The Chariot - Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing...

Without pretending to identify with the hardcore scene, it's difficult to know where to begin with The Chariot. An outsider could easily describe the music as some of the most brutal sounds ever committed to tape. In the same vein as Norma Jean (vocalist Josh Scogin' former band), Everything Is Alive, Everything Is Breathing Nothing Is Dead And Nothing Is Bleeding is a 10-song flurry of ferocious vocals and berating rhythms. Recorded live and mostly in one-take, the album drifts from structured segments into cacophonous eruptions -- the most focused being "The Bullet Never Lies, And Time Will Prove All Things (An Allegory Of Unfaithful Jerusalem)." Though the unrefined quality of the music does contrast modern, over-produced hardcore, it's the seemingly random elements that make Everything Is Alive unique. The buried vocal hook in the first track, the rock n' roll break of "Die Interviewer (I Am Only Speaking in German)", the dark metal bridge of "And Then, Came Then" or the arbitrary sound clips throughout provide an added level of interest. Like most concentrated solutions, hardcore must be first diluted with another genre for general, public use. When it comes down to it, The Chariot make concentrated hardcore music, uncut and unadulterated. So, consider yourself warned. [www.thechariot.com]