Saturday, September 14, 2019

Review: Time And Pressure - The Gateway City Sound

My last review featured a band on Safe Inside Records, and now another band on that label's roster contacted me about a review. Time And Pressure is a relatively new band from St. Louis, MI who just released their first album 'The Gateway City Sound' on Safe Inside Records. The album features 6 new songs as well as their 2018 demo.

I don't know if the bandname was inspired by the Run With The Hunted song of the same name, but stylewise there are some similarities, albeit that Time And Pressure include (even) more influences from early to mid 00's melodic hardcore. The style that Time & Pressure plays takes me right back to countless shows I went to in the early/mid 00's, when most hardcore shows out here would have at least one band on the line-up playing this style... Fast, melodic yet aggressive hardcore, always good for sweaty shows with plenty of crowd participation... And that is just what I imagine a typical Time & Pressure show to be like, kids moshing, screaming along, and generally having a great time. That is not to say T&P are simply rehashing a sound that's arguably been done to death and perfected by the likes of Go It Alone, Carry On, Heavy Heart, Betrayed and so on. They incorporate their own more modern sound as well, esp with the occasional guitar flourish, even sounding like The Effort here and there. It's a great take on a now classic sound, and I dig the vocals, hard. They might not be really different or anything, but there's just enough venom in the delivery to give this band a hard edge that makes them stand out for me.

Lyrically the band has both socio-conscious lyrics as well as more personal lyrics, which are also quite poignant and poetic at times, as the lyrics to 'Scarring Time' prove (excerpt):
When we’re dead and gone
After the last song has been sung
We’ll have the proof we were here at all
The universe is infinite and we are just a blink in it
But we’ll always have the scars we left on time
Overall, I am quite impressed with Time & Pressure. They don't play the type of metallic hardcore that is my go-to style hardcore-wise, but f*ck that, if it's good it's good right? Musically, lyrically and vocally they are the real deal. Definitely give this band a chance, I'm glad I did!

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