Incendiary Change The Way You Think About Pain

When it comes to extreme music, and especially hardcore in particular, it’s very common for bands to dissolve before even dropping a single full-length record—and often shortly thereafter when they do make it that far. With that said, Long Island powerhouse Incendiary have had an impressively long run since their 2008 inception, steadily building a large base of diehard fans with their caustic and always hard-hitting metallic leaning approach to the genre, with both their explosive live performances and their previously released material ensuring that whenever they prepare to drop something new, the entire scene at large is watching and anticipating what comes next. Enter Change The Way You Think About Pain, their fourth full-length record, and one that stands in many ways as their most blistering and intense musical statement yet.

For those new to the band, Incendiary feels like the sonic equivalent of our collective society boiling over with the pure rage that only years of discontent and oppression can bring. Mixing the urgent, crushing heavy hardcore employed by bands such as Indecision and Turmoil with the rapid-fire high-pitched vocal approach and groove-based rhythms of Rage Against The Machine, there’s a palpable intensity to every single recorded moment of this album. Couple that with lyrics that take a magnifying glass to the injustices plaguing society’s systems at large, and the not-so-subtle suggestion of dismantling them, and there’s certainly a feeling of sincere anger here that’s undeniable, lending an extra gravity to the record that easily sticks with you both initially and grows further with each additional listen.

Rather than exploring a new sonic approach on Change The Way You Think About Pain, Incendiary have instead focused on honing and refining their songwriting craft to a razor-sharp edge which ensures this new collection of songs hits harder than anything they’ve released previously. Overall it feels like a mix of their previous two releases, with the catchy songwriting aspects of Thousand Mile Stare remaining, but paired with the volatile sledgehammer force of the second LP Cost of Living. Those (myself included) that may have wished for the band to return to the gritty and bleak elements of their first few records will certainly find plenty to love here. There’s a near-unmatched intensity on those first few full lengths that felt like it was missing somewhat on the band’s last record, and its return here is most certainly welcome.

Meanwhile, the infectious nature embedded in the guitarwork of songs "Echo of Nothing" and "Lie of Liberty" show they’re still more than capable of writing the kind of earworms that will stick with you regardless of how abrasive they might seem from the outside. The title track is another standout, melding every element of the band’s arsenal into one epic ending statement that perfectly encapsulates the breakneck intensity steadily built throughout the record. Not every song on the record stands out as much as the aforementioned, but for the most part each has their own particular standout moments. While there may be little to no risks taken here, it’s frankly impressive that Incendiary are able to continue to captivate and ensnare the attention of heavy music listeners while sticking very close to what gained them so much attention in the first place, when so many other artists run out of steam far before a fourth LP is even in the embryonic stages.

Bottom Line: Incendiary may not reinvent the wheel with Change The Way You Think About Pain but they certainly refine it, coming back swinging with a record that hits even harder than their previous material—no small feat in itself. It’s an explosive salvo of a record and one that ensures that they’ll stay one of most celebrated and talked about bands in modern hardcore for years to come.