It's 2007. Almost 2008. For all intents and purposes, our nation has been at war in some capacity for the last six years. It makes sense, then, that bands like the Warriors, Career Soldiers, Battles, Terror, the Casualties and Soldiers all put out hard-hitting releases this year as growing public disapproval mounts, and rumblings of change have been stirring up our countries' politics. Punk rock has done its part to shake things up both musically and socially, and Long Island's Soldiers have provided one of the more intense hardcore records this year. Formed by members of This is Hell, Soldiers hit with the same unbridled might of East Coast hardcore pioneers like Agnostic Front and Sick of It All, though with a sound entirely their own. The production on End of Days is its most distinguishing characteristic, giving the guitars a metallic overtone even though there isn't really any metal riffage going on. The percussion has that "drumstick hitting a big paper bag" quality that reminds me of crust-punk like Doom and Antischism, but doesn't take anything away from the music. The vocals of "singer" Rick Jimenez erupt in angry, mildly distorted shouts that sound terribly painful on the throat. Soldiers spend the majority of their time marching at lightning speed through head-knockin' hardcore, slowing only for restrained breaks that as a rule of thumb, soon gives way to a breakneck frenzy. The in-your-face "Own Up!," which also appeared on the band's debut EP, is laced with gang shouts, double-bass kicks, and the resonating line "I'll be the spark to the match to light this flame / I am the weapon. I'll be the instrument of truth." While exceptionally short songs are generally the fastest, most blistering tracks on an album, the 53-second "Nothing More, Nothing Less" is in contrast measured and steady, more suited for head-bobs than circle pits and ending with a verse of rap-like a cappella. On the inverse, the four-minute "The Reclamation" starts off slow but launches into one of the most frenetic drives on End of Days while Jimenez shouts "You've been given every opportunity to take a stand just for once in your life / But you wait like a snake in the grass, waiting for your time to strike / 'Be a leader, don't let them decide' / When you're a follower the view never changes / Search for the facts, open your eyes / Look around and check your influences / Now I'm turning the tide." With U.S. military-like aggression, Soldiers have provided one of the most uncompromising hardcore albums of the year. And with members of Soldiers in a whole slew of other bands, including Ice Age, Church and State and This Is Hell, there should be no shortage of good music coming from this gang in the future.

Hate Music to get scissor-kicked in the face to. YAY! Soldier’s Live shows are probably horrifying man-fests, awash with insecure dudes flexing their muscles and elbowing each other in the face to the sounds of “Your fuckin’ weak/Fuck you, I fuckin’ hate you/Fuck off, your fuckin’ soft…” (Sever Ties) The thing is, while they’re not doing anything new whatsoever, and their primary function appears to be inspiring people to wallop the shit out of each other, Soldiers are really sodding compelling. It’s like seeing a really gnarly fight break out in the street: you know it’s primitive and stupid and wrong, but there’s something really invigorating about it. Go figure.

With a name like Soldiers I assumed I was in for some fast and metallic hardcore. I certainly wasnt wrong as the band plays a heavy speed driven form of hardcore that packs quite the punch. At face value I would say that the band sounds like a cross between Comeback Kid and Terror. The songs are fast for the most part but also consist of many chugging rhythmic parts as well. It serves as a nice contrast to the usually fast approach of the band. The slower parts share a similar feel to Madball, with an intense yet diverse riffing style. The songs are actually a bit longer than you might expect from a fast hardcore band with most being over three minutes long. Sure that isn't exactly an epic length for a song but it certainly is longer than the typical two minute hardcore songs. The band also manage to have a good balance between fast and slow parts and it gives the songs a good sense of dynamics because of this. While I wouldn't consider Soldiers to be an original band, they certainly do the genre proud. There is little doubt in my mind that if you enjoy fast and rhythmic hardcore that you will enjoy Soldiers. What the band lacks in originality they more than make up for with energy and charisma. This is as hard hitting as they come and you'll enjoy every minute of the sonic beating.

This Is Hell offshoot bring some good old fashioned hardcore. This is a really energetic, angry and downright violent hardcore album. Soldiers are from Long Island and were formed by This Is Hell bandmates Rick Jimenez and Dan Bourke last year. They just put their foot on the accelerator and really go for it. Everything about the album screams hardcore, from the gang vocals, typical hardcore subject matter to the beatdowns and pummeling guitar work that help create that sweet hardcore groove that makes you want to start throwing moves in your bedroom. It's not straying too far from the blueprint but when you do it this well, who cares? Following in the tradition of Terror and various other hardcore bands, Soldiers have included the vicious rap track "Living Hell" as a bonus song.

