Canadian hardcore mob Counterparts are here to shout in your face until blue, their disappointment and anger at people coming across in this shouty LP, their third full-length. On the back of a relationship meltdown, frontman Brendan Murphy, numbed to the core allowed the therapy of recording this LP to guide his vocal direction and hints strongly at why there is so much ‘Fuck You’ stuff on the album.
Angst goes hand in hand with hardcore, but this latest LP from Counterparts sounds real and full of emotion, straight from the heart of someone who is just darn pissed off.
‘Stillborn’ starts off easily enough before the inevitably fast drums, Kelly Bilan (a bloke, see Stereophonics) unleashes a tirade of skin punching beats. There is a juxtaposed section of really heavy with spoken word, before the throaty repost of Murphy drives the song along, the guitar parts meandering and winding into your ear drums.
The lyrics “some fires are not meant to burn” in ‘Thread’ point towards Murphy’s coming to terms with his breakup and will give every young love lost youngster something to grip to whilst they cry into their proverbial pillow. Far better to just go mental to Counterparts than let that shit ruin your day. Perhaps they’ll do a big cry along at their shows when they come to the UK later in the year?
Although a fan of hardcore, it would be interesting to see if you made a mixtape of say, Stick To Your Guns, Hundredth and Counterparts to name but three, whether a new listener to the scene would be able to identify that there were indeed three bands, with a lot of what they produce sounding very similar and indeed it is starting to feel like individuality is lacking amongst some of the bigger hitters in the scene.
The scene generally is newly invigorated and post-hardcore is running along quite nicely with bands like Touché Amore and La Dispute doing something different and offering something fresh. This album, much like the recent Hundredth offering sounds way too safe, like Counterparts are happy with where they are and that’s it. There is no attempt at musical or style progression, but hey, if it ain’t broke and all that, but again ‘Tragedy Will Find Us’ leaves you with a feeling of ‘meh’ and it is difficult to identify one track from another, even after several listens.
‘Drown’ offers a moody, Deftones-esque intro before some spoken word hardcore words about mortality being the greatest gift with the very angry Brendan unleashing his fury at all and sundry.
Final track ‘Solace’ starts with refreshingly different guitar and some more raw, unplugged style vocals, the timing of this song different and incredibly welcome, the gang style vocals adding volumes to the throaty roar of Murphy. The LP finishes on a strong point but the whole release is relatively underwhelming. There is no doubt that hardcore is a genre better live than on record, that energy and camaraderie impossible to replicate on record, but Counterparts have fired a pistol with the safety on and it would have been cool to see them go mental with a bazooka.
DAVE BULL