First Blood "Silence is Betrayal" (2010)

Track Listing:

1) Intro

2) Silence

3) Preamble

4) Enemy

5) Resist

6) Truth

7) Detach

8) Enslaved

9) Confront

10) Fear

11) Occupation

12) Fascism

13) Lies

14) Messenger

15) Survive

16) Armageddon II

When I first listened to First Blood's debut album "Killafornia" a year and a half ago or so, I enjoyed it. It was heavy and it was aggressive. When I heard that they were coming out with a new album, I was marginally excited. At the very least I thought it would be a decent listen and not a waste of time. I seriously under-estimated it. First Blood took the formula from "Killafornia", refined it, injected more anger and aggression, and "Silence is Betrayal" is the result.

How often do you see one word song titles? It's rare to see a band that can convey the meaning of a song so easily. Most song titles are a phrase, and on rare occasions, a sentence long. From the start of "Intro" to the end of "Armageddon II", the songs all fit their names. I feel like this is a concept album for sure. Lyrically the songs are pretty socially concious and focus on the state of the world right now. Whether it be the wars going on in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the way corporations take advantage of the masses, it's all covered. The anger and aggression in the music gets the point across that something needs to be done, and that sitting back and doing nothing is contributing to the problems.

After 3 listens, this album has exceeded all my expectations. I expected to like this album, but it has joined Terror's "Keepers of the Faith", Madball's "Empire", and My Turn To Win's "No Challenge" (I've been meaning to write a review on this since I got my vinyl copy, but haven't yet. I'll get there) as my list of favorite albums of 2010. Definitely check it out.

Terror "Keepers of the Faith" (2010)

Track Listing:

1. Your Enemies Are Mine

2. Stick Tight

3. Return to Strength

4. The Struggle

5. Shattered

6. You're Caught

7. Dead Wrong

8. Keepers of the Faith

9. Stay Free

10. Hell and Back

11. Only Death

12. New Blood

13. Defiant

When I finally committed fully to getting a record player, I knew the first new record that I wanted to buy was "Keepers of the Faith". To say that I was eager for this to arrive would be the understatement of the year. I've been chomping at the bit for the last week waiting it for it to finally arrive. Every day after I found out it was shipped I was running to the mailbox hoping that it would be the day it came so I could listen to it. Today it finally showed up.

The insert (which is more like a cd booklet than a record insert) has explanations of every song. Friends, loyalty, Hardcore, and following the path that you think is right are the common themes of the songs, and there isn't a single track o nthe album that I can't personally relate to in one form or another. "Your Enemies are Mine", "Stick Tight", "Keepers of the Faith", and "Hell and Back" are definitely the tracks that I think are the best. Lyrically the songs are phenominally written and the music is hard and driving. Start to finish it's an album that is more than worth listening to. It's far and away my favorite album of the year.