Bane - Dublin 11:58 PM (7'')

It's honestly a little confusing and everyone seems to be a bit lost about it but Bane are doing one of the most creative things in today's marketing with their new release, their first in five years. Bands need to find new ways to sell their music and the idea that the Massachussetts-based hardcore band found after dropping Equal Vision is anything but great. They're releasing a series of 7'' on different labels all over the world. Each vinyl will have a different artwork (all of them beautiful and not what you'd expect from a band like them) and a different name according to the place where it's out. All the covers are pictures of the skyline taken at the same time in those different places and the titles indicate the hour. So, this 'Dublin 11:58 PM' released in Europe is actually 'Boston 6:58 PM' in the US, 'Tokyo 7:58 AM' in Japan and so forth. And they're going to do the same with the next one to be released next month with Rome/Los Angeles/Perth/Curitiba... It's all about being a vinyl nerd, so let's rather focus on the music.

I don't think a lot of Bane fans will be disappointed after the long wait for new material. The three songs off this 7'' is the hardcore five-piece at their best. 'The bold and the beautiful' could have been on their latest full-length, 'The note', with its fast old-school sound. The gang vocals are shouting "Live, learn, rise, fall, point, squeeze" before being taken over by singer Aaron Bedard's angry vocals: "We were not awarded bones simply to weigh down our graves". 'One life to live' is shorter and has a stronger punk feeling in its first verse before slowing the pace down to get into a big classic two-step hardcore part. Its lyrics approach the issue of living while going by principles other than religious ones, including this line that could be adopted by almost the whole punk/hardcore scene: "I didn't find God and he didn't come looking for me / But someone showed me Minor Threat". Though, the highlight of this 7'' is the last song, 'The young and the restless'. I have no doubt it is going to be the anthem of Bane's upcoming shows. It sounds like nothing they've done before and it features a surprising yet epic break with amazing drumrolls and heartfelt screams: "I will believe in dragons / For as long as I run with dragons". The kind of superb song you would like hardcore bands to write more often.

The hardcore scene has missed Bane and it feels good to have them back with such powerful energy and songwriting. Those are only three songs, but they're really promising about what's to come for the band. Needless to say a full-length is very, very anticipated.

4/5

Recommanded if you like:
Comeback Kid, Champion, Verse
Check also:
Another Breath, The First Step, Anchor

www.myspace.com/banecentral
(Hurry Up! Records, 2009)