REVIEW: Angel Du$t - Big Ass Love By Rob Kent

For a side project to get signed to Roadrunner records is a big deal. Granted a band that has members of Trapped Under Ice and Turnstile in will automatically turn heads and bring curiosity to the table. But what actually boiled down to Angle Du$t gaining popularity was their music was good. The band is now on one of the biggest labels for metal music worldwide. Roadrunner Records is home to Slipknot, Korn, Megadeath and now Angel Du$t.

Their single “Big Ass Love” is the bands first release through the label and the biggest platform the band and genre have had in a long time. With this opportunity to release a hardcore punk album, by talent musicians, on such a huge label to a mass audience are a chance every band dreams of and a chance I can't remember any hardcore band have had for an extremely long time.

I loved the bands' first album “AD”. It was a fantastic debut full of creative ideas, energy and swagger that set the band apart and made them so enjoyable to listen to. To eventually see them get signed to Roadrunner was a proud moment as a fan and to think a similar album would be released but now to such a large market and a chance for tremendous exposure for the hardcore genre was so exciting. So to see the band put forward a song like they have is truly disappointing. With a large platform, money and expectation behind this band, to see them release a track that sounds like a joke isn’t what I was personally wanting from the band, to say the least.

The track sounds to me like it could be used for as intro theme music for an American high school TV series, it features absolutely nothing that made this bands music so gripping in the first place and has almost separated them for the scene they have been a part of. I can't really see the bands new sound holding up at a hardcore show with the track portraying a desire for a whole new direction. It seems as if this it is a whole new band performing the music and it just doesn’t seem right with a track that sounds how it does being released under the name Angle Du$t.

The new direction in the music may represent the band wanting to be accepted into a new scene as well as branch out even further to a commercially wider audience and drift away from the crowds they have been playing to for their whole musical career. Which is somewhat respectable and shows how versatile the members are in terms of writing and not being afraid at all to change even at times when such a dramatic shift seems unimaginable.

On the other hand, this new sound direction may be intentional by the band for the sole purpose to go against what a major label debut should contain. Making this potentially one of the most punk things in ages. If this is true and the album to come isn’t full of similar songs to “Big Ass Love” and we are presented with an album that contains everything that put Angel Du$t on peoples playlists in the first place, I will take back everything I said and will take my bucket hat off to the band.

All bands and people evolve and with this track so have Angle Du$t. People may be excited for further new material from them and still view them in the same light as they did before and after hearing the new track. The change to me shows no passion for the music they are making but rather just an excuse for them to make a track for the sake of it. It all seems strange considering the new singing and momentum that seemed to be behind the band. However, as I said, this track may sound the way it does to go against what was expected of them for a first big single release on a major label. Confusing the listener and also to maybe present themselves as something they are not, to a commercial audience, only to come back with a full length later this year and melt everyone's face, especially those who were expecting more twangy, half-hearted and deluded music from the group. Time will tell, but for now this band has dropped some ranks in my mind, they may be redeemed by a full release later this year, but I’m honestly not expecting much after this. Overall, dogs are not that good, Angel Du$t used to be good and cats are amazing every day.

All bands and people evolve and with this track so have Angle Du$t. People may be excited for further new material from them and still view them in the same light as they did before and after hearing the new track. The change to me shows no passion for the music they are making but rather just an excuse for them to make a track for the sake of it. It all seems strange considering the new singing and momentum that seemed to be behind the band. However, as I said, this track may sound the way it does to go against what was expected of them for a first big single release on a major label. Confusing the listener and also to maybe present themselves as something they are not, to a commercial audience, only to come back with a full length later this year and melt everyone's face, especially those who were expecting more twangy, half-hearted and deluded music from the group. Time will tell, but for now this band has dropped some ranks in my mind, they may be redeemed by a full release later this year, but I’m honestly not expecting much after this. Overall, dogs are not that good, Angel Du$t used to be good and cats are amazing every day.

By Rob Kent