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Antagonist: These Cities, Our Graves

With the increasing popularity of a burgeoning metalcore scene, it’s refreshing to see an up-and-coming local act that maintains a hardcore ethic, side-stepping the lyrical clichés that dog the genre. Hamilton’s Antagonist unleashes a brutal sound with an impressive technical proficiency comparable to some of the genre’s best. What sets them apart is the themes and messages portrayed in the music, and the utmost conviction with which vocalist Sam delivers them. In Show Some Heart, he implores listeners to go vegan, taking a stand “for those who can’t speak”. In Suicide Girls, he decries males who prey on girls’ insecurities. A number of clever pop-shots are fired at TV culture and the myspace generation throughout the album and in the accompanying booklet, Sam provides a brief insight into the theme of each song. Sonically, Antagonist is fast and bone-crunchingly heavy. There’s some particularly impressive guitar-work on display, switching from rapid palm-muting to noodly metal lead in a nanosecond. ‘These Cities, Our Graves’ boasts some competent metalcore with a conscience, and is another addition to the stack of quality releases from ElevenFiftyseven

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