Sometimes, a band comes along and knocks you off your feet. As you begin to listen to them, you think to yourself, "Damn, this is pretty good." But after the third or fourth listen you can't help but want to hear the songs over and over again, and you'll rewind in the middle of a song just to hear one part multiple times. Pretty soon you find yourself only playing this band, regardless of what mood you're in or how many times you've already listened to it that day. The most recent band that has affected me like this is Gunsmoke.
Gunsmoke is a hardcore band from the San Francisco area, originally rising from the ashes of Bay Area heroes For the Crown. They released a very well received demo in 2004, bringing fast punk beats, harsh vocals, heavy breakdowns, and a unique melodic/western twist together extremely well. The band took a hiatus until early 2006, when they started playing shows again and writing new material with a few lineup changes. They were set to release a 7"/EP entitled The Ultraviolet Catastrophe later that year on Run For Cover Records. However, something got screwed with the label (details unknown and irrelevant to this review), and this was never released.
So what the hell are you reviewing? Well, Gunsmoke has been in the studio twice since their comeback, recording Little Shields and The Righteous Path to Hell. The band announced their demise earlier this year, and proceeded to post two separate links to these recordings on the Bay Area message board. Now, although these were never officially released, or at least have yet to be, these two recordings took me by such force that I had no choice but to write about them.
Enough background information for you? Let's get down to the matter at hand. The Righteous Path to Hell is four songs, clocking in at about nine minutes. On a very basic level, it is a great continuation of the demo. The songs have a very similar feel, with fast beats and unique breakdowns that pull off melodic guitar work with hard-hitting beats. However, they add in a few extra things not found on the demo. For one, Andrew's vocals are much harsher and more passionate, sometimes contrasting the more harmonious parts, but usually just contributing to the overall intensity of the songs. Also, in "Oceans Beneath the Ice," the last half of the song gives us the two guitars harmonizing a solo in a metal-tinged kind of way. The last song, "The Long Days of Summer," has one of my favorite breakdowns of any hardcore band. After the fast beats, all the instruments cut out and leave the vocals and a lone guitar, leading into a slow and heavy part unlike any other.
Little Shields brings a much different approach to this strange sub-genre that I can't quite pinpoint. This recording also has four songs, and almost acts like a big middle finger to traditional hardcore. The band uses two guitars to their full advantage, often complementing each other in ways you would never expect from hardcore. "Arms of the Colossus" is entirely instrumental, and almost sounds like a Hopesfall part due to its melodies juxtaposed by the overall heaviness of the instruments themselves. The last song, "The Fall of Icarus," clocking in at just over seventeen minutes, is epic, to say the least. Essentially, the last thirteen minutes is just a grand jam session, barely resembling what you know as hardcore.
I do apologize for being so long-winded. But these releases are so eclectic for today's hardcore scene that I can't help but praise them. It brings together many aspects of music almost flawlessly. It's this kind of innovation that I would like to see in the future, and I can only hope that someone will release this and turn heads everywhere. Rest in peace, Gunsmoke, you're not soon forgotten.
