Roam Alone's three-song Retribution 7" is a fierce and steady eight minutes of Integrity- and rough NY-influenced hardcore, but a little bit stuffy and congested for its own good.

Maybe it's more the recording and less the band themselves, but that's simply what's holding this 7" back. It just clouds what the band does to a certain extent. The sound's aggressive and there's a decent sense of dynamics, though--"Floods" has a deliberately lurching, demonically howled breakdown practically in quarter-time. All I can picture when I hear it is limbs ignorantly being swung in any and every direction.

The sheer intensity and relatively unexpected tempo changes of this thing--especially its closing title track--are perhaps what keep Retribution a moderately interesting listen. I wasn't huge on this its first few listens, but several spins later and its subtle influences come to light more and incite mimics of air drumming and some head bobbing in the least.

STREAM
Spite Riot
Floods