Fury

Kingdom Come (2014)

I withdraw my question.

West coast band. East coast sound. Southern California’s Fury is doing everything right on Kingdom Come, a flawless introductory EP, compliments of Triple-B Records. It’s a perfect formula: a wide ranging hardcore sound, an eye catching, memorable DIY logo, and old school, black and white, weight-of-the-world mythology meets Against Me! self-titled stylized cover art. A blast of NYHC, an uppercut of 80s California hardcore, and a roundhouse kick of youth crew, all recorded with just enough grit and muddiness to tie the package together.

Ringing feedback, distortion, and incessant cymbal bashing rendezvous on Kingdom Come’s starting track, “Royalty.” The lurking sound ceases when a snarling burst of vocals gnaw through the introduction, forcing guitar work to take quicker bites. Once punchy verses are rifled off, Fury slams on the brakes, finishing with slower strumming, crunchy, chunky bass, and stressed barking of threats, in a vocal pattern of singular syllable smashing, “knock you six feet un-der ground.” As soon as one track dies off, intensity immediately returns on “Reality Check,” showing off speed metal-worthy guitar playing that surely left blood on the strings. Half way, the band, again, takes advantage of their ability to downshift in tempo, then gas up on the final stretch.

“Holy” is appropriately placed, a 42 second track acting as a short, youth crew buffer before entering the two concluding tracks, much more structured around NYHC and metallic hardcore. “End is Nigh (It’s Time)” bruises through a lengthy intro, boasts heavy guitar solos, plenty of sliding shrieks, and tops off with gang shouting, pile inducing hooks. “Kingdom Come” mimics a similar tone, an angry, snappy vocal performance, with rapid, rattling instrumental interjections. The finishing, exploding shout of, “kingdom come!,” at the end of the song, is a definitive, impressionable mark. Fury have made their presence known.

This is definitive hardcore. Fast and brutal, gnarly and crashing, a band with tremendous focus and power, even offering just enough melody for fierce, yet discernible vocals. Comparisons can be made anywhere from Turning Point to Stick Together, but it’s not fair to narrow down the band’s sound for the sake of referencing. Kingdom Come is quick, catchy, and reminiscent of older styles, but arranged to Fury’s liking, resulting in one of the best hardcore releases in recent memory.