Over the past couple of years, there seems to have been an influx of bands who give nods to the older variety of hardcore. Whether it's just a coincidence, or whether it came as a knee-jerk reaction to the rise of metalcore is debatable, but whatever the reason, it's here. Stand & Fight is one such band, and although they aren't redefining hardcore with this release, they play with lots of energy and intensity, and that nearly negates their lack of innovation.

Stand & Fight play what I like to call hardcore influenced hardcore. You see, with all the elements being pulled into hardcore these days, it seems that most bands are playing "genre x influenced genre y," but this band is content with using the style that fits them best. You won't find any excessive wankery here, and this sure as hell isn't a concept album, what you will find is twelve tracks of solid, straight ahead hardcore. Still, the lack of originality here does make it slightly difficult for me to really give this a high rating, but it still makes for a very enjoyable listen.

The lyrics predictably take on a straight edge agenda, and really, I don't think anyone is really surprised by this. If you're straight edge, you may appreciate them, but for someone like me, who has never been and never will be edge, they come off as little more than sloganeering. Regardless, if you can look past that, they aren't too bad.

Stand & Fight aren't going to replace Minor Threat in your record collection, but if you're looking for some music to shout along to, you needn't look any further than this. Bridge 9 seems to be at the forefront of this hardcore revival, and they're doing a fine job of putting out quality releases.