Remember The Way It Is comp? Yeah, so does Eden Is Gone.
Western Europe has long doled out the sort of heavy-handed hardcore peddled by the band and their label home. Bound By Modern Age Records certainly doesn’t hide their H8000 reverence. In fact, the Hamburg-based company lays it out in their de facto mission statement with “embrace the nineties.” That’s not to say they’re stacking their stable with backward glancing acts, but I’d imagine they’ve digested some discogs of nearby Belgian legends.
Eden Is Gone's Scattering of My Malice EP (Mark My Words Records, Bound By Modern Age Records) may have snuck past the goal line for me last year, but I’m stoked to have stumbled across it.
Even without a tacked on cover of Arkangel’s “Annihilating Your Peace," you’d be right to assume they’re every bit as militant as their Brussels forebears. Though their presence certainly looms large, I’d be remiss not to mention the clear influence of Liar, Prayer For Cleansing, Undying, and Congress.
Let me speak as clearly as the minds of these edgemen, though. This is anything but genre exercise, cosplay or X(fill in the blank)X. Steeped in their strict subgenres classics, this is fit to carry the plant-based torch. Updated and ferocious, it continues a metallic tradition that’s seen a mini renaissance in both the UK and Florida over the years. I clearly never overindulged on this subgenre, because this fucking rips.
Few things in hardcore warrant a four minute runtime. Fear not, friends, cuz Song of the Day “Decontamination” is one of them. This is huge from the jump, dropping tremolo runs, chugging breaks, and impossibly busy drums all before the first 60 seconds sprint is over. Vocals are unrelenting and, though nearly indecipherable, it’s clearly not about getting wasted at a barbecue.
The 2-minute mark slows things a touch for a harrowing breakdown, likely designed for the inevitable pile on. Alas, it’s nothing compared to the one waiting for you in the song’s final act. Eden Is Gone, among other things, excels at restraint.
Despite their bountiful chops, they sparingly dish out the old “panic” chord across the EP’s runtime. In lieu of a vocal call, they drop it here to announce the bludgeon. They end things gloriously satisfying halftime mosh.
Eat the apple and revel in the sin, y’all. Just don’t eat the snake. Eden Is Gone is watching…
Tagged: eden is gone
