Can't Stop the Truth is the follow-up to
Path of Resistance's Who Dares Wins, though its appearance comes a solid decade after the latter album was released. But before one thinks that ten years is an incredible gap between a band's first two albums, one must remember that
POR were originally formed by
Earth Crisis members as just a momentary project to occupy time while another bandmember recovered from an injury. Since that first album, their members continued to play in
Earth Crisis and
Freya, so these last years were hardly spent as spectators on the hardcore sidelines. Deciding to pull back together as
Path of Resistance for another album, the guys may be aging, but the one-two punch of their approach hasn't dulled in the slightest. If anything, the decade has only built up excess rage, frustration, and distraught feelings of being some of the only straight-edge, vegan guys left in town to bring the message to the kids.
Path of Resistance arrive with a heavy hardcore attitude and metal instincts that get in your face with thick riffs, pounding rhythms, and a powerful multiple vocalist assault. Their aggressive nature may sound brutal, but it's just "harsh to keep it vital, not to belittle or exclude." After all, when
Path of Resistance aren't discharging PETA-styled tirades ("Best of My Best," "Blood Trail"), their lyrics declare sentiments of "fairness, dedication, loyalty, compassion, commitment, ferocity." Declarations of their steadfast dedication all these years to the straight-edge way of life appear most explicitly in the form of closing numbers "At Full Strength" and "That Golden Day." Though it's doubtful that
Path of Resistance will ever have the impact of
Earth Crisis, blossoming hardcore fans can still take inspiration from lines like "Won't conform to a mindset that breeds self-destruction/Life's too short to waste the days in a daze of poison," while veteran enthusiasts will be singing along at their side in the pit to sentiments like "Years go by still true/The hardcore they can't dilute.../Still at full strength inside my heart." ~ Corey Apar