It's time to play the ex-member/members of game again. This time we have members and former members of the Maine hardcore unit, Outbreak. If I'm not mistaken Cruel Hand is actually the same Outbreak lineup that gave us the You Make Us Sick EP, but with a different singer. So if you haven't guessed Cruel Hand does at times sounds like Outbreak if Outbreak was more moshy. When I say "moshy" I'm not talking about Hatebreed "Doomsayer" type of E-chord jud-jud carnage, but more of the harmonious halcyon mosh days of NYHC hardcore. You know, the good mosh before the days of fighting invisible ninjas and synchronized two-stepping. Moshing that Sick of it All made a video about. Yeah, that kind of moshing.
Just about every song on Without a Pulse, aside the from the token intro title track, follows the same formula of heavy riffs followed by a mosh part in the middle. Every once in awhile Cruel Hand switches it up by going fast or hits that all important furrow cadence. The songs on Without a Pulse are memorable without being catchy due to its constant jackhammer attack. The songs don't get stuck in your head; they get milled into your skull. The tracks on Without a Pulse are fast and frenetic as none of them go over the two-and-a-half minute mark minus the extra hidden track where the band goofs around in the studio. Highlights include someone doing their best Nickelback impression over "Under the Ice." Useless? Sure. Goofy? You bet.
My only complaint about Without a Pulse is that the recording comes off a little thin at times. It sounds great on my computer, but through my Discman's headphones, the guitars come off a bit weak that takes away from the overall assault quality of the album. It's minor complaint as I never expect hardcore album to have A+ perfect production, but it's still there distracting me.
I like Without a Pulse. Of course it's nothing new, but it is heavy without being metal. It's fast without being frenetic. It's hardcore. I could see myself in some basement going side to side during songs like "Fact or Fiction," "Never Fall," and "Under the Ice." Without a Pulse is thankfully an album that relies on glorifying hardcore's past but perfecting it today. It's just another album you can mosh too. Sure there are plenty of hardcore albums out there these days that one can "mosh it up" too but Without a Pulse is the album you should be moshing to.
