THE FIRE THE FLOOD 'Truthseekers' (No Sleep Records) RATING: 4/10

By JEFF MAKI

The Fire the Flood's Truthseekers surely demonstrates the chops and aggression you'd want in a strong hardcore band. However, it sounds like the band members dragged in some poor sap off the street, beat him relentlessly with a baseball bat, then recorded the poor schmoe's agonizing screams as vocals for this record. The beating apparently was fast and hopefully not too painful. If you blink once, you're halfway through the album; twice and it's over.

It's not all bad, though. I could draw comparison to hardcore veterans Unsane, particularly their song and video for “Scrape.” Remember that one with all of the skateboarding accidents and broken bones? Listening to The Fire the Flood, I pictured these same horrific accidents, car wrecks, broken glass and people being savagely beaten. I'm not sure what to make of this, but at least I took something away from the album, disturbing as it may be. If you happen to stick around long enough (about 20 minutes, that is), you'll uncover the best song of the album, a hidden cover of Nirvana's “Territorial Pissings.”