New Lows - New Lows (Cover Artwork)

New Lows

New Lows (2008)

Lockin' Out


After a much-celebrated demo, New Lows crafted three new songs and re-recorded two from their demo. In my opinion, they re-recorded the best two songs from their demo, "Lowest Depths" and "Lucifer Crucified." They are interwoven within the three new songs, yet they fit in well with each other. So, suffice it to say, if you liked the demo, this EP will be no different.

"Hatchethead" starts off the EP with a very southern rock-influenced riff, prefaced with pounding drums. The song continues in an unbridled attack of your aural sense with its aggressive vocals. "Lowest Depths," the first of the redone demo tracks, has a slower buildup. The song has just a simple guitar riff over a monotonous drum beat until the second guitar joins in. The song kicks off with a more aggressive impression of the previous riff. The song isn't too fast -- it gets more and more indolent as the song goes along until, until when about 15 seconds left, the song kicks into a higher gear to perfectly set up the next song.

"Hung Up on the Crossroads" wastes no time with familiarity and blasts through to the first verse. "Lucifer Crucified," the second redone demo track, has its faster moments and slower moments, making it the most capricious track on the album. The song segues perfectly into the final track, "Compulsive Repulsion (It Never Ends)." This song has a sludgy feel to it that compliments the faster song heard earlier. It has short onsets of energetic spurts smeared in with the more dilatory passages but, it doesn't sound condensed or odd. It is most certainly an applicable end to this persistent and assuring EP.

New Lows' signing with Deathwish was definitely a smart idea, as they will definitely feel at home with other up-and-coming hardcore bands such as Reign Supreme and Lewd Acts.