Violation

Violation's debut Devoured is a solid interpretation of New York hardcore, but painfully plumets into the pitfalls of the genre: monotony and no "it" factor (however, originality isn't exactly the reason somone attempts this beast of a genre). What Violation do avoid is becoming overtly metallic and managing to remember the "punk" in "hardcore punk."

Like most NYHC,Devoured has three speeds: breakdown, double time and the grooving parts. The breakdowns are executed with fast triplet patterns over piercing crash cymbals; the fast parts are slightly Slayer-fied with its quick palm-muting and jagged power chords; and the grooving has just the right amount of hi hi-hat feel without being too jerbang about it. All this while the punk energy is still intact as they never resort to cheap double bass rolls or anything of that nature. It's a killer formula for a hardcore show, but the album gets a little samey and hard to listen to all the way through.

Vocalist Mike Jenson shows some of the Slayer influence in his vocal attack by writing quick one-liners with a disregard for flow. Some of the lyrics touch on your cliché tough guy moments, whether he is trying to find "a reason to fight" or realizing he needs to "finish what [he] start[ed]," but there are often moments like "looking for the sky for an answer, it won't set you free" where he hits the nihilistic nail directly on its head.

So yeah, not much originality going on, but with the head-bobbing intro track "No Solace," the shredding solo in "Disillusioned" and the breakdown to "Degenerate," this band has the potential to create some blistering cuts of hardcore.