Plan of Attack

Upon their inception a few years ago, Plan of Attack was already a cut above a lot of the hardcore bands in the Midwest. Now, a demo, a 7", and a live 7" split with Terror & The Promise later, they continue to remain a cut above most of the hardcore bands around. Perhaps it's the background diversity of the members or the fact that they've given this record their full attention, but The Working Dead is Plan of Attack at their most intense and creative.

For some hardcore bands, putting out an LP can be a kiss of death because they can't quite pull off the continuity or the number of solid songs needed to have a good record. Such is not the case for Plan of Attack though, as in my eyes, there is really only one track that falls short of the rest of the record; that being "Cut him Off." The rest of the record on the other hand, flows from song to song seamlessly, with a ferocity that was somewhat missing on the 7". The songs are more straight forward and punk rock, with little to no interruptions, excessive mosh, or overwhelming technical flash. That is not to say that the music isn't well written because it is, but it's streamlined, which in this day of awful tech-metal being passed off as hardcore, is a great thing. The lyrics are just as brutal and spiteful as anything vocalist Bill Smiles has written before, but they come across even more scathing when set against the 18 songs in 20 minutes background. All the songs clock in around a minute or thirty seconds and kept me interested the whole time. The recording and guitar sound is raw, but still well produced and the cover of the Red C song, "Pressure's On" is a nice surprise towards the end. People looking for "sick" mosh in droves will have to search elsewhere but, those who are looking for well written, fast hardcore in the way it is best played, should really look no further than The Working Dead.

7.5 / 10 — Steve