Review by GlueHC.com http://gluehc.com/backtrack-darker-half/
After a series of hard hitting 7”s, Long Island, New York’s Backtrack has returned with their first full length, Darker Half, a slightly more polished take on bouncy, New York-inspired hardcore, echoing classic bands like like Breakdown, Cro-Mags and Agnostic Front. Even though the crossover sound has been making a comeback recently, Backtrack’s approach is energetic and pointed enough to stand them out among the pack of New York-esque bands, playing with a brashness and an intensity that keeps their newest album fresh. Having New York residency doesn’t hurt them either.
Darker Half plays back and forth between speed and groove. Some songs lend themselves to thrash, while other songs bounce like Madball or No Warning, but that’s probably the most variation you’ll hear in the whole record. Originality isn’t Backtrack’s strong suit, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. In fact the album plays on Backtrack’s strengths of delivering vicious and energetic stomps to the face by doing it extremely well for 23 minutes. The bouncy and quick-paced opener “The Worst of Both Worlds” sets the tone and pace for an album that doesn’t ever let up, rarely missing or dragging the whole way. The stand out tracks, like the title track and “Erase The Rat,” are ones where the band sets into a mid-paced groove before laying into some head banging riffage.
Darker Half isn’t treading new ground or turning the genre on it’s head, but it’s a solid hardcore record from start to finish, and sometimes that can be more important for a band like Backtrack. Some records push boundaries, while others solidify the values and spirit that attracted us to this music in the first place. Darker Half seems to be the latter. Sure, there is room for them to grow, but a debut full length as strongly executed as this puts Backtrack in good company.
