Axis - Show Your Greed (Cover Artwork)

Axis

Show Your Greed (2015)

Good Fight music


Axis is stamping Florida hardcore on the map. And by stamping I mean punching a hole straight through with a fist engulfed in flames so you can’t help but notice. Axis is a no frills band, they’re not trying to impress with anything experimental or gimmicky, just dedication to creating hardcore music in its most authentic, natural state of blunt aggression.

In the new full-length album, Show Your Greed, the alarm sets off early with a siren of ringing feedback, warning shots of drum pattering, and an unleashed wave of distorted guitars and throat tearing vocals, finding middle ground between the likes of Ruiner and Nails. “Graze the Fire” raises the bar high, and the rest of the album reaches that intensity.

There is a heavy mosh-forward vibe throughout the LP. Tracks like “Transgression,” “Crippled Man,” and “Sincerity” offer some bludgeoned, brooding chugs and momentary breakdowns for shots of pit-adrenaline, while “Badgelicker” is the mosh anthem jewel, a rise against police brutality, setting fire to “primitive men with guns,” a summation of everything they are against.

It’s equally matched with doses of NYHC and New York Metalcore (“real metalcore!”), “Discouraged” and “Burn (Eradicate)” revealing glimpses of Madball and Cro-Mags, but also having some separation by the likes of Evergreen Terrace, though maybe a lazy Floridian comp, it ropes in the modernity.

Perhaps what garners the most attention and praise on Show Your Greed is the incredible execution of drumming. The hyped up drum fills and tom bashing on “Burn (Eradicate)” and the Roman charging bass thumping on “Transgression” being a few prime examples. The last time drums stood out to me this much was on Converge’s All We Love We Leave Behind, so, the highest of praise to drummer Thomas Cantwell. The tracking is extraordinary and leveled clearly between guitars, bass, and vocals.

“With Silence” is a brief winding, building instrumental in preparation for the exit track, “With Grace,” wrapping the album up in cyclical fury, accompanied by a hypnotic breakdown, boiling the album down to a single song. Show Your Greed is straightforward, hard hitting hardcore aimed to impress any generation of the genre. The cover art is fantastic, too; a beautiful three color, three panel layout, depicting a contrast of bloom and decay. I could easily see the band or artist offering it as a hangable three piece set, if they so desired. Axis earns their keep with Show Your Greed, and their talent should not be taken for granted. Now, go listen and work on your mosh technique or defensive stance.