Speeding, Thudding, Pounding, Charging, Melodic Hardcore. Though clearly not attempting to reinvent the wheel, This Is Hell are definitely worth a listen, and there's a good chance you'll be inspired to charge around in a circle, waving your fists and kicking your feet. Sure, they're not going to teach you anything new about hardcore, but there are moments of sheer brilliance: "These are the things we never, ever wanted to become" yells Travis Reilly all too convincingly on Permanence. "If the good die young, we'll fuckin' live forever." Genuine, uncontrived angst is remarkably hard to come by these days. Thankfully, This Is Hell have plenty to share.

It’s good to know that in 2006, decades after hardcore started, bands like This Is Hell still exist. Sundowning is nothing new or groundbreaking, but perhaps in its authenticity and honesty it separates itself from the heaps of crap that plague the music world today. This music comes from the same school as bands like Comeback Kid, Bane, and With Honor. I’m a lyric geek, so I need good ones to make me really feel the music. This kid is pretty good. His words sound real and he is writing straight from the heart. They follow no formula and you can tell he’s not holding anything back. “The polygraph cheaters” stood out as one of the more solid songs on the record. Other highlights are an instrumental that is big, dark, and heavy like the intro to a His Hero Is Gone song, and Daryl Palumbo from Glassjaw/Head Automatica does some singing on ‘Procession Commence.” The artwork is yet another fantastic piece done by the talented Jake Bannon (Converge). Sundowning is a solid hardcore record, which, if anything, lacks a little melody. But these guys are doing okay without it.

Holy shit! Where did this band come from? Well, from the ruins of Scraps and Heart Attacks and The Backup Plan apparently. They've already made a name for themselves with a couple of EP's (last of which came out on State Of Mind) but with "Sundowning" these dudes deliver an impressive debut album filled with HC tunes that will get every place going. It's all delivered at a rapid pace but with plenty of room left for melody to step in and for gang vocals to take over. Think The Hope Conspiracy and Suicide File mixed with Give Up The Ghost and hell why not... Comeback Kid. This results in cuts like "Here Come The Rains", "Permanence" and "The Polygraph Cheats" and that's more than just fine by me. After Have Heart, Betrayed and Sinking Ships, this is yet another one for the end of the year lists!

Another debut hardcore bruiser from Trustkill It’s always helpful when a band’s name give an accurate indication of where their muse resides. This lot from Long Island live in a world of emotional, social, and political turmoil, a place where life is a thankless struggle, while pain and treachery lurk around every damn corner. In the face of such odds, however, they remain defiant, and this is what gives their songs such an acute emotional charge. The band’s hardcore rumble is pleasingly primal with Travis Reilly’s furious voice very much the centre-stage attraction, while the riffs manage to be both melodic and crushing. Unfortunately, all this power comes at you with little variation in pace, which means the songs bleed into each other rather than standing out as unique entities. Otherwise, This Is Hell clearly have the potential to give their peers and the punters a serious run for their money.

"The sun is out and I'm feeling like the walking dead, completely unaffected by the blood I shed / Hours spent, days spent, weeks spent / I bite my tongue we are the walking dead / We don't sleep, this is a restless road."* This Is Hell's last self-titled EP on State of Mind was potent, but Sundowning is even more intoxicating. I know your ears have already heard enough hardcore to last you the rest of your life. So why should you keep listening to a sound that's been beaten into submission over and over again? Fortunately, bands like This Is Hell keep pushing the straight-ahead hardcore sound forward, welding fervent aggression with dynamic guitar driven rhythms. Fast, uncompromising, and heated, Sundowning touches the deepest nerve and boils the most content emotion. Sundowning is blistering. Travis Reilly's vocals are cutting and commanding, forcefully howling loud, releasing feelings of disgust and rage. This Is Hell keeps the energy fast and constantly on the go through all thirteen tracks (clocking in at just over twenty-eight minutes). The sound is thick, and the guitar chords sharp and resounding. The melodic jabbing of "Permanence," "The Polygraph Cheaters," and "Broken Teeth" will excite ears while the crunching closer "Epilogue" will kick up dust within the moshing thunderdome. Pits will stir, fingers will point, and chants will rise: Sundowning will make you gnash your teeth on an old-school style mixed with new-fangled aggression. The cover and layout was created by Jacob Bannon (perhaps the official stamp of approval). Overall a cool release by a young hardcore outfit you definitely should check out.

