Album Review: Ill Intent

Brainwave is one of Wellington’s hardest hitting and hardest working hardcore bands in what is rapidly turning into a burgeoning scene. The band combines elements of thrash metal into their hardcore sound, with snippets of death metal, metalcore and even 80’s shred (well, those dive bombs anyway) adding to a rich and brutal mix.

Their debut album, Ill Intent, is an aggressive display of power and furious speed. The band sounds like a combination of Cro-Mags and Knocked Loose with some Toxic Holocaust for good measure. There’s a lack of influence from some popular acts at present, for example there’s little playful groove such as Turnstile to be found here, nor the franticness of Fugazi or theatrics of Misfits. No sir – these guys are more like Hatebreed or Gallows.

The lyrics are deeply personal and at times quite bleak – the only resolution on offer is the form of cathartic expression the brutal screams of Rob Thompson can provide. The themes explored are despair and frustration, but a strange sense of self-determination is usually found within the words as the protagonist finds their back against the wall with the only option being to fight back in order to survive, and in the process of struggling, discovers their strength to defy.

During the making of the album the band expanded from four to five members, welcoming guitarist Ian Moore in March of this year. The band consists now, including Moore and Thompson, of Caleb Webb on bass, Angus Crowe on drums and Joram Adams on guitar and vocals. The album also features guest vocalists Aaron McPhail (Lucre), Arnold Kim (Molosser), Sam Andy (Martial Law), and Luke Manson (Xile) and also Ateo Buhne (Dole Bludger/Star Time) adding extra percussion.

Mastering a hardcore album is no easy feat, and the band enlisted the skills of Lewis Noke-Edwards, who produced, mixed, and mastered Ill Intent (with some additional engineering from TK at The Armory for drums).

The album begins with some field noise, perhaps fooling some listeners to turn up that dial before No Mercy featuring Molosser & Lucre begins with a super heavy syncopated riff with a scooped-out tone. Above the chunky riff a lead guitar wails with a whammy dive bomb, before settling into a hypnotic, accented riff to introduce the song proper. There’s intense double kicks to be enjoyed here but the band has barely begun to show what they are capable of.

Second track, The Truth is the single of the album, and it begins with a truly sinister riff, utilising great use of Whammy Bar dives once again. “Your word doesn’t mean a thing / Your bullshit’s out there for all to see / I won’t buy into your act / Want my respect? Too fucking bad!” Thompson screams, as if delivering the hard hitting truth at an intervention of an addict or a narcissist. The chorus hits hard: “I know the truth / I see right through you / Right through your lies / It’s you I despise / You fucking coward”. The band plays tightly with the bone-dry production; each instrument stopping suddenly to allow new sections to bloom or expand on. The band ends on a much slower, heavier section, searching for the depth of their fury as Thompson shouts menacingly: “Hide behind your lies when you’re villainised / You don’t see the world through a victim’s eyes.” There’s a warning to be heeded here, and although the message could be applied to many people at present in politics, it feels personal rather than universal.

Not all songs can be considered hardcore and the album benefits from this variety. Lost My Way is heavier metal, featuring punishing drums and one of my favourite riffs, which, and I don’t mean to insult anyone, but it sounds a little like Justice-era Metallica if they had a bass. You can really appreciate the riff when the bass plays it alone at the end. Other songs borrow from a range of genres such as Another Foe with its soaring harmonised guitars, and incredible fast palm muted riffs, it’s more thrash than anything. Sad Man’s Parade (probably my standout track on the album) has snippets of (dare I say it) nu-metal with a rap section after a good old fashioned breakdown. Sam Andy from Martial Law serves up a quick but intense verse: “take a look at my mind / Won’t like what you find…. there’s no escape, but still I try”, but coupled with the minor lead guitar intro that pulls notes into the stratosphere, and the flurry of drums, it’s hard to say what it truly is other than a heavy concoction of raw emotion. Even Thompson is overwhelmed by the complexity: “Can’t make sense of the pain!”

Some songs begin immediately into the intensity, like Never Be The Same, which features the fastest and most complex riff on the album, or Ill Intent, while others such as Seething Heart use feedback and the bass to introduce us to new ideas that are picked up, played with, then left once their intensity due to the unfamiliarity is expired. Everywhere there is razor sharp precision playing that showcases the complex song structures and the musical abilities of the group. Forged offers a short respite as a quiet instrumental demonstrating some of the lead guitar versatility, and Bleak Reality seems a little less inventive than some other songs that are literally brimming with a multitude of different riffs, but the song is set against some incredible displays of fervour and rage so perhaps it’s just the least intense of the bunch. It does, however, contain the old school hardcore double beatdown rhythm as Thompson screams “slowly sinking!”. The band seems to disintegrate as he pleads with the powers that be to “set me free”.

Album closer Seething Heart has a brilliant moment of silence before the band returns with a vengeance, making the whole song seem all the heavier for the silence that preceded it, before the mantra “I’ll burn it down” ends with a thunderous accent.

The album is hard to fault – it offers precisely what is promised on the cover. It’s intense, raw and real. I foresee great things for this musical act, especially considering how much devotion their music requires of them, they seem extremely dedicated and, perhaps most importantly, genuine.