Until Your Heart Stops

Don’t let the name fool you -- this doesn’t sound like Cave In. It’s more along the lines of other Boston bands from the same period, like American Nightmare, and especially in the vocal department, Sex Positions. Mix that early `00s Boston hardcore approach with a healthy dose of musical adventurism and you’ve got the recipe that makes up these five songs.

The standout track here, for me, is side B opener, “(L)over,” which features some hard riffs and an awesome ending. The lyrics focus on the emptiness of wasted relationships and explain the title, “Take the 'L' out of lovers because the game is over.” The playing on this track is so tight that I hope it’s not just Pro Tooled perfection, because it hits hard and hints that this band would be a formidable live force.

Because this band does a lot of interesting things, it makes their more straightforward moments a little less interesting. For instance, the opening song “Pulling Teeth” is my least favorite track as it is just a straightforward hardcore song, sounding like Sex Positions without the electronics. Things pick up quickly though on “Black and White,” leading with a Motörhead-esque rock’n’roll riff that morphs into a heavy breakdown and finally into an epic atmospheric ending.

What works best about this release is that Until Your Heart Stops manages to fit squarely into modern hardcore, but still sound like they are doing their own thing. The tight playing and musicianship on this record indicate to me that this is a band capable of playing any style they want and I definitely look forward to seeing what they do next.