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Martyr AD

On Earth As It Is In Hell (2004)
Victory Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: Aubin
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on April 23rd 2004

Imagine this. You're a rising star in the hardcore scene, you have a well-reviewed record on Ferret under your belt, and you're playing big shows with bands like Poison the Well and The Haunted. What do you do next? Write another record? Tour more?

Apparently, the answer is (c). Two members quit and you disappear for almost three years.

It is under these circumstances that we find Martyr AD, a reinvigorated band that is releasing their first record in three years. And to be honest, it sounds like very little has changed. In fact, the band even sounds like they could fit in with that late nineties Victory sound they left behind.

Coming across like Karl Buechner fronting In This Defiance-era Strife, the band certainly is a refreshing throwback to the fast, metal-tinged, but pre-metalcore era of hardcore, a genre practically defined by the slew of releases from Victory throughout the 90s. If you're at all familiar with that era, you'll know what to expect. Blazing fast drums, barked vocals and thundering breakdowns. The band throws in some At the Gates-inspired riffing, but it's used in mercifully small doses.

The record begins with a slower, melancholy instrumental, but the band really begins on “Bring Out Your Dead” which sets the scene for the entire record. Vocalist Andy Hart fiercely barks, “Go!” and we're off. Blazing through 11 tracks in thirty minutes there isn't much room for nuance, nor is any expected.

The band doesn't offer anything particularly new or unique, but their unabashed clarity in regards to aggressive music makes for an interesting listen. Fans of the early Victory-era hardcore will be quite pleased with this release, and fans of the band will certainly not be disappointed.

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Anonymous (November 24, 2005)

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Anonymous (April 29, 2004)

Utter garbage

Manman (April 27, 2004)

The trick to listening to Martyr AD is to listen to it thinking that it was made in some undetermined day in BC. The sounds are as old and crusty as the musicians themselves. Aside from listening to their bones crack and moan they privelege us by allowing us to hear their many bowel movements and a plethora of tales filled with nostalgia. My personal favorite being the time they spent during the Depression... oh the times, the times!

I can honestly say that these people have some willpower to overcome the strong stigma attached to any group continuing the same style of music after a lengthy hiatus from the music industry. Their warrior spirit is something missing from a lot of things you can listen to today. For anyone who liked their music before, you will still like it. For anyone who never heard of them before, you can try to like them but it will be difficult to breach the generational gap.

Anonymous (April 26, 2004)

yeah they are from holding on. this album is the best thing victiry has done in awhile, besides the new all out war

Anonymous (April 25, 2004)

I must say that their new frontman is musch better then their first, making this cd better then their first also

nothing but a nice heavy cd, nothing more nothing less

there is very little fuckin' around with the formula like many of these metalcore bands do today