XLooking ForwardX – The Path We Tread

I’ll just get right to the point on this one, I really liked this CD. I have few complaints and the band sounds excellent. I’m beginning to get used to the fact that Facedown has a knack for releasing and signing good bands continuously. XLooking ForwardX is clearly a straightedge band (no alcohol, smoking, drugs, ever), and they’ve stuck true to the hardcore sound. It’s rare to find that for some reason lately, most bands are drawing a lot of influence from metal and straying from the punk roots laid down by bands like Bad Brains and Gorilla Biscuits. But I digress, it seems that Xlooking ForwrdX is characterized by very fast paced music. The vocals are said very quickly and remind me somewhat of Bane, in the way that they aren’t exactly screamed or shouted, more of spoken. I guess you could say spoken in a shout, because if they were just spoken, that would make this rap, and it definitely is not rap. It’s got fast guitar riffs and relies very heavily on mutes and partial distortion. Not much fancy stuff, but nevertheless, excellent. This is another one of those bands where the bass isn’t very audible because the guitar and drums mask it, and it takes time to train yourself to listen for a certain instrument. In my case, I’ve always had trouble teaching myself to pick out bass lines. The drummer sounds pretty good. He plays a lot on his snare and high hat, with really quick triplets, so I’ve got a feeling he’s using a double kick, although I’m not too sure. So this makes for a very solid band. The lyrics are pretty good; there was one song with lyrics I enjoyed quite a bit. They basically go on about how you can’t be anti-corporate and buy all of the bands albums your favorite band put out from a CD store and dress exactly like them and consider yourself unique from everyone else at the same time. But at the same time, they manage to slip a few lines in some of their songs about God, which bugs me a little because I don’t like when religion is pushed on me. Ironically I go to a Catholic school, which probably has something to do with me being atheist, but I digress. I noticed that if I’m listening to this CD, and even paying attention, it goes by very quickly. The songs don’t really have definite endings and they blend into the next song. So when I first slip the CD into my CD player in my truck, it’ll be on song 6 before I even realize the song changed. But because it goes by so quickly, it doesn’t really get old.

I’d really recommend buying this album. In the hardcore scene, it’s not very often for a band to stick to their roots. Most bands either start off more metal or lose their integrity for a hope of higher record sales. Not to mention this album simply sounds good, even if you don’t know all the words to every song. I sure don’t, but I liked it a lot. Check Xlooking ForwardX out, they won’t disappoint.