Embrace Today - Soldiers

Even before I heard the band, I knew Embrace Today would make me happy because of the “XXX” that sits behind their name on the album cover. Straight edge hardcore makes me smile, and I’m sure that if that is your thing, you’ve probably already heard this. If not, this is for you. There’s not a lot of detail I can really go into about the music of Embrace Today — it’s hard, it’s fast, and is full of “mosh”. If you read into the lyrics, you’ll definitely get a sense of anger, rage, and spirit, but there is also a lot of sincerity. Being one of the more metallic (and brutal) of the bands to still play pure hardcore, Embrace Today maintains the “true ‘til death” attitude, and wear their X’s with pride. The band has managed to cram 15 songs into 22-minutes and change. With tracks that short, it gets to a point where you won’t differentiate between the end of one song or the beginning of the next. That's okay though, because hopefully you'll be moving around too much to even care. It seems there should be more words, but there isn’t much more to say. Embrace Today is one of the hardest of the hardcore, the straightest of the straight edge. Soldiers, in short, rips shit up. And as far as hardcore goes, this is one of the best 2003 will have to offer. [www.xembracetodayx.com]