Review: “Dog Chain” by Native

Recorded at Last Light Recordings by Shauny Cads before being mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege (Obituary, Mindforce, Drug Church) the follow up to 2017’s self titled album has been a long time coming for Dublin Dark Hardcore quartet Native. Promising flavours of Metal, Punk, D-Beat and Hardcore, this one is just seven minutes however should come with a health warning. It’s the barking Pitbull of the neighbourhood…

Opening with the title track Native go straight for the jugular with something shorter than a poison dwarf, hungrier than a feral prison rat and as lethal as they come. Violent and turbulent from the very start, shriller vocals intertwine with brutal roars in savage pairing that coil around the skeleton of the bands sound and crush it like a boa constrictor. The unrelenting dark energy continues with the Hardcore Punk leaning “Dark Ages” which cleverly disguises a melody or two underneath the sheer weight of its sonic oblivion. Forget begging for mercy at this point because the quartet offer none and instead pile into “Exhaustion” which finds them ripping through the riffs at lightening speed, the bass bleed out moment reminding us of Sick Of It All at their finest and perhaps offering an insight into their influences. The tsunami then brings forth the “F Scale” with hammer blows of percussive battery that will leave the weak willed shattered like glass. Old School enough to feel like a Ghost from the infamous New York City music club the CGBG at its heyday, “Dog Chain” sounds the unintended refinement of the sound the band had with their earlier record as well as being a blistering return to form… [7/10]

Track Listing

  1. Dog Chain
  2. Dark Ages
  3. Exhaustion
  4. F Scale

Dog Chain” by Native is out now and available over at bandcamp

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