Album Review: Pain of Truth - Not Through Blood
Reviewed by Daniel Phipps
On the back of their 2020 'No Blame… Just Facts' EP and split alongside fellow New Yorkers Age of Apocalypse, one of the hottest commodities in hardcore over the past few years is Long Island’s Pain of Truth. The band play an extremely honest and true form of hardcore and have spent the last 3 years touring the globe and causing havoc across venues left, right & centre the band are set to release the long anticipated debut full length Not Through Blood through Connecticut based label DAZE and are here to prove as they pointed out on No Blame… Just Facts, that there is nothing stronger than the pain of truth.
Not Through Blood is a sharp and utterly mean record, the energy of the band instantly hits your ears as the band launch through a barrage of slick groove and punishing riffs, solid thick sounding drums and some of the most real sounding vocals you can find. Working alongside a series of guests from hardcore royalty such as Freddie Cricien (Madball), right through to Ohio Death Metallers 200 Stab Wounds, Pain of Truth deliver 11 tracks which do nothing short of deliver some of the best hardcore you will hear in 2023.
The tracks are short and absolutely lethal and whilst remaining true to the hardcore sound are not a generic hardcore by numbers in their execution. The flow of the record is excellent with each track moving swiftly not really giving you time to catch your breath. If there is one thing I would have liked, if i'm honest, it would have been less guest vocal appearances, as frontman Michael Smith has such a great attacking vocal style & display he really does not need so many guest vocalists on the album to give it anything extra, I get having them but one or two would have been sufficient. If you like riffs this record is packed full of them from your two stepping style & heavy mosh riffs right through to some more metal styles lead sections, Pain of Truth have you covered.
Not Through Blood is already going to be on the majority of hardcore fans' radar but Pain of Truth can be the type of band who can easily bring in fans from outside of the hardcore community. It's not uncommon for bands to fall short on a full length release but Pain of Truth have produced a record which will certainly cement them firmly as a band who can deliver when it counts the most.
