There's No Place Like Home...

LeHunt - The Empty Space In Which We Live (2012)

I always feel somewhat of a fraud when it comes to reviewing hardcore bands, not because I have to lie through my teeth or anything, but just because I'm generally not all that savvy when it comes to the genre. I've just never followed it with much attentiveness, so I always feel a little under qualified to actually wax lyrical when something like this arrives in my inbox. That being said, I find myself the lone writer on the blog once again, so y'all can go screw yourselves and take what ya given.

I will say this about Kansas's hardcore trio, their first outing really made me sit up and listen, which is very much a compliment coming from me, so when the guys dropped me a line I'll go as far as to say I was somewhat intrigued. Yeah, I know that that's quite the subdued exclamation, but remember this is coming from me, so it really should actually speak volumes of the band themselves.
Straight out the gates you can hear how the band have progressed from their debut EP The Prototype. The production's been clearly beefed up and mix is as close to perfect as you'll find from any band from any genre. But the improvements haven't just stopped there. All that bellowing anger has once again returned, by the bucket load, but everything all feels somewhat more disjointed than before, not so much in the vocals themselves but the general structure. Where the first outing felt more like an early Norma Jean this follow up, to me at least, feels like Converge lin comparison. I know to you more seasoned lovers of the genre out there thats probably like comparing apples to oranges, but like I said, screw you I'm doing my best here. There's also certain little elements of typical post rock that occasionally poke their heads out of the parapet in between the almost relentless bombardment of Jacob's roared vocals. Nothing too obvious or heavy handed, just little nuances and chords here and there that serve well to slightly break up the ferocity before it all gets too much.
Andy absolutely loves these guys and he truly knows what he's talking about when it comes to hardcore and its plethora of subgenres. So baring in mind this blows their first release well and truly out the water, I'd say you're in for a bloody good treat here!
~ Jay

For Fans Of; Converge, Norma Jean, The Chariot, Throats, Misery Signals,

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The Empty Space In Which We Live (320kbps)

Three Cunning Hunts...

LeHunt - The Prototype EP (2012)

My house is the bane of my street. Honestly, I pity my neighbours. It’s all terraced housing, you see, so my excessively powerful amp rings clean and clear up and down the block with whatever spiky, noisy band I’m listening to at any given time. Right now, the band that claims the honour for annoying my neighbours the most is probably Lehunt.
Lehunt are a three piece from Kansas in the US, and they make a wonderfully taut brand of noisy hardcore. Now stick with us here, I know hardcore is not the standard for us here, but these days’ boundaries blur all the time, and this is no exception. Lehunt take the template of modern hardcore and tweak it, playing with the rhythm based sound that bands like Norma Jean and Botch pioneered and feeding in touches of chaotic noisecore ala Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza. Randomly, the balanced riffs bring to mind alt hardcore heroes Helmet at their 90’s best too, although I have no idea why. Nowhere is this blend more clearly demonstrated than in the EP closer ‘Black Gold, Texas Tea’, a stomper of a tune that builds on a thuggish sludgy riff, before throwing in some variable time signatures and discordant parts to throw off the listener, bringing back some solid sludgy riffage and ending on some awesome tech-noise that really reminded me of Tower of Rome.
The EP is well written, with Lehunt demonstrating an ability to write big solid riffs that make the head bob involuntarily, but also that they are equally at home with spazzy tech parts. Importantly, they can make these disjointed styles flow and work as songs for the most part, which some bands really struggle with. If I were to be picky, some of it doesn’t work – quite apart from its awesome name, ‘O god the Afterbirth’ has a picked riff which seems artificially slow, is repeated a bit too much and doesn’t quite fit with the rest of the song, contributing to the feeling that it seems a little over long. That really is being a bit picky though, the rest of the song is great.
Overall, this is a band well worth checking out, especially if you have even a passing like for latter day Norma Jean.

For Fans Of; Norma Jean, Botch, Throats, Misery Signals, Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza

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Prototype EP (320kbps)