The Brighton hardcore crew return with their best effort yet!
It was just over eight months ago that we last saw Brighton quartet Barriers, at a superb gig at London’s Deptford Endeavour, and so we’re thankful that – in roughly the gestation period for a human being – they’ve created and birthed this belter of a new EP.
They hit the ground running with the title track; like much of this EP, it sits somewhere between the urgent, driving hardcore of Comeback Kid and the technical skate-punk of Strung Out, with perhaps a touch of metalcore stalwarts Darkest Hour here and there. In particular, Andy Mansell’s ultra-raw vocals are reminiscent of those of Darkest Hour frontman John Henry. There’s a beast of a breakdown towards the end, and then ‘Adversity’ picks up the pace again, with some seriously hard-edged riffing towards the end.
They take aim at trend-chasers in suitably excoriating style on ‘Bandwagon’, which bursts into life before mellowing out with some intricate lead guitar towards the end. ‘Khao San Road’ is probably the fastest and most brilliantly abrasive ode to the Bangkok backpacker hot spot in existence, featuring guest vocals from Laura Le Rox, and then it all comes to a close on ‘Final Fight’, which pretty much encapsulates all that’s great about Barriers in just over three minutes.
At five tracks in a little over ten minutes, ‘Time Crisis’ is a welcome short, sharp injection of adrenaline, and is also a great reminder that it’s possible to craft hard-hitting yet anthemic songs without sounding overblown or resorting to clichés. Plus, these songs will probably sound even better live, so keep an eye out for future dates – on the strength of this EP alone, we certainly will.
‘Time Crisis’ is released on 21st August – pre-order the cassette or digital version HERE.
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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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