April 2026 Featured Release - The Revolution Edition

So just like that we find that a new month is upon us which of course means that we’ll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we’re asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. We’re really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on our chosen releases so don’t be shy.

This month's feature release for The Revolution, nominated by me (Shadowdoom9 (Andi)), is the 1995 sole album by Californian straight-edge metalcore band Excessive Force, In Your Blood. After discovering and reviewing this album, I knew this one had feature release potential, especially when I barely included any 90s metalcore releases since I started doing the Revolution feature releases all by myself. So get ready for a glimpse of metalcore's heavier more hardcore-laden roots!

https://metal.academy/releases/38186

Here's my review summary:

Excessive Force made one of the heaviest albums of the scene at that time. It's all within the vocal fury, riffing punches, and drumming assault. And that drumming style would plant the seed for later bands of that genre and maybe even, dare I say it, nu metal. Many of the songs are anthemic mosher that show the groove and the guitar riffing going well together. The instrumentation is definitely worth moshing to, including the audible yet dirty bass and abrasive vocals. The music and lyrics are absolutely earth-shattering and make brutal highlights. It's sad that both this band and the similarily titlted German industrial band Excessive Force are no longer active beyond a couple releases, but let's enjoy them while we can!

4.5/5

Recommended tracks: "Those Who Were", "Distress", "Vengeance", "Misfortune", "In Your Blood"

For fans of: 7 Angels 7 Plagues, Morning Again, Underoath's Act of Depression

This week saw me breaking my cherry with this highly regarded Straight Edge metalcore outfit from California & it's been a reasonably worthwhile venture too as "In Your Blood" certainly hits the spot for some simple yet aggressive hardcore-inspired metal music. There's not a huge amount of variation across the ten tracks with most of the material taking a similar approach but there aren't too many failures here either with only a couple of flatter numbers (see "Vengeance" & "No Excuses") across the ten tracks on offer. Unfortunately, there aren't all that many highlight tracks that stand out from the rest here either though which has certainly played a role in my middling score. The title track is probably the only one that I can identify as being a cut above the others & some of that comes down to the very basic riff construction that's been used throughout the album, leaving the impression that the band members may have only just read "Baby's First Hardcore Riff" or "Metalcore For Dummies". Thankfully, the execution is really tight & the guitar tone is nice & chunky which gives the song-writing a bit of oomph but I could still do without the consistent use of gang vocals & bouncy metalcore breakdown riffs. I guess that's more of a taste thing though as those are obviously generic hardcore traits so you can't really blame a metalcore band for using them. Overall, "In Your Blood" isn't a bad record though & I think most fans of 90's hardcore/metalcore will get a fair bit out of it.

For fans of Reprisal, Chokehold & 7 Angels 7 Plagues.

3.5/5