Sovereign musically sounds to me like the equivalent of wrestling a bear but doing so while hopped up on pure adrenaline. These guys also just tear it up live, ripping through song after song, barely ever taking a break or pausing for air.

From beginning to end “The World Takes” is one d-beat filled blast of metallic, crusty hardcore of the best kind. Every song hits like a sledge hammer, and the pure anger is constant and never filtered down. Sovereign also manages to avoid the usual bane of hardcore debuts (every song being only a slight variation of one base song) and have a very healthy amount of diversity among songs. They also manage to show their mastery at one of hardcore’s most important aspects: the breakdown. Every breakdown is perfectly timed and feels as if you’re being pelted with bricks. The breakdowns also manage to not just fall into the easy-way-out chug guitar parts and crash cymbal heavy drums. These breakdowns are thick, but maintain a level of musicality that is refreshing while still also making me want to throw down endlessly to them.

With this release, the guys in Sovereign most definitely marked their place in hardcore.