Tuesday 26 July 2016

Album Review: EP1 by Dragged In


Dragged In are a five piece hardcore punk band from Toronto, Canada. The band consists of former and current members of Toronto punk and hardcore bands such as Brutal Youth, Deadmouth and End Program. In January 2016 they released their debut EP named EP1. I had a listen.


After a quiet start the opening song August bursts into life. Fast and furious guitars bring the song to life before and intense and fast paced vocal style tears through the song. The chorus is what really stands out on the first few listens of the song. The short and simple chorus of "August, The Brightest Month Of My Life" is sung with a load of intensity and is quite catchy. I particularly enjoyed the ending of the song. Musically the tempo was lowered and the vocals became much more strained, adding a new element to the song. Safe Together is a short one and a half minute blast. The songs about community and sticking together no matter what. The lyrics "Safe Together" are sang every other line during the song. This makes me imagine that the song could get a big, intense, sweaty scream-along at a live show. Breathe is politically charged battering ram of a song. It hit's hard and often, relentlessly trying to break through. The use of gang vocals is great and adds to making a much bigger sound for the band. Probably my favourite song on the EP. If I went to a gym or I did running I think I would find this song a great motivator to keep on going. The penultimate song on the EP is also the band's name - Dragged In. Dragged In (the song) is about being pulled into a word that you don't want to be a part of. As you might expect there is little time for breath and the intensity is ramped up to its highest point. This is angry and aggressive music but also manages to be empowering and uplifting. That's exactly how I like my hardcore. The final song on EP1 is titled Empty Glasses. Empty Glasses is about a man who attacks his wife and son and then turns to drink to try (and fail) to deal with it. He deals with it be eventually committing suicide but the message is that the terrible things that he has done will live on in the minds of his family forever. As you can imagine by the contenting of the song it's another hard hitter.

EP1 is a fantastic introduction to Dragged In. Good and strong hardcore punk rock that gets you pumped up, singing and thinking. Dragged In have a second EP out soon, look out for that.

Stream and download the EP here: https://draggedin.bandcamp.com/releases

Like Dragged In here: https://www.facebook.com/draggedin/ 

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