One of these days, I'll assemble a family tree of the relationships between members of current and former Long Island bands THIS IS HELL, THE BACK UP PLAN, SCRAPS AND HEART ATTACKS, SOLDIERS, SUBTERFUGE, LAST CONVICTION, and maybe a dozen more. Relevant to End of Days (and by relevant, I mean "selling point") is SOLDIERS' status as featuring members of THIS IS HELL. And while that's one arrow in the band's quiver, the affiliation overshadows the band's stand-alone impression as a more than gnarly NYHC band. End of Days has taken a number of cues from legions of New York area hardcore bands over the years. There's a decided infusion of attitude into the band's sound that's part MADBALL (in all of its classic glory) and part TERROR. No southern guitar lixx; no quiet screamo drama-sobs - just straight-up pit-clobbering tunes, and a couple of bass bombs washed in for good measure ("The Reclamation" is knockdown kind of stuff). SOLDIERS didn't write End of Days to be some kind of blueprint for a novel sound; rather, 20 something years in from the birth of SICK OF IT ALL, End of Days takes inventory of NYHC's signature moments and embellishes them with furious ease. "Bound by Defiance" ropes in a sing-along that's longer than a semi, while "Nothing More, Nothing Less," tenderizes the brain with its 53 second span of ground-digging. End of Days follows its strength-to-the-end path with the blitzin' "One Up," and the TRIAL-like double-bass pounding cemented on "Since Day One." There's a ton of different things circling around on this song and it's all pretty sick, including the close-down-the-shop mosh hits near the three-minute mark. Vocalist Rick Jimenez is an impressive singer whose raspy, brooding style aligns itself with the buoyant flow that permeates End of Days. It's kind of silly to explain SOLDIERS as "brutal hardcore with bounce," but there's definitely and up-and-down jet stream to the album's 12 songs and it comes to be the band's most memorable trait. Through the fog of some truly awful releases (CITY SLEEPS, BEDLIGHT FOR BLUE EYES) Trustkill gains a little bit of its sizzle back.

Who? Soldiers is Long Island hardcore at its most volatile and most predictable. Melodies crash along scathing vocals, generous bass drum, and plenty of mosh-iment (that’s mosh + merriment!). Featuring members of This Is Hell, you probably know what to expect from Soldiers, but that doesn’t mean End Of Days isn’t a great record. How Is It? Rick Jimenez handles vocals for Soldiers, and what a force he is. His gritty, harsh yell packs a serious punch. Gang vocals highlight songs like “Decide And Conquer” and “Own Up,” while “The Reclamation” features an exploding, climactic breakdown complete with cymbal crashes and passionate screams. The lyrical content is angry and political; you know the drill. But Jimenez delivers each word in such a believable and honest way that it almost doesn’t matter how done to death the topics may be. “Relentless” is just that, as the track is wonderfully diverse with chugging riffs and a filthy bassline. Each song on End Of Days is a musical headsmack (especially “Smoke And Mirrors”), and it sure feels great. This might be Soldiers’ first full-length, but these guys have been around the block more than a few times. End Of Days is a must-own for any fan of the Long Island hardcore scene, or anyone looking to get rid of some pent-up aggression. Recommended If You Like: This Is Hell, Terror, napoleon complexes, Sick Of It All, gruff

“End of Days” is the debut from Soldiers. Soldiers features members of 2004-formed Long Island hardcore hard bastards This Is Hell, and are fresh from an August tour with Dead Hearts and Daggermouth. This should tell you something - namely, that Soldiers are a bunch of very angry men, and the world has spilled their pint. Draw that conclusion and you’d be largely right. Add to this explosive force the production skills of Joe Cincotta, known for his work with bands like Obituary and Suffocation, and you get a feeling as though a very early death metal band (think Death right at the beginning of their career) tried to do super-angry hardcore. And straight away Soldiers come storming out with a take-no-prisoners attitude. Catchy, angry second track “Sever Ties” is spare, pared-back death metal instrumentals with hardcore vocals taking centre stage, and the faster it goes, the better it sounds. Fourth track “Decide and Conquer” keeps the pace, with a warlike but catchy chorus. Occasionally the message gets lost as the music spills over into uncontrolled chaos, which makes the collected, controlled tracks like “Choosing Revenge” absolutely devastating. Slower tracks, like the grind-influenced “Relentless” feel a bit like being run over by a steamroller at 5mph, but despite this, don’t have the impact of the faster tracks. It’s clear that Soldiers operate best when breaking the speed limit, and the result of such relentless speed is a feeling akin to being aurally buggered. I await their next foray with battered pleasure.

