It’s always a pleasure to be shown music from a band that are just getting started. Sometimes it’s another member of staff or sometimes the band themselves that send over their music. Forest Wars fired over their new EP to us at Heavy Blog and guess what? I freakin’ dig it. Slapped with the powerviolence tag, there is far more going on in these four tracks than just that. Shaking genre conceptions up at grassroots level, this band have released one hell of a debut. Pass on this if you dare, but don’t come crying when you miss the party.
Light Leaks can almost be split in half. Equal parts hostility and heartbreak make for some of the most poignant hardcore sounds of this year. Each of the four tracks has something unique in itself. Opener ‘Detached’ is the most traditional example of powerviolence but has a clean into slam section will fuck you up royally. ‘Weeds On My Tomb’ and ‘Running On Empty(Me And You)’ throw in blasts and clean guitars that you will not see coming. You’ll even catch a burst of Danza riffing if you listen close enough. The surprises keep coming with the earnest nature of the lyrics throwing another curveball; lyrics about lost love and mourning don’t rear their head in hardcore much!
Forest Wars have kicked my ass all the way from Ohio and are surely going to do the same to many more. Visit the band on Facebook and check out Light Leaks on their Bandcamp while you’re at it. I haven’t been this excited about an EP in, well, forever. Get excited with me.
-MM