New York City’s Children are about to deliver an electric shock to the world of contemporary metal. Their debut, Hard Times Hanging At The End Of The World, ripples with speed, precision, and a visceral intensity that is seldom seen in any genre of music these days.
The trio, guitarists Skyler Spohn, Jonny Ollsin (formerly of Vancouver’s S.T.R.E.E.T.S.), and drummer Adam Bennati (of Early Man) put out their first release in early 2008, the 12†single for “Death Tribe.†However, it’s Hard Times that showcases the band in its fully realized form. The band has crafted a set of meticulous compositions, including several marathon-length tracks that stretch past the seven minute mark. Even when Ollsin isn’t wielding his throaty growl like a weapon, the band’s instrumental passages are so lyrical that they paint vivid pictures themselves.
Album opener “Advance Mind Control†begins with the drone of a lone, ominous, outer-space synth before the full band simultaneously launches into attack mode. Spohn and Ollsin’s guitars kicks off their dynamic, album-long duel while Bennati catapults into a propulsive groove. The band steadily charges forward without looking back. Eventually, the track slows down in its final two minutes to morph into an epic ending, anchored by Bennati’s stomping caveman beats. The energy then immediately shoots back to a fever pitch with the breakneck fury of second track “Nuclear Bummer.â€
It isn’t until “H.T.H.A.T.E.O.T.W.†that you truly get a chance to catch your breath. The song’s Spanish flavored acoustic guitars concoct the album’s most calm and mystical moments. But by the time the cacophonous final moments of album closer “Time is the Living†arrive, Children will have inspired chin-stroking admiration while melting all the faces in the room.