“Me and Dan (Bourke, drums) never went to college,” remarks This is Hell vocalist Travis Reilly. “I never really enjoyed school and I had no desire to spend a lot of money on something I didn’t want to do. Everyone I know who went to college either dropped out or didn’t know what they wanted once they had left. It just seemed pointless.” No higher education, no prospects and no desire to conform to the societal models of the world, This is Hell are dissidence distilled into its purest and most volatile form. A product of the fertile hardcore scene in Long Island, the band came together after the much feted but short-lived Scraps and Heart Attacks split. “The reason why Scraps stopped playing was because I was the only one who wanted to tour,” remembers Reilly. “The other guys wanted to stay home and work jobs; they had only just finished school and they didn’t want to be away from home all of the time.” Desperate to avoid the restrictive monotony of what most consider the normality of nine-to-five life, Reilly harvested members of the Back Up Plan, enlisted a scene vet to round out the lineup, and got straight on the road with a new band, not waiting for anyone to pay attention or pay their touring bills. “We formed the band and just went straight on the road,” comments the vocalist on the substantial dues already paid by This Is Hell. “We didn’t want to do it the hard way but we didn’t want to be like a lot of other bands that are out at the moment who just sit around and wait for people to help them. We knew we would have to do all of this ourselves and people noticed this band because we were working so hard for it. It did get crazy though and I don’t think we could have kept touring at the rate we were unless we got signed. It got to the point where we were on tour and I was booking the next tour from the back of the van while we were on the road. It was definitely getting too much to handle.” Trustkill took note of this industrious activity and moved to make the band their own. Safely house by one of the foremost alternative labels, This Is Hell focused work on making their debut record. The result was “Sundowning”-a caustic album that hangs a narrative of desertion and despair on hooks of vitriolic yet anthemic hardcore, harrowing the very corners of your being. Surprisingly eloquent considering the highly candid delivery, the desperation to escape the modern disease and seperation of close companions is the fuel in the furnace of this potential powerhouse. This Is Hell are best described by the mission statement laid out in their lyrics for ‘Prelude(Again)”. “This is a statement of our will. We’re not going down in history for standing still. We are spinning tires, we are starting fires, we are racing against the sun…We’re trading in our lives for a song and hoping beyond hope that it’ll see us through. We’re doing our best to make good on this. Fare thee well, everything we knew.” This is passion. This is purpose. This Is Hell. Formed in the immediate aftermath of the dissolved Scraps and Heart Attacks, This Is Hell have managaed to maintain the fire that focused their previous projects while forging ahead and refining the messy sound that Scraps made into maniacal yet melodic songs, forming the solid foundation on which ‘Sundowning’ was built. It is a strong debut that proves This Is Hell can keep pace with the tougher Terror-like hardcore acts. Hang with the melodics of come back kid and their ilk and possibly even stage a breakout for the rock mainstream like American Nightmare did before they unspectacularly imploded. It is a record of promise that will get a crowd moving but the intelligent lyrics and eloquent delivery will be the thing that sets it apart once the show ends.

Trustkill has made it's name with bludgeoning metalcore but just lately the label has started to spread it's wings. Unfortunately this has brought us the forgettable (Crash Romeo) and the average (Roses Are Red), but it's also introduced us to some awesome new bands from outside the label's trademark sound and This Is Hell are arguably the best. Hailing from that most fertile of musical breeding grounds Long Island, the five-piece were actually formed from the ashes of Scraps And Heart Attacks – a band who were cool to name-drop a while back (despite hardly anyone actually having heard them!). With the name This Is Hell you're not expecting cheerful pop-punk and indeed this is intensely bleak stuff – thirteen tracks of abrasive, hate-filled hardcore that recalls Give Up The Ghost and Modern Life Is War at their most direct, pissed-off and raw. In other words, it's fucking awesome stuff. Frontman Travis Reilly's vocals literally drip with raw passion; coupled with the fast abrasive riffing that characterises the likes of 'Here Come The Rains' and 'Broken Teeth' it makes for powerful, hard-hitting stuff, though with an anthemic edge that stops this from being nothing more than mosh-pit fodder for the kids to pull moves to. This is the type of hardcore that literally insists you punch your fist and shout-a-long to every word, the type of hardcore that ignores fashion and instead concentrates on articulating pure emotion and energy and the most awe-inspiring way possible. In other words, Sundowning is a bloody fantastic record – I suggest you buy it now!

