Revelation Records – 06 May 2022
Anthemic hardcore that starts strong but sounds repetitive (FFO: Dag Nasty, Husker Du)
Earlier this year, Baltimore hardcore outfit Praise released their third record. This band features former members of Champion, Mindset, Have Heart and the mighty Turnstile, although you would be hard pressed to conclude that based upon this LP.
Praise originally started as a melodic hardcore band 2009, playing in the vein of Strike Anywhere. After their first LP Lights Went Out, the band traded their distortion pedals for reverb and overdrive pedals. This resulted in their last effort, 2016’s Leave It All Behind EP, where they explored the vibes of Revolution Summer.
With All in a Dream, Praise moves up to legendary Revelation Records. The band continues to lean hard into early post-hardcore sounds of Embrace and Dag Nasty, experimenting with jangly, clean guitar sounds. By employing some jazz chords and arpeggiated riffs, the band has picked up a definite Replacements vibe, although Praise doesn’t use any midwest stepdowns in their songwriting.
The title track kicks off the affair on posi vibes and is easily the strongest track on the album. The verses push and pull over singer Andy Norton’s impassioned vocals before hitting the chorus, where the band starts and stops on a dime. Nary a note seems wasted during the song’s two minute forty second duration.
The fifth track, “Peace of Mine”, alludes to Praise’s hardcore roots. Drummer Daniel Fang provides driving drumbeat with double kicks, while Norton shouts lyrics that play on the similarity between “peace of mind” and “piece of mine”. In the bridge, the a two-step breakdown with chugging power chords
The penultimate track, “Life Unknown”, sports angular riffs that honestly wouldn’t sound out of place on a Hot Water Music record. Both guitarists spray clever lead lines in the choruses, while Norton drops ferocious earworm: “hard to imagine / hard to regret / a life lived without regret”.
On the whole however, the album begins to suffer from Banner Pilot syndrome. In the absence of a strong hook, all the songs start to blur together and sound the same. Much like Banner Pilot, Praise writes a heck of a song, but the result is an LP that often sounds the same.
Once hailing from the salty tundra of Syracuse, NY, Ben now calls the DC suburbs his home. He fell in love with punk after listening to Punk-O-Rama 3, Less Than Jake and MXPX in middle school. He loves to slam dance but is too large to stage dive.
When he’s not pretending to have exquisite musical taste, he’s raising two children, designing RPG products and practicing law. (Who knows if he’ll ever get the hang of it.)
