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Pro-Pain - Voice Of Rebellion
Released by: SPV/Steamhammer
Released on: June 23rd, 2015.
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Gary Meskil has kept Pro-Pain going for a long time now and they show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. This latest album, Voice Of Rebellion, keeps Meskil on bass and vocals with Marshall Stephens on rhythm guitar), Adam Phillips on Lead Guitar and Jonas Sanders on drums. It's a killer line up if this album is anything to go by.
The title track, Voice Of Rebellion, is the longest one on the record clocking in at just over four minutes. From the opening holler of 'DIE FUCKER' through to the final riff, this one is hard, heavy and pure, undiluted Pro-Pain through and through. We're off to a good start, and that trend continues with No Fly Zone, a three and a half minute hardcore track complete with police sirens and a narrative spoken word style intro that launches into a killer slab of sound. Righteous Annihilation is one of the fastest, most driving tracks on the record, it's definitely focused on speed and not just with the guitars but with the drumming too.
Souls On Fire and Take It To The Grave are more of the same, but that's not a bad thing. These guys have found their sound and they experiment within that sound rather than try to reinvent the wheel. The riffs are definitely front and center on this album, you'll notice that on every track. Age Of Disgust has a bit of a stop/start/breakdown thing going on and it sounds a bit like Hatebreed, a bit like heavier Pantera and a lot like Pro-Pain. Bella Morte and Cognitive Dissonance keep things going fast and hard, with the latter track really working as a throwback to Meskil's hardcore roots. Blade Of The Cursed takes about a half a minute to hit its stride but once it does, it's a pretty pissed off track, the kind that'll make you want to punch a cop or something.
Crushed To Dust has a doomy intro to it but then it goes riff-forward again and it fits right in with what's come before it on this record. Enraged is just as angry and fed up with seemingly everything as it sounds like it would be. This one also features some truly killer drumming, it's insanely fast - probably the fastest thing on the record. Hellride starts off with a mid-tempo bass/drum/guitar thing before the vocals come in. Once they do, it's loud and aggressive but not without rhythm, in fact it's got a pretty serious groove behind it.
The album closes out with DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) and Fuck This Life. DNR has a fairly 'metal' sounding solo that starts things off but once the band gets that out of their system, it's a pretty traditional hardcore style blast. Fuck This Life just goes for it. Heavy as heavy can be and basically three minutes of barely controlled rage. Pro-Pain aren't really breaking a lot of new ground here but they are doing what you expect them to do and doing it very well. The record is really well produced, the lyrics are smart enough to get you to pay attention to them and the playing is hard and heavy but polished enough to impress.
You can also get the album as a CD digipak release that contains three bonus tracks, but those tracks (live versions of Johnny Black, Stand Tall and Make War (Not Love) recorded in 2013) weren't included with the materials sent for review.