The Long Island, New York based band, This Is Hell, is pure DIY hardcore. The band members are comprised of two broken projects from Long Island, bands: Scraps And Heart Attacks and the Backup Plan. This Is Hell’s first major CD release off of Trustkill records is Sundowning. This CD has slightly more grit and power than their former EP’s with notable influences by Bane and the Hope Conspiracy. From the first track to the last track, This Is Hell assaults your ears with their hardcore/punk sound. Travis Reilly’s screaming vocals makes it hard to hear what he’s trying to say on the first listen, but the more you play the CD, the easier it is to hear his lyrics. With heavy riffs and gang vocals on almost all of the tracks the band brings back the DIY mentality that bands like Blood for Blood and Comeback Kid have made popular. Notably, the CD starts out with killer hard hitting songs, “Retrospect” and “Prelude (Again)” that is directly in your face and pulls you in to see what else this band has to offer you (which most of the songs are reminiscent of one another sound wise, pulling that Punk feel in). However, in the following songs “Polygraph Cheaters” and “Procession Commence” (which has a guest appearance by Glassjaw/ Head Automatica front man Daryl Palumbo) the beginning is used to build you up to a heavy hitting song. “Permanence” uses the same technique by using a long set up to get fans geared up for something heavy, hard, and loud, which is delivered. There is a wonderful breakdown in the middle of this song that has to be pointed out due to the fact that it has a great build up as well. The end of the song has a nice fade out that preps you for the next track. Two songs on the CD that need to be noted, are “4/8/05” and “8/27/05”, are obviously both sentimental songs due to their dates, however are both used as set up tracks for the following songs, “The Polygraph Cheaters” and “Procession Commence”. Both these songs follow the preceding ballad tracks and smoothly transition from the soft sounds by starting up their tracks with a soft beginning as well. Hearing the gentle melodies of these two ballads (and the starts of the tracks to follow) lets you know that something big is coming, a famous move in hardcore music. This band has definitely taken some good notes from their predecessors and fellow bands. Upon first listen, most of the tracks sound the same but once you listen closer, you can hear all the different uses of guitar riffs and drum beats that may remind you slightly of not only a punk feel but maybe a little bit of metal creeping in. Over all This Is Hell is definitely a CD for a true hardcore fan. It’s hard, fast, and gritty and everything a fan could ask for. This Is Hell may have a small following of fans now, but the ever growing popularity of hardcore music will push this band forward. If you’re a fan of the old school style of DIY hardcore, this is the album for you. I highly suggest you run out and pick it up, or try to catch them live currently on tour with Bayside, Spitalfield, Valencia.

At the offset of this album, I was pretty sure I was hearing a typical offering of old-school stuff, but as Sundowning progressed, it became less hardcore and more Trustkill—not necessarily bad, but worth noting. Track four (“Permanence”) is the area around where it goes from punk beats, breakdowns, and one-noters to more complicated riffs, distortions, samples, etc. The epilogue leaves us off in static and UHF feedback. Of course, what would a hardcore album be without crowd chants; and for sure, those stay for the whole ride, right up through the end. The vocals are reminiscent of Will To Live, the music reminiscent of Comeback Kid. The lyrics are a poetic notch above those of bands like… say… Shattered Realm (no hard feelings), but clear enough so that you aren’t scratching your head the way you were when you opened the liner notes for Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. The only line that kind of annoys me is “Through this, what have we learned? It doesn’t matter if you play with fire, either way you’ll get burned.” Come on guys. Learned? Burned? Come on guys. … Come on. An interesting note: The liner art is really swell. My final opinion? A pretty good new school / old school hybrid. Sundowning is about as good of a listen as CBK’s Wake the Dead (which was good, but not quite as good as Turn It Around ). All in all, I recommend it. Two and three-fourths stars out of four?

All music has a seasonal quality: Every autumn, I'm getting all introspective with sad-bastard indie; classic holiday tunes and country ditties get me through the winter monthes; and spring has me spinning anthemic punk vinyl. Summer comes along, and I'm ready for something a bit more, well, aggro. And for those of us who think the last great hardocore record had an "A" and an "N" on the sleeve (before there was a "G","U" or "T"), finally, there's another furious 'core record worth sweating through the long days to.

This Is Hell's debut album "Sundowning" is what I'd call a masterpiece of hardcore punk. After bands like American Nightmare/Give Up The Ghost, Kid Dynamite and The Hope Conspiracy called it quit, the new powers of Hardcore come from a very few bands like This Is Hell, Shook Ones, Set Your Goals. And This Is Hell is one of the most important. With a disc that is so fast it hurts (only 28 minutes ), the five piece delivers such anthems as "Here Comes The Rains" and "Prelude (Again)" that not only are melodic and pissedd, but also filled with guitar hooks, screams and energic/positive lyrics. The production reminds me of American Nightmare's debut album, and the guest vocals of Daryl Palumbo (Head Automatica, GlassJaw) on the song "Procession Commence" stresses the style of this band. On a side note, the disc is artworked by J.Bannon of Converge/Deathwish Inc. fame, and even tough it is only a four page booklet, you can admire Bannon's art in all of his glory!

