Boston-based and Boston-proud, Death Before Dishonor has been churning out bruising hardcore since they first hit the scene with True Till Death. Their debut EP hit with very much the same style of breakdown heavy metallic hardcore that they drew their namesake from. Five years later, the band continues to deliver the hits with Count Me In, their debut full-length.
Count Me In kicks off with a short intro before moving on to the title-track. "Count Me In" continues the band's formula from previous releases by mixing Hatebreed's ferocity with Madball's groove. "Nowhere to Turn" and "Break Through it All" follow in similar fashion with the guitar duo of Ben Kelly and Dave Cappello laying some slick riffs and killer breakdowns.
Vocally, Bryan Harris makes use a forceful yells, not unlike his peers Scott Vogel and Jamey Jasta. His delivery is definitely commanding, and with the mix putting his vocals a bit more forward than the instruments, it makes his presence even more dominating. Lyrically, Harris tackles the typical realms of hardcore music: regret, friendship, and the hardships of day-to-day life.
As the album continues to wind its way through the tracks, the songs do begin to blur together. Sure, songs like "Fuck it All" and "Infected" stand well on their own, but in the context of an entire album of similar sounding songs, they tend to seem a bit generic. While I wasn't expecting a hardcore album such as this to be varied through and through, it would have been nice to have some shifting in the pace of the songs to mix things up. The only time the style changes up is with "Take Me Away" with its snazzy guitar solo and the hidden track. Death Before Dishonor serves up a cover of Cock Sparrer's "England Belongs to Me," but Boston style. It's a humorous song, obvious done for fun, but nothing to write home about.
Count Me In is an album that is only going to boost the fanbase of these Boston boys. While I don't understand the marketing behind the "for fans of Dropkick Murphy's" tag on the sticker of the CD - perhaps trying to capitalize on the success of "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" - I can definitely see plenty of hardcore fans eating this album up.
