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Incendiary seemed to form out of the need to get out the absolute rage that builds up from watching the church subtly merge with the state, as well as the trend of hypocritical preachers spreading hate. Crusade is a consequential monster that booms and heaves with every fiery note.

Opener "Dissension"'s climax comes when military-like drum rolls and booming shouts precede Brendan Garone's closing spewing: "Just because you say it doesn't make it fucking right. / Just because you're stronger doesn't mean I won't fight." He means it metaphorically, of course.

While the band backing him plays smart, heavy hardcore that carefully nods to `90s beasts like Trial, Strife and One King Down, Garone's vocals are more in line with Snapcase's Daryl Taberski or a more developed Tom Sheehan (Indecision).

The band also know that throwing in a clever change or two makes things more interesting (see "Sacramentum" for one). "Fuck Your Beliefs" slows down at one point to a more ominous and restrained pace so that guest Jeff Tiu (formerly of the Backup Plan and This Is Hell) can howl "rebuild the wall!" before an uncompromising resolution.

The redux of "Antichrist," originally off their demo, is one of Crusade's best, with punctual lyric delivery and a huge pause in the middle, accented by Dan Lomeli's place-setting drum roll and a big buildup to the epic, though concise, finish.

Though the recording is great, I was never a big fan of the "fade-out-completely-only-to-fade-back-in" trick, which dulls the momentum of the crunchy finish for closer "The Streets Bring Only Blank Stares."

While just shy of greatness, Crusade is a seriously dense and inspired debut. Already a Long Island favorite, hopefully other areas begin to take notice while the band plots their next, imaginably advanced, musical move.

STREAM
Crusade at the band's Punknews.org profile page



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    Posted by andtheylovedit on 2009-06-18 17:44:25

    Are you from England or something?

    Posted by teaessare on 2009-06-18 17:15:14

    whoah, simmer down there. it may be a generalization, but would not say it is a grand one. its like what the Backtrack singer said at the Agent (who btw are awesome and NOT hardcore) 7" show a while back: "This is the new Youth Crew!"... Why the fuck do we WANT a new Youth Crew? aside from gorilla biscuits, that shyt was a blight on punk. that being said, it is great to see that this LIHC scene is pretty much thriving, which is quite apparent from the last couple LI shows i've been to (including saturday's at the moose lodge), but i would much rather see long island's creative punk talent used in some other form. it's just not my thing, even though i like a number of bands from the genre. It seems like hardcore is the only thing getting exposure (now), when there are a number of great bands on the island who don't care if you're picking up imaginary change.

    Posted by jake358 on 2009-06-18 11:51:56

    What the hell does that link prove? Even if you're criticizing their top friends..Incendiary, Backtrack, The Agent, Capital, Locked In; they all are very different sounding LIHC bands. I think someone just likes to make very grand generalizations because they don't know their shit.

    Posted by onegirlarmy on 2009-06-17 15:11:58

    Gonna have to disagree with that last comment. All the "bigger" LIHC bands sound nothing alike... Incendiary, Backtrack, Agent, Capital, Thieves and Assassins, Take My Chances all sound different. I haven't heard some of the even newer bands but there definitely is a bit more diversity going on in the Long Island hardcore scene right now, at least more than a few years ago where everyone was trying to sound like the Backup Plan.

    Posted by teaessare on 2009-06-17 13:53:27

    exaggerating with the 20 bands, but every new LIHC band sounds the same to me.

    I know the 2 of you have been to this before, but this is my example: http://www.myspace.com/longislandhardcoreshows

    Posted by inagreendase on 2009-06-17 11:12:09

    there are seriously 20 bands that sound like this from Long Island. ... the lyrics seem pretty ace, but other than that, they're nothing special.

    Such as...?

    Posted by jake358 on 2009-06-17 04:08:06
    My Score:

    Name one other band from LI, that currently plays music, that sounds like Incendiary.

    This album is smart and heavy. I love it.

    Posted by teaessare on 2009-06-16 23:37:57

    there are seriously 20 bands that sound like this from Long Island. ... the lyrics seem pretty ace, but other than that, they're nothing special.

    Posted by sugarfull on 2009-06-16 23:04:34
    My Score:

    I just listened to this and I have to say that it's pretty weak.

    Posted by lostandclowned on 2009-06-16 23:02:44

    Haha. Did you pick this up at the Moose Lodge?

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