Satan’s had a good year. Maybe it’s his chic new image in movies like The Omen or it could be the resurgence of Janet Jackson’s career, but industry folk are digging the Dark Prince and his digs. First, Rocket Star took a chance on southern-fried metalcore act, Hell Promise. So enamored with the heat, Hell Promise released their full-length debut with the redundant title, Aim For Hell. Ok, we get it. Not to be outdone by lesser minions, Trustkill recently released the first album from their own little devils, This is Hell. Ah, damnation. Being familiar with Reilly’s bloodline and Trustkill’s propensity to sign dressed up gimmicks, I was kind of expecting just that. Sporting members of other former actual New York hardcore bands, This is Hell is an actual New York hardcore band. Imagine that. On Sundowning, the boys from “Strong Island” do it fast. Most songs burn out before the two and a half minute mark. They do it loud. Travis Reilly makes big brother’s old pal Vinnie look soft, West Coast soft. And they do it over and over again. If there’s ever a problem with being loud and fast, it’s that everything tends to sound…well, loud and fast. There’s nothing particularly spastic or dare I use the most clichéd adjective in the history of music describing adjectives, “brutal” (shivers), about Sundowning. You won't find much in the way of depth either. Further, as poetic as the verse is, Reilly’s shout is as steady as she goes. It never does any of the vocal gymnastics one might expect from an equally coifed frontman. So, I guess what I’m trying to convey is… This Is Hell is simply loud and fast. Except for on “Epilogue”, where they take out the fast and just play loud. How’s that for range!

I remember about a year ago at school, Bobby handed me a bunch of cd's he wanted reviewed, I was lucky enough to be given This Is Hell's first cd. Ever since I've been anticipating their next album, which in this case happens to be Sundowning. After changing labels, not much else seems to have changed about This Is Hell, they still sound great. They sound even better after reviewing numerous cd's that I really didn't like as well. It really gives me pleasure to review a hardcore band for once, as opposed to shitty faux-emo bullshit that's circulating all over the place. The vocalist has a pretty unique voice, there's not many other bands that I listen to that even sound remotely like it. They have the group chant to accompany the vocals as well, which are always a welcome addition to a hardcore band. The guitarists use a lot of palm mute, but in the background you can hear the lead guitarist playing fancy riffs and high notes. There's some breakdowns, but minimum chug, which gets old quickly. The bass can always be heard going in the background, its nothing too special though. Oddly enough, that's the way I felt about the drumming as well, I didn't start listening for it as soon as I usually do. But I almost always must respect a drummer, since they have infinitely more coordination than myself to be able to play the drums, nonetheless in a good band. So, instrumentally, the band is very sound, but they are much like many other hardcore bands around right now. They actually sound a lot like Betrayed, except the Betrayed songs I compared them to had way more distortion on their instruments. The lyrics This Is Hell wrote are pretty good, they seem to be more about personal tribulations encountered, as opposed to songs about broken hearts which I have grown to hate so much. If this album had not been sent to me, I most likely would have bought it, I suggest that anyone in need of some new hardcore music should do the same. I can think of other bands that I would check out just as readily, but This Is Hell has never let me down. Hopefully their music won't take any turns for the worst, because this was a great cd. It's shame that it's been lying idle on my computer desk so long waiting to be reviewed, but I figured I might as well get a whole bunch of crappy cd's out of the way first. But I digress, check these guys out and give them a chance, they shouldn't disappoint.

This is a really good debut full-length that's otherwise seeming to polarize people for really curious reasons that I may never fathom. What more can you ask of a hardcore band's first album when it brings the same amount of intensity as the preceding EPs, integrates more influences from the likes of the Suicide File and the Hope Conspiracy instead of relying solely on a base Give Up the Ghost nod, completely sheds comparisons to the band members' former endeavors (Scraps and Heart Attacks, the Backup Plan), offers a rapidly changing dynamic in terms of accessibility, and releases the whole thing in a package designed by Converge front-man and talented artist Jake Bannon? Very, very little comes to mind. Sundowning starts out utterly relentless. "Retrospect" and "Prelude (Again)" bring the kind of aggression and tempo that would lead me to describe them as "in your face" if I hadn't recycled that phrase so much already. It's downright weird to hear songs so blistering in comparison to a band's slightly elder material, but that's precisely what they present. However, the scales are balanced with "Permanence," "The Polygraph Cheaters," and "Procession Commence" (the last of which features yet another wonderful cameo from Glassjaw / Head Automatica voicebox Daryl Palumbo), great songs in their own right but also ones that seem to have a certain crossover appeal about them. When the band fleshes out like this and slows down ever so slightly, the song seems to have a wider appeal, but only in the best way, using repetition that's efficient, not obnoxious. Thing is, there's midpoints too: The chorus of "Here Comes the Rains" is downright fanatstic for its emotional tinge, and the memorial interludes of "4/8/05" and "8/27/05" are kind reprieves from the sorted amounts of controlled chaos usually taking place. "The Absentee Ballot" is a building and breaking anthem, coughing up a wonderful range considering it's under 2 minutes. The only minor complaint I may have is the few forced breakdowns ("Broken Teeth," "Procession Commence," "Epilogue") on the disc. They do seem thrown in just to relate to the band's label-mates, but they're both sporadic and brief enough that I don't entirely mind them, and usually creative considering, anyway. Sundowning delivers on most of the promises that This Is Hell's demo and followup EP were vehemently making. For all the band's somewhat obvious comparisons, it honestly feels unique in all its styles and moods and the structure both are presented in. This Is Hell should not only continue to make big waves in the hardcore community, but open up the floodgates for the ocean to expand.

