Fight Like Hell

Let me just give all of you a big fat heads up: Blood Money Records sold out of this demo, so if you were thinking it wasn't hot shit, or that because you aren't from Denver and haven't heard of Fight Like Hell, you are very mistaken. Turns out, anybody with good taste in music already owns this demo. Probably some people with horrible taste in music too. But you know who doesn't own it? You and some of the guys at Blood Money Records; it was so good they sold their own copies.

"Yesterday," the first track on the demo does a funny little thing where it doesn't have any tension build-up. You don't listen to the song and wait for the good part to kick in - it happens within the first ten seconds. It is also, quite possibly, the most quintessential hardcore song ever written. You know how Negative Approach said "Who are you to say what's wrong and what's right? If it's what it takes, we're ready to fight," or how Floorpunch said "The scene needs less people like you. Don't even try to fuck with my crew"? Pretty tough, right? You're shaking in your dunks. Well imagine those guys in a brawl with some guys who come out screaming "Stony knuckles do their best to unclench, but the memory of fists is hard to forget." WHOA, BLOODBATH 2K6! HONEY, CAN YOU HOLD MY COAT, I HAVE TO GO PUNCH THAT WILD SONOFABITCH IN THE MOUTH! Yeah, jeez, I bet these guys fight like hell. Heh heh.
All puns aside, this is great music. It is in the same vein of hardcore as a lot of the Bridge Nine bands, but with more gang vocals. What? MORE gang vocals? Yes, more gang vocals. And more parts where kids at Posi Numbers will two step and you will want to laugh because they're clearly just skankin' really fast, but you won't laugh because God forbid this band think you're capable of doing anything besides pointing your finger and singing along. Fight Like Hell has an enjoyable, fast-paced, old school sound, and the memory of finger-pointing is hard to forget.

I can not stop making jokes, but I am going to try. "Burn Bright," the last song on this three-song demo, is practically all gang vocals and/or tag-team yelling. "All strife, all fight, but that's life, so burn bright" suggests that Fight Like Hell is less into fights than they are into hard work and, dare I say the magic word, ‘heart." You hear them say "Shroud me in darkness, I'll strive for the light," and you know they actually couldn't be more willing to persevere and keep looking up. How can a band that is so aggressive in the first of three tracks be this thoughtful by the last? Well, I guess that's just the thing about hardcore. Breaking a face doesn't mean you don't want to "stand up and do what you think is right," as Fight Like Hell put it in the second track, surprisingly titled "Fight Like Hell."

I hope no one thinks I'm not totally into this. It is three songs, all of which are equally enjoyable, as should be the case with a demo. Further, I don't know how it is that some bands can be so good at writing music and other bands have to rely on hardcore gimmicks like sing-alongs and heavy beats to increase their popularity. But Fight Like Hell just went flying with both and succeeded. I want more. I've wanted more since yesterday.

8.5 / 10 — Robynn