Hand Of Hope Records
Band members:
Dre Stewart-Vocals
Michael Stewart-Guitar
Pat Burgess-Guitar
Danny Banura-Bass
Art Banura-Drums
Ah, Donnybrook! Yet another so called 'tuff' hardcore act to break out of the famous Los Angeles scene, playing music in the same vein as the ever popular Terror and Madball. This album is encapsulated by its cover; a violent punch up on the ice rink with no shortage of blood. In Lions In This Game, brutality reigns supreme. However, judging from the song titles, with such gems as 'Down For The Core' and 'Read 'Em And Weep', Donnybrook! view themselves in an overly serious way, as is often the case with such bands. Nevertheless, Donnybrook! still hit mightily hard in this release with an angry mix of metal and hardcore, even if this stuff isn't groundbreakingly original; Donnybrook! do draw quite heavily from Terror throughout. Scott Vogel of the latter band even offers his vocal talents on the track Techno-Logic-Kill. A very original aspect of Donnybrook were the dual vocalists. The second vocalist had left before this release, leaving vocalist Dre Stewart's brother to fill in when needed, which is done well throughout.
From the beginning track, the aforementioned 'Read 'Em and Weep', to the hair-raising finale of 'Fist Over Fist', Lions In This Game sure as hell lasts the pace. It's one of those albums that isn't necessarily hard to get into whilst still actually being an excellent release. So many bands of Donnybrook!'s ilk have fallen down the unfortunate path of sacrificing any evident musicianship to produce albums that were blatantly just 'mosh music'. Thankfully, Donnybrook! resisted the temptation and chose to release one of the albums of the year instead. Mixing heavy melodies with thunderous breakdowns, many will take an instant liking to this gem. However, a lot of people would have a problem with the in-your-face, 'hardcore pride' nature of the lyrics, which are really just a somewhat cheesy testament to their love for what they do and shouldn't be interpreted seriously. Also to this album's credit; each song is a powerful anthem and different even if quite a few follow the same basic formula of heavy intro and a 'chugga chugga' riff leading into an earsplitting breakdown. For example, middle track 'Check Your Chest' is a hard hitting chant-a-long and arguably the best on the album, with the vocalist issuing a stark warning to the insincere:
"You better check you chest
Don't be a fool like the rest
You better check your chest
If you ever decide to fucking test"
As is often the case with music today, you could find yourself loving this band for the electrifying riff based hardcore and pride the band exhibit.On the other hand, you may end up hating Donnybrook! for exactly the same reasons. Regardless of how many may view this album, Donnybrook definitely deserve all the praise they can get for the honesty, passion and energy that has gone into this release.
