Thirteen And A Half - Curbside Cemetary
Beat With A Brick Music - B.W.A.B. 001 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Chicago based hardcore crew Thirteen And A Half seem to have a mission - under the guidance of mainman, vocalist/guitarist Mike Repel, the trio are telling tales of life on the streets, complete with tales of drug abuse, gang violence, wasted criminal youths and everything in between. Luckily, the trio (filled out by Jesse on bass and Val on drums) choose to espouse spoken work preaching in favour of tough-as-nails, Agnostic Front-by-way-of-Black Flag metallic hardcore.
Mike's vocal delivery had more than a touch of Roger Miret about it at times, but then the hardcore scene isn't exactly filled with a multitude of singing styles. Luckily, he has a knack for combining meaty, to-the-point riffage with occasional shred-fest meanderings and concise soloing. Jesse and Val back this up with a solid rhythm section that keeps the riffs hitting hard.
There are a couple of things wrong, however - the generally quite thin and punch-free production takes away from how pummelling this material really deserves to be - trebly, ear-disturbing guitar tones and dry, reverb-free drums don't really work with punchy hardcore riffs. Also, the tracks sometimes seem about a minute or so longer than they really should be, considering the same three or four riffs get played pretty much repeatedly throughout them - the instrumental introductory track, particular, sets the 'skip' reflex twitching. However, if you can forgive these minor trespasses, Curbside Cemetary is a satisfying slab of old-school metallic hardcore.
7/10
Official Thirteen And A Half Website
Beat With A Brick Music - B.W.A.B. 001 - 2005
By Philip Whitehouse
Chicago based hardcore crew Thirteen And A Half seem to have a mission - under the guidance of mainman, vocalist/guitarist Mike Repel, the trio are telling tales of life on the streets, complete with tales of drug abuse, gang violence, wasted criminal youths and everything in between. Luckily, the trio (filled out by Jesse on bass and Val on drums) choose to espouse spoken work preaching in favour of tough-as-nails, Agnostic Front-by-way-of-Black Flag metallic hardcore.
Mike's vocal delivery had more than a touch of Roger Miret about it at times, but then the hardcore scene isn't exactly filled with a multitude of singing styles. Luckily, he has a knack for combining meaty, to-the-point riffage with occasional shred-fest meanderings and concise soloing. Jesse and Val back this up with a solid rhythm section that keeps the riffs hitting hard.
There are a couple of things wrong, however - the generally quite thin and punch-free production takes away from how pummelling this material really deserves to be - trebly, ear-disturbing guitar tones and dry, reverb-free drums don't really work with punchy hardcore riffs. Also, the tracks sometimes seem about a minute or so longer than they really should be, considering the same three or four riffs get played pretty much repeatedly throughout them - the instrumental introductory track, particular, sets the 'skip' reflex twitching. However, if you can forgive these minor trespasses, Curbside Cemetary is a satisfying slab of old-school metallic hardcore.
7/10
Official Thirteen And A Half Website
