REVIEW: Ill Vision Demo, by Ill Vision

With a new year, comes new resolutions and with new resolutions comes new flavour and style. Fresh onto the second city scene is a four-piece hardcore unit, ‘Ill Vision’ who bring a new trendier sound to the hardcore scene with groovy riffs and stompy beats in a polished manner in the style of bands such as ‘Turnstile’ and ‘Higher Power’. Their new self-titled demo is that new flavour and style what I am talking about. Breaking the cliché of heavy beatdowns which you can find in many of the local second city hardcore bands and trading that for a more cleaner sounding edge which can bring other fans of alternative music to the hardcore spectrum.

The first track on the demo, ‘Sunken’ opens with an aesthetically pleasing instrumental which follows with a combo of jumpy drumming patterns and groovy riffing to surely get everyone moving. This opening track is full of influence from Turnstile’s recent album release, ‘Time & Space’ with the use of echoing backing vocals and chanty rhyming from lead vocalist Matt Collins, who uses toned down shouty vocals in a rhythmic pattern. This track is also full of techno sound effects to highlight that ever so trending sound of new hardcore which bands such as 'Vein' 'Code Orange' and 'Turnstile' have implemented in their work, which has a clear nu metal influence and reminiscence of late 90s metallic hardcore. This staple opening track is full of quick two-step rhythms to get the crowd up and going and will keep the guys in the back bobbing their heads to this funky and groovy masterpiece. Overall, an explosive way to open this demo.

The second track on the demo, ‘Idle Blue’ begins with a catchy cymbal beat from drummer Mitch Dornan which is neat if I say so myself, elements such a this bring refreshing new ideas into the local hardcore scene. This is then followed by blasting riffing which pays homage to the roots of hardcore with quick in your face riffs from guitarist Jake Murray and bassist David Shepherd which remind me of OG NYHC bands such as 'Madball' and 'Cro-Mags'. Collins places the cherry on top of the cake with fast youth crew essence vocals which remind me of vocalists such as Ray Cappo' of 'youth of Today' and 'Better than a Thousand'. However, Collins gives it a more of a raspier edge to his vocals to keep it with that modern hardcore sound. Mid through the track a stompy breakdown hits with a groovy guitar riff to keep listeners engaged, with the variety of sounds this band are trying to incorporate into their music. The track slows down towards the end but keeps it refreshing and smooth to keep that polished edge during the chugging. Shoutout to Jake Murray who mixed this demo, he has really brought together a slick sound on this one.

The final track on this demo is ‘Hive Mind’. This song is full of rough riffs and Dornan clutched onto that double bass pedal as he blasts beats and precise timing on this track. Vocalist Matt Collins and bassist David Shepherd and guitarist Jake Murray make a superb rhythmic stronghold throughout the track to create a recurring sound of funky two-step with drummer Mitch Dornan keeping everything together with a clean fast tempo. Then. at 2:02 a polished breakdown hits which evolves into a heavy hardcore meltdown with guest vocals by Brad Lakin, who hits with those low growls to bring some dirty heavy implements onto this track. Just when you thought this demo was just a light hardcore funk fest for the new trendier sound. This band whack out the beatdown at 2:27 with Lakin on those gutturals and pig squeals. This band shows us that they aren’t afraid to widen their sound on the hardcore spectrum.

In conclusion, this demo is full of surprises from modern influenced groove rhythm, to beatdown right at the climax. I would highly recommend this demo to all. I want to say this is an excellent piece by Ill Vision and I’ll be sure to be on the lookout for new material from them as well and upcoming shows in Birmingham. The link for the demo will be down below as well as their social media page. The demo is free so there is no excuse to cop a download, don’t sleep on these lads, as I’m sure they have big things in store for not just SCHC but the entirety of UKHC.

F.F.O: Turnstile, Backtrack, Higher Power, Expire, The Beautiful Ones

Bandcamp: https://illvision0121.bandcamp.com/album/ill-vision

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IllVision0121/

By Dane Barker