Review: Stray From The Path – “Anonymous”

 

 

Stray From The Path
Anonymous

Sumerian Records – September 17th 2013
By Joshua Khan (@blaremag)
Find it at: iTunes  | Official Store | HMV Digital

 

8.2



 

 


If you’re a promising young band in the hardcore scene – and one that’s partly responsible for reinforcing stage dives and you-can’t-fake-this camaraderie – what do you do in order to stand out? Do you keep pushing a sound that will eventually catch on, or do you convert alongside everyone else to pay your dues as a stable band? In the case of Long Island’s Stray From The Path, the answer is neither: you instead find one loophole after the other and extort every God damn crevice. Perhaps that’s why they named their latest effort Anonymous, because as much as it drops the gloves with groovier alternative projects (cue RATM’s Evil Empire, Deftones’ Around The Fur), it’s label-less, gripping a shit-kicking vitality built by breakbeat drums, bolder transitions, and a stronger vocal presence.

“Landmines”, “Black Friday”, and especially “Radio” are examples of controlled influences and they barely strangle the lung tearing swells (“Tell Them I’m Not Home”) and lyrical undercurrents (“Scissor Hands”) that reside. The rest of Anonymous however, bolsters the aggression of Villains and Make Your Own History to develop more of a bite than a feverish pitch. It’s not that Stray From The Path are angry at heart; they’re more ticked off and you can hear it in Drew York’s subjects of choice and the shift in overall confidence that detonates at a brutal, sometimes grainy volume. For one, it makes their new material louder than it should be, and while others will never tire to deploy that perfect aesthetic, it’ll be years before anyone can copy Anonymous and the way it hits you like a skate to the neck.

Listen: “Slice Of Life”, “Scissor Hands”, “Tell Them I’m Not Home” || Watch: “Badge & A Bullet”

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