Philadelphia’s Blacklisted recently put out their EP So You Are A Magician? These guys are making hardcore music since 2003. In this scene you could almost call them veterans. The original hardcore sound from back in the days is clearly audible on this 3-track record.
The distinguished sound is driven by George Hirsch’s vocals. A wide variety of vocals is used on this record. Screaming, singing and even spoken word are used to bring over the powerful and often dark lyrics.
So You Are A Magician? kicks off with the fast song ‘Mentalist’. This will definitely wake you up. But it isn’t fast from beginning to end; after one minute the song changes from fast paced to slow and groovy. ‘Copper Fields’ is the second track. It picks up where the first song ended: groove, a lot of groove. This song just makes you want to stagedive.
The last and my favorite song on this record is ‘Houdini Blues’. Not much of a surprise, but this really does sound blues-y. But blues isn’t the only genre it’s reminding of. The first thing that popped into my mind was: Am I listening to Nirvana? This track is really sounding grungy. The on edge singing/screaming is almost similar to Kurt Cobain’s.
This record is short but refreshing. You can hear that these guys know how to make hardcore, pure hardcore with a nice twist here and there. It’s nice to hear music that is made from the heart and not following some hype. Blacklisted proofs that they still are one of the best hardcore bands around with this release. You can buy the record from Six Feet Under Records right here.
Track list – So You Are A Magician?
- Mentalist
- Copper Fields
- Houdini Blues
Blacklisted: Facebook / Six Feet Under Records
Written by Gijs Duijzer
Legends Arising 