REVIEW: Hazing Over – Tunnel Vision EP
Hazing Over – Tunnel Vision EP Review
A few weeks ago, Pittsburgh’s own Hazing Over released their second EP entitled “Tunnel Vision”, and since my several listens yesterday, I have indeed found myself stuck in a haze of disappointment and bewilderment. However, let it be known that the source of my disillusionment comes from the fact that it took me two weeks to actually give this 6 track ripper a listen. In the 11 minutes and 41 seconds Hazing Over gives you to explore their second extended play, they pack a lot in without becoming overbearing. There is a lot of sonic variety, highlighting some of the best parts metallic hardcore has to offer in recent years, as well as growing a lot from their first EP, giving them their own unique identity without veering away from the genre or bands that they seem to draw influence from. Blending dissonance, major riffage, screams that ascend and descend throughout the larynx, melody found where you wouldn’t expect it (and once or twice where you would), and some pit parts that will bring all you 30+ year olds out of mosh retirement, this EP is fucking wild.
I found out about Hazing Over probably a year or so ago, when my brother sent me the track “Pestilence” off their titular debut EP. I was SHOCKED when I heard the track, not because of the song itself, but because my brother sent it to me. It seemed a tad on the heavily chaotic side for him, despite his interest in bands like Knocked Loose and other collectives of their ilk. Regardless I really did dig the sound, though I worried that it started to delve a bit into the vein.fm, SeeYouSpaceCowboy, Code Orange (Forever-era) sound. Not that this was a drawback, and it was a small sample size, but I felt like it would have been very easy for Hazing Over to follow their contemporaries even closer with this second EP. My friends, I was glad this unfounded theory didn’t come to pass, and to be honest, I should have known better when I saw that the almighty Taylor Young was producing, engineering and mixing this bad mother at the Pit in Van Nuys, CA, where some of the greatest hardcore records in recent years have been made.
The Tracks
1) Path Denied: We start this fucker running at full speed, only to slow it down about 30 seconds in, so Hazing Over can punch you and some of your friends straight in the face. For your homies that eluded their aural windmill fist to the cheekbone, trust me, it will come for them too. Vocally, this song and EP offers so much range and passion. I am not going to try and pretend I know what these lyrics are about. To be fair, I am not particularly proficient at guessing lyrical meanings, or who the murderer is at the end of movies, and I still don’t know what the theme of The Rocking Horse Winner was. What I can tell you is the vocalist Jake Yencik sounds fairly pissed off. Fuck yes. Be pissed off. I don’t know what about, but I am here for it. And then right as I’m contemplating why my sophomore year english class has anything to do with this song, the rest of your homies got smacked the fuck up with the glass shattering beatdown at the end of the sub two minute opener (told you it was coming). Overdriven bass with a backing beat that brought us into this song also takes us out and into…
2) Tunnel Vision: This is a “starts fast ‘No Heroes-era Converge sound’ that turns into the dopest riff with occasional blast beats” song. Come on, don’t pretend like you don’t know the archetype. In all seriousness, despite the fact that this song is almost 40 seconds longer than the first track, somehow it feels a million times shorter, but not in a bad way. It kicks your door in, eats all your protein based foods, rips open every other packaged food staple you have, throws the items across your apartment and walks out. But I am here to warn you that you are still not safe. Just when you thought the dust had settled, as you were trying to remember which closet you put your vacuum cleaner in, Hazing Over bulldozes your entire apartment complex down with their DOPEST breakdown to date. Give me those fucking pinch harmonics between DUN DUNs as my whole life crumbles around me. Ten spin kicks out of ten.
3) Cutthroat: Potential pallet cleanser? Some industrial beats, a slower and groovy start to the track, all sounds they have experimented with before for sure, but as we have learned from the two previous songs, not all is as it seems. What’s this? Did they throw in, dare I say it… a two step part? You bet your ass they did, and they made the riffs in this part tasty as hell. Short lived, though well loved, we move along into a break beat with some distorted vocals and bass until the band serenades us with the lyrical “cutthroat” screams back and forth, high and low. This song’s tempo feels slower than the first two. Upon my initial listen, my brain was tricked into thinking this would continue.
