Band: THE BINDING
For fans of: The Love And Terror Cult, (early) Cave In, Weak Wrists, O'God The White Whale, Converge, I Hate Sally, Back When, Botch, Lockslip, and A Needle Under The Nail.
Genres: Punk / Post-Hardcore / Metalcore / Metallic Hardcore / Mathcore / Screamo / Skramz / Grindcore
For fans of: The Love And Terror Cult, (early) Cave In, Weak Wrists, O'God The White Whale, Converge, I Hate Sally, Back When, Botch, Lockslip, and A Needle Under The Nail.
Genres: Punk / Post-Hardcore / Metalcore / Metallic Hardcore / Mathcore / Screamo / Skramz / Grindcore
Related artists: ?.
Country: U.S.A.
Years Active: 2004-2005
Country: U.S.A.
Years Active: 2004-2005
Label(s): Imagine It Records
The band's only release spans five songs in about 17 minutes. For an initial band comparison I'd go with Closet Witch (partially because of those venomous screams) but with a more melodic injection and longer songs. I'm hesitant to say grind meets metallic hardcore but technically I just wrote it so fuck let's roll with it. Opener "Keep Walking Empty Eyed Man" has massive metal chops in those licks, but the entire thing is something to behold and I can't recommend it enough. "Insanity in Numbers" and "Shoot the Shooters" follow the same trajectory of chaotic, stop-start, metal-influenced hardcore not unlike early Cave In and Converge, with the former housing a ridiculously sassy riff post 1:20 and the latter is wild and unpredictable throughout its 4:16 runtime. The band also display instrumental chops in "Addenda" which reminds me of Edhochuli and Harris Hawk's offspring, really gorgeous for a bit, and then massive later on. Often instrumental tracks seem to be an afterthought or just plain boring, but this is anything but a throwaway track as it's probably my second favorite jam on here because it's done expertly.
I downloaded THE BINDING's EP earlier in 2024 and was for some reason under the assumption that it was also released this year. I had it on my list as the best EP of 2024. So I was surprised to find out that this thing came out nearly two full decades ago, making it that much better as the relevance this band holds in terms of sound is mindblowing. It's also noteworthy that NONE of these tracks were on Youtube so I rectified the fuck outta that.
The band played a volatile mixture of metallic hardcore and mathy metal, melding the two to the point where I don't know what I'd call them if I had to choose one of those descriptors, as perhaps chaotic hardcore is the best description here.
Damn, really wish there was more material but at least we have this fuckin' fire.
________________________________________
DISCOGRAPHY
2024 - The Binding digital EP (stream/donate/download here)
________________________________________
(2005) THE BINDING - "Insanity in Numbers" (from 'The Binding')
(2005) THE BINDING - "Keep Walking Empty Eyed Man" (from 'The Binding')
(2005) THE BINDING - "Addenda" (from 'The Binding')
________________________________________
THE BINDING additional links
________________________________________
