Semi-raspy vocals, sing-alongs, and themes of uniting under hardcore are such things that make for a pretty straight-forward hardcore record. Deathwish's own Blacklisted fit this format to a 'T' with We're Unstoppable. They won't overwhelm you with the incessant need to abuse your neighbor and/or the air, nor will they underwhelm you with passionless, in-it-for-the-wrong-reasons hardcore. It may, however, bring back fond memories from the days of American Nightmare or possibly even reignite one's love for hardcore. And hey, that sure doesn't hurt.

We're Unstoppable, an album full of tracks from their out-of-print release Our Youth Is Wasted and rare demos, begins with the catchy, gang vocal-ridden "Long Way Home," followed by "Finding Faith," whose line "Here we fucking go again" will surely burrow itself into your brain for days to come. "You're playing tug of war with your tongue / You're playing Russian roulette with a loaded gun" are only some of the clever lyrics the album is home to.

While the vocals undeniably make Blacklisted who they are, without the intense drum work and aggressive guitar riffs, We're Unstoppable wouldn't be half of the unique trip down hardcore's memory lane that it is. And as for consistency? Between the recording of the demos and 2003's Our Youth Is Wasted, Blacklisted have remained true to their sound, a quality which is extremely evident when listening to a compilation such as this.

With hardcore taking the crown from metalcore as most clichéd genre, an album fusing modern classic bands in the likes of American Nightmare and Refused with more modern traces of NYHC is definitely worth the multiple listens it would take to fully appreciate the complexities that make We're Unstoppable so unique. And at this rate, it seems as if Blacklisted just may be unstoppable (come on, you didn't see that one coming?).

MP3
Long Way Home