French Metal Friday: As They Burn-Will, Love, Life

Victory Records
2013

I can already hear the purists out there saying "How can you use a metalcore/deathcore band for a "Metal" feature?". Truth is they'd be technically right. This isn't metal in the strictest sense of the word, but this Paris 5-piece burn things down in a way that a lot of today's modern bands just can't seem to manage. These days even hardcore itself gets a bad rap. It's not like it used to be when bands like Cro-Mags, Agnostic Front, Black Flag and C.O.C. ruled the playground making the scene kids get all crazy and violent. Even As We Burn doesn't come across like those great bands of old truthfully. Nope. They are more metalcore or deathcore then straight-up hardcore. Don't be sad though as there's good news to be found. For one thing they manage to avoid any of the pop-punk nonsense that has watered down far too many potentially good hardcore bands. No, this album showcases a hardcore band that discovered the joys of crunchy street metal and imposing death metal. The band's own take on hardcore is heavy and heartless. This is furious and extremely aggressive hardcore meant for stomping on bones and crushing skulls. Formed in 2007 by Kévin (vocals), Fabio and Hoby (guitars), Ronald (bass) and Milton (drums) the band were soon playing to packed crowds on the local hardcore circuit. In 2010 Belgian label Ultimhate Records caught wind of the fire they were starting and issued the group's first EP entitled "A New Area for Our Plagues". This EP ended up on the French music charts and lead to the band signing with Siege of Amida Records in time for their 2011 full-length debut release, "Aeon’s Wart". As they have moved up the hardcore ladder they have played with Despised Icon, Whitechapel and Impeding Doom. While the band still faces an uphill battle (as even the hardcore scene is overly crowed these days with a thousand wannabes for every dozen or so good bands) records like this will come a long way towards getting the band more recognition. If you've never heard of As They Burn before this album is a good place to start as these 5 guys have managed to put all of their skill into this passionate release.