Grade

Headfirst Straight To Hell (2001)
Victory Records

Reviewer Rating:

Contributed by: repeater
(others by this writer | submit your own)
Published on October 23rd 2001

First off, let me just say that Grade are a stupendously good band. Their last effort; 'Under the Radar', was an excellent working of melodic, emotive hardcore and this latest release is no different.

From the opening track 'Termites Hollow' to the closer "The Glorious Dead", the album pretty much keeps things moving swiftly with a huge ammount of intensity and emotion. There is, however, one totally fucked up thing about his album: the band have turned into doom fanatics. EVERY single song deals with at least one totaly bleak subject and most of the songs talk about murder or death.

Even the artwork is the same. It would fit in just as well on a Dimmu Borgir CD as a Grade album! Just a few samples of lyrics here "now i roll along with her severred head" (Termintes Hollow) / "these screaming voices of bloodless corpses" (In the Wake of Poseidon) / "to smash her head through the windscreen" (Little Satisfactions). No matter though, this album is just so good. The guitars churn out some crushing metallic riffs in some places with mellow emo-ish bursts in others and everything seems to blend together so well, even if the production is a little thin at times. It would be so hard to pick stand out tracks on here but if i was pushed hard enough then i would have to say 'Termites Hollow', 'Becoming Not Being' or 'Little Satisfactions'. Track 11, 'The Empress' is a four minute long instrumental track which is pretty repetative, but in my opinion still sounds great. One annoying thing here is the final track 'Winds of Hell/ The Glorious Dead'. It's basically about fifteen minutes of wind noises which lead to a pretty mediocore instrumental track. Not a good closer for the album, but the rest of the CD apologises for it pretty well indeed!

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Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not respon sible for them in any way. Seriously.

Anonymous (February 6, 2003)

I'll miss these guys. Hopefully Somehow Hollow is good.

OhNoBruno (September 17, 2002)

...and this is the ugliest album cover I have ever seen!

OhNoBruno (September 17, 2002)

I agree, Under the Radar is by far their best album. And that is really good. How come they got worse and worse for every album? This is pure metal...

Anonymous (June 28, 2002)

under the radar is by far a superior album. this album is good, but no where near under the radar. the one thing that really hurts this album is just how awful it sounds. the production is just terrible. its not even the vocals, but the instruments that seem all jumbled together. not very clean sounding at all

Anonymous (January 27, 2002)

Dude, i love this cd. I didn't think it was going to be this good, i wasn't even sure if i should buy it, but i made the right choice. the only bad thing about it is the production, it's not very good, but you know it doesn't suck either. anyways Grade rules.

Anonymous (October 30, 2001)

...and because of their album cover I wouldn't mix these guys in with Dimmu.
They are no where close to being Balck Metal!
This band are a Yawn.

Anonymous (October 30, 2001)

This band Bores the hell out of me.
I first heard 'em when Mtv played the hell out of one of their music videos last year.
This band is a waste of time!
I'm sure Emo fans will enjoy it!
I guess i like my Hardcore to be a little less Pop!

imabigjerk (October 29, 2001)

grade plays calgary on friday...im one lucky bastard

Anonymous (October 29, 2001)

i can't remember the last time i was so disappointed with a new album. it's not that Headfirst is so bad but Under the Radar was so amazing. way too much darkness here for me.

bret
oijoyboy@hotmail.com

Anonymous (October 28, 2001)

Nothing beats their album entitled 'Under The Radar'. 'Nuf said.

Anonymous (October 27, 2001)

it sounds like someone taking a shit

Anonymous (October 27, 2001)

yes, the lyrics r fucked up in a cool way. some of it sounds the same and/or annoying as hell, but what is good is damn good. scares the shit outta me tho, last track scares the piss outta me

Anonymous (October 25, 2001)

A very solid album, and I find it hard to swallow the nay-sayers'stance.

My one complaint is that there is no low to the music. In essence, it turns what could be a very excellent CD into one a bit less impressive.

icK-x-Strife (October 25, 2001)

garde kick ass.
(There, now you have someone looking like an idiot along with you)

icK-x-Strife

imabigjerk (October 25, 2001)

grade that is...man i must look like an idiot

imabigjerk (October 25, 2001)

garde rules that is...

imabigjerk (October 25, 2001)

garde rules...under the radar is far superior

Bryne (October 25, 2001)

Grade rules. Best Buy sucks.