Animosity - Shut It Down (2003)^{Release ID: 7494}

20 years ago, people were thinking of hardcore as a "dead" genre, but I found some releases that show how mighty the genre was (and still is) back then. One example is Animosity's debut, a short yet strong assault of thrashy deathgrind/hardcore! Not as chaotic as The Red Chord, but quite vicious in the hardcore riffing.

Shut It Down is perhaps one of the most brutal extreme metal albums that I really enjoy. That's helped out by the caustic guitar, not the over-prominent snare. While not too devastating and definitely not melodic, metalcore riffing gets morphed into deathly monsters. The growls are too harsh for emocore kids, while the screams are too shrill for death metal fans. However, it's all balanced out, so people can mosh and stomp around during shows. The deathly hardcore grind will blow you away!

The 45-second "Intro" builds up the metal strength smoothly. Then the nearly 3-minute long "Grey Skies" unleashes the might of their deathcore groove from the two different coasts, even having some Undying-like melody. There aren't any acoustic ballads in this album, unlike albums from other hardcore bands, just brutal deathly weight. "Instilling the Affliction" has the brutal deathcore of Make Them Suffer, but with obviously no symphonics at all. "Saved" has the most deathly breakdown of the album in the second half, and d*mn it's cool! That proves that some deathcore breakdowns can be worth enjoying.

"24 More" has some metalcore riffing to remind me of Living Sacrifice. "Leashes" has some more deathly music unleashed. "Fake Blood" continues their deathgrind/core sound while almost being as mathy as Car Bomb.

"Anti-Kingdom" sounds like the kind of song to give you more excessive caffeine than coffee. "Terminal Existence" is absolute death metal punisher. Surely you can't find anything more deathly from this band than in that song. "Life Advocate" is the final track, and one more to be 3 minutes long, having some of the deathcore of Despised Icon and early Upon a Burning Body.

Any of you open-minded extreme metalheads out there should get this album. You can hear how brutal this band can be, and they were only in their high school teens. One other deathly band that started that young was Decapitated, and you might think of Animosity like a more hardcore take on that band. Young and wild!

Favorites: "Grey Skies", "Saved", "Fake Blood", "Terminal Existence", "Life Advocate"