Blacklisted – We’re Unstoppable

For parts of the last few years of my life, I’ve spent countless hours of my time all over the internet searching for new bands to expand my musical tastes. As a result of this, I’ve come across hundreds of new bands and my musical tastes change faster than I would have ever thought. A few months ago, while searching for something to replace my fading interest in the whole “metal core” genre, I came acrossBlacklisted. Immediately this band had my attention. They were fast paced, unique vocals, interesting guitar riffs, just everything I live to listen to. So I found myself searching various cd stores across Edmonton and Sherwood Park looking for anything by Blacklisted all the while hoping that maybe they’d hit Edmonton on a tour. Although they haven’t come to Edmonton, a little while ago Bobby handed me a bunch of cd’s to be reviewed(music that he normally wouldn’t listen to you, yet I enjoy quite a bit) and We’re Unstoppable just happened to be amongst them. So after making a strange croaking sound and getting a strange look from Bobby’s parents, I expressed my sheer joy and went off to do something or other to the sounds of Blacklisted. I guess what I’m trying to get at, after this lengthy explanation, is that I knew this album would be great(I had heard a few songs off it already) so my hopes couldn’t have been higher. So now, after listening to it from beginning to end more times than I can remember, it has become one of my favorite cd’s.

Their music doesn’t seem too complex, but I know that it could get a crowd moving. Just like most modern hardcore bands, they play extremely fast, with lots of melodies to entice circle pits and dancing. Although I’m not really sure of any bands that I could accurately compare them to. The vocals are shouted like a Bane or Comeback Kid song, although the guys voice sounds much different. The guitar riffs use a lot of palm mute but don’t get that chuggy, even during breakdowns, they tend to keep their speed going. In all the songs I can hear the bass going in the background, which seems to be rare in lots of albums. The drum patterns seem to be dedicated to circle pitting, they make ample use of their snare. When all this comes together, I simply love the way the band sounds, when I heard that they were going to break-up(they didn’t) it just about ruined my day. As I sit here now and listen to 3800(We’re Unstoppable), I’m very glad that they didn’t. But please forgive me for rambling.

Not recommending this album would be a contradiction of everything I just wrote. I’m sure lots of people will disagree with some of the things I’ve written, but as far as hardcore goes nowadays, its becoming fairly dry. Bands are quickly conforming to the sound set down by groups like Terror and Hatebreed. Although I enjoy those bands, I don’t need to listen to all of their clones once I turn them off. The other path they seem to be taking is the whole experimentation with “melodic’s.” But both of those groups seem to rely on chuggy breakdowns, and stray from the fast paces(with punk-rock roots) set down by the bands that really got the hardcore movement going (Bad Brains, Cro-Mags, Youth Of Today, etc.). Although Blacklisted may stray into the heavier side of hardcore, they still remain fast on this cd, and I don’t plan on stopping my binge on their music any time soon. I guess my next step is to get The Beat Goes On(I’ll see if my opinion of them changes at all with that, I heard its much heavier). But until then I urge you to get hold of a few tracks, if not this entire album, it’s great.