Hoax and ‘The Enemy Without’ Debut.
Hoax – Manchester, England, United Kingdom.
Now, it’s safe to say that Manchester Hardcore Punks Hoax are rough and ready. The band’s debut was given life only recently so objectively and obviously speaking it is indeed rough cut, raw and sounds more like a live cut or demo than a studio EP. However, in all reality, a band has to start somewhere and these sorts of releases are all the more common on the underground circuit and are such an integral part of the scene that in this case, little criticism is really worth uttering on such.
This is exactly where we find The Enemy Without. The band emit such rage from the off that it really is quite impressive. The 00:05 ‘Fake News’ is as tongue-in-cheek as this vein of Hardcore gets and the surprising diversity heard within the structure of ‘What’s Round His Neck’ is notable after “just another Hardcore” intro breaking you in.
‘What’s Round His Neck’ carries a standard “stompy” Metallic Hardcore rumble but also up-tempo drumming far more commonly found within classic Hardcore Punk and Melodic Hardcore. The latter making more sense with the clean-cut (within context) rhythms and pangs of melodic guitars not falling completely to clarity issues.
‘The Kids Aren’t Alt-Right’ agains plys the band’s British Punk humour in a track far more inclined to the gang-shout laden windmill inducing Hardcore of NYC, as the band give their obvious opinion on the ever increasing right. ‘Join or Die’ is the love-child of its preceding noise with unrestrained vocal interplay between the shrill and urgent strained scream-shout of the lead and down-right rage of the backing.
For a band citing most facets of Hardcore, Thrash and even the extremities of Grindcore, ‘Fit For Work’ perfect makes sonic-sense. Quite simply it is another unabashed political assault taking the band’s most aggressive effort yet and proceeding to poke and prod it until it is tenfold what it was. Here, the distorted Crust Punk guitars in the verses show a band adept at melody but also in relentless rage and pace. One can only wonder on the ferocity of their live shows.
Disappointingly the band end with a similar way to their entry, with a short crunching groove-laden Hardcore track that at the point where you feel it is on the cusp of break into either further riffs or near-Powerviolence level tempo it and the EP both end.
Admittedly Hoax as a unit are new to this, the band’s 2016 formation and the time elapsing from then has seen the finally find a format that fits. They are strong, fast and powerful and aren’t ashamed to show-off and indeed change their structure to further show off their credentials at a moments notice and you have to respect that.
Hoax are stronger at their faster more classic Hardcore orientated sound but that doesn’t mean their more metallic abrasion isn’t worth your time. The band change it up in a way that suits them and perhaps at times it can sound somewhat convoluted but thats the aggressive and sporadic nature of Hardcore, which is something Hoax, indeed capture very well.
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