3 out of 5

Label: Acerbic Noise Development

Producer: Ben Began

So I ordered the whole boatload of AND releases, and I’m glad I did.  The majority of them are like Ganon – just incredibly solid, incredibly listenable hardcore.  That there’s not really any extra flourishes or standout tracks is fine.  Sometimes you don’t want to be listening to the greatest thing on the planet, you just want someone to play a fucken’ metal song hard and slow.  And Ganon excel at that.  Slowcore hardcore man, this is like that first Pelican EP but with a guy growling over it.  I can only decipher enough of the lyrics to feel like they’re sort of a typical ‘vaguely angry’ variety, but nothing sticks out embarrassingly, and whoever’s singing has a terrifyingly powerful shout that he somehow maintains over the 10-minute long songs.  ‘Dead of Sleep’ is best over its first three tracks – long builders that do the drum build-up to guitar explosion thing, with good bridges about midway through that plod you to the next explosion.  The last two tracks are actually equally as good, but… well, they just don’t do anything else that the first three tracks haven’t covered – some primal drum beats from track 3, some samples, some ambient noise from track 1.  What’s most impressive about ‘Dead’ is how heavy everything is, and yet at such a slow pace.  It doesn’t have the backing of thrash to justify the constant throttle, nor does it waste too much time on instrumental noodling while the singer rests his throat.  It’s just constant, man, but by keeping that speed to human levels, it’s totally tolerable for the entire runtime, and for a repeat listen, and for a repeat listen.  It would’ve been nice if that heaviness could’ve been amplified a bit by the production – Began’s mix is warm, but its all in a bath of the same temperature, guitars, drums, bass, vocals, nothing edges anything else out.  I suppose shifting one thing up or down might ruin the ability to keep the album on a loop, but it also would’ve made the tracks more notable.  Like, ear bleeding is a good thing in hardcore, yeah?

So – Ganon might not surprise you at any given point, but they so consistently rock their metal hearts out that ‘Dead’ is a worthwhile listen, and another great piece of the well-rounded library AND offered.