Deathwish's 2005 Hardcore Parade continues with Killing the Dream, and while their proper debut full-length may not be as overpowering as some of the label's other recent offerings, what it does offer is a solid half-hour of no-frills intensity.

The band receives incessant comparisons to Bane and Comeback Kid, and while musically, KtD play the same style of mostly breakdown-free, slightly more punk-influenced hardcore in comparison to many of their peers, they're notably more intense and angry in the vocal area, giving them about as much distance inside of the genre as possible. Elijah Horner has an irrefutably harsh voice, searing his chords until they're suffering from practical self-inflicted burn wounds. And while the aforementioned bands usually rely on positive vibes, In Place, Apart is a rather bleak, dark record. It's filled with hopeless observations left and right like "it's been so long since it's rained this hard / so I'll drive with the windows down to remember how it felt to be alive" and "fuck this town / fucking walk away / just walk away to die / ... / fuck everything / our youth is spent fucking blind." "If it Rains" contains the record's sole bit of harmonizing, and it's an absolutely helpless-sounding vocal melody at that. While most of the album is unrelentingly up-tempoed, the mid-section of the record seems to let up a bit solely to offer two of the bit more anthemic, "epic" tracks with "Where the Heart Is" and "We're All Dead Ends," though closer "Four Years Too Late" ends things well with a maniuplated buildup running through its course.

In Place, Apart is a definitively promising debut of sorts. It's fair to say the band would do well to expand on the rare moments of melody here and give its tight rhythm section and guitarists who show the occasional flash of brilliance a bit more prominence, but right now, a solid recording and inspired sound should do well for Killing the Dream, too.

MP3
Rough Draft