Watchlist Wednesday: thirdface
The Nashville, TN hardcore blasters teased their upcoming album with “Villains!”
Maybe I’m a little late to the thirdface party but it’s honestly wonderful to be here nonetheless. Thirdface, Nashville Tennessee thrashers bring a healthy mix of speed and heaviness to the hardcore brand but also have that dynamic mix up of styles in their songs. It’s not just the same homogenous riffage 90% of hardcore bands churn out these days there’s serious composition brought to the table here. Coupled with vocalist Kathryn Edwards’ earth shattering screams on the mic there’s no questioning this bands talent.
With their debut full-length, Do It With A Smile coming in March the band has given us a taste of what can be expected on the album with the track “Villains!,” the exclamation mark is indeed necessary. As the general landscape of hardcore is either shifting towards nostalgia or emulating other bands sounds thirdface looks to create their own brand of devastation on the scene and their latest track is an example of that both lyrically and musically.
The tracks lyrics read as a condemnation of the capitalist regime ruling over our country and breaking the backs of the working class while allowing the elite to remain on top, the true villains of our world. Kathryn’s screams across the opening basslines steady drumbeat and cinderblock guitar riffage set the mood for the opening of the song: this reality just isn’t sustainable. We as human beings want to get the fuck out of this tiresome 9–5 life that barely puts food in our mouths. This harsh reality weighs on our minds so much that we seek any escape as the song states “Drop in, drop out, we numb the pain, we numb the mind, erase it all” we’ll turn to the worst vices just to be able to deal with this week.
But that’s not the solution. We can’t escape it at all so we may as well fight back against it.
As the drum kicks in and the guitar kicks up the speed the solutions are presented to us through the line “Can’t see, won’t see- your eyes/ We could put their backs against the wall.” There’s way more of us than there are them, that’s the solution, rise the fuck up against this oppressive minority that controls our lives. It’s a song with solutions and that’s what hardcore punk has always been about: finding the solutions.
There’s no doubt this band has the musical chops along with the lyrical expertise and this song is the perfect example of that. From the sludgy opening bassline, the drum carries and guitar riffage, the blistering deliveries during the first verse to the blast beats found in the mid section and the guitar solo towards the end. This song is the beatdown you never knew you needed and a hefty kickoff for the 2021 hardcore landscape. Thirdface on this track show that they are looking forward as a band rather than retreating backwards.
Hardcore at it’s epicenter is about utilizing the influences you have and taking them further into the next plateau of heaviness and that’s what thirdface musically display on this track. They aren’t sticking to one influence they’re putting them all together and making it harder than before. It’s a dynamic sound blasting through the airwaves and it leaves the bands listeners hungry for more. This album will definitely have my attention when it drops in March and it should have yours as well.
Be sure to check out thirdface on bandcamp and Spotify and also check out their track “Villains!” below as well as the video for their track “Legendary Suffering” from 2019.
