Imitation Of Brutality

xDisciplex A.D. is one of the first Christian hardcore bands I started listening to. At first I had downloaded their songs from Kazaa ... I know, but I eventually found and bought this album and I love it. "Imitation of Love" is one of the most brutally heavy albums I own. This album clocks in at almost 23 minutes and chocked full of mid-paced bone crushing riff work and vocals that sound like they've raked through hot coals. Nothing fancy here just flat out HARDCORE!

The album starts out by blasting you with "See Me Through" before hammering the listener with the 50 sec onslaught that is "Set To Destroy". "Set To Destroy" holds a special place in my heart cause it is the song that my wife and I had our first dance to at our wedding. OK seriously, we played about 10 seconds of it pretending it was our first dance song for our friends and family who know I'm into extreme metal. It was funny, and my Wife was a good sport.

"Eyewitness", "Stronger" and "Heart Strings Broken" are fine examples of head banging, crunchy brutality and "Refuge and Strength" adds a touch of melody while pummeling you with crunchy riffs.

"Baregrounds" and "Final Sunset" have a darker, brooding sound to them, while "Baregrounds" sports ripping guitar riffs. The stand out track I like is "Candy Apple". The longest song at over 3 min. has a little bit of everything in it from the doom like intro, crushing riffwork and death metal vocals. It also is the song that I stole a riff from whilst jamming at a live outdoor performance I did. All the other performers were playing jazz and folk while blasted in with some death metal. The song was simply tossed together with a signature black metal riff and death metal grunting. No lyrics just grunts. It was fun and everybody had a good laugh.

xDisciplex AD are a staple for any hardcore fan, though they are no longer together, some members are now in Jesus Wept, which heck, why don't I review next. This "x" theme was kinda silly anyway. Stay tuned!