Feb19

Review: Surrender

Reviews no comments

SURRENDER – ONE DAYOne day. Think about that term “one day” for a second. I’ve never really thought about it before, but it really is such a shitty and bleak concept. Every single person in this world is waiting for this one day when things are made right, when goals are reached, when they’ll finally be able to begin writing that book, or start a band. How many times have you been guilty of saying “yeah, I’ll do it one day…” or “maybe one day it’ll happen…”? Why do we, as humans, put the things that we want to do off so much? Why can’t “one day” be today? Procrastination is the Devil and it got me thinking about how different things would be if everyone would just, to quote a seminal and pretty great band from New York, start today. I’m not sure if this was the concept in mind when the dudes in Surrender decided to title their full length ”One Day”, but one things for sure, it’s a fucking excellent name for a record!

Perth exports and current Melbourne residents Surrender play heavy, melodic hardcore. There are no if’s or but’s about it. They are damn good at what they do, and most punters who bare witness to the bands live show will agree. Their debut, self released full length record, One Day, not only backs this up, but does it with the style and prowess.

Theres a complete disregard for fucking around on One Day. The listener pretty much gets a taste of the record Surrender are about spit at you within the first 30 seconds of opening track ‘Norman S.D’. Over the course of the eleven tracks tracks that make up the record, the band sway back and forth between fast hardcore/punk and metal influenced moments, but are not afraid to pull things back and make things a little softer, than kick you in the face again with huge, heavy, melodic parts which keeps things musically dynamic and interesting for the duration of the effort. Vocalist, David Hickford stays relentless for the better part of this record’s duration, and his desperate and urgent screaming tops things off nicely.

Surrender have enlisted the help of Defeater guitarist, and hardcore production guru, Jay Mass with some of the production aspects of the album, which makes One Day all the more pleasurable to listen to. The record sounds huge sound and crushingly heavy, and us sure to please the ears of fans of this take on hardcore and definitely stands up to repeated listens.

One Day is sure to help propel Surrender to new heights. If the bands play there cards right and continue to evolve and develop, they will potentially tap onto something truly new and unique, and this record is a big step in the right direction.