The Power Of Grime Compels You!
Art by Ariel Trudell - courtesy of 4HATEU8
Crossover has cemented itself as a tunnel of interconnectivity between punk and metal. It originated in the 80s when thrash and hardcore occupied the same spaces, and it continues to do so in the most vile, disruptive, and creative of ways. Today, it is common for heavy metal enthusiasts and punks to be drawn to the same bands as the genres blend and push boundaries. In that landscape, 4hateu8 firmly plants its feet in the muck and establishes an ‘old school’ album that is as self-destructive as it is compulsive.
Photo courtesy of 4HATEU8
Hiding in the shadowy alleys of Southern Ontario, Canada, 4hateu8 is an old-school hardcore crossover band, a blending the band likes to refer to as grimecore. The title certainly sticks. The album, Life of Grime, released this past July, is a walking husk of advocacy, filth, and fight songs that drift a smell of death and sewage. It’s Gorilla Biscuits meets D.R.I., and maybe some Suicidal Tendencies, but they emerged from an overgrown sewer grate, and oh, they were high on bath salts. From this nimble, streetwise 22-minute 8-song album comes a pathos upheld by the band's specific fentanyl-sprinkled love of crossover. The album is fast, sharp, methodical, and a grand representation of the band.
Photo courtesy of 4HATEU8
The first half of the album certainly brings forth the old-school ghost of hardcore past, while as the album drives, it enters more into a designated thrash zone, still carrying the ghost in the passenger seat. The first four, “Old Wounds,” “Abuse,” “Crossline,” and “Every Dog Has Its Day,” enter a raw reality. These first handful of songs share powerful mantras and motivation through aggression. Together, they advocate strongly for escaping the past and holding fast while maintaining the individuality of cutting your own path. A powerful message that morphs into a Megazord, never sitting down, and willing to fight to be carnivorous in a world that pushes people into prey. The second half rips right through. “Smash and Grab” stands as a classic crossover song about getting what's owed through armed robbery. “Worthless” is a muscle-tearing, fast-paced track that is a physical and audible embodiment of screaming, “Fuck Yourself!” “I’m Going Down” can only be perfectly transcribed here through its lyrics: “My mission is to die, and you're gonna too.” Then, never taking their blade off your throat, the album slides into “Wastoid,” a gutter punk-esque song that tells anyone who's made it this far to live too fast, acting as a perfect stitched-up period to the album.
Photo courtesy of 4HATEU8
These eight songs collide to create one beautiful, rough-and-tumble image. The authenticity of your path is self-destruction. It is the only thing one has left that can truly be done on their own terms, and through that is a violent and solitary victory, one that is as fun as it is destructive to the tormentors around you. The album is available on Spotify, Bandcamp, Apple Music, iTunes, and Deezer.
