HYLI Vol. XII - Birds In Row and Extortionist
Andy sends Patrick some beatdown and Patrick sends Andy some French hardcore.
It’s violence season everyone! Will Smith smacked the shit out of Chris Rock during the Oscars for a dumb joke! Violence! I’ve (Andy) been sick for a week and have felt like garbage so it seemed like a good time to lean into the anger and violence and listen to appropriate music. My wife is very, very pregnant (Patrick: mazel) and didn’t want to go to a beatdown show with me cause she’s like “I’m very pregnant. No.” So we didn’t go. To make up for it I listened to a lot of beatdown this week! Violence is in the air! (Patrick: when I kindly asked Andy to pick up the slack on these intros I did not expect this but honestly, that’s on me, I should have)
Birds In Row - You, Me & The Violence
Patrick: Andy texted me some weirdo bullshit last Tuesday like “do you know any violent music that I wouldn’t know?” (Andy: He said “what do you want this week” and I said “violent”) What am I supposed to do with that, man? (Andy: Recommend something violent?) I do know, generally, that Andy isn’t as well-versed in hardcore and punk as you might expect for someone so into a relatively adjacent genre in metal. Birds in Row, for as infrequently as they are an active band, are the best hardcore band to have come out of the 2010s. You, Me and the Violence is the perfect encapsulation of hardcore from the early point of that decade, for me. Just super white-hot intense shit that can stop at the drop of a dime and make legitimately effecting “unplugged” songs too. Truly love this record. I wish I could use the term “gamechanger,” but people seem to have moved on from this sound entirely, which kinda bums me out. Anyways. Hope You Like It.
Andy: Violence! It is even in the title! Great branding by us this week. I’ve been aware of Birds In Row but I never sat down and ate an entire record of theirs before. This is very good emotional hardcore. Yummy. Very much the same vibe as Touché Amoré or Loma Prieta. This type of hardcore you can never really quite turn up loud enough to be satisfied. (Patrick: you annoy the everloving shit out of me so constantly but, my brother, hell yes).
“The Illusionist” really skirts the edge of black metal for a bit (blast beats 🤤) and is the standout track for me. “Last Last Change” is a great “hey, let’s take a breather for a second” track that is, imo, one of the hardest things to nail in heavy music. “Cold War Everyday” really gets me hyped. To be honest I can’t find anything wrong with this record? Each song has something unique that gets me going. I can imagine these shows are wild. Maybe not “Oh this guy definitely dropped his brass knuckles in the pit we should relocate” wild, but more of like “I’m on the verge of breaking down in tears lets fuck shit up” wild (Patrick: they barely tour 😭). Those are two different vibes, both equally enjoyable.
I don’t think it’s fair to claim this as my favorite thing that Pat has suggested on here cause it is very much in my wheelhouse. Seems like cheating. So, I’m not going to do that but we all know the truth. Just between us. Thanks. I Liked It.
Extortionist - The Decline
Andy: Taking a small detour from my “Important Albums In Metal History” outline to bring some beatdown to the spotlight. Pat is going to hate this record because he is a little baby and doesn’t know how to have fun but it’s okay, it needed to happen. I’m not sorry (Patrick: I’m going to slap you).
Beatdown is fun. Enjoy it. Don’t be a dork. The genre isn’t out here to redefine metal or win a Grammy (We don’t really need a comment about how Death is better, we know) or anything of the sort - it is all about the live show and releasing that internal energy. Cramming 10-100 people in a shitty bar, playing violent music, and letting them beat the shit out of each other. These guys aren’t in it for money or fame or whatever - they just play angry music.
Extortionist’s The Decline is 33 minutes of depressed, vehement, violent music. That’s it. This is one of (maybe my favorite?) record in the genre. Ben Hoagland’s vocals are top-notch. Be mad. Be sad. Yell. Punch some shit. Hope You Like It.
Patrick: I fully expected to hate this album for the vocals but maybe appreciate the instrumentation and then have Andy clap back at me with some dork shit like “cry much?” or whatever (Andy: fair). Well, reader, through two songs, “Regression” and “Guilt,” I actually kind of enjoyed the vocals. I don’t particularly enjoy A Day to Remember (Andy: hm?), but it seemed like that dude but heavier type vocals a bit in a way that wasn’t a complete turnoff. However, absolutely fuck these guitars and drums lol. This is fucking bullshit. Were these songs played by humans or quantized by machines? It is, truly, impossible to tell listening. There’s a whole group of heavy music like this that just comes off as completely devoid of any and all DNA of actual human performances that really bug me. Me and Andy have been cruising on his picks so much the last few weeks that I hate being so negative but I found truly nothing redeeming in the instrumentals on this entire album.
And then the vibe shift happened with the vocals where dude stopped doing his one style and moved into Mr. Pig Squeal Man territory. Man. Andy is going to say I’m scared. I know he will. (Andy: Coward). I am not scared of these vocals, I’m just annoyed. This shit is so dumb lol. Dudes giving vibes of calling their girlfriend a “bitch” on Tumblr and then using slurs while playing COD (Andy: Vibe is much more “I’m depressed and want to not want to die” for me but feel free to be wrong). Real meathead shit. I hate it. Go channel that energy into cranking out deadlifts and keep the music out of my ears. Fuck off. I Did Not Like It. Don’t ever send me beatdown again. God dammit. (Andy: Pat doesn’t know how to have fun with anything. It’s okay). I’ve had so much fun with Andy’s last few choices. It’s rude, to me, that he did this.