Following the vinyl release of its 2002 demo on the Takeover label, this Connecticut hardcore quintet joined up with Boston's Bridge Nine label to release this six-track CD EP (which includes a CD-ROM bonus track that features a video for the song "And If"). This band's hardness factor is undermined just a little bit by its clothing sponsorship, but there's no questioning the furious genuineness of the music itself. Of course, being genuine is easy -- being interesting is something else again, and most hardcore artists try to achieve that goal by simply raising the bar of louder-faster-harder-shorter. With an average song length of about 1:15, tempos that are rarely less than headlong, and a dynamic range that runs the gamut from loud to deafening,
the Distance can compete ably with any other hardcore band. Whether they can stand out is another matter. So far they don't, but they're still pretty new to the game. Let's see what happens next. ~ Rick Anderson