Album Review: Rise Of The Northstar - "Welcame"
So, I'm sitting in my favorite chair with a turkey sandwich in one hand and a fresh cup of coffee in the other. The album I'm reviewing this week begins to play on the hi-fi. It starts off innocuously enough with your standard thrash guitar beginning. I take a bite of my sandwich. The song kind of sounds like something Testament or Death Angel might have done back in the day. Then, 48 seconds into the album, it snaps into some killer NYC hardcore straight outta 1993. Was I shocked? Indeed. I nearly dropped my turkey sandwich.
Rise Of The Northstar is the band and they have nailed (and I mean NAILED) the perfect blend of old-school NYC hardcore, thrash and hip-hop on their latest release, their first full length album, "Welcame".
Sure, they've had 20 or so years to perfect their sound but let's not talk about that yet.
I'll tell you what, kids. If I were at the club way back when and this band hit the stage, I would have made a bee line back to the merch table the second they were done and bought a shirt, their CD, some stickers, maybe even a hat and added my name to the mailing list. I was THAT impressed.
The band hails from Japan which I was surprised to learn considering the rawness of their hardcore sound. The members include Eva-B on lead guitar and Air One on rhythm, Fabulous Fab on bass, drummer Hokuto No Kev and a fellow named Vithia on vocals. Apparently, Vithia never shows his face and, according to their bio, "a black shadow is cast over his identity".
What the f**k?!
Ironically, "What the f**K" is the title of the first track from "Welcame" and is the first of many to crank my blood pressure up to borderline hypertension levels. It may be because Rise Of The Northstar has successfully replicated and improved upon a 90's hardcore sound that struck a chord in me that hasn't been struck in quite some time.
This band is so good I hardly know how to explain it. It's heavy, chunky and catchy as hell. The guitar sound is spot on. The drums fit the genre perfectly. The bass is fluid. They put the "hard" in hardcore while still giving the listener some tender guitar leads.
The title track, "Welcame (Furyo State of Mind)" is a total throwback with some well placed turntable action reminiscent of Cypress Hill, a killer thrash part and a sick breakdown that made me wish I wasn't listening to it alone just so I could throw down with someone other than my cat (Sorry Mr. Giggles).
I did have some difficulty with lyric comprehension or lack thereof. But this is hardcore so it's not unusual for me to not understand the lyrics. Some of them are clearly sung in English but I couldn't determine if others were sung in Japanese. Frankly, it doesn't matter. Vithia uses his voice as a percussion instrument as much as a way to get his message across. That being said, a lyric sheet would make for interesting reading, I'm sure.
"Welcame" consists of 11 tracks, 45 minutes of intense hardcore/thrash. They have mastered a sound that was popular 20 years ago. And that very well could be the one problem with this record.
As I mentioned, my initial reaction to the record was positive and it continues to be but the more I listen to it the more I question its staying power. I feel "Welcame" may be tapping into a certain nostalgia in me, taking me back to the days of Life of Agony, MOD, Sick Of It All and the like. Rise Of The Northstar have created a terrific homage to that classic era in metal evolution but I'm not sure if they've added enough of their own originality to bring it back to life for more than a little while.
Make no mistake, "Welcame" is terrific. I really, really enjoyed it. And it's interesting that this album comes to me at the end of 2014 as it is most definitely a contender on my album of the year list. Again, though, I find myself questioning its longevity. The sound on which it's based had its day and that day was a couple of decades ago. But as a fan of that era (in case you couldn't tell) I like this record. Groundbreaking? Not necessarily but it is as solid an album as I've heard in a while and I've had a lot of fun listening to it. So if you like living in the moment then do yourself a favor; give "Welcame" a listen. Enjoy it for what it is and not for what it might become. And be careful if you're eating a turkey sandwich.
