### Owen Hart: Earth control

#### 31/03/11 || Khlysty

Owen Hart plays OTT/ADDed metalized hardcore in the vein of Converge and their ilk. If you like that kind of music, then “Earth Control” will be your one-way ticket to pig heaven. If you hate that kind of music, avoid it like AIDS. Bye, now…

(some time passes)

What, why’re you still here? That was the review. Whachu mean you want more? There is no more. Read the above, it’s only 45 words. Canchu read, huh? Dontcha unnerstand english? Thass all there is to it.

(Whispered: bastids allathem. Bloodsuckas. Will never let go. Always more, more, MORE!!! Tell us more: should we buy it? How’s the production? Are there any leads? Are they any good? And, what about the drums? As I said it, ungrateful bastids, allathem…)

Okay, according to the Unholiest Of The Unholy Grimoires, the GD Staffer Rule Book, seems that I have to expand a bit upon the matter of Owen Hart and their newest, surrealistically called “Earth Control”, so I might as well do it and be done with it.

As I said in the beginning – were you paying any attention at all? – the basic point of reference that I have for Owen Hart – who took their name from a Canadian wrestler who died in the ring “while performing a stunt”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owen_Hart#Death – is Converge and their spastic, almost chaotic take on metalized hardcore. Obviously, Owen Hart owes a lot to the stylings of the Beantown killers: the howled/screamed vocals, the maelstromic guitar antics, the supercharged drumming, the craziness of rhythm and time signatures… everything one might like or hate about Converge can easily be found in Owen Hart’s music.

Ah, but there are differences: for one Owen Hart’s songs seem a bit more streamlined, when compared to Converge’s hailstorm-of-knives approach to music. For another, there are moments in “Earth Control” that will send the listener – screaming and pleading – into death metal’s most arcane and impenetrable regions, or towards grind’s most angular hatred, while there are other moments that take their cue from Dillinger Escape Plan’s penchant for sudden plunges in dynamics. All in all, “Earth Control” is a squall of a record that comes, rips some new assholes and leaves in a big hurry.

Riff-wise, Owen Hart knows how to make things interesting and memorable, without losing anything on the venom-piss-and-vinegar front. Smart orchestration and an almost “live” sense emanate from the whole of the record, so don’t stand too close, if you don’t want the singer’s spit and sweat land on you. Production-wise, this is as raw and organic as it gets. I don’t know if any digital thingies were used during the recording process; all I know is that “Earth Control” sounds pretty neat-o and powerful, giving the songs depth and force.

Bottom line is that if one likes this kind of approach towards hardcore, one will be hard-pressed to find anything better. And, even if you don’t generally like it, Owen Hart and “Earth Control” might make you change your mind. Folks this is fucking good music, so the action is go!

- Information
- Released: 2011
- Label: Vitriol Records
- Website: Owen Hart MySpace
- Band
- Timm Trust: vocals
- Tony Wolfe: guitar
- Rusty Graeff: guitar
- Bob Reed: bass
- Brian Skiffington: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Nameless
- 02. 44 Black
- 03. Poor Straight White Guy
- 04. Welcome to Worthless-Piece-Of-Shitville, Population: You
- 05. I Hate Myself and I Want to Die
- 06. Bombay Beach
- 07. The Letter
- 08. Fuck Morrissey, Fuck The Smiths, Fuck The Cure
- 09. Methlahem
- 10. The Vertigo of Murry Morgan
- 11. Evolution’s a Fact, Jack