REVIW: Reproach- Is What it is 7"

Reproach- Is What it Is 7”

Close to ten years ago now, when the youth crew thing was starting to wane, and a faster, thrashier, noisier hardcore started taking its place, us saps in New Jersey knew we had some kindred spirits in the Netherlands by way of Henk Smit and crew surrounding Kangaroo Records. I had long associated neighboring Belgium with its absolute glut of mosh-metal; the likes of which New York hadn’t even seen in the heyday of that style of music. So it took me by surprise when I found about this kid Stijn who knew his hardcore, followed some of the bands from our area, and was starting this band “Reproach.” I wasn’t familiar with Dead Stop at all yet, so this was a rather cool anomaly, and his ‘zine “Stand Apart” was a good one.

Well, that same Reproach wound up getting around quite a bit in the world of DIY hardcore, and this record, their 2nd for Deep Six Records shows them to have turned into quite a band. They definitely outlived the “bandana thrash” trend that reared its head when Reproach were just releasing their first 7”, both in terms of longevity and quality!
What we have here on this whirlwind 7” is 9 songs of hardcore thrash influenced by skateboarding, horror movies, and a good deal of youthful resentment. Although the songs are short, they don’t skimp on songwriting, and they pack enough hooks into a one-minute thrash song to rival Dead Nation. The slightly metallic guitar tone brings to mind Infest (especially in “Boiling Inside”) or early Drop Dead, with all of good qualities those comparisons imply. Well done!

Deep Six Records