Description

Before I’d heard them, a friend of mine described I Want You Dead to me as ‘like if Integrity had sex with Rise & Fall and then raised the child in Greece’ which is so on the money that I almost don’t need to write anymore. IWYD are the second Greek hardcore band I’ve heard this year, and the second one to make a big impression. If you dig the mid 90’s-Systems Overload style Integrity coupled with the breathless fury of Ghent bruisers Rise & Fall then, yeah, you’ll find plenty to mosh too. Also, if you’re feeling what Shin To Shin are putting down lately then you’ll be right at home, IWYD sharing that same Clevo mettalic battering with a nice layer of fuzz to the guitar.

This new 7″ is thankfully a marked improvement on their debut. After forming in 2008, they released their first LP We Are The Legions Of Scums which, frankly, wasn’t that great. It had polish, showed a skill for mettalic hardcore and packed a punch but was mired in derivatives, relied on lacklustre breakdowns and sported a fairly drab vocal performance. This new 7″ finds a seemingly revitalised I Want You Dead; songs packed with neat riffs and smart use of grim rhythms, far stronger conceptually and new vocalist Michael (Fields Of Locust) shows a lot more dexterity and knocks out a great turn behind the mic. Everything a follow up should be then; builds on proven talent, strips off the fat and replaces it with new elements that sound hard as nails. Ok, so they’re not breaking new ground, but they’ve developed considerably so far and this 7″ is hopefully a glimpse of where they could be headed. ‘Black Sails’ especially, with its closing moments drenched in a bleak melody, hints at a bright future for them and show a band to watch out for.