ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Full Length Review: Lockdown "Step Over The Bodies" (Selfmaderecords LLC) by Dave Wolff

Band: Lockdown
Location: Manhattan, New York
Country: USA
Genre: Hardcore
Full length: Step Over The Bodies
Format: Digital album
Label: Selfmaderecords LLC (distributed by Earache Records Digital Distribution)
Release date: February 5, 2024
New York Hardcore has survived a great deal since it was founded in the early 1980s, and despite corporate greed and media spin in recent years, it is bigger than ever. That persistence of purpose on "Step over the Bodies" enables Lockdown to thrive and grow as it always has, with little to no assistance from the aboveground media.
"You say I'm simple, I say I'm pure" is a line from "Hard to the Core" that expresses the band's commitment to their roots and attitude. Their involvement with bands like Agnostic Front, Biohazard, Madball and Leeway, along with hiring former members of Bile, has led them to introduce industrial themes into their crossover of hardcore and metal.
Underlying every track appearing on "Step Over The Bodies" is a low, insinuating rumble. By nature it characterizes the dingy subways, gravelly streets and collectively shared outrage of a generation that perceives having been discarded, and perceives unanswered questions that persist in their relevance. Some bands achieve this sound with keyboards and synthesizers; Lockdown do so with their bass sound and the essence of industrial music conveyed from Bile.
Those undertones increase in intensity through the album, not overpowering from the outset but progressively grinding the listener by way of pertinacious energy, crunch, breakdowns and groove. Imagine Jamey Jasta and Hatebreed, but more incensed with reinforced heaviness, professionalism and conviction. The slightly mechanized production in the guitars adds the feel of a city increasingly cold and modern while the new buildings forget those on the bottom.
Everything that is happening around the band seems to have bolstered their resolve to air their disillusionment and be heard. In some ways, "Step over the Bodies" resembles a dystopian concept album, except that the dystopia is real and you’re thrust directly into the lead character’s point of view. You witness society becoming a dystopia firsthand. If, on the other hand, people believe punk and hardcore are about being angry at the world in which the music is produced, there is much to be angry about. And a positive outcome can be achieved by channeling the anger. –Dave Wolff

Lineup:
Eric Roi: Vocals
Jeff Lombardi: Guitar, vocals
Justin P. Flynn: Guitar
Lorenzo Golia: Bass
Robert Proimos: Drums

Track list:
1. Step Over The Bodies
2. Enlightenment
3. Trail Of Tears
4. Hard To The Core
5. Hatred
6. Human Racist
7. Blind Rage
8. Steadfast
9. Respect Collected
10. Duked
11. Won't See Me Comin
12. Eternal
13. My Side
14. Trail Of Tears (REMIX)
15. Hard To The Core (REMIX)

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