Album Reviews
Every now and again Victory Records signs a band I don’t necessarily feel too old for. Case in point: We Ride, a Spanish hardcore outfit who just released their first album for the label and third overall.
“Empowering Life” comes with ten tracks that are guaranteed to light a fire under your ass and that are guaranteed to bring Comeback Kid to mind. Armed with pummeling drums, punishing riffs and tons of groove, We Ride have no problem in getting their points across, driving them all the way home with some well-placed breakdowns while vocalist Mimi lays it all out there with spirited vocals that linger between singing and screaming her lungs out. It goes a long way to explaining how they found a fan in Comeback Kid vocalist Andrew Neufeld, who had a hand in getting the band their deal with Victoy.
But there is more going on here. We Ride don’t shy away from introducing poppier elements every now and again like the chorus in “What You Are” or the backup vocals in “Do It All Again”. It adds a welcome extra layer to the band’s sound and it’s something I’d love to hear them do more often in the future.
We Ride aren’t reinventing the hardcore genre on “Empowering Life”, but they definitely succeeded in making a solid album that should please all the melodic hardcore fans out there.
Track listing:
- Voices
- Self Made
- What You Are
- Time Is Now
- Do It All Again
- Summer
- I'mpossible
- Everybody Matters
- Endless Hopes
- Hands Off
Lacking the talent to actually play in a band, Tom decided he would write about bands instead. Turns out his writing skills are mediocre at best as well.
