Confession - The Long Way Home

Australia’s new hardcore flagship Confession is only two months away from the release of its new and second full-length album ‘’The Long Way Home’’ in Europe via Lifeforce records this very coming February 2012. Following the success of the debut album ‘’Cancer’’ (2009) the five-piece is back, improved and more focused on what it has become known for.

From the very beginning, Confession have been introduced to the scene as a band building up straight brutality with simple yet crushing drumming, breakdowns and massive gang-shout-outs and that’s what they continue to do up to this day. The record begins with a simple one-minute intro just to set the mood for what’s to follow, after the minute is over Confession take hold of the situation kicking all kinds of ass with the violent opus that is ‘’Confused/Hopeless’’. And that’s how you’ll be left after hearing the record from start to finish, the eleven tracks on the album are specially made for moshing, crossing in between hardcore and metalcore, but I don’t believe it ‘s the genre that matters but the music itself. ‘’I don’t give a fuck’’ passionately screams lead singer Michael Crafter in ‘’I Created this Horror’’ rebeling against anyone who is up against them, this statement is very clear in the attitude of the whole record but  there is also a more melodic side to this record as well, which comes with the addition of the clean singing, handled by the band’s axeman Dan Brown giving the songs a breath of fresh air that was definitely needed in songs like ‘’Piece by Piece’’,’’Gimme ADD’’ or the self titled and closer of this album.

Technically, ‘’The Long Way Home’’ is actually quite a simple, honest record, comprising of heavy, downtuned guitars, brutally brutal vocals, an extremely good job done and some impressive playing by drummer Shane O’Brien with a lot of groove which will definitely make your head bang every once in a while. The production was handled by the one and only Fredrik Nordström (Bring Me The Horizon, I Killed The Prom Queen, In Flames) and the result amazing as expected, generally the production is one of the strong points of this record, everything is very loud and clear, the guitars are heavy as hell and the sound is tight and huge. After multiple listens of the album I can’t help but think that the overall feel of the album is repetitive due to the constant use of the breakdowns (which are present in every song) and the lack of standout riffs or solos make the procedure of listening a little bit tiring but maybe that’s just because I don’t listen to the particular genre that much.

To make this long story short, ‘’The Long Way Home’’ will give all that a fan of the genre will ask and maybe even more as it’s a very decent and homogeneous release that will please anyone who likes extreme, fist-pumping, brutal anthems. Confession have been fairly called a mosh-band, and I don’t anyone could disagree, don’t you think? Just listen to the album and you will find out.

Standout tracks:  I Created This Horror, Die to Live, The Long Way Home
Also Check:  Parkway Drive, August Burns Red, Bury Your Dead

Tracklist:
1. Intro
2. Confused/Hopeless
3. I Created This Horror
4. Piece by Piece
5. Asthma Attack
6. Gimme ADD
7. Nearly 30
8. Die To Live
9. The True Shine Through
10. Heartless
11. The Long Way Home

6,5/10  Lefteris K.