Philadelphia's
Barricade were obviously attempting to cast out their demons on their second album (and first for Eulogy) called, well,
Demons, by attacking any number of touchy emotional subjects while framing them in an especially heavy brand of hardcore. For example, opener "Harvey Dent" (named after the Batman bad guy) deals with political corruption (shocker); "Look Inside" and "Saffron Revolution" preach personal responsibility; "One Nation" indicts mindless consumerism; and "We've Had Enough" reads like Revenge of the Nerds from a hardcore perspective. But
Barricade also set any number of songs aside to catalog the various ways in which they've been betrayed (so far) by everyone around them -- their ex-girlfriends ("Mara," "Michelle"), peripheral acquaintances ("Severed Ties, Wasted Lives," the drug addiction tale "F**k Tomorrow"), or just life in general ("Lost"). And musically, the group doesn't deviate all that much from accepted hardcore templates, but the title track does forego lyrics entirely, "2KH8" has a startling lead guitar run midway through, and "Conviction to Fiction" steps up the metallic elements of their sound to come off like an excellent
Biohazard outtake. All of which is hardly revolutionary in scope, obviously, but nothing to be ashamed of, either, since the album's 28 minutes rarely lack for
Barricade's full commitment of intensity, and, after all, hardcore is, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, simple is as simple does. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia