Hollow Ground - Cold Reality (Organized Crime Records)

Reviewed by Mark Oster

A twelve and a half minute morsel of metalcore from Winnipeg, Yeah, they have metalcore in Winnipeg, and they're actually pretty damn good at it. This is a flat out assault. Rhythmically precise, big guitar sound, and a roaring front man. The treat lies in the melodic guitar lines that they slide in beneath the fury. They're brief, but they compliment and cut through the aggression simultaneously. There's some very cool call and response in some of the choruses between the frontman and a chorus of background bellows. The performance on this is really quite stunning, these guys will get a lot of respect from the metal audience stateside, tight rhythmic breakdowns, great tone, and great balance. Organized Crime consistently makes me feel like a chump for not being more into the hardcore/metal scene with the quality of the albums they send me, and this is no exception. As always, if this type of thing is what you like, you will most certainly be into this.

Originally posted in Issue 2.2, March/April 2005