Review Summary: Rocking the old-school but keeping it modern, Restless Youth's "Light Up Ahead" brings the listener 10 songs of raging hardcore punk in the vein of Dead Kennedys and Bad Brains. Full of energy, RY reminds us what hardcore oughta be.
As if their "
State of Confusion" EP wasn't good enough, Holland's Restless Youth come at you with their first full-length effort, "
Light Up Ahead", on Complete Control Records. Combining their love of 80's hardcore such as
Bad Brains,
Dead Kennedys and the like with some killer grooves and
Danzig-esque vocals, "
Light Up Ahead" hit you with 10 tracks of raging Dutch hardcore.
From the second the album starts, you know it's gonna be a trip of non-stop jamming. It opens up with
Cold Hearted, full speed and relentless, and the album continues at this pace on through the second track,
Do You Mind?. Then comes the title track,
Light Up Ahead, showing the first apparent sign of RY's utilization of heavy grooving bass lines from their bassist, Kledder. It comes off with a feel of surf rock, taking notes from such bands as the
Dead Kennedys. Easing on the more up-beat sound of the previous tracks comes
Thieves which takes it at midpace, going heavier and gloomier than previously heard on this record and not unlike the breakdown of
Bad Brains' "Supertouch" with RY adding their own touch. They cover 10 tracks in just under 20 minutes, and never lose any intensity at any point on this record as you can see by the final track,
Burning, which is just as fast and energetic as
Cold Hearted.
