Statues are sticklers for the homegrown ethos, bigging up other bands on their Facebook page and releasing splits with fellow Perth hardcorers.
But will their debut win them new fans outside the Aussie underground hardcore scene? If you’ve got Trash Talk, Cancer Bats or Madball in your music collection, then yes. Opening with All Fears Are Learned All Victories Are Earned they pull no punches and show a tight grasp on irregular time signatures. Foreseeing The Cloud And Not The Rain, Burning The Truth At Both Ends and Hard Words Softly Spoken have an offbeat groove, metal-inspired drumming and a hint of melody in the guitar lines.
They’re the best tracks, but fade from memory soon after the record finishes. The stripped-back chant of I Want Peace sounds like a bad attempt at a gospel hymn.
Skip that, and you’ve got an interesting debut from a band who haven’t reached their best yet, but know how to make decent hardcore.
