Take Offense – T.O.tality
Release Date: 10th May 2024
Label: MNRK Heavy
Bandcamp
Genre: Hardcore, Crossover, Thrash.
FFO: Knocked Loose, Dying Wish, Hatebreed, Municiple Waste, Pest Control, Power Trip.
Review By: Jeff Finch
The world of hardcore is positively rife with talent: Year of the Knife, Dying Wish, Knocked Loose, the legendary stalwarts Hatebreed, the genre is known for quality bands that bring a ton of intensity and a helluva live show. So when a label like MNRK Heavy, known for churning out excellent releases, features a hardcore band dropping a new album, hype is high, energy starts to build up, preparation ensues. And while this new record from Take Offense doesn’t match the quality of those bands previously mentioned, what we get in T.O.tality is some stellar musicianship and a vocal performance that does enough to warrant multiple listens.
Right off the bat, Take Offense is determined to make us take note of the music; not content with unending chugging and breakdowns galore, opener Greetings from Below hits us with a Judas Priest like riff (a common occurrence on this record), bass positively popping from the speakers, a monstrously frenetic pace, a ripper of a solo and, though nothing to write home about, a solid vocal delivery, bringing a bevy of energy to the performance to match the pace of the music.
Now or Never showcases just how talented this lead guitarist is, as the entire song just feels like Priest worship, the riffs just in your face aggression and melody; the halfway mark of the song is a breakdown of sorts, the riffs fiercely chugging, the somewhat restrained drum work placing a primary focus on the lead guitar work. The tempo shift and time signature changes at the end prove to be a nice touch, as the song finishes out with a high energy sprint to the very end.
On somewhat of a different end of the spectrum, next track Deep Inside the House of Shadows features a slower, mid-tempo pace that sounds great for the band, what with the almost never-ending energy of the previous seven tracks damn near causing your headphones to sweat from the workout they’re getting. The bass pulsates through the speakers, vocally a sound performance, if a tad unspectacular, before they switch to thrash at around the midpoint, a welcome change of pace that doesn’t overstay its welcome on this slower track. The tapping solo that follows shortly thereafter can only be described as ‘stank face inducing’ because it just pierces through the speakers with its precision; the lead guitar work on this record is simply phenomenal, much more technical than a typical hardcore album, the focus not just riffs but technicality and a ton of melody.
No Man’s Land is a nice buffer track, just a couple of minutes of subdued, restrained musicianship, the simple, clean guitar passages and the complementary drumming working in tandem to simply gift the listeners an opportunity to pause and reflect. Final track The Prayer is a pulse pounding way to end the album, the guitar work frenetic, rife with time signature shifts keeping listeners a bit off kilter, chugging riffs taking center stage as the chaos and maelstrom is relegated to the back. Even though the technical licks are more placed in the background, they pop out of the speaker, unable and unwilling to be missed, transitioning into a first-rate shredfrest, here and gone before we know it. The final breakdown, one of the guitars in the background just unrelenting, is beefy, the chaos lurking underneath the heft, the alternate strumming going nuts as the song fades to black, a frantic ending to a frantic album.
In spite of the high praise for these tracks, this album is tough for me to grade; on the one hand, the lead guitar work is simply stellar, very Judas Priest like in many spots, and the energy contained herein follows the blueprint of hardcore: chaos. But there were moments during this album that just kind of occurred, very little in the way of standout moments, not helped by a vocalist who isn’t able to stand out from the crowd like a Jamey Jasta or Brian Garris. Having said that, his performance is not substandard at all, it’s just that the world of hardcore has so much quality that if you can’t really stand out, you’re bound to get lost in the shuffle. For the lead guitar alone, and the bold yet welcome strategy of NOT relying on breakdowns, this album is worthy of a few listens; if the vocals are something you really enjoy, then this album has incredible replay value.
(3.5 / 5)
