Review Summary: The band really knows how to write hardcore music. It features tasty guitar harmonies, lively drumming, harsh vocals which comprise of screaming and shouting, and generic bass playing all wrapped together in a rather short 3 song collection.
The Battle Cat - HOWH Demo [Vol. 1]
The Battlecat was a four-piece hardcore band from Southern Ontario. They recorded three self-released demos and toured extensively from 2004 to 2008. This demo is their first release. The band wrote it while they were still called "Hell Or High Water". For their first effort, this is a fairly generic, but decent album. When listening to the music, I can truly tell a lot of effort was put into the writing, recording, and delivery of this album. The guys in the band really know how to write quality hardcore music. It features tasty guitar harmonies, lively drumming, harsh vocals which comprise of screaming and shouting, and generic bass playing all wrapped together in a rather short 3 song collection. Since this is their self-released debut, the recording quality isn't spectacular and can be a bit sloppy at times. Don't get me wrong though, the music quality is definitely still listenable and only takes about a minute to get used to.
As I mentioned before, there are a lot of good dual guitar harmonies on this album that honestly reminded me of Avenged Sevenfold (Sounding of the Seventh Trumpet specifically, i find the two albums quite similar actually). A good example of a well placed harmony on this album would be the fast riffing and scales in "Deals". The bass on this album is audible, but it doesn't really do anything but follow the guitar in a simple way and keep a steady rhythm which is mildly disappointing, but I guess hardcore music isn't known for innovative bass, or for being innovative at all for the most part.
The drumming on this album isn't overly technical, and the dude isn't a gravity-blasting legend (aka blasturbater), but his drumming is very hard hitting and passionate and he is, in my opinion, the main reason the songs can be so badass and hook-filled. A great display of his playing is on "I'd Rather Freeze Than Burn". In this song, he uses a wide variety of beats and his fills seem to flow almost seamlessly. The drummer also has a very dry and tight-sounding snare drum that I enjoy hearing.
The vocals on this album are worth noting. They comprise of harsh screaming and shouting. The screams on this album are very good as the singer has a decent mid ranged scream and sometimes gives us a powerful high pitched wail. There is some shouting on this demo which I find rather annoying because whoever is responsible for it doesn't seem like they are even trying and it sounds pretty amateur, especially in a brief section in "Deals".
The only major problem with this demo is that I’ve heard all of this before. Even though they list themselves as experimental on their MySpace, there is really nothing unique or amazing brought to the table with this album. You have your fast riffs, your gang shouts, your super-fun breakdowns for the bros to throw down to, and all that other hardcore stuff. I also wish this demo was a little longer as I feel ripped off when the album suddenly ends just short of 10 minutes. They should have really just combined it with their second demo.
PROS:
- Good Guitar riffs and harmonies.
- Effort and passion in music.
- Drumming that drives the songs.
- Decent mid-ranged screams.
- Sick album cover.
CONS:
- Generic bass.
- Brings nothing new to the table (samey hardcore stuff etc.)
- Demo is way too short.
- Lazy and annoying shouting.
- Iffy recording quality (I won't be anal about this though because it was a self-released debut)
OVERALL RATING: 3.1/5
