words by Matt Gabites
It’s that time of year, with summer approaching, that we start to entertain ideas of starting a ‘health kick’. Set the alarm for 30 minutes earlier, go for a jog, get fit, shed the pounds, simple.
But then some bastard invented the snooze button, and we’ve been fucked ever since. Until now.
Thanks to Sydney based metalcore mob Together In Tragedy releasing their e.p Memoriam.
I promise you, change your alarm tone to the album’s opening track, Griefwound and your snooze button shall remain useless for evermore.
It is a savage introduction, sounding like a pissed of smelter supervisor calling from the factory floor to abuse your message bank. This palpable aggression is, in no small part, thanks to Alex Woollams seething vocals. Spitting out syllables as the detuned bass does battle with a brutalised drumkit.
Erasure matches that opening salvo before taking it down a notch as the chorus takes an unexpected but very welcome detour into ocker Fred Durst territory.
Collapse has ‘moshpit crowd pleaser’ written all over it, before Subsistence assaults all of the senses with its black metal intro. From there, the lads bring it back to more familiar surroundings and just try to not marvel at the larynx shredding chorus.
Thankfully, or not, Digression offers a momentary reprieve from the G.B.H that has been dished out to this point. But as we all know, these moments of light often only serve to make the shade even darker. And so it is here, specifically the fantastic riffage that follows the chorus.
Ghostmourne brings the e.p to a close in the same manner it started, viciously. A fantastic example of metalcore done right. And you will not hear a more crushing end to e.p anytime soon.
So in six weeks time, when you have turned that dad-bod into a rad-bod(TM) you can thank Together In Time. For not only waking your ass up every morning, but also for delivering the perfect soundtrack to spew your guts up to after doing a poor man’s Rocky up the local city council’s steps.
