Filthy Music Review - 'Tear out the Heart: Violence'

Tear out the Heart – Violence (2013)

Victory Records

Review by Jude Felton

As with any genre, or sub-genre, there will always be the good and the bad, and it’s not always the good that get the credit they deserve. With that in mind it would be a criminal shame if St. Louis, Missouri band, Tear out the Heart doesn’t make the waves I believe that they will, with Violence being one of the most energetic, not to mention bone-crushingly heavy, metalcore albums I have heard in quite some time.

What Tear Out The Heart deliver might not be especially original; we get the screaming/shouting style vocals, with the occasional clean singing, and breakdowns galore, but there is such conviction here that it is hard to ignore. Conviction will only get you so far; you also need the tunes to back that up, and fortunately Violence has plenty of them. As with many albums there are one or two that were a little uninspired, but the good by far outweigh the bad, and there are a few really top-notch tunes here.

Album opener, Dead by Dawn, gets things off to a great start and this is followed straight away by Infamous Last Words, with its “You might not respect me, but you will fear me” intro. Cracking stuff. By the time Violence hits my personal favorite, Coffin Eyes, there’s no looking back; the drums and bass thunder through the speakers, carrying the great blend of heavy and tuneful. This is a band that definitely knows how to write a good tune.

Tear out the Heart definitely have their influences, and you will hear touches of bands like Slipknot, Motionless in White and even Rage against the Machine here, but after a few listens Violence becomes very much its own beast. If they can transfer the energy here into their live performances they will be one hell of a band to watch when they tour.

Judging from the pictures I would hesitate to suggest that Tear out the Heart is a very young band. With Violence being their debut I can only say that I expect we will be hearing a lot more from them in the future, as this is a very impressive opening salvo. Your feet will be tapping, your fists and feet will be flying and I assure you that you’ll be singing along to this in no time at all.

Tracklist:

1. Dead by Dawn

2. Infamous Last Words

3. Crucified

4. Undead Anthem

5. Violence

6. Coffin Eyes

7. Feed Me a Stray Cat

8. Eternal Shadows

9. Closure

10. Only Posers Dies

11. Darker Tides

Violence is released by Victory Records and is available now on CD, Vinyl and Digital.