Albums•November 29, 2011•13,302 views

Icepick Violent Epiphany

01. Devotion Measures Strength 02. Bitter Twisted Memory 03. Tomorrow Is Not A Promise 04. Violent Epiphany 05. Creations Of Chaos 06. With On Ideal 07. Show Of Force 08. This Can Never Be Undone 09. Nothing Without Loyaly MP3 10. Real Recognizes Real 11. Onward To Victory 12. Born To Crush You

2006 Stillborn Records

Our score 5

by Cory

5/27/2006

Jamey Jasta and company have worked hard to build Hatebreed into the world's most successful hardcore band, and while they're definitely the best there is at what they do, what they do is, to put it bluntly, mindless. Enter Icepick, Jasta's side project that attempts to raise the bar on general style but drops the ball repeatedly with the execution, among other things. Comprised of Jasta, Lord Ezec (aka Danny Diablo) of Skarhead, producer Zeuss and Frank "3Gun" Novinec (Ringworm, Terror, Hatebreed, Integrity), Icepick is a super-group with more legitimate hardcore credibility than certain entire US states. Violent Epiphany is essentially a pretty decent novelty record that could have been more, had certain choices been made differently. My major beef with the Icepick record is that for all the claims of this being a more old school influenced record, most songs end up turning into Hatebreed songs. Most of them start off promising before degenerating into chugging singalongs and breakdowns. Last time I checked, Leeway, the Cro-Mags and Bad Brains didn't sound like Hatebreed. Agnostic Front might NOW, but they didn't used to. Yet these are the bands that Icepick claims to be using as influence on Violent Epiphany. The only real new influence I hear on this record is a little bit of old Biohazard. So two of these guys are in Hatebreed, one of them produces Hatebreed and the other one is skating by on the waning popularity of a mid-90's thug-core band. The question remains, "Why does this exist" Based on what I've heard of the new Hatebreed, they might have been better off had they saved these songs and released them as Hatebreed songs. They're good hardcore songs for the most part and have the same visceral appeal that Hatebreed songs do, but I just can't help but wonder what the point is. Songs like "Creation of Chaos" and "Tomorrow Is Not A Promise" offer glimpses at the sort of older crossover sound that Icepick seems to be going for, but both songs end up sounding like the modern pseudo-crossover revival (AKA putting Slayer riffs in your songs) that Hatebreed has spearheaded. The problem with this record is illustrated perfectly on "With One Ideal," when the first amazing minute of punk-y old school hardcore suddenly gives way to a horribly boring, two minute sequence of Hatebreed-style chugging. It's enough to make one rip their hair out. It's like they're intentionally sabotaging these songs. Also, throughout the record, Ezec and Jasta trade off on vocals and unfortunately for Ezec, Jasta's just a better hardcore vocalist. There are guest appearances by Paul Bearer of Sheer Terror, Al Barr of the Dropkick Murphy's and the Bruisers and Freddy Cricien of Madball that don't do much besides highlight the quality of their respective vocal abilities, and one from Roger Miret that makes Ezec seem great by comparison. "Show of Force" has some nice Strife moments in it and there are other bright spots all throughout the record, but just when you think you've gotten the gist of the record and you're settling into potentially enjoying it, the album's worst moment rears its ugly head. I'm talking, of course, about the song "Real Recognizes Real." The track features rapper and former Body Count vocalist Ice T in his return to singing hardcore badly. Add in the fact that he prefaces it all with "It's going down, faggots!" and I was left just shaking my head. What the fuck is that This is 2006, not 1995. Icepick are not One Life Crew and I'd like to think that the hardcore community isn't comprised of a bunch of ignorant assholes. Perhaps Jasta understands that he has an audience consisting largely of meathead frat guys and high school football players and would rather pander to them than do the reasonable thing and keep this off the record. Who knows. All I know is that as much as I might have enjoyed certain portions of this record, I'm just puzzled and annoyed that it exists. Bottom Line: If you really love Hatebreed, chances are you'll at least enjoy this record. There are moments of every track (approximately the first minute or so) that don't sound like Hatebreed, but for the most part, you should know what you're getting into. It's not that this record is bad per se, it just does extremely little to justify its existence. And the music, despite supposedly being a throwback to old school hardcore, seems less inspired by the last two decades than does the overall absurd mentality of tracks like "Real Recognizes Real." Basically, you've got a record I never need to own, regardless of tracks I might like.

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chomper_ 5/27/2006 11:51:47 PM

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Icepick Violent Epiphany

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