Review Summary: Not a EP for every one by a longshot, but an amazing listen for those who can find some thing appealing within.
Pure emotion is what led me to listen to and love the genre of Hardcore. I do not think that the emotion of good Hardcore is somehow superior to other genres, but to me it is the most powerful. This is where First Degree by Redeemer comes in; an EP of scarcely more than 20 minutes, it is a hard hitting insight into a story many times told that makes me feel, and makes me feel hard.
The EP follows the story of a man whose family is lost to him because of Edward Cass. The story starts halfway through in Sorrow and Regret with Edward who has returned home after killing the unnamed man’s family in a drunken hit and run. He himself had lost his own family years earlier due to his alcohol addiction and now thinking clearer realizes the immensity of what he has done in killing a young mother and her child and, to his shame, running away from the scene.
However his shame is not long felt as the story continues in the perspective of the newly widowed man who in blind rage finds his revenge in ending Edward Cass’ life with a bottle to his face; a fitting end for a man who had been a slave to the bottle in life. With his death comes little comfort for the widower as he is convicted and sent to prison for the murder of Edward Cass.
In prison, he learns the true meaning of misery and rails against anything and everything in his pain. Calling out to anyone or anything that might be listening; he realizes that he is no more alive than the man he killed because his life ended with the lives of his family but still he lashes out in search of something.
10 years pass with a mark on the wall for each week and he still has found no peace. Still he is haunted by his memories and has found nothing to comfort him even though he has heard of the saving grace found in the holy book given to him. As time passes, he puts aside everything and finds himself at his last straw and searching for that grace in the god of the holy book. He finally lets go of his hate and feels the presence of someone and finds escape from his pain.
Though I realize that this should have been a review of the EP as music, I find that the music of this release is too much ingrained in the story and emotion of the lyrics that the story is enough. So what do I think of the EP? Except for wishing that Sorrow and Regret had been placed as the last track of the EP to better develop the story, I find little to fault in this EP. Not a perfect release, but close enough to warrant being a favourite. To me, this EP is pure emotion
