Raised Fist

You enter the music shop to look for a some tunes, but there it is, the cd you know you have to have, right up front, without looking through all the other possible buys you have the cd in a bag and are walking out of the store. It takes alot of potential for a cd for this scenario to occur for myself, but after throughly playing through all their past efforts it was inevitable that this cd was going to be something special.

This cd, starts off with Raised fist in true form with "Get this right!", Blisteringly fast hardcore. Lyrically the song is about (as alot of hardcore song are about) the state of hardcore & Punk rock from the perspective of the band and their dislike of other bands who are into playing Punk rock / hardcore for the sake off popularity / fame & "getting into a nice fucking review". Following this song is another extremely fast paced song "That's why" then slowed down with what seems to be a more metal influenced style song "Message beneath contempt". Track 4 "The people behind", covers the issue of war / terrorism & their discontent for it. Tracks 5, 6 & 7 continue with the album going full speed ahead, but the next big highlight (for myself) was the title track (Dedication, Track #8), A moderatly paced song about some of the fantastic people that we've met and bonds we've formed through the punk rock & hardcore scenes, those people who really shine out as being genuine non-bullshit people. Tracks 9 and 10 continue with the ultra quick pace, then the final track hits, "Between the demons" kicks in with a different vocalist with extremely hasp'ish metal style vocals then the normal vocialist cuts in & the two trade lines back and forth, this is deffinetly the most intense song this already intense band has produced and a fitting end to a new step foward in the life of a great band.

As a whole, this album is plain and simply brutal, further progression into a more agressive sound for the band. It's certainly a must buy for hardcore enthusiasts, this is a good transitional band for punk rockers who are looking into the harder side of the punk world.

On a few other small side notes, The artwork for this album is standard fare, certainly nothing ground breaking, but fits the feel of the album. As a bonus, this cd (whether this applies outside Australia, i'm not sure) comes bundled with Cheapshots vol. 5.