vote
8.0
- Band:
Gridiron - Duration: 00:33:03
- Available from: 30/05/2025
- Label:
-
Blue Grape Music
David Rath's Blue Grape and Cees Wessels, former records of the golden age of Roadrunner Records, expands its roster with accuracy by signing very valid and ultra contemporary bands: after Orange and Gel queues (to cover the hardcore segment), Heavy // hitter (Deathcore) and Silly Goose (Nu Metal) is the shift of the Hardcore phenomena) Rap Gridiron, who literally dropped us from the chair with the excellent “No Good at Goodbyes” and lived live during the “Triple B European Takeover” of last summer.
A band that has its roots in the 90s, literally a wet dream for those who have never detached themselves from the soundtrack of “Judgement Night”, the Gridiron maximize the crossover of the pioneers leading it to a new level of swag and awareness.
Compared to the previous album, the band has practically eliminated, as regards the voice, every hardcore score except the choirs, leaving Matt Karll the opportunity to exhibit all his ability to the microphone with a flow, a conviction and a delivery that, realistically, literally makes some of the most loved but at the same time objectively limited pioneers in the rapare – we think of Zak Tell. example. In this sense, the collaborative track “Still Playin 'for Keepps”, with guests Mc Daniel Son, Jay Royale and Pro Dillinger, is certainly the most dated song with that straight and minimal base and that guitar round repeated as if it were a sampling.
The wealth of “Poetry from Pain”, as well as that of the predecessor, comes instead from the goodness of the Hardcore/Beatdown instruments that intertwine with great taste at the frontman rapping, without absolutely limiting yourself to the groove as the competition does: thus “26/9” resumes “25/8” and shows off a very fast and pressing rifferia, “Army of None” Imposing, “Paydirt” sports a riff that knows of Slayer and sulfur. Even speaking of bounce, classic Two-step parts, Mosh segments or Nyhc quotes, “Poetry from Pain” contains only quality, with exhilarating class touches such as the 'Neanderthal' Virate of “Roses” at the entrance of Mike Ryan of the Missing Link, the breakdown of “Copycat League” or the creative insults in the “mascot” text.
Clearly the gridiron are not a group for everyone, but they find their niche by dominating it, and they are to be safeguarded and enhanced to the maximum for this: those who love hip hop and appreciate that adrenaline sense of danger that is felt in the pit of a hardcore concert can only venerate this combination of rap and hardcore XXXL, to be listened to strictly in the car with the window.
Daniel D`Amico for SANREMO.FM
