A debut album, nine tracks, with a playtime of under twenty minutes – that alone should tell you what genre this belongs to. If it doesn’t, you literally must have been born yesterday. I’ll give you a hint: It’s not post metal.
It’s hardcore punk of course.
I’ve heard people joke about the length of hardcore punk albums and their songs numerous times. But their shortness actually makes total sense. Since hardcore is about anger, and anger comes in bursts and attacks, the song and album lengths mimic that. Post metal, on the other hand, is about ruminating, and that goes on and on and on.
Entry are a newish hardcore punk band from L.A. I say newish because the album at hand is their debut full-length, but they’ve actually been around since 2013. Besides a demo from that year, an old bandcamp page lists two more releases. Their 7-inch No Relief from 2016 is sold out.
The band have played many festivals and opened for bands like Despise You and Career Suicide. Last year Greg Anderson of Southern Lord saw them perform live and was blown away by the intensity of their performance – which lead to Southern Lord releasing the album at hand.
The band list Discharge, Minor Threat, Converge, Tragedy and The Exploited as inspiration and influence. And at first glance this is pretty straight hardcore punk. But you will soon realize that the music has an evilness about it that is not usually connected with this genre. And massively contributing to that quality are the vocals.
For example, after an Intro of high-pitched spherical sounds, combined with low and slow bass and guitar as well as matching drums, Your Best Interest kicks things off in a fashion you expect form hardcore punk – fast, loud and angry. But straight away the vocals stick out. Guttural, deep and mean, you would rather connect them with death and black metal.
Entry’s vocalist Sara G. sounds as if she spent the night out, the whole night, and then went to the studio to record vocals while being furious about something and threatening to be vile.
Things move the furthest away from hardcore punk on the last track, Demons. Not only is the title closer to death and black metal, so is the atmosphere. The tempo is reduced compared to the other tracks, the music doomy and sludgy, and the vocals, enhanced with an echo effect, sound even more ghoulish.
A band to look out for and another great punk release on Southern Lord after last year’s Gloom Ballet by The Wraith. Don’t miss it.
(8/10 Slavica)
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