Boneripper - World Ablaze - Metal Epidemic

Boneripper – World Ablaze
Release Date: 24th May 2023
Label: Self-released
Bandcamp
Genre: Metallic Hardcore, Hardcore.
FFO: Simulakra, Terror, Hatebreed, Sworn Enemy.
Review By: Mark Young

In the accompanying press that came with this album, Boneripper noted that they had evolved and moulded their sound as a band, trying to get more brutal and aggressive. When you read something like that, it is almost like setting yourself up to fail. I’ve reviewed albums recently where the drive to be as brutal as possible overtakes making music that is worth listening to.

Boneripper take 21 minutes to rip through 10 tracks, touching on topics that are continually in our news – climate change, war, discrimination, and hatred to others. As promised, it is brutal, but it is focused. They could easily have dropped an album that was double the length, instead they have gone for the throat. And they do it straight from the off on Final Warning, with its spoken narrative intoned over an aggressive arrangement. It’s straight in, up and in your face and doesn’t stop until the end. The Abyss picks up the baton and goes for it. Typically aggressive, it has that metallic edge that makes it hit well. Desolated comes at you in much the same way, but it leaves me hoping that they don’t repeat the same thing over the next 7 songs. Fear of Death does shake it up slightly but stays grounded in the same formula as those that preceded it. There is nothing wrong with it, but because it doesn’t stray too far, and the sense of familiarity starts to build. Mental Warfare treads the same path, high energy, full on, as does Xenophobic which possesses some fantastic bottom end to it, but is nothing we haven’t heard already. Hate is Hollow brings some quick melodic touches within it, whilst Rise Back Up reminds me of Biohazard during their Urban Discipline era – gang vocals and a sense of violence.

On the final track, Beyond Redemption, they go for a slower build-up and then boom. There is something in this one, the propulsive drumming in the faster moments that make it burst into life and then your 21 minutes are done.

On one hand, there are a lot of positives to take from World Ablaze. Songs are tight, quick, and delivered with a ruthless efficiency which I think is spot on. Every song is aggressive, and as I said earlier, there is no let up from the moment you press play. However, there is a definite sense of each song following the same blueprint with hardly any change from one to the next. That familiarity doesn’t change the fact that these are a good set of songs, they are heavy, direct, and make good on the promise made – brutal and aggressive.