Incendiary – Change The Way You Think About Pain

Long Islands finest Incendiary return with their newest catalogue entry Change The Way You Think About Pain after an absence of almost 6 years after releasing Thousand Mile Stare in 2017. Once again produced by multi – talent and the go-to producer guru for most contemporary core bands of the last years, Will Putney, rest asssured that this collection of ten new tracks packs quite the punch.

Since Thousand Mile Stare was released, a lot (and I mean A LOT) of shit has been happening on a global socio-economic level. Be it a global virus, exterminating social life for nearly two years, a russian invasion on european ground, a disappointing political right turn and greater social divides on a global level as well as countless other stuff that’s causing a lot of internal dissatisfaction on an individual level. Why is that important for an Incendiary review you may ask?

Well, Brendan Garrone and his fellow musicians might have taken some inspiration since they are pissed as hell on their newest barn burner of an album. It seems they took all the negativity and turned it into this musical gut punch. Opener and pre-released single “Bite The Tongue” hits you right in the face with hard-hitting breakdowns, poignant lyrics and cleverly integrated blast beats. These motives carry on througout the albums 30 minutes runtime. No intros, interludes or outros to be found here. Just calculated and concise onslaughts of pure anger, as if Rage Against The Machine were a metallic hardcore band on steroids. Incendiary clearly are aware of their strenghts on their fourth record and play them out well. Anti-War anthem “Echo Nothing” features catchy chant-alongs with “Every Window Deserves Brick” during the penultimate breakdown and the following “Host/Parasite” acts as a change of pace with its fast double bass parts and slayer inspired riffing and stands out as another highlight.

In general a lot of the tracks feature a great deal of dissonance on the guitar tracks. Provided by Brian Audley and Rob Nobile, these guitar riffs uniquely emphasize the lyrical aggression presented by Garrone, who sounds lke Zach De La Rocha as if he really gave a shit. Dan Lomeli completes the bill with very dynamic and groove-oriented drumming that often shies away from the typical 4/4 pattern as portrayed on Collision.

In general, Incendiary still play a more basic form of hardcore where the song structures are usually simplistic. But since they feature extraordinary individual players, the motives are often modified and varied, interesting enough to keep listeners engaged although the permanent high aggression level may not be for everyone. But as the lyrical motive describes quite well and the record title implies, sometimes one should switch perspectives on how and why they shy away from painful experiences. Ultimately we can often times achieve personal growth if we actively decide to endure instead of hiding away.

And that is what Incendiary did with their newest record. Concise and thought-provoking, the metallic hardcore band will be tough to challenge when it comes to this years hardcore record of the year. Hopefully we don’t need to withstand another global crisis to get another venom-spitting record of these Long Island heavy hitters. Now get in the pit and welcome the pain.