Braindead – No Consequences

I reviewed this band’s recent split seven-inch with Blackbirds a while back and was pretty impressed with it. Braindead’s doing the right thing by avoiding that unspoken pitfall in “modern” hardcore: that technical wizardry equates to powerful; it’s one of the few times that I agree with a one-sheet that came with a release. I mean, these dudes can play, make no mistake, but they’re not going the route of incessant fingertapping and crazed tech-metal parts in lieu of emotion and song structure. There’s a purity here that goes right in step with the band’s straight-forwardness, and it’s that straightforwardness that makes the band so refreshing.

Were you to compare Braindead to, say, Verse, Capital, or many of the current crop of Bridge Nine bands, I would not look at you cross-eyed and think you were a dipshit. At ten songs it’s a quick burn, and my only complaint would be the unnecessary bridge to the last song, “A Wake For A Dream”, where they increase the actual volume and hotness of the recording to the point that it almost becomes unbearable. I generally stop the album before it reaches its crescendo, which probably isn’t what they had in mind. Regardless, while No Consequences isn’t a perfect album, their honesty shines through and at no point do I feel like I’ve just listened to a bunch of dudes masturbating through their fretboards.