23rd May 2020

Review: “Isolation” EP by Birth Struggle Death

A Heavy Hardcore quartet hailing from Hamburg Germany, Birth Struggle Death have been at the game since 2016’s “Mad As Hell” demo with 2018’s full length “Cursed Generation” finding the band just as vexed as they were the first time around. Their mission statement is one which resonates like a bullet ricochet inside your skull and it’s so true: “It‘s not for the scene, your scene, your trendsetting and following. It’s not for your positivity. F*** Unity. F*** your fake smiles. F*** who you know or been on stage with. F*** your shallowness. F*** your preaching. We rather play in front of 5 people who care instead of playing in front of 200 fashion scene kids that run their mouth in the internet. This is for dark side of hardcore. This is for our brothers. For the few that that went through some tough times but still keep going on. This is for the people who can handle honesty and true words. To my true friends and brothers“. This time around they’ve recorded at the same studio as they did on those two previous occasions, at Soundcave Studios in Bergedorf Hamburg, while changing the person handling the mixed and mastering, going with Daan Nieboer at Cornerstone Audio.

The classic slow build up to “Still No Love For Unity” is a call to put before the first verse sets it off with two step riff thunder and pummelling rhythms. Birth Struggle Death will no doubt control the floor at any live show with their seamless transitions between Metal, Hardcore and Downtempo, which is evident from the start of this one and stylistically builds straight into “Snake Mentality“. Having Chris Hofer from Glaswegian Deathcore titans Chamber of Malice on the track sees the band deliver that extra sharp edge to the razor sharp riffs and brings out the best of the band musically with some sinister and menacing atmosphere to accompany the violence in the streets lyrics. The 92 second ripper that is “Scars” has some early Hatebreed isms as it kicks into gear with an almost Beatdown section as vocalist Marc spills his guts about the scars keeping the memory of the pain alive while the circle pit paced riffs show no sign of let up. Keeping the guests strictly from Skull Island, Street Soldier pairing Scotty and Drill Sergeant make it a vocal trio on “Faker’s Path“, which has a 90s Hardcore vibe while Scotty’s grime flow tears up a pair of choruses, while the surprise is a pig squeal is a must and hilarously good fun. “Outer Peace, Inner Grief” is exactly what it says on the tin, a track about that inner termoil while keeping a straight face to the World. Solid riffs keep this one as headbangable as the rest and when it finishes on a sample, it’s all over too soon. If there are just 5 kids in a venue banging their heads to this, then those 5 kids are going to be as happy as pigs in s***. Not just because this EP is great, but because they know the World is missing out [7/10]

Track listing