Regardless of the self-destructive junior-high level crying and the horseshit name-calling that has reportedly overtaken the DIY attitude and the “stay strong and rise above” mantra of many hardcore scenes, there are still bands out there that can take the higher road above the scene politics and still kick you directly in the teeth. Insert Trustkill Records’ and Long Island’s very own This Is Hell – an in your face five-piece made up of the blistering remnants of Scraps and Heart Attacks and members of fan favorites The Backup Plan. This Is Hell’s latest release, Sundowning, is a twenty-nine minute serving of floor-punching, ass-kicking hardcore goodness that has more than a hint of old-school flavor baked throughout. From the beginning to the end, Sundowning sounds like a lost Give Up the Ghost album that could have been recorded on the heels of We’re Down Til We’re Underground; however, it isn’t a mythical album from the now defunct gods of modern hardcore, instead it’s a solid first brick in what could prove to be the road back to what hardcore has supposedly lost. As soon as Sundowning kicks off, listeners are bombarded with the earnest shouts of frontman Travis Reilly, who sounds eerily like Wes Eisold of AN/GUTG and Some Girls fame (which in and of itself will peak the interest of and stir the pits for hardcore lovers all around). With every line soaked in intensity and old-school urgency, the vocal quality on Sundowning is enough to send chills through you; however, while it might feel like a pleasant blast from the past, don’t expect the subject matter to be dated or cliché. Instead of opting for the easy subjects that many core outfits tackle nowadays (namely scene aesthetics and politics), This Is Hell’s lyrical themes include handling and learning from loss, unavoidable maturation and the jadedness that can accompany, and moving on despite these realities of life. Kind of makes all of your band’s rants about being “edge” and losing girlfriends seem a little lackluster, huh? The fact of the matter is that This Is Hell realizes that life is real, life is urgent, life is important, and life will never be judged based off of your shitty narrow-minded scene rules... it’s all about how you persevere. As for the instrumental side of things, Sundowning is basically an extensive guide to creating moving, semi-thrashy and fast hardcore that pummels the competition. Drummer Dan Bourke delivers the atypical drum chops with speeds that shouldn’t be attempted by most of the amateurs that hang out behind the drum kits of your various venues and guitarists Rick Jiminez and Joe Osolin help lead the charge from the moment that Sundowning kicks off. The talent level matched with the heavily experienced lineup of This Is Hell has not let us down on their latest endeavor, as they seem like a group of veterans that have finally managed to win the pennant after years of leading their own separate teams to good but not great seasons. Basically, think of a professionally polished lovechild that was born in a massive three-way between The Suicide File, American Nightmare, and Comeback Kid at a self-help meeting for survivors of tragedy and you’ll have Sundowning. To sum it all up, Sundowning is an extremely passionate, “carpe diem” minded high-speed romp through the areas of hardcore that haven’t been visited too much lately; however, these are the areas that the genre should be grazing upon and/or building on. From the two-step inducing riffage and epic gang vocals on the more accessible tracks “Here Comes the Rains” and “The Polygraph Cheaters” to the charismatic, heartfelt chants of the mature “Permanence” to the intense, focused lyricism on “Procession Commence” (which features a kick ass cameo from Glassjaw/Head Automatica vocalist Daryl Palumbo), Sundowning is a powerfully somber album that manages to rekindle the flames of both hardcore and life in general. Have you ever had that album that seemed to speak to you, ignite you to be something better, and force you to realize what you got before you lose it? Ever heard that song that made you want start living life before the world around you lives it for you? Well, if not, I encourage you to pick up This Is Hell’s latest release, because it was all of the above for me. Here’s to hoping that This Is Hell “will fucking live forever,” because we need you around these parts.

"Sundowning" sees This is Hell continuing to hone their brand of lightly metallic hardcore that's got a forceful sense of aggression to it that's wrapped in both blatant melody (not wholly uncommon for their Long Island residence) and an obvious sense of sincerity – comparable on some level to a number of other contemporary bands within this scene that fit into this particular niche in one way or another. However, This is Hell seems to be adding a slightly more post-hardcore sounding spin to their take on this direction, which is a nice touch. I do sort of feel like the recording on this outing comes across as a smidge too thin (there's a lot of midrange in there), there's not quite enough crispness to the low-end, so a little bit of the clarity and balance can suffer. More punch to the rhythm section (especially the drums) could've really given this material an extra kick in the ass, but nonetheless I really like these songs a lot and feel like this is a logical progression from the band's earlier work – retaining that basic framework and the sheer intensity of the screaming vocals while adding in significantly more melody to the riffing and achieving a broader focus that lets the songwriting come across as more diverse and "mature" (for lack of a better word), but also more memorable. With 13 tracks in but a little over 28 minutes the impact of the energy level never really has time to slip either, and that's a great place to be. This is their first full-length recording and the band seems to be fairly young, so if all goes well they should have a long and fruitful run ahead of 'em...

