Trash Talk: Review of Upcoming Hardcore Act's New Album

It's not rare for a hardcore band to put out an album with twelve songs that clocks in under 15 minutes. It's also not rare for a hardcore band to utilize elements of grind, thrash, d-beat, and other metal sub-genres in their assault. Where is rare for a hardcore band however is having the legendary Steve Albini engineer and mix your album. Albini has always been known for his ability to make bands sound raw, yet professional. He manages to keep the grit and gravel, without it sounding like some trashy basement-made tape. Whether it's his work with bands on the legendary underground label Touch & Go or his masterful production duties on Nirvana's In Utero album, Albini has earned all the praise he's gotten. He manages to show a band as they are really are, with all their sonic tics still intact, a quality that is fast-fading in today's Pro-Tools oriented recording culture, and well it is great to hear his skills still alive and well on Trash Talk's debut full-length.

As I've already mentioned there isn't really anything revolutionary about Trash Talk's approach to hardcore. They manage to touch on everything from blast beats and rapid-fire screams to sludgy, chugging mosh parts and doom-filled moments of restrain. What may be most impressive about the band is their tightness. Even when the songs are flying by at a disorienting speed, each member of the band is dead on. Hyper-drive drum rolls match up perfectly with blurred-hand guitar riffs and a spastic bass pulse. Still, one has to wonder what the final product would have been like without Albini's touch.

What Albini does here is craft beautiful chaos. Whether it's the fuzzed-up drums on the outro of "Revelation," the massive bass throb on "Birth Plague Die," or the banshee screech of feedback on "Onward and Upward," Albini adds to detail to what could have otherwise been a simple mass of overpowering destruction. It's a touch that may get some people to re-examine the hardcore genre and notice its nuance for the first time.

Again, all the credit can't simply be place on Albini either. Trash Talk are a band that manage to sneak precious little variants into their hardcore songs. While the majority of the music here is straight-forward and speed-focused, each song contains at least one moment of well-crafted interjection. It is these jagged start/stops and sudden mid-tempo groans that give Trash Talk a unique and powerful voice, a voice that was strong enough to gain the attention of Steve Albini.