Rise After Defeat - Self Titled

Hailing from Italy, Rise After Defeat brings us their debut album with 10 tracks of metal influenced hardcore. The sticker on the jewel case says this is straight in your face real hardcore so my expectations were high cause that’s exactly the way I like my hardcore – served raw and on point.

Hardcore vibe is present here but they merge it with grooved out metal, more on the thrash side of the game. While most of the songs more or less follow the same pattern, the stand out ones come in the shape of No Fate and Always War. Both are metal influences, but while the first one opens up with a straight up thrash riffing, Always War is more dark and mid paced. Lyrically, their focus is on everyday struggles and the ups and downs of life in Italy. Lyrics are really well written and no matter where you’re from you can relate to a lot of things they’re singing about. This is probably my favorite part of this album.

There is some interesting guitar work in here and Rise After Defeat made sure every track is complex, but what lets this album down is the lack of dynamic in both speed and song writing. The band is at their best when their tempos are quick and in my opinion album should focus on this strength. When they play it straight, it’s all good and even the weak production doesn’t bother me that much. But when they try to branch out and start to do some experimenting stuff, things start to fall off. The problem is when some of the grooves or song’s transitions are poorly executed and instead of keeping things exciting, start to sound boring. The production doesn’t exactly make things any better. It’s flat and even though the band has two guitar players, it doesn’t really sound as powerful as it should.

This isn’t really a bad album overall. It has its share of solid moments and great songs. But mixed in with those songs are some weaker parts and missed ideas. The production doesn't help either. Overall, this album is a pretty decent release, but nothing really above average. There are many things the band need to work on to ensure their next release will rate higher with me.

Author: Dloogi
Label:StrikeDown Records
Year: 2009

Rise After Defeat at Myspace