Gacy's Threads
4 piece hardcore metal band Gacy’s Threads from Belfast were recently sent through to us from Savour Your Scene Records for us to check out. Having formed in 2007 by a group of seasoned musicians brought together through the urge to create energetic, confronting and non-compromising music, and the band was born. Taking their influences from the likes of The Dillinger Escape Plan, their album, The Ignorance of Purity is (according to their one-sheet) ‘five of the most blistering hardcore and metal tracks you are likely to hear this year, or any year for the foreseeable future’ – which sounds pretty cool to me!
Opening with title track, The Ignorance Of Purity, immediately the tone is set dark and ominous, a lead line paving the intro the track whilst the drums slowly build in the background. Launching from this relatively melodic opening into a pit of roaring vocals, slamming guitars and bass heavy backings, the intro track soon takes form and pulls you in, urging you to carry on – and then it all kicks off. Hope Bleeds In To Despair takes over from the track and smashes you in the face with a dose of all out raw power. Roaring vocals, pounding drums and distorted guitars all work together to form this mix of aggression, this is music which won’t just shock your Gran, it’ll bloody well kill her! Keeping every element of the band audible in the mix, despite the all out power you can hear every single thing which is going on in the background, the syncopated mix continuing to assault your as it progresses but making you enjoy every single second of it. This is the sort of track which will absolutely kill on the live scene, it’s got all of the power to get the audience whipped into a frenzy.
Weight Of The Wretched continues where the last track left off, kicking straight into another mix of roaring vocals and hammering backing music. Breaking things down from the initially fast paced introduction, the heaviness of this track get accentuated in the slower sections of this one, adding in melodic and slower elements as well to make sure that when you hear the raw power, you know what you’re getting. What’s really taken me aback so far with this album is how it progresses, there is simply no relief at all – just constant all out power. Blackheart doesn’t offer any rest either, kicking straight into a sludgy riff underpinned by lead snippets and rolling drums, allowing the music to grow before ushering in the vocal line. Alternating between fast and broken down once again, this is another track which is sure to slay on the live scene, and possibly the one which I would pick as my personal favourite from the album, it seems to roll from section to section seamlessly whilst still making sure that you’re there and loving every second of what is happening to you.
Finishing the album with To The Death, the band seem intent on making sure there’s no let up until the moment they’re ready to let you go. Hammering onwards through the final track, I particularly like the way the guitars alternate between all out hammering riffs and palm muted sections, almost making you want to move along with what they’re doing. Kicking into one of the most massive choruses I’ve come across in a while, it’s hard to believe this sound is coming from a 4 piece as there’s simply so much going on in the mix. Unrelenting until the final second, this isn’t a CD to kick back and relax to, this is one to go mental to!
I like the heavy stuff, but all too often you get bands saying they’re heavy when all they’ve done is push the reverb button on the amp and shouted at each other for a minute or two in the studio, this isn’t the case here. What you’ve got here is pure aggression, pure confrontation and pure power recorded and put into a musical form. Sure, some people will listen to this and come up with the whole ‘it’s just noise’ argument, but when you listen to it it’s far more than that. Listen to what the guitars are doing, what the drums are doing and how the bass line pushes everything forward, then usher in the vocals and you’ll suddenly realise that this isn’t just noise, this is a band who are out to make their mark on a scene, and boy have they done it with this album! I can’t wait to hear what comes next as following something with this much power is going to take some doing!
To find out more about Gacy’s Threads, check out their Facebook page HERE.
Opening with title track, The Ignorance Of Purity, immediately the tone is set dark and ominous, a lead line paving the intro the track whilst the drums slowly build in the background. Launching from this relatively melodic opening into a pit of roaring vocals, slamming guitars and bass heavy backings, the intro track soon takes form and pulls you in, urging you to carry on – and then it all kicks off. Hope Bleeds In To Despair takes over from the track and smashes you in the face with a dose of all out raw power. Roaring vocals, pounding drums and distorted guitars all work together to form this mix of aggression, this is music which won’t just shock your Gran, it’ll bloody well kill her! Keeping every element of the band audible in the mix, despite the all out power you can hear every single thing which is going on in the background, the syncopated mix continuing to assault your as it progresses but making you enjoy every single second of it. This is the sort of track which will absolutely kill on the live scene, it’s got all of the power to get the audience whipped into a frenzy.
Weight Of The Wretched continues where the last track left off, kicking straight into another mix of roaring vocals and hammering backing music. Breaking things down from the initially fast paced introduction, the heaviness of this track get accentuated in the slower sections of this one, adding in melodic and slower elements as well to make sure that when you hear the raw power, you know what you’re getting. What’s really taken me aback so far with this album is how it progresses, there is simply no relief at all – just constant all out power. Blackheart doesn’t offer any rest either, kicking straight into a sludgy riff underpinned by lead snippets and rolling drums, allowing the music to grow before ushering in the vocal line. Alternating between fast and broken down once again, this is another track which is sure to slay on the live scene, and possibly the one which I would pick as my personal favourite from the album, it seems to roll from section to section seamlessly whilst still making sure that you’re there and loving every second of what is happening to you.
Finishing the album with To The Death, the band seem intent on making sure there’s no let up until the moment they’re ready to let you go. Hammering onwards through the final track, I particularly like the way the guitars alternate between all out hammering riffs and palm muted sections, almost making you want to move along with what they’re doing. Kicking into one of the most massive choruses I’ve come across in a while, it’s hard to believe this sound is coming from a 4 piece as there’s simply so much going on in the mix. Unrelenting until the final second, this isn’t a CD to kick back and relax to, this is one to go mental to!
I like the heavy stuff, but all too often you get bands saying they’re heavy when all they’ve done is push the reverb button on the amp and shouted at each other for a minute or two in the studio, this isn’t the case here. What you’ve got here is pure aggression, pure confrontation and pure power recorded and put into a musical form. Sure, some people will listen to this and come up with the whole ‘it’s just noise’ argument, but when you listen to it it’s far more than that. Listen to what the guitars are doing, what the drums are doing and how the bass line pushes everything forward, then usher in the vocals and you’ll suddenly realise that this isn’t just noise, this is a band who are out to make their mark on a scene, and boy have they done it with this album! I can’t wait to hear what comes next as following something with this much power is going to take some doing!
To find out more about Gacy’s Threads, check out their Facebook page HERE.