Review Summary: ¡Counterparts 2013!
Continuing on the style presented in their last album,
The Current Will Carry Us, Counterparts present their fans with,
The Difference Between Hell and Home. It encompasses everything the young hardcore band from Canada has done so far. The band is still signed to one of the worst labels in the business, Victory Records; but they haven't had any major issues with the label that other bands have experienced. At least not any made public. Despite being on Victory the band continues to thrive due to a devout and ever-growing fanbase. On
The Difference Hell and Home, Counterparts is:
Brendan Murphy - Vocals
Jesse Doreen - Guitar
Alex Re - Guitar
Eric Bazinet - Bass
Kelly Bilan - Drums
Right when the first track "Lost" starts you begin to hear the sounds of the young band doing what they do best. "Lost" remains familiar as it sounds similar to a few of the songs on
The Current Will Carry Us, in its short two minute length it gives us an excellent taste of what's to come on the album. Still present in the band's sound is wonderful melody and harmony backed with an excellent(and audible) rhythm section topped with Brendan Murphy's desperate vocals. What is new to fans on this album is the bands absolutely punishing rhythm section. Thanks to incredible production and stronger, meatier writing the band is alive and kicking more than ever. All of the aforementioned points can be found in "Debris".
When you approach the fifth song, "Witness" you are presented with a song that is eerily reminiscent of Modern Life is War's
Witness. It is likely the bands most mature and strongest track to date. Newcomer to the band, drummer Kelly Bilan does a great job throughout the record. He is constantly pushing everything forward with great precision. While he doesn't do much out of the ordinary he fits perfectly within the bands style. The next song in the tracklisting is "Decay" which builds in a similar fashion to the closer on
The Current Will Carry Us, "Reflection". Starting out with smooth guitar based ambience progressing to a spoken word section before the song ends a bit prematurely.
As we continue forward throughout the album it is more and more clear what the band's intentions are here, take no prisoners and burn everything. All of this is clearly portrayed through "Slave" the short two minute and one second long atomic bomb of a song. The song features, blast beats, pinch harmonics, a gnarly breakdown, Converge styled riffage and Brendan's most fiery vocal performance yet. The feedback nearing the end of "Slave" smoothly transitions to the closer "Soil". It is the bands longest song yet, clocking in at five minutes and forty-three seconds. What the closer ultimately shows is the bands progression as they become more original while stepping away from their influences to find their own sound and leave their own mark on the hardcore scene. What it all boils down to is
The Difference Between Hell and Home is the bands most mature and cohesive release yet. Taking pieces from their previous releases and a couple unexpected twists and turns they have given us one hell of an album that will surely be present in many best of 2013 lists.