4) Gushing Wound: Sometimes it is dope as hell being wrong, subconsciously or otherwise. Two snare hits and WE ARE BACK BABY. Not to imply we went anywhere we didn’t want to be before, but track four gets me back to headbanging and feeling that sense of impending doom that only occurs when a whole song is building you up for crowd kills and group chants. Hazing Over uses Gushing Wound to remind you why you came here in the first place: brutality, dissonance, space to breathe in a moments notice just to be suffocated again and again by riffs, that INSANELY thick sounding drum kit, its marriage to their fuzzy low end, and all the screams a small venue goer could hope to sing along with.
5) Tightrope Walker: Do yourself a favor. If you are reading this review before giving this EP a chance, I would advise not doing so while operating heavy machinery, inhabiting a small space, or being surrounded by people in general. This song especially should come with an advisory sticker, because by the end of this 66 seconds, if you haven’t already, you will be thrashing your body about uncontrollably. Tightrope Walker starts “innocently” enough… but… fuck dude. A little less than half way through, the drum fill comes in that indicates something is about to go down. Slow tempo… starts to speed up… Yencik starts ripping through vocal lines… suddenly the lyric “I WITHDREW” comes soaring through the uninhabited auditory space just before BOOM FUCKING DUN DUN DUNDUNDUNDUNNNNNN. You think to yourself, “this is magic, pure pit wizardry”. What you don’t know is they aren’t fucking finished and are quickly approaching the possible peak of the EP. Released upon our ears is an ear piercing scream floating over an inhumane breakdown that would give Job for a Cowboy a run for their money. Terrifying. Brutal. Helpless. Feral. Fuck this song is so good. So is that fucking howl.
6) Disavowed: This leads us into the EP closer, and what a finale it is. Let me take a minute to express how dope the songwriting for these tracks were, as well as the track placement and flow. Disavowed has some of the most unique moments of these nearly 12 minutes, but somehow the band never ceases to lose its identity throughout its conclusion. We open with an epic ring out, mixing maybe a little minor chord action, and then we are magically whisked away to THE fucking riff of the EP. It teases us with some of those old Misery Signals type chord choices, back into THE fucking riff, and then it happens. Hazing Over, while having experimented with vocal melody in their songs prior to this EP, takes me back to the ‘early 2000s metallic hardcore’ clean vocal vibe that I felt was abandoned too long ago from this genre. Fusing it back in with harsh vocals and continued riffage, it is a departure from the rest of Tunnel Vision but still feels very appropriately placed. Something about it reminds me of the era where hardcore bands were starting to sing for the first time, like Poison the Well or early Every Time I Die even? It was a time that didn’t last long, as bands started becoming more formulaic when attempting these melodies in harsh music, but Hazing Over slaps you with this nostalgia that doesn’t overstay its welcome. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the impressive vocal performance with little cracks in the melody that appear subtly throughout the song. All of this said, the culmination of this EP comes at the epilogue of their longest song, where we get a Davidian style breakdown of EPIC proportions to keep the spin kickers busy until the very end. This includes a drum fill that takes us into a slower tempo and two screams that will give Mike Patton’s creatures in I Am Legend feelings of insecurity and doubt. The final riff is the riff they came into this EP with. No fade outs. No gimmicks. Just brutality, the final hit and WE’RE OUT.
Conclusion:
Does this EP rule?
Yes and you should listen to it.
Will you purchase this on vinyl?
They are playing Baltimore in a couple of days and if I am able to make it then I will get it from the merch table along with some SHIRTS.
Is this a good record for the gym?
This is a great EP to put on for your warm up, or when you’re attempting a PB.
Did Hazing Over change the world of metal / hardcore forever?