This sounds like what could have been the missing link between American Nightmare's two full-length LPs, the straightforward brilliance of Background Music and the more eccentric but equally great We're Down ‘Til We're Underground; This Is Hell are certainly keeping hardcore fresh and new-sounding, but they're not straying so far away from their roots as to render them unrecognizable. I'll admit—and I'm sure many others will, too—that I was a little apprehensive about the band's signing to Trustkill and what the ensuing album would sound like, but rest assured, worried masses: Sundowning is a great, creative hardcore record that should catapult the band into the ranks of the best hardcore bands around today. If you're skeptical about the AN comparison, the first 15 seconds of the first track, “Retrospect,” should set you straight; the energetic build-up and line “if ever we were innocent/ that time came and went” start the record off on a note very similar to Background Music's “(We Are).” And similar to that record, Sundowning never slows down from here. “Here Come the Rains” prove that “creative breakdown” is not an oxymoron, and “Permanence” is a four-minute hardcore epic, culminating in the repeated group shouting of “if the good die young, we'll fucking live forever.” Powerful stuff. One of my favorite aspects about Sundowning is that it feels like an album, not just the latest 10-12 songs the band has come up with. It's got a definite flow, and the two instrumental tracks segue into its different sections effectively, a la Tragedy. Hardcore bands have never been great at releasing full, cohesive albums, so I'm doubly impressed that This Is Hell's debut full-length is this well composed. My hat's off to Trustkill for signing a band for their talent, not immediate commercial appeal; seeing some real quality in the Trustkill roster is a welcome change of pace. The production is decent, with meaty guitars and full-sounding vocals at the forefront, though it would be nice if the drums were crisper and the bass were more present in the mix; a bit of knob-twiddling behind the boards could really send this record over the top in awesomeness, but as is, Sundowning is still a great record. If you have any interest at all in the handful of modern hardcore bands that are keeping the genre fresh and exciting without flirting with metal, This Is Hell should certainly be on your to-watch list.

This Is Hell is one of the most prominent up-and-coming hardcore band in the scene today. Their debut full length entitled Sundowning proves that point. Immediately many would compare this record to singer, Travis Reilly’s former band, Scrapes and Heart Attacks’s former recordings, well let me tell you one thing, they’ve successfully moved away from those comparisons. Now Reilly has a more direct vocal delivery similar to that of 90s hardcore trailblazers American Nightmare’s lead singer, Wes Eisold. As well as the vocal delivery the instrumentation is strongly influenced by AN and even the Hope Conspiracy. Sundowning opens with the intensity of the minute long, Retrospect. It seems with this song they picked up right where they left off with their EP released last year and will harness that intensity and talent through out the 13 tracks that make up Sundowning. Continuing on Prelude (Again) wastes absolutely no time building intensity, with the fade to a guitar driven breakdown with Reilly shouting Kiss the ground goodbye for awhile/Fare thee well, everything we knew/We’re trading in our lives for a song And with that line the bands two guitarists show that they’ve studied their AN records, providing the grind of their instruments backed by the drums and I must say this guy playing them has got some serious talent. Here Come The Rains harnesses the intensity and vocal delivery just as up to par as the past two songs. Permanence is a build up of drums, clashing guitars and bass, when right around the 35 second mark Reilly steps in and shouts This is the end of the days/That source and cure of all our pain the lyrics are really something you should read while you listen. They show some serious depth and really bring out Reilly’s talent as a writer. There are two instrumentals on Sundowning one titled 4.8.05 the other, 8.27.05. Not really sure what the deal is with the numbers used but they do resemble dates. Now don’t get me wrong it’s kind of cool to see them trying something they usually wouldn’t do, but they are my only gripe with this record, but I’ll let it slide. One song I’d like to mention is The Polygraph Cheaters, a solid song all the way through, Reilly and crew never sounded better. His talent as a writer shines yet again with the songs closing lines We’re architects among arsonists/And we’ll burn this fucker to the ground/This is the sound it makes/When it all comes crashing down. What can I say, it’s good stuff right there. The rest of the record plugs along alike the first half of it. The songs really never lose intensity and even the second instrumental, entitled 8.27.05 has a more melodic guitar and drumbeat, it eventually builds up to the instrumentation you may hear on a Crime In Stereo record. Wasting no time rebuilding the power and intensity, Procession Commence is driven by a constant drumbeat and an appearance by Head Automatica / Glassjaw front man Daryl Palumbo. There is also a short breakdown about a half minute before the song fades out which makes it all the better. Nobody Leaves Without Singing The Blues a solid minute and fifty-five seconds of music, with a fading radio signal opening the tune and closing it immediately flows into the last song on the record Epilogue. Epilogue is the closer of the record and although it is not the greatest track on the record it’s still pretty damn good. It plugs along at a slower rate with a single guitarist introducing the track with a soft strum of the strings. The song doesn’t harness the heavy instrumentation as the rest of the songs but it definitely comes close. On Sundowning everything clicks together for This Is Hell, they know when and where to use gang vocals and their American Nightmare influence bleeds from the majority of the tunes. This Is Hell is going to be a band to keep a close eye on in the future. Sundowning will most likely break my top five records of the year list.

