Album Review: Cruel Hand – Your World Won’t Listen

Portland quintet Cruel Hand have now been around for a decade and this is their fifth album, they have continued to build on the style that was displayed on their 2014 album, The Negatives, and it appears they have no intention of settling into a comfortable rut on their latest full length. Cruel Hand play a brutal mix of hardcore, punk and metal, their latest release, Your World Won’t Listen, is a refreshing return to a no bullshit style of cathartic hardcore that we all need in our lives from time to time.

Nowhere, Nothing, Never opens Your World Won’t Listen in brutal style, from this point in you strap yourself in for twelve punishing rounds, every single track is a short sharp hardcore blast, but, and this is an important but, it doesn’t once become repetitious, the style, speed and delivery are all constantly varied across the album. For me the highlight of Your World Won’t Listen is the superb Too Far From That, with it’s anthemic chorus and driving punk guitar riff. Whilst that song is easily my favourite, there isn’t a single track that doesn’t hit the spot. From the off  this is a contemporary take on the crossover hardcore and thrash bands that emerged in the 1980’s, but thankfully without any of the self indulgence that was a feature of some of those bands.

The twelve tracks, and there’s also a hidden thirteenth track buried at the end of the album, contained on Your World Won’t Listen are done and dusted in a shade over thirty minutes, meaning there are no guitar histrionics or extended breakdowns, this is a straight to the point album of ferocious hardcore that encompasses metal and punk influences, it is this that elevates this above most of the other releases of this style I’ve encountered this year. I’ve listened to this album at least four times on the bounce whilst writing this review, and to me it just sounds better with every listen.

Your World Won’t Listen can be ordered digitally from the usual suspects, and on physical formats here