Album Review: Going Off - What Makes You Tick?
Reviewed by Dan Phipps
If there is a UKHC band poised to absolutely blow up this year it's Manchester's Going Off (they even have a bomb on there logo so it must be fate for them). They have been busy too over the last 12 months. I have been seeing their name all over the place on line ups with UK favourites and hardcore legends. On a personal level the only time I have seen them which was also my introduction to the band I was at their merch desk buying a copy of the “Destroy” CD immediately after they finished so I have been very much looking forward to What Makes You Tick? When the band announced they were releasing it through Church Road Records.
Now Going Off certainly knows how to write hardcore. They certainly don't mess about and the band have put together a collection of short, catchy songs, which contain a sharp metallic edge within the playing style but they don't lose the punk sound and get obsessed with “mosh” riffs. Not losing the punk edge within the music in my opinion is extremely important and when it comes to writing hardcore in this particular style this is how you can always tell a genuine band who knows what they are doing from metal bands trying to write hardcore.
What you get on this record is 11 tracks of fury, they are full of life and a real genuine aggression, especially vocally and the vocals really push the record in terms of how it flows they match the rage when needed and also the groove is continually stuck with you. What I find the most important aspect of What Makes You Tick? It maintains the energy of how hardcore sounds at a live level, which is quite an achievement and once this drops and people become familiar with the material I can really see absolute chaos erupting.
You can really hear the next step that Going Off has delivered with this new record. What Makes You Tick? Is a great example of just what makes hardcore so great and I can’t help but thinking this is just the next step in the evolution and growth of the Manchester band, because you can hear they have something special.