I'm not much of a hardcore guy myself, but This is Hell know what they are doing. Their self-titled debut EP was released on State of Mind a little over a year ago and made a huge impression on me. Since I don't listen to much hardcore it hasn't really gotten the number of spins it deserves, but rest assured, its an excellent EP and I highly recommend it. So here we are about a year later with their debut full-length, Sundowning, and based on the popularity of their EP the band has jumped to the much bigger Trustkill label. I'm really happy the band got noticed by a larger label because their hardcore is actually somewhat unique and deserves to have a big label pushing it. Not too much has changed in the This is Hell camp in the last year. The sound on this full-length is very similar to what was displayed on the EP, although this time around the production job is a little more solid and the band seems to have become more comfortable with their writing abilities. Previously I described the band as having "the intensity of Give Up the Ghost and the bombastic appeal of The Hope Conspiracy," which still stands true. You can also throw in Champion and Modern Life is War as relevent points of reference, in addition to the obvious Scraps and Heart Attacks influence. Everything about This is Hell is top notch within the realm of hardcore. The lyrics are poignient and well-penned and different from what a lot of bands are yelling about. From a songwriting standpoint, the songs have a rock tinge to them with memorable writing, great melodies and enough variance in the songs to make each song appealing. Their more typical hardcore leanings (breakdowns, sing-a-longs, gang vocals) are all really tasteful and well-placed, never seeming forced or just added to make the song more "hardcore." Even the artwork is really well done thanks to Mr. Bannon with his typical splatter artwork; this stuff in particular looks like the artwork from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas because of the use of bats. Sundowning is the type of album that makes people that don't like hardcore wish that all of it was done this well. Unfortunately, that's not the case, but the contrast between bad hardcore and good hardcore makes stuff like This is Hell seem all the better. I really can't say enough about this album. Any fan of hardcore should defintely check this band out, and I'm sure that due to the help of Trustkill, these guys will get the attention they deserve. This is easily one of the better hardcore releases of the last few years.

Last year This Is Hell released a debut EP on the quality little hardcore label known as State Of Mind. This six-song harbinger was the best hardcore I heard all year, not just because its brevity left wanting more, but because the band had quickly asserted a sound of their own while keeping a firm grasp of the fundamentals of great traditional hardcore. Fortunately, This Is Hell didn't leave me with too much time to overspeculate on their first full-length album. Trustkill, in a surprising bid to demonstrate their willingness to sign a good band once in a while, snatched the newcomers up and brought "Sundowning" to light. Less than a year has passed since the first This Is Hell material surfaced, but you'd think this band has had double or triple that amount of time to build on what they've started and forge an indentity for themselves. They've pulled even further away from the standards and practices of conventional hardcore and taken liberties in the same way that Modern Life Is War or Cursed has. The stereotype of the fast, simple, and angry hardcore band is a far cry from the direction of "Sundowning", a profoundly personal record whose subject matter deals the deaths of persons close to members of the band. Various tempos are employed and different avenues of intensity are explored, with sparse use of gang vocals, breakdowns, and other such cash crops of the genre. The general mood surrounding "Sundowning" is somber more than it is angry, and it's inwardly focused and highly expressive much like the original crop of emo bands and those keeping the spirit alive today. This Is Hell understand the effectiveness of restraint and the dangers of hyperbole, and accordingly the album is undisputably honest, genuine, and void of pretense. Buy this record, read the lyric sheet, and it'll leave its mark.

