick, it’s enough to give Drop Dead a run for their money. Strength Through Restraint slows things up (a bit) focusing more on piercing feedback than speed. Will Is the War marks the album’s mid way point and also represents the second longest track on the album (clocking in at 2:56). This track sounds eerily similar to the first track off HHIG’s debut 7” and could be said track if only played in a different key and slightly different tempo. A few samples that sound like Bukowski pepper the album and compliment the overall doom and gloom of the sonic atmosphere.
The second half of the album is divided among quick ragers like: Starve, The Last Nail, and Two Flames and mid-paced to sludgier tracks such as, The Pit of Me and Caged. The ability to switch up speed and tempo as fluidly as they do is a rather remarkable feat. And they manage to do so without loss of power or rage. The final track Halo Crown is the album’s most epic. Just crossing the 3 minute mark, the track is an exercise in restrained sludge metal with perhaps the roughest vocals on the album. It’s a dense slab of detuned, thick as molasses heavy muck that would make their fellow southerners proud.
The Blind Hole is a brilliant first full length, which I hope is just the start of many to come. It pays homage to past without ripping it off wholesale. With bands like Dead in the Dirt, Full of Hell and Baptists raising hell, hardcore will remain alive and well. Sure to incite circle pits and finger pointing. Fucking Go!!!