Review: “Self Titled” by Edict (3rd Anniversary)

Uniting both current and former members of such household names as Bury Your Dead, Dropdead, Learn, Ruin it, Darklands, Crossdragger and The Full Effect, Providence Rhode Island natives Edict describe themselves simply as “unfriendly sounding“. Recorded at Silver Bullet Studios in Burlington, Connecticut under the watchful eyes of production and engineering team Greg Thomas (END, Adrienne, Cult Leader) and Chris Teti (Vadim Taver, Your Spirit Dies, Chained to the Bottom of the Ocean) before being handed to Bill Henderson (Deathbeds, Pain Of Truth, Knifeplay) at Azimuth Mastering in New Jersey, their debut self titled EP arrived in 2022 and they haven’t looked back since…

Some might call them a Metalcore band but in truth Edict seamlessly blend Hardcore with Deathcore and Thrash elements in the formulation of their sound as they create five scathing cuts that run on themes of social upheaval and irreligious critique. “Rat Lines” sounds like it was ripped from the hands of Hatebreed at birth, a poison pen letter soaked in old school Metallic Hardcore guitars and pounding kit work that makes the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Unleashing their  speed demon in “Invisible Hand“, Edict reach breakneck speed pretty damn quick before dropping anchor after a couple of caustic screams with the kind of breakdown section you expect from genre heavy weights Kublai Khan. It’s the bends that do it, enough to put cracks in the concrete foundations of the highest of high rise buildings. Another whirlwind of percussive battery ushers in the menacing and sinister “Salvation“, the five piece playing with tempo and texture as they conjure this one, not afraid to slow things down before rattling the cages once more. A dark tale about a broken relationship “Father/Son” hits harder than a bucket of nails dropped from a 4th floor apartment window. The riffs fly in all directions as the rhythm section goes into overdrive, the violent turbulence of the rapid fire approach harking back to the early days of Bury Your Dead when it was all about that live energy. A sixty second instrumental opening passage sets the scene for stage dives and high fives and “Face First” rips through the parade like a Tasmanian Devil on speed. Mosh parts a plenty the anthemic qualities of the scream-a-long vocals the kind to see fists in the air in the land of hypocrisy [7.5/10]

1. Rat Lines
2. Invisible Hand
3. Salvation
4. Father/Son
5. Face First

“Self Titled” by Edict was released on 4th June 2022 and is available over at bandcamp.