Positions on THIS IS HELL seemingly range from the band being an ideas-poor derivative of AMERICAN NIGHTMARE/GIVE UP THE GHOST to one of the best things hardcore currently has to offer. My own stake in the matter is that THIS IS HELL are closer to the latter. With Sundowning, the band's debut full-length, THIS IS HELL finally gives this five-piece a chance to do more than leave a flirty impression. At the core of THIS IS HELL's sound is a chewy nugget of talent and insanely tight songwriting. For a band that plays as fast and hard-hitting as they do, just as impressive is how stunningly precise every note seems to sound without ever getting the feeling that the music is rigid and lacking in emotion. While THIS IS HELL's overall musical climate is a familiar path of well-weathered influences (including THE SUICIDE FILE and THE HOPE CONSPIRACY), Sundowning is a highly balanced affair. Mixing timultuous build-ups and racing tempos with blister-causing breakdowns and ominous atmospheric dust-ups, THIS IS HELL serve up a full-plate of satisfaction in a tidy 28 minutes. Besides having a tough-as-nails, slightly metallic production style to go nuts over, Sundowning's best trait is that the album never shows any sign of cracks or fissures as it barrels along. The best hardcore bands separate themselves from the pack by not merely having good songs, but by writing complete, hesitation free albums, and Sundowning is often absolutely merciless. "Prelude (Again)" delivers the first of a series of jaw-dropping breakdowns, the most exotic of which appears on the hurts-so-good song "Broken Teeth." "Here Come The Rains" is one of the band's most interactive tracks, armed with a uptick in melody in the guitars, a subtle yet driving chorus, and plentiful gang vocals. I'm honestly taken aback by how many things are clickin' with this song without it being saddled by having to much to shoulder. "Permanence" is wacko-BPM linear sprint for its first three minutes until it pauses and erupts with another minute of crazed lyric chanting (IF THE GOOD DIE YOUNG WE'LL FUCKING LIVE FOREVER). "Deliver Me" is blessed with another burst of speed and features some of Travis Reilly's darkest lyrical matter thus far. The song concludes with stark defeat, as Reilly laments, These days, at best, are a shadow of what they should have been. Deliver me from this wasteland, deliver me from feeling alone. Among the album's jarring final three songs is "Process Commence," which features a guest vocal appearance by GLASSJAW/HEAD AUTOMATICA frontman, Daryl Palumbo. Palumbo, who also appeared on the band's 2005 self-titled EP, has a keen skill in that his voice is always able to strike through a noisy maelstrom of guitars and percussion, and his work here is no less effective. Sundowning has it all and moves THIS IS HELL far, far past the band's "ex-SCRAPS AND HEART ATTACKS/THE BACK-UP PLAN" origins. These guys are an entity all of their own, and given the band's already established road-warrior presence, nothing should be standing in their way.

Following on from their low-key State Of Mind-released EP last year, Long Island’s This Is Hell are finally ready to strut it on the debutant's ballroom floor with 'Sundowning', a brutal, whipcrack, turn-on-a-dime album of straight up hardcore fury. Former Scraps And Heart Attacks singer Travis Reilly spits throat punishing venom over the likes of 'Here Comes The Rains' and 'Broken Teeth', with the tumultuous breakdowns, searing riffs and calls to arms never letting up for a microsecond. Featuring a return to the 'core for LI's most prominent resident Daryl Palumbo on 'Procession Commence', 'Sundowning' is a highly competent, highly effective slab of no-frills, dark-edged hardcore that should by rights be a constant in any HC fan's CD player for a long time to come.

After releasing a much-talked about EP early last year through State Of Mind, This Is Hell began to gain interest on a bigger label resulting in their deal with Trustkill. While the label has released a lot of lackluster material as of late, This Is Hell brings the passion and aggression on their first full-length, Sundowning. Versed in hardcore, This Is Hell take their sound to the next level here with a more focused approach to songwriting and harsher, more epic techniques. Far from a concept album, Sundowning does contain a theme that centers on the loss of hope, innocence, and the young life. The opening minute-long statement, “Retrospect”, presents this right off before quickly running into the stampede of “Prelude (Again)”. With Dan Bourke drumming at Indy car speeds and the throat-scratching vocals of Travis Reilly spitting words out left and right, This Is Hell easily capture a listener’s interest while capping it off with a great breakdown. There are several tracks like this that run through the disc with standouts coming in the vocally clever “The Polygraph Cheaters” and in the punky “Broken Teeth”. Also, “The Absentee Ballot” sets itself up as one of the best with a brooding guitar lead and harsh gang vocals a la Modern Life Is War. Another highlight comes in the blistering “Procession Commence” which features Daryl Palumbo screaming again for what is most likely the first time since appearing on the band’s EP. While the band does its best to capitalize on this style, they also hint at something bigger and greater. “Permanence” is the best example of this as it is one of their longest songs at over four minutes. However, it is also one of their most accessible tracks as it contains a distinct chorus and ending climax which culminates with a vocal attack of “if the good die young we’ll fucking live forever”. Also, an instrumental track like “8/27/05” hints at how the band is expanding their sound while the closing track, “Epilogue”, ends the album with an airy yet heavy feel. Despite accessible moments, I doubt that This Is Hell will be that entry band for kids looking to get into hardcore. However, fans of the band’s previous work or of their many tour mates (Bane, Modern Life Is War, etc) will most definitely get a good kick out of Sundowning. The variation between songs and the changing of structure here and there keeps Sundowning listenable throughout its duration, giving it that special something that many hardcore bands lack. Harsh yet inviting, heavy yet melodic, epic yet simple. This Is Hell has it all.