CD Reviews

• We Are Noise
  

  Revolution of a Sun's reputation as one of Ireland's best hardcore bands has been a given now almost since the band's inception. Having released only three short EPs since they formed over ten years ago, they made a name for themselves as an ecstatic, chaotic live band - a fact that has sustained them throughout the years and is the primary reason why the band are still talked about today.

  
  

  It gives you an indication of just how much this reputation has been justified that their renown has been based almost entirely on their live show without much in the way of recorded material. My first experience of them was at a gig in the Wolfhound at the tender age of 18 and even then, their fierce live set was something special to behold.

  
  

  There's been a few personnel changes since that day - with a lot of the core members also playing in various other Cork bands down the years - but the current incarnation seems to have settled down nicely with it's six-man roster.

  
  

  So it is that ROAS are finally set to release their debut album. It's a tightly structured 40 minutes of blistering guitars and explosive, precision drumming that doesn't waste any time in getting its point across. Bookended by a doomy, brooding intro and outro, the album quickly dives into proceedings.

  
  
  

  The opener recalls the straight-edge, old-school hardcore of Minor Threat, but the band aren't beholden to any one specific style, taking in elements of metal, punk and grindcore to create an album that doesn't put the focus so much on musical predecessors, as it does in dragging the hardcore genre into more fertile and exciting areas. The dual vocalists work well together, without being distracting or overbearing, though at times their voices can get a bit lost in the noise.

  
  

  There are even some honest-to-god hooks in here, complemented by strong riffs and consistently dynamic drums that show a band confident in their abilities and, most importantly, the strength of their songs.

  
  

  Recorded in Ruff Tone Studios by Lawrence White, the album sounds fantastic and manages to avoid many of the common recording obstacles so prevalent in a lot of modern heavy music; there's no muddy drumming or oppressive, drowned-out guitar sounds found here.

  
  

  The recording highlights the band's dead-on precision and focused playing without having to sacrifice the crucial areas of intensity and volume that are the genre's calling cards.

  
  

  It's an album of intent, by a band that have clearly spent the years focused on tightening their songs in a vice and making every second count. A strong antidote to the naval-gazing narcissism of many of today's indie popsters and emo posuers, ROAS have crafted an album that looks defiantly outward at the world with a passionate and resounding call to arms.