Label: Pee Records

The only saving grace for the debut EP of Queensland’s Promises is that it is over very quickly.  That might sound like a very harsh introduction to a review, but it’s what I think.  Having said that, I must admit I am not much of a fan of modern hardcore; while I enjoy more traditional 80’s style hardcore punk as well as various forms of heavy metal, the complete lack of vocal melody displayed by groups like Hatebreed has never brooded well with me.  Apart from anything else, this is probably the main reason why I was turned off by Promises.  They play fast and hard, it’s obvious that they are angry, but at the end of the day that doesn’t necessarily amount to much.

For the sake of anyone considering buying this CD, I feel it is only fair to be honest; there really are only three songs on this CD.  The track list might indicate otherwise, but “No Story Left Untold” and “Flint Soles” can’t really be classified as songs.  The former sounds more like a breakdown which has been isolated from the remainder of its track as it meanders along pointlessly for close to a minute and a half.  Meanwhile, the latter is in reality little more than twenty seconds of flat out drums and guitar with a Jean-Paul Sartre quote spoken over the top.  With that short rant out of the way, it is time to inspect the remaining three tracks on offer.

Musically Promises are quite tight, if not very inventive.  Generally speaking they combine hyper speed verses comprising of double time drum beats and monstrously fast power chords with slowed down choruses.  Vocally, frontman Zaca pulls off the traditional ultra gruff hardcore yelling that defines the genre, but again stops short of bringing anything original to the table.  On the plus side Promises appear to have put much more effort into their lyrics than most of their contemporaries, which tend to lean more towards emotional and social exploration than simply fitting as many profanities into a sentence as is linguistically possible.  Overall therefore, it seems that it is far more a question of taste than production or skill level as to whether one can appreciate the majority of Hopeless Sons.

Considering that Promises have only been around for six months now, I think that perhaps they should have spent a little bit more time writing and touring before they decided to make the big move of putting out their first EP.  While there definitely is a readymade market for these guys both in Australia and internationally, Hopeless Sons really would have benefitted from containing a few more actual songs.  Fans of hardcore might find something worthwhile here, but in my case I was left wondering what exactly motivated Promises to rush out this EP so early on in their existence.

By Matthew Woodward