[7/10] Germany’s Born From Pain may appear to be your average metalcore act, but the sound they produces differs, both musically and lyrically, from the common accepted use of the term. The Swedish plagiarism widespread in today’s metalcore scene is not a part of Born From Pain’s latest album, Survival. The group’s age shows on their style, drawing comparisons to late nineties metal core acts such as Earth Crisis and Integrity, but adds obvious touches of death metal and thrash.

A brief interlude of emergency sirens and faint explosions begins the album’s opener “Sound of Survival.” Meaty riffs and pounding bass and drums put the track into motion. During the chorus, Rob Franssen and his mates combine their voices in typical hardcore fashion, which may sound a tad cliché’, but their bruising rhythms, speed and penchant for melodies keep the album interesting. “Sons of a Dying World” and “The Wolves Are Loose” begin with ear-catching melodies that also serve as dynamic breaks later into the tracks. “End Game” shows the group pushing the tempo into speed metal territories, while “Zero Hour” and “Under False Flag” present meaty, gritty grooves.

Lyrically, Survival also differs from your average metal core and hardcore act. The group’s lyrics may sound like every other group of this fold, relating common ideas such as survival and unity, but at the core is a new enemy. Survival’s album art depicting symbols of secret societies such as the All-Seeing Eye of the Illuminati explains the group’s lyrical stance. Tracks named “End Game” and “Zeitgeist” allude to two of the most viewed films documenting the exploits of the New World Order. “Final Collapse” even features sound clips from Alex Jones’s End Game. “Final Collapse” offers the most specifics about the global elite’s plan, giving names and revealing diabolical plans, while the rest of the lyrics are more psychological.

As seen with Hatebreed, American’s love aggressive hardcore. Born From Pain’s Survival should find favor with these fans, too. Critics of hardcore may view it as a style for boneheads to fling their arms around like spastic monkeys. These listeners may feel hardcore’s lyrics have little depth, but at least in the case of Survival, Born From Pain has latched onto something new and terribly profound

www.bornfrompain.com