Review: “Antebellum” by Fixed Fight
Hailing from the cold heart of Copenhagen Denmark are Hardcore quartet Fixed Fight, a band who for their second full length album and follow up to 2018’s “Empty Homes” have teamed up with legendary producer, Tue Madsen (Meshuggah, August Burns Red, Sick of it All). They’ve come a long way since forming in a damp basement in 2011, noted for their 90s inspired blend of Metallic Hardcore with Christian Ferdinand Engelhardt (lead vocals), Marius Krogsgaard Thomsen (Guitar, lead and backing vocals), Jesper Foghmar Engel (Guitar, backing vocals) and Rasmus Rindom Riise (Drums) liking nothing more than delivering Europe wide beatdowns…
…as you might expect from the style, with a couple of notable exceptions “Antebellum” is a collection of short, sharp shocks as Christian Ferdinand Engelhardt paints a menacing picture of the world and the inhumanity of humanity with the kind of raw sincerity that is nothing short of bleak. The title track gets things of the a blistering start with Hatebreed esq riffage and a few Hardcore Punk moments as Engelhardt screams about burning the place down before “Dust” kicks into life. If you can imagine the barbed riffs of “Haymaker” era Throwdown with A Life Once Lost vocalist Robert Meadows venting his spleen over them then you get the picture. The vocals are caustic, the percussion pounding and the guitars abrasive while bleeding the edges of Metallic Hardcore into other sub genres just enough to keep you on your toes, the bass drive of “Dent Head” giving it an unhealthy dose of 90’s Death Metal nostalgia. Fixed Fight are the kind of band that make you want to leap out of your seat and start shoving your friends in a mosh pit, best served with a cold beer but they also have their fair share of complexities, left field ideas and crucially some lyrics that make you think once those pits have ended in sweaty bodies collapsing.
The spoken word sample in “Hollow Man” is as eerie as hell and has been perfectly integrated into the music while a couple of Post-Hardcore moments add that little bit of something different that you might not expect, which continues into “Can’t Win” which offers a nod to genre pioneersĀ Earth Crisis. What’s clever is that the band have incorporated moments of brooding menace so that the album isn’t restless and relentless but instead has some atmospheric qualities with build up to their breakdown heavy moments. The use of samples rears its head once more with “Milestones“, a commentary on prison violence between a screw and inmate that the band bring a plethora of Groove Metal abrasions to in order to keep things fresh. They certainly aren’t shy of an earworm riff here and “Guernica” brings more razor sharp guitar work with a sinister break, proving that the band have the ability to nail a longer cut if they so desire, while it’s follow up “Synapse” brings to mind some of the more left field moments that Will Haven have conjured in their Noise Metal career. A satisfying and diverse Metallic Hardcore offering that avoids genre pitfalls with clenched fist and fire that simply won’t be put out, Fixed Fight have created a stone henge of a record that will stand the test of time… [8.5/10]
Track listing
- Antebellum
- Dust
- Dent Head
- Bodies
- Hollow Man
- Can’t Win
- Milestones
- Den Rige Mands Ensomhed
- Guernica
- Synapse
- Punishment
“Antebellum” by Fixed Fight is out 14th January 2022