Choices Made – Reason for Conflict EP

Well, that has to be my favourite punk rock oxymoron – ‘melodic hardcore’. And yet Toronto’s Choices Made pull off this trick with considerable aplomb, welding massively hooky riffs onto a personal/political lyrical core that results in a snarling, pummelling, brutal 8 minutes of high-energy and – fuck it – singalong, socially aware punk rock.

In an odd sort of way, the Reason For Conflict EP is understated, despite being a full on and massive aural assault. The difficulty for hardcore bands has always been to capture the energy and excitement of the live experience. Choices Made have turned this around. This EP sounds magnificent and the band have avoided the usual hardcore trap of attempting to impose unnecessary production value onto what is, after all, a musical form that works best in its rawest and unpolished state.

Lyrically, the band don’t need to dive too deep into social currents or make bold and sweeping political statements. For them, the political is very personal. The ethos of the Reason For Conflict can be very neatly encapsulated in the single lyrical line from the title track: “Just keep your nose out of other’s business/For fucks’ sakes be a decent human”. You can’t argue with that.

This is an excellent EP. It captures a band on top of their musical game and demonstrates that working in a challenging and quite narrowly defined genre doesn’t mean that you need to compromise your musicality or lyrical dexterity to conform. Quite the opposite – Choices Made have crammed more good stuff into these 8 minutes than some hardcore bands manage across entire albums. Dynamic, thoughtful but hard as fucking nails. Angry but not yet disappointed: if ever a hardcore EP could be considered to be full of optimism and an actual belief in the human capacity to transcend the petty differences that divide us, this is it.

I wanted this to be an album, it’s that good. I urge you to get some.

The Reason For Conflict EP is available via Bandcamp and through Cursed Blessings.