Lionheart Undisputed

For anyone who grew up listening to hardcore in the late-90s there is often a general discontent with the genre's current trajectory. A music scene that used to rely on pure aggression and anger, many hardcore bands today have opted for either the clean vocal/pop punk-influence approach, or a metal/entombed-influence form of metallic hardcore. For those of you who feel most at home listening to Hatebreed's Satisfaction is the Death of Desire or Terror's Lowest of the Low, you can take solace in the fact that a band like Lionheart is proving that this style of late 90s/early 2000s- inspired hardcore is far from gone. No one is ever going to accuse Lionheart of reinventing the wheel of hardcore, but their new album Undisputed helps show that straight-forward aggressive hardcore is not a thing of the past. Very much a logical progression from their last album, Built on Struggle, Lionheart continues to use punishing riffs, gang vocals, and well-placed breakdowns to deliver no-frills hardcore that not only pays homage to its predecessors, but also delivers 13 well-crafted songs of punishing hardcore. Tracks like "Lifer" and "By Any Means" help start this album off on a high-energy and hostile note by blending mid-tempo verse riffs and crushing breakdowns with lyrics that tell tales of hardship in an uncaring world. Rather than filling their songs with slow breakdowns (followed by even slower breakdowns) like many bands today, Lionheart understands that while hardcore doesn't have to be particularly diverse, it does have to offer enough variety to keep the listener interested past the first song. Songs like "Can't Hold Us Down" and "Concrete" take an "if it's not broke, don't fix it" approach to hardcore song writing, but are done in such a way as to avoid sounding cookie-cutter or derivative. The only element of excessive repetition on this album is the lyrical content. Focusing on living hard and overcoming life's obstacles, vocalist Rob Watson does rely heavily on lyrics that tell the story of the challenges and victories associated with starting at the bottom (and clawing your way to the top). A well-worn trope in hardcore, these stories of hard living are perfectly suited for such an angry and violent style of music, but can grow tiresome from time to time. That being said, I can't think of a better album to use as a backdrop for screaming about an ugly and cold world. Bottom Line: Lionheart is able to put their unique stamp on a tried-and-tested style of heavy hardcore with Undisputed. Relying on chugging riffs, impassioned screams, and a straightforward approach, this band proves that you don't have to be innovative to be impressive.