Countime – No Apologies No Regrets
Release Date: 28th May 2021
Label: Demons Run Amok
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore
FFO: Biohazard, Death Before Dishonor, Knuckledust.
Review By: Graeme Humphrey
In my mind LA’s a bit of a weird place. Maybe it’s because I’ve never spent any prolonged time there. Maybe it’s because when I was there I (entirely accidentally) stayed in the same hotel that Elisa Lam stayed at. Maybe it’s because after hours of wandering around looking for it I still couldn’t find the damn Hollywood sign! Whatever it is, I know that Los Angeles has its issues.
Despite that, when I think of LA’s music scene I don’t think heavy. The first bands that come to mind are the likes of Jane’s Addiction, Tool, etc. But maybe Countime will finally flip that switch in my head, because No Apologies No Regrets doesn’t hold back on the heavy – this is Tough Guy Hardcore like grandma used to make!
Produced by Biohazard’s Billy Graziadei, there’s definitely more than a little of that 90’s NYHC vibe to the album. But if you’re still unsure of what you’re going to get, the speed of Drips doesn’t leave much room for ambiguity before kicking into a hefty breakdown that is going to have you doing socially-distanced spin kicks the first chance you get! No Time then picks up the baton with a riff that wouldn’t sound entirely out of place of Merauder’s Master Killer, Swithed Up has a dangerous amount of bounce to it and ByeGones has a classic gang-vocal singalong chorus.
No Apologies No Regrets sounds great as well. The guitars are hefty but clear, the vocals are ferocious and the band as a whole are tight as hell. There’s often a risk with hardcore bands who switch between fast and bouncy to get sloppy, but it seems like touring with veterans like Wisdom in Chains and Agnostic Front has rubbed off on Countime, because there is absolutely zero sloppiness on display here.
If there’s one complaint with No Apologies No Regrets, it’s that four of the album’s 17 tracks are under ten seconds in length. The entire length of the album is just over 30 minutes as it is, so it’s a snappy record, but the short tracks derail things a bit. It doesn’t ruin the album by any means, but every time one of these songs comes on, I can’t help wondering what the point is.
Regardless, it feels like there’s been a gap in the market for hardcore bands like Countime for a while. With the likes of Restraining Order and One Step Closer having made waves in recent years, it’s nice to hear a new album with real muscle behind it. No Apologies No Regrets doesn’t really offer much that you haven’t already heard in the hardcore scene, but that was never what this was about. If you’re looking for something that’s going to grab you by the collar and scream at you, you could do a lot worse than this.
(3.5 / 5)
