Sure The Great Redneck Hope are able to combine a barrage of brutal thrash beats, a fret board dexterity almost on par with The Dillinger Escape Plan, and pissed off growling vocals, but this is not what separates them from their contemporaries. On their new CD Behold The Fuck Thunder, it is their penchant for not taking themselves too seriously that make The Great Redneck Hope standout.

Instead of succumbing to the pitfalls of being a “serious” hardcore band, like tough guy anthems or breakdowns that need to be ten times heavier than the last, The Great Redneck Hope are able to display a sense of humor and a flair for incorporating musical elements that are uncharacteristic of their genre. From a press pack that describes the band as taking, “hardcore boy bands to whole new level of dreamy crooning,” to song titles such as “Let’s fall in love over AIM so we can fuck when we meet at Cornerstone” or “Did you ever notice that ‘stat’ is ‘tats’ backward? Dude, that’s so tribal,” it is clear that GRH like to joke around, while their funk guitar breaks, samples of school teachers announcing, “It’s story time!” prior to a devastating thrash assault, and an interlude that consists solely of piano and cello show that they are willing to spice up the stale recipe of thrash song writing.

They may not be as good as Orchid or The Locust when it comes to challenging the thrash formula, but if you want a band who can pound out some brutal songs while still leaving room for experimentation then check this out.