Brutish and aggressive, Soldiers punch their way down the hardcore path, leaving a path of carnage in their wake. They contain two members of This Is Hell and seem to be using that as the biggest selling point for what appears, at times, to be quite bog-standard. There's no experimentation here, just hard, chugging verses and harder breakdowns with abrasive vocals clambering over the ruckus with all the grace of a rhino crowdsurfing. It conjures up thoughts of Madball and a dozen other NYHC acts, but much as you've heard this before, End Of Days has plenty to like. 'Since Day One' may follow all the rules, and 'Smoke & Mirrors' may have a breakdown straight out of 'Mata Leao', but they're both impressive examples of what Soldiers have to offer, and the opening of 'Relentless' is simply devastating. The album ends with a bonus rap track that is almost as unnecessary as it is cringe-worthy, but as a whole End Of Days is competent enough to slug it out with the best of them. It really won't offer you any extra bang for your buck, but it'll leave plenty of bruises.

The Soldiers are a band who will grab you by your face and squeeze it until blood pours out your eyes. And that is if you're having a good day. Their sound is violent and offensive, hammering against your head at every turn. Doom laden guitars battle for space with frantic heavy bass lines and the raw, aggressive lyrics of vocalist Chris Mazella, screamed hoarsely down the microphone. "Fuck you/I fucking hate you/I hope you die/that you fucking rot"; you can taste the venom in his voice, the bile at the back of his throat hitting you like a brick whilst the pure noise and intensity of the record washes over you like a nightmare.

It’s hard to believe that Soldiers assembled a mere year ago. Then again, when you note the direct involvement of both past and present members of This Is Hell, Subterfuge, Last Conviction, and the Back Up Plan, its quite obvious why this band are so gaddamn enjoyable. The first 12 songs single-handedly creates considerable interest, while the rest of the tracks maintain that interest and even tease raising it. As guitarists Brian Audley and Chris Mazella work alongside bassist Andrew Jones and Drummer Don Bourke to create aggressive but clean-cut hardcore music, Rick Jimenez unleashes volatile lyrics and throat work with no mercy. These guys will have an impact on the hardcore scene.

Thought the days of punching some one in the throat and marveling at the aftermath were over eh? Well you are about to have a hell of a time trying to breathe after the welt Long Island hardcore band Soldiers puts on your throat. These five guys who sport some members from their label mates This Is Hell, have pounded together their new album "End Of Days." And if the other hardcore acts that reside on Trustkill Records are any clue to what we have in store, our ears are fucked. Want the sound thickness that bands such as Terror portray? Well you got it as concrete guitars unload charge after heavy charge of steadily moving hardcore. The bass lines do seem a little inflated with less reverberation making them a little light. While the drums crash and battering ram their way through the songs with ravaging precision. Musically, they are a pretty good example of what hardcore can sound when it's done right. With swift deadly guitars and the force of them as a whole, you will see why these guys are promising. Bringing vocals into the picture, the shouting vocals of the shortest member Chris are sometimes hit or miss. They have majority lapses of greatness where he has fire bellowing from his mouth, but then sometimes it just feels off. The frequent anthem shouts from the rest of the band round out the sound as well. The lyrics manifest as something from a vulgar display of power and you get the feeling that the CD wants to jump out of the stereo and kick you in the head. Not necessarily a bad thing as passion in any form is important. You can now feel free to add Soliders to your long list of barraging hardcore acts that has the whole package. I got what I wanted from "End Of Days," which included consistently savage guitars as well as shouts and growls that complemented their music superbly. Looking for something other than a flurry of intense musical punches that will hit you and get you rowdy? Look else where because this isn't for the faint of heart. But these soldiers have their rifles ready to blow your speakers up with their beat-um-up hardcore.