B.O.R.N.: 8 Tracks 12"

B.O.R.N.: 8 Tracks 12” (self-released) Alabama d-beaters B.O.R.N. have been kicking around for several years, and while we’ve carried a couple of their tapes at Sorry State, I believe this one-sided 12” is their debut vinyl (I say “I believe” because B.O.R.N.’s online presence is spotty… they have a Bandcamp, but I can’t find a page for them on Discogs). On an earlier tape, B.O.R.N. revealed their name stands for “belligerent onslaught of relentless noise,” and if that doesn’t tell you what they sound like, listening to about five seconds of music will show you B.O.R.N.’s style lies firmly in the Disclose / Physique end of raw d-beat hardcore. However, B.O.R.N. has their own take on the genre that makes them stand out in the glut of bands plying this style. First, while a lot of similar bands (including Physique) go for a piercing, trebly tone in their recordings, B.O.R.N. has opted on this record for a warm recording that sounds very organic, more like the earliest Disclose releases than the more brittle, later-era Disbones releases. While the sound is not as harsh, it’s no less intense or aggressive, and the recording style really highlights B.O.R.N.’s strong ensemble playing. I’m not sure if B.O.R.N. tracked these songs live, but it sounds like they did, and it’s a welcome contrast to the more industrial-sounding recordings a lot of noisy d-beat bands go for nowadays. B.O.R.N.’s other key strength—and this is something I called out when I wrote about one of their previous tapes—is the lead guitar playing. Since the riffs are so straightforward in this style, the leads are where a guitarist’s personality can really shine. B.O.R.N.’s guitarist doesn’t really do the “nuclear rain” style with lots of hammer-ons, but something more like Bones’s leads in Discharge, an intuitive style where the guitar is wielded like a rusty shiv in a prison fight and might erratically change direction or approach at any second. It’s totally thrilling. While B.O.R.N.’s 12” might not be the loudest, fastest, noisiest, or meanest d-beat record you’ve ever heard, there’s more than enough personality and energy here to get any self-respecting crusty’s fist in the air.