No, but there are moments on this release that I could foresee bringing them to a place of growth and possible innovation in the future.
Did you listen to this because you knew Taylor Young engineered / produced / mixed it?
It didn’t hurt my enthusiasm to search for it on Spotify.
Are you adding any songs to any playlists?
Tunnel Vision, Tightrope Walker have for sure made it to my “Salem’s Lot” playlist, which is essentially my “best of” playlist I share with my friend Marlayna. Disavowed may make it one day, but I feel it best to listen to that song when accompanied by the whole EP.
Final thoughts?
This band is coming into their own. Not a dull moment. I will be listening to this for months to come. Give me more. EPs get a rating out of five…
4.5 crowd kills out of 5.
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New Music Report – June 24, 2022
Pop quiz: Alexisonfire, Coheed & Cambria, and The Mars Volta all put out new music this week, what year is it? I could have sworn it was about 2003, but apparently, it’s 2022 and that’s fucking fantastic. I honestly have nothing more to say, that’s just fantastic.
Alexisonfire – This is the first album from Alexisonfire in over a decade, and I cannot tell you how long I have been waiting for this day to come. That said, if you’re expecting a redux of Watch Out!, you’re going to be disappointed, this is what Alexisonfire should sound like as a band, with multiple side projects and a hiatus, should sound like 18 years after Watch Out! The whole album sounds more mature, and like it draws out influence from all their other projects, from City & Colour to Gallows. And while the sound is different, it’s everything I needed it to be. I love it.
Coheed & Cambria – Coheed, on the other hand, has been going strong with few interruptions. I remember about 18 years ago when I’d spend YEARS running through Second Stage Turbine Blade and In Keeping Secrets. To this day they remain two of my favorite albums of all time, but that feeling has been hard to capture since. They’ve always been at the top of their game making incredible music, but the intangible feeling those albums gave me were pure magic. This album, however, comes closer than most have in some time. This reminds me very strongly of the sort of feel we got from the Good Apollo albums, and that is incredibly high praise. It feels like it’s pushing the sound forward, but it also feels instantly familiar, and I’ve been waiting for that feeling for over a decade now.
Limbs – This album rides a weird line between EP and full album, it’s only 7 songs, but in a world where most full lengths are only 10 songs anyway, then I’m going to count it here. Limbs is a wonderful band, they ride this fine line between metalcore and post-hardcore that creates some of the most captivating takes on either genre. Being able to fit in the middle ground leaves the full arsenal of both styles at their disposal and they utilize it beautifully.
Singles/Albums – Mars Volta (Prog), Lorna Shore (Deathcore), Gulch (Hardcore), Alpha Wolf (Metalcore), Wonder Years (Pop Punk), Becoming the Archetype (Metal), Fit for A King (Metalcore), Spiritbox (Nu-Metalcore), We Came as Romans (Metalcore), Patent Sixty-Seven (Metalcore), Cabal (Sludge)
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New Music Report – November 12, 2021
Man, the big hits just keep on coming. Honestly, it’s been really hard to keep up with these lately, I’ve been so busy so I’m sorry for being late, but I’m glad I’m able to catch up and share this music with you guys cause man, it’s all been just so good. We’ve been really lucky with great music this year, and I’m excited to see what the last few weeks of 2021 have to offer. This week has been another big one for me though, so enjoy.
Silent Planet – Silent Planet has been one of the bands that I’ve been trying to hype up for the past 5 years. When I heard Everything Was Sound, I knew this band was incredibly special. Over the past few years, it almost feels like the metalcore scene has been flooded with really, genuinely good bands, but there are a few that have stood above the rest. And then there’s Silent Planet. Not only are they just very good at making metalcore, they’re out there pushing the limits of the genre with incredibly intricate, syncopated drumming, deep, thoughtful, progressive lyrics, one of the best vocalists in the game, and honestly just a group of some of the nicest and most sincere people in metal. From there, I watched them grow and give back to the community, writing songs about indigenous people, homeless LGBT youth, those so suffer from PTSD, and then turning around and using those songs and subsequent merch to hold a fundraiser for those affected. I just can’t say enough nice things about this band, and it’s a damn good thing they have the talent to back it up. This album is their best yet, I know I had high hopes for it – the singles were incredible – but Silent Planet always tell a story better throughout an entire album, and this one is no different. Not only that, but they all sound much more dialed in. Garrett’s screams are even better, Thomas’ clean vocals seem to have found their range and sound much more comfortable. It’s all just perfect, honestly. I know I’ve got a few weeks left, but spoiler alert, I can’t think of anything that can really compete with Silent Planet and ETID for album of the year.
Singles/Albums – Memorist (EP, Djent), The Halo Effect (Ex-In Flames, Death Metal), Northlane (Nu-Metalcore), Rolo Tomassi (Progressive Metalcore), Bailer (Hardcore), Coheed & Cambria (Progressive Rock), Four Year Strong (Easycore), August Burns Red (Metalcore Christmas), 200 Stab Wounds (LP, Death Metal), Code Orange (Hardcore), Idles (LP, Avant Garde Punk), Burial Waves (Post Rock)
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New Music Report – November 5, 2021
Music release season continues with some absolute heaters, some of the brightest bands in the game, both young and old, are cranking out some excellent new music this year. It feels like a giant build up that’s still carrying over from last year, but I’ll absolutely take it.
SeeYouSpaceCowboy – These guys are the hottest new band in the scene, bar none, and they’re just going to keep on their stratospheric rise in popularity and I’m pretty sure there isn’t a damn thing out there that can stop them. And the cool thing is, they aren’t REALLY doing anything new. In fact, it’s pretty old. A whole 15-20 years later, they’ve managed to re-invent the old school screamo/emocore (bet you haven’t heard that word in a while) sound into something that sounds incredibly fresh. As much as I love all those old bands that laid the foundation for this sound, hell, those bands were the soundtrack to my high school years, but SYSC might actually be the best ones to ever do it. They’ll never have that same nostalgia factor, but there’s still something about the sound in general that has this inherent nostalgia. It’s almost like I’ve heard this before, and yet it’s brand new. These guys are simultaneously stuck in the past and absolutely blazing a trail to the future and I’m loving being able to watch it. This new album is just another definitive step forward for what is sure to be an incredibly bright career.
Emma Ruth Rundle – Emma Ruth Rundle has been one of my favorite artists for a long time. For the longest time she got caught up in Chelsea Wolfe’s wave to success, which is sort of a generalization cause they really sound nothing alike. ERR has a distinctly dark and bleak sound that sits bare against the musical arrangement. Either with her band, or with her earlier solo work it all felt incredibly personal and direct. It was raw, dark, and absolutely beautiful. Though her last album delved a bit more into bringing in support from her backing band, making it feel a bit more complete yet more impersonal, which is interesting because her last album was some of her best work and the instrumentation provided a lot of strength to the arrangement. This new album, however, strips things down with dark, sparse, yet incredibly powerful instrumentation. Her vocals and lyrics have always been such a centerpiece, allowing this album to meander along that theme accentuated by finely populated melodies and plucking piano adds more depth and intensity to her already incredibly intense work. This somehow feels even more personal and it’s just gorgeous, I love it.
Singles/Albums – Greyhaven (Southern Metalcore), Portrayal of Guilt (LP, Hardcore), Like Moths to Flames (LP, Post-Hardcore/Metalcore), Slipknot (Metal), Senses Fail (Post-Hardcore), Blood Moon (Converge & Chelsea Wolfe, Sludge/Metal/Post-Metal), Hammock (LP, Ambient)
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New Music Report – October 29, 2021
I’m not gonna lie, I’m still riding the high from Radical, but it’s really difficult to ignore the caliber of music coming out right now. I mean, new Mastodon? That’s not exactly something to sleep on. I always love this time of year cause it’s just chock full of new releases, and man are there some good ones this year.
Mastodon – The other day, I was talking about the lengthy Mastodon discography with a friend of mine, and he asked me what their best album was, and of course, the answer was Leviathan and there was zero debate. It’s been more than 17 years since that album, so expecting them to put out carbon copies of that masterpiece is a bit of a reach, but this newest album certainly came as a surprise either way. It’s still aligning with their more mainstream sound from their past few albums, which I expected, but it’s a bit slower, a bit more ballady, a bit more sludgey in place, it’s just overall a very different experience, but one that I thoroughly enjoyed. And one that I think pretty much everyone else can enjoy too as long as they aren’t holding it to their previous high-water marks.
Archspire – This is fucking wild. There are a bunch of bands out there that have just ascended beyond my understanding as a musician and they’re playing on levels that I just can’t comprehend. Bands like Animals as Leaders, Frontierer, etc, but good god, I don’t know what it is these guys are doing but it’s insane. They’re playing on a level that’s just beyond comprehension, if you didn’t know better, you’d swear it was just concentrated noise. It’s so fast, it’s so chaotic, but with a bit of understanding it’s easy to see that it all feels incredibly deliberate, they know exactly where each note should fall, and they nail it every single time. I just don’t know how when there are so many notes happening at once. It’s just absolutely insane technical death metal and just the biggest flex a musician can make. It’s nearly exhausting to listen to but boy, is it worth it.
Singles/Albums – Bodysnatcher (Deathcore), Whitechapel (LP, Metalcore), Ghost Bath (LP, Black Metal), Marissa Nadler (LP, Dark Folk), Minus the Bear (Live Farewell Album, Indie), Comeback Kid (Hardcore), Being as an Ocean (Post-Hardcore), Underoath/Ghostmane (Metalcore), Impending Doom (EP, Deathcore), Monolord (LP, Doom Metal), Fit For an Autopsy (Deathcore), Volumes (Djent)
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New Music Report – October 22, 2021
Ok, so I’m gonna be honest here, there’s only one album I really want to talk about this week. There have been lots of great albums and singles coming out this week; Sentinels put out an incredibly technical metalcore album, Silent Planet singles are always awesome, SeeYouSpaceCowboy are still one of the best new-ish names in the game, and Phaeleh’s music is always breathtaking. But holy fuck this ETID album.
Every Time I Die – I don’t know, man, what do I even say here? ETID is one of the few bands I’ll actual fanboy over, and I’ve been waiting for this album for like 2 years thanks to Covid. Of course I’m gonna love it. But man, this is fucking sick. This is so good. First off, Goose is the best drummer they’ve ever had, and that’s a very high bar. Everyone talks about how ETID is one of those bands that manages to raise the bar with every release, and this is just another example of that upward trend. Radical feels like the most complete ETID album, bringing elements from their back catalog and all their past sounds into this lengthy masterpiece. It features some of their chunkiest, heaviest riffs, clean vocals from Keith that sound like the ETID version of a Damned Things song, some of the most quotable lyrics Keith has ever written, and their most touching song ever with Andy from Manchester Orchestra on guest vocals. I mean, honestly, it’s pretty much a perfect album. I’m definitely biased about this, I adore this band, but this album is a perfect example of why.
Singles/Albums – Sentinels (LP, Metalcore), Thecityisours (LP, Post-Hardcore), Phaeleh (LP, Downtempo/Ambient), Bullet for my Valentine (LP, Metalcore), Waking the Cadaver (LP, Deathcore), Cradle of Filth (LP, Metal), Circa Survive (EP, Post-Hardcore), Silent Planet (Metalcore), No Bragging Rights (Hardcore), Obscura (Progressive Metal), Void of Vision (Nu-Metalcore), SeeYouSpaceCowboy (Screamo), Arch Enemy (Metal), Kublai Khan (Metalcore), The Word Alive (Metalcore)
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