It’s metallic hardcore, Jim, but not quite as we usually know it!
Damn. No sooner had we said that the best hardcore is usually born from struggle, than we came across this great sophomore album from The Barbarians Of California, with its somewhat…unorthodox take on the genre. If their name alone doesn’t clue you in that these guys have a fine sense of the ridiculous, then feel free to scan the track listing of ‘MEGATONS’ below. ‘Bomb To A Knife Fight’? ‘This Is Shredical’? Yep, we detect some serious tongue-in-cheek humour here.
It turns out that this is something of a side-project, centred around the nucleus of Aaron Bruno (of AWOLNATION fame) and his longtime engineer Eric Stenman. Despite dabbling in various genres over the years, their mutual passion for metallic hardcore never waned, and now the Sacramento-based band are back with the follow-up to 2024’s brilliantly-named ‘And Now I’m Just Gnashing My Teeth’ debut.
Make no mistake, though; this may be the sound of a band having fun, but they’re clearly deadly serious about crafting decent songs. Opener ‘Back To The Valley’ rides in on a downtuned riff, some crazy kick-drum action and – thrillingly – some melodic ‘doot doot doo’ backing vocals, the kind you’d associate more with 60s soul than with 2020s hardcore. Trust us, it works! ‘The Gnarlycore Class’ cranks things up a notch in terms of pace; with some brilliantly squealing lead guitars, and the kind of lyrics that just demand a good shout-along.
There are some cast-iron breakdowns in store on ‘Vanilla Latte’ and the aforementioned ‘Bomb To A Knife Fight’ is suitably explosive; with its memorable “put a hat on!” refrain, an absolute beast of a riff, and even a widdly mini-solo for good measure. There’s something of a surprise in store on ‘Really Really Rad’, which runs the gamut from thrashy to melodic to absurdly heavy to…danceable. Yep, towards the end, TBOC go full New Order on us, the guitars giving way to a thumping beat and shimmering synths. Clearly, they aren’t setting any rules for themselves, and nor should they.
The title track and ‘Earthquakes’ are both seriously seismic; the latter featuring a bout of thrash metal-style shredding, and then ‘This Is Shredical’ incorporates a disco beat (of all things). Ever fancied going all Saturday Night Fever in the pit? This one’s for you. There’s something of an interlude in ‘Hide All Your Records’ and then ‘Megatons’ finishes with a storm-calm-storm sandwich; the pulverising ‘Modern Fashion’ and ‘I Am The Submarine’ punctuated by the plaintive acoustic strum-along of ‘Shark Out Of Water’. Unexpected? Perhaps, but not unwelcome, and no great shock in the overall context of the record.
Apparently, the band’s approach to making ‘Megatons’ was to not overthink things and go with their instincts. It’s an approach that’s paid off in dividends, and the result reminds us that hardcore can be just as compelling when it lets its hair down (so to speak). Goodness knows what TBOC will cook up next, but in the meantime, enjoy this record in all its bizarre glory – we certainly will.
‘MEGATONS’ is released on 21st August – pre-order it HERE.
All Photos: ATOM SPLITTER PR
- Back To The Valley
- The Gnarlycore Class
- Vanilla Latte
- Bomb To A Knife Fight
- Really Really Bad
- Megatons
- Earthquake
- This Is Shredical
- Hide All Your Records
- Modern Fashion
- Shark Out Of Water
- I Am The Submarine
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I spend my days teaching English to foreign students, and my evenings attending as many gigs as possible. Raised mainly on a diet of 90s third-wave punk, my tastes have grown to include just about anything from trad ska to thrash metal. The Ramones are my